Chapter 11

Gerry was watching the brief intense moments of intimate caressing between Ludovic and Alex and he knew that her conduct was dangerous. He couldn't understand why she wasn't curbing her activities.

Ludovic now had his back to Gerry, as he twisted to speak quietly to Alex. As he turned back to place his glass on the table his hand was wrapped around his glass, as he continued talking he released his glass and with his palm face down on the table he raised his index finger and tapped lightly on the table.

Gerry was watching him carefully, unable to concentrate on his conversation with Anna because Ludovic was idly tapping Morse characters.

Before he could gather himself to tell Anna, Alex rose unsteadily from her chair and Ludovic took hold of her elbow to steady her. He walked with her to the kitchen and returned to his hut then Alex helped Anna and Cornelia to clean up after the party.

As he proceeded to Anna's room these thoughts nagged him and he was glad that Manfred was close by in Cornelia's room.

When Anna joined him he was getting warm under the covers and his intention to talk with her faded away as she aggressively initiated their love making by sliding down the bed and caressing his cock with her mouth. But he reached down and coaxed her back alongside him

"I'm concerned about Alex getting close with Ludovic. The thought occurred to me that if he were acting with Rudy, then she could be putting herself in a very dangerous position. While I was watching him earlier he rested his hand on the table and his index finger was tapping Morse characters."

"What! Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! I've done the same thing myself while I've been practising. If she invited him to her room, how would he get there?" Gerry asked.

"Simple. She unlocks the back door and lets him in and takes him upstairs to her room. I see what you mean now; the transmitter is on the same floor. That's his objective not Alex. God we have to do something."

"Slow down, we're only speculating we don't know for sure."

"But you don't know Alex when she's been drinking, and she had a lot to drink tonight. In her condition she would be easily defeated."

Gerry rolled out of the bed and pulled his trousers and boots on.

"What are you doing?" Anna asked.

"I'm going to have a look around."

Gerry opened Anna's door and then he crept down the hallway. At the entrance to the dining room he stopped and listened.

He heard nothing unusual at first so he waited, poised at the bottom of the stairs. Suddenly he heard muffled sound from upstairs and he moved slowly upstairs. Hearing the muffled sounds again, and they were not the sounds of pleasure, he doubled back downstairs and running swiftly to Cornelia's door he placed his mouth against the crack between the door and the doorjamb and called to Manfred.

He had learned this trick as a child where his cheeks dampened his voice going into the hallway but amplified them going into the room. A minute passed until he heard Cornelia rousing Manfred.

Manfred came to the door naked, "Gerry. What are you doing... ?"

"Get your pistol, I think Alex is in trouble."

"You've been dreaming."

Anna's door opened and she streaked along the hall to Gerry, "Alex's room is right above mine and I just heard a thump on the floor. She needs help."

"For God's sake Manfred hurry up." Gerry said as started back to the stairs.

Soon Manfred was wearing a pair of shorts and armed with his pistol; he entered the hallway, "Take Cornelia inside and stay there and lock the door," he said to Anna.

He rushed to Gerry's side. Operating with hand signals he directed Gerry to the other side of the stairs and together they ascended. When their eyes were level with the floor they saw a dark figure at the door to their hidden communications room.

He was bent low and was trying to open the lock.

Manfred walked the few remaining stairs, "It's all over Ludovic, drop the key."

Ludovic was startled and dropped the key.

"See to Alex." Manfred commanded Gerry.

Ludovic, ignoring the pistol in Manfred's hand charged at him but Manfred deftly sidestepped and as Ludovic went charging by, Manfred smashed the butt of the pistol on the back of his head.

Gerry stopped to assist Manfred but when he saw that Ludovic's momentum had carried him forward and his body limply hit the stairs half way down; he turned back to Alex's room as Ludovic rolled down to the floor below and lay unconscious.

When Gerry entered Alex's room her bed was in disarray; he didn't find her until he moved to the far side of the bed.

Bound and gagged she wasn't moving. He untied the gag and pulled a rolled piece of sheeting from her mouth. Quickly he untied her arms and legs that were bound with strips of her bed sheet.

Gently he gathered her up and placed her on the bed. She wasn't moving and stricken with anxiety he felt her neck for a pulse.

Cornelia was in shock as Manfred handed the pistol to Anna, "Watch him and keep Cornelia down here."

But Cornelia could not be restrained and she raced up the stairs, ahead of Manfred, and into her mother's room. She settled onto the bed and holding Alex's hand she gently tapped her face.

