to Diamonds Are Forever. We had to cancel tonight’s show. On my way, however, it occurred to me that the block would be watched from all angles. Our enemies would be out in full force tonight. Divide and conquer. No doubt Henry and Stan would also be watched, not that Henry could do much damage without the blue guitar.
I got out of the cab and paid the driver, a block from Ariadne’s offices. I usually entered through a private door, but I could only do it if I gave her notice. Maybe I could climb up a fire escape out back somewhere. There were phone booths, but they’d be watched for sure. My guess was, Carmella Cadenza had given orders for her people to rub me out on sight, no messing. I couldn’t take that risk.
As I was sneaking my way towards an alley that I knew would take me to the back of the huge building, ducking and diving into every shadowy doorway I could en route, I felt an arm wrap around my neck and something hard jam up against my spine. I allowed myself to be pulled into the darkness. Someone had got the drop on me and as I swore crudely, it was at my own stupidity.
“Take it easy, fellar. You’re in good hands.”
The voice, coupled with the faint whiff of very expensive perfume made me realise I hadn’t been snared by one of Satan’s children.
“Ariadne,” I breathed.
She pulled me deeper into the shadows, released me and took me down the narrowest of alleys to a doorway, tapping on it with the gun she was toting. The door opened and we slipped inside.
“Sorry about that,” she said, with a rueful grin. “The bad guys are out in force. Didn’t want to be seen.”
I was about to blurt out what I’d pieced together, but she put a slim finger over my lips. “I know what you’re going to say. You realised what was really happening.”
“You, too?”
“I had a tip off. There’s someone I want you to meet. It’ll come as a shock, but just stay cool, okay?”
I nodded, but I was feeling more than a little edgy as she took me through another door and up some stairs. We came to a room that was lit by a single bulb. Some of her people were there, dependable guys who I knew could handle themselves. It was a relief. What was less relaxing was the sight of the guy sitting in the middle of the room on an old chair, his head down, his hands folded in his lap.
He looked up at me and for a moment it seemed like he was shuddering. “Mt Stone,” he said. “You know me.”
Yeah, I knew that bastard, all right. Erik van Brazen. We’d crossed paths a few times, and if there was a man on this Earth I’d sworn I’d tear apart with my bare hands, it was him. He was responsible for more misery in my life than a whole shipload of Satan’s sidekicks.
“This better be good, pal, because I am going to pull your head apart before I leave this room,” I told him in a tone that does not get any nastier.
Ariadne put a restraining arm on mine and it’s probably the only thing that prevented me from carrying out my threat.
“You’re too late,” he said and as he lifted his head, I saw now that he looked like he’d aged about a hundred years. His skin was waxy, lined and creased, and his hair was thinning, white and fading. I looked at his hands, and they were little more than bones. “You want to shoot me, I don’t give a damn. Go ahead.”
“What’s he doing here?” I snapped at Ariadne.
“He’s the Raggedy Man. The shaven, cleaned-up version. Before that, he was controlled by the creature who tried to abduct me, the thing you called Spiderhead. When you rescued me, Spiderhead fled. Licking its wounds, it rejected the human vessel it had used for its purposes and found somewhere to hole up. Just like Carmella Carnadine. You saw them, Nick, in that place where Henry took you.”
Van Brazen was nodding. “Once that creature had dumped me, I was finished. It and that floozy abandoned me and let me crawl around in the dark. The only reason they didn’t kill me was maybe I’d earned the right to live, even if it was a parody of life.”
“We should have left you there to rot.” I had no sympathy for the man.
“I became the Raggedy Man. My days are numbered now, Stone. If you don’t kill me, it won’t matter. I’ll be done for soon enough. You don’t want to worry about me—it’s that thing you call Spiderhead you need to deal with.” He shuddered again.
“Where is it?”
“Oh, it’s here, not far away. It’s gotten its filthy grip on some other sucker. In a coupla hours it’ll make itself known, through those two girls you pulled out of the hole. They were bait if you didn’t know it.”
“So why were you so damn keen to tip Ariadne off?”
“Listen, pal, when you’ve had your brain clamped by that monster and had your every move controlled by it, your skin would crawl at the thought of it. I’m no saint. Maybe I’ll burn in Hell. But if I can pay that creeping horror back for what it did to me, then fine.”
“We’re supposed to trust you?” I sneered.
“We may have no choice,” said Ariadne.
“You made a deal with this creep?” I said to her, but she shook her head. “Okay, so make sure he stays put. If he moves an inch out of line,” I told the heavy brigade, “put a bullet between his ears. And when we’ve done, give him to Police Chief Carter. That’s the best deal you’ll get from me, van Brazen.”
“You’re going soft, Mr. Nightmare,” he said.
“If Miss Carnadine wasn’t here, your brains would already be decorating the walls.” I turned to Ariadne. “You got somewhere else we can talk?”
We quit the room and I felt myself slowly getting control of my fury. Ariadne gave me a quick hug.
“I don’t like it anymore than you do,” she said. “But it’s all we’ve got.”
“So what’s the plan?”
* * * *
I had to wear a tuxedo, and worse than that, a bow tie and shoes that were so polished they dazzled the eye. I had to look the part for my appearance at the Big Jamboree. Ariadne told me we were to act as if the whole show was going to be fine and we had no idea that something sinister was going on. I knew her administrative machinery was ultra-slick, but the trick she pulled off with the guests was, to my mind, beyond belief. Somehow she’d gotten discreet word to every guest that the show was postponed for a few days, but that it would go ahead, very sorry, and no one would be disappointed once it did. No doubt it caused ripples throughout city society, especially as diaries had to be adjusted, but it had to be done. The dignitaries and celebrities did not want to miss this, so they’d do as asked.
Diamonds Are Forever, however, was about to have a dummy run. Ariadne was going to fill the place with hired guns, or at least, guys she could depend on to tackle whatever the Angels of Malice were lining up. I’d told her that by alerting her guests, she’d have simply been warning the enemy off, but she pointed out that the major servants of darkness would be keeping well out of things, given what they thought was going to happen.
The Pullulating Tribe. That’s what was going to happen. I thought Henry had blown the whole