"Momma please wake up," she wailed but Alex did not respond.

Manfred gently moved Cornelia away and rolled Alex on her side and opening her mouth he checked that her airways were free. He felt her pulse, it was weak and racing but her breathing was improving. He pulled her eyelids open and noticed that her pupils were responding but they were of unequal size.

He stood back thinking and then he ran his fingers through her hair. When he touched a large egg sized bump on her head Alex moaned weakly. Her pallid face was regaining color so he shook her gently by the shoulder.

"Alex, come on wake up Alex."

Alex moaned and her hand moved to her head, "What..."

"Alex, can you move your toes, good; can you move all your fingers."

When Manfred was satisfied that she had control of her extremities, "I want you to..."

Anna saw Ludovic open his eyes and as he tried to sit up she kicked his arm from under him and moved to a safe distance from him.

"You bastard, stay down. If you try to get up I'll shoot you," Anna yelled.

Manfred looked to Gerry, "Give Anna some backup."

Gerry raced down the stairs, "Give me the pistol, he knows I'll shoot him if he moves."

"Alex I want you to try and sit up."

Alex weakly eased herself upright but the nausea and dizziness overcame her and she slumped down. With her head at the side of the bed she drew her legs up and vomited onto the floor. Her stomach kept retching and Cornelia moved out of the way.

"Get a glass of water for your mother. Could you also clean the mess?"

Cornelia was eager to do anything that Manfred told her and returned with water and cleaning paraphernalia.

"She's going to be alright isn't she?" Cornelia asked her eyes brimming with tears.

"Of course she is," Manfred said hastening to reassure her.

He didn't like the look of her unequal pupils and he knew that she had severe concussion at best. He straightened the pillows and eased her slowly onto them, her head and shoulders slightly elevated.

As Cornelia cleaned the floor, "Would you like coffee Momma?" she asked.

"No she mustn't drink anything but water!" Manfred said.

"Do you feel like telling me what happened," he asked Alex.

Alex looked from Manfred to Cornelia, he could see that she was embarrassed and turning to Cornelia he asked her to leave. Reluctantly she left the room.

"He talked me into playing sex games with him..." she said weakly.

"You can tell me later if you want."

"No it's all right, he told me about an Oriental book that he owns that shows different positions for sex and I tried some of them with him. Oh, my heads hurts."

Manfred placed his hand on her forehead and he could feel she was overheating.

"Just a moment I'll organise some cold packs for you."

Manfred found Cornelia standing at the top of the stairs.

"Would you get a bowl of cold water and some hand towels?" Manfred asked, then her returned to Alex's room.

"Cornelia is getting some cold packs so I can keep your temperature down. What happened next?"

"Well I don't remember but he must have knocked me unconscious."

Cornelia returned and Manfred showed her how to dampen the towels and whirl them in the air until they became cold and then fold them and carefully apply them to Alex's forehead and wrists.

"You'll be in bed for a few days Alex," Manfred said as he walked to the other side of her bed and found a small bronze statue lying on the floor.

"This is what he used," he said as he replaced the statue on the nightstand.

Manfred picked up the strips of sheet that had bound Alex.

I'll leave you with Cornelia," he said.

He looked at Cornelia and seeing that she had calmed down he left the room.

At the bottom of the stairs he moved to the side of Ludovic furthest away from Gerry.

"Hands behind your back," Manfred said angrily.

He tied the sheeting strips tightly and then ran a loop around his waist and under his crotch restraining Ludovic from moving his hands from the center of his back.

"Keep an eye on him," he said to Gerry, and returned upstairs to the door leading to the communications room. He recovered the key and checked that the door was still locked. He went to the adjoining bedroom and tried the key but it would not open the door.

'That's convenient, ' he thought.

In Alex's room Cornelia looked up at Manfred.

"She's starting to shiver, I think I'm keeping her too cold."

"Ease off and when she overheats again, then apply more cold packs."

"Alex, how are you feeling?"

"I feel awful," Alex replied weakly.

"Do you know where the keys to the vacant bedroom are kept?"

"They're in my safe, Cornelia can get them," she replied sleepily.

Cornelia left to get the keys.

"That bastard didn't hurt you anywhere else did he?"

"No he was a bit rough that's all. I feel so tired I just want to sleep."

"Yes of course; Cornelia will stay with you."

When Cornelia returned he took the key from her, "Stay with your mother but remember she's not to have coffee or alcohol."

On the way out of her room Manfred picked up more strips of sheeting then went to the vacant bedroom door and opened it then he went downstairs and assisted Ludovic up the stairs and shoved him roughly inside. An old bed without a mattress was the only furniture in the room and after being shoved by Manfred, Ludovic stumbled forward and fell onto the wire mattress.

Manfred followed him in and using the additional strips of sheeting he tied his ankles and then tied a looped between his ankles and his wrists. Ensuring that he would remain immobile.

He pulled the door closed and locked it. Returning to Alex's room he saw that Gerry and Anna were crowded alongside Cornelia; all were peering at Alex.

Cornelia moved into Manfred's arms, "She's going to be all right isn't she?"

"After a week or ten days she will be her old self again. When the sun comes up keep the room darkened, no need to take the blackout curtain away because she'll be too sensitive to bright light for a few days."

She hugged Manfred harder, "Thank you darling, for taking care of my mother."

"Stay with her while I get the rest of this problem fixed," Manfred said as he pulled away. With a nod he beckoned Anna and Gerry to follow him.

In the hallway, "Anna do you have the code words that will get us contact with Richard?"

Anna returned to Alex's bedroom, "Cornelia I want the code book, do you know where it is?"

Cornelia rose from the bed, "It's in the safe, I'll get it for you."

In the communications room Gerry was impressed with the speed with which Anna made the equipment ready.

"I'm sorry but I can't leave the loudspeaker on with Ludovic next door."

Manfred scanned the codebook for the nearest message that described their problem, then he gave the codebook to Anna who transmitted it.

"You realise that we will have to monitor every ten minutes before the hour until we get a response?"

"I'll relieve you every odd hour."

"Good the next time will be ten to three, you can do that one and I'll get some sleep. I suppose you would like coffee before I go back to sleep."

"Your suppositions are extremely accurate Madame," said Manfred bowing low and gracefully from the waist.

Anna giggled all the way downstairs to the kitchen.

"You see Gerry, my friend, always keep 'em laughing."

At ten to ten the next morning Anna received a message from Richard's relay and she hurried to find Manfred.

Manfred had taken Ludovic out of the room to the lavatory downstairs and was retying him with Gerry standing over him holding the pistol.

"When you've finished with him," Anna said with derision, her loathing of Ludovic showing on her face, "I would like to see you."

After Ludovic was safely locked away. Manfred went to the communications room.

"What did Richard say?" he asked Anna.

"There will be two escorts arriving at nine tonight to take Ludovic away. The escorts are code named Martinus and Jacob."

"That's all?"

"That's it."

"Looks like an early night in the bloody pit. I wasn't at breakfast this morning; did any of the men talk about Ludovic?" Manfred said.

"No. I guess that they were being discreet, knowing that he had a liaison with Alex."

"I want to eat first then I'll talk to the men. I want you to send a confirmation of these escort's names and their time of arrival, back to Richard. I want to be on the safe side."

Before eating Manfred went to Alex's room, he walked silently to the bed. Alex was sleeping and Cornelia was curled up at the foot of the bed watching him as he checked Alex.

"She's been sleeping and occasionally waking and moaning," Cornelia said.

"How's her breathing."

"It seems normal and her temperature has been steady for the last two hours," Cornelia said.

"Come and hold the blackout curtain open I want to have a look at her eyes."

When she pulled the curtain back Manfred gently lifted her eyelids and was pleased that her pupils were almost of equal size.

Alex stirred and brushed his hand away; moaning as she rolled over.

At breakfast the following morning the men seemed happier than they had since the incident with Rudy; Manfred assumed that it was because the cloud of suspicion had been removed from them.

Gerry was in the communications room listening intently to Morse code reception, referring to Anna's copy of the code as he successfully identified a letter of the alphabet. Many of the letters were transmitted so fast that he had trouble deciphering them.

Manfred slid the panel back and squeezed in.

"Learning anything?" Manfred asked.

"Yes but slowly, it's like learning a new language."

"Well you've done that before. I've been thinking that I should give you this."

Manfred produced a pistol from his pocket and Gerry looked up surprised at Manfred's action.

"I want you to keep it on you or at least have it within easy reach in case of an emergency. What I've been meaning to ask you is where you picked up your knowledge of firearms."

"My father encouraged me to go to a shooting gallery in the middle of Amsterdam after I returned from Rotterdam with my Tante. She gave me a pistol to protect us while we fled from Rotterdam. I'm just an average shot though."

"Good enough to stop Rudy."

"What's going to happen to Ludovic?"

"Let me say that he's too dangerous alive."