Compleat Crow

IV

'What?' I was utterly astonished. 'You're joking!'

'No,' he answered, 'I am not joking. They were to provide the power he needed to trigger his doomsday weapon, to start the chain reaction. A persuasive man, Magruser, Henri, and you may believe that there's hell to pay right now in certain government circles. I have let it be known — anonymously, of course — just exactly what he was about and the holocaust the world so narrowly escaped. Seven countries, Henri, and seven atomic bombs. Seven simultaneous detonations powering his own far more dreadful weapon, forging the links in a chain reaction which would spread right across the world!'

But . . . how . . . when was this to happen?' I stammered.

'Today,' he answered, 'at ten o'clock in the morning, a little more than five hours from now The bombs were already in position in his plants, waiting for the appointed time. By now of course they have been removed and the plants destroyed. And now too Britain will have to answer to the heads of six foreign powers; and certain lesser heads will roll, you may be sure. But very quietly, and the world as .a whole shall never know.'

'But what was his purpose?' I asked. 'Was he a madman?'

He shook his head. 'A madman? No. Though he was born of human flesh, he was not even a man, not completely. Or perhaps he was more than a man. A force? A power . . .

'A week ago I attended a party at the home of my friend in the MOD. Magruser was to be there, which was why I had to be there — and I may tell you that took a bit of arranging. And all very discreetly, mind you, for I could not let any other person know of my suspicions. Who would have believed me anyway?

At the party, eventually I cornered Magruser — as strange a specimen as ever you saw — and to come face to face -with him was to confirm my quarry's identity. I now knew beyond any question of doubt that indeed he was the greatest peril the world has ever faced! If I sound melodramatic, Henri, it can't be helped.

`And yet to look at him . .. any other man might have felt pity. As I have said, he was an albino, with hair white as snow and flesh to match, so that his only high points seemed to lie- in pallid pulses beating in his throat and forehead. He was tall and spindly, and his head was large but not overly so; though his cranium did display a height and width which at one and the same time hinted of imbecility and genius. His eyes were large, close together, pink, and their pupils were scarlet. I have known women — a perverse group at best — who would call him attractive, and certain men who might envy him his money, power and position. As for myself, I found him repulsive! But of course my prejudice was born of knowing the truth.

'He did not wish to be there, that much was plain, for he had that same trapped look about him which came through so strongly in his photograph. He was afraid, Henri, afraid of being stopped. For of course he knew that someone, somewhere, had recognized him. What he did not yet know was that I was that someone.

'Oh, he was nervous, this Magruser. Only the fact that he was to receive his answer -that night, the go-ahead from the ministry, had brought him out of hiding. And he did receive that go-ahead, following which I cornered him, as I have said.'

'Wait,' I begged him. 'You said he knew that someone had recognized him. How did he know?'

'He knew at the same moment I knew, Henri, at the very instant when those spinning winds of his sprang up in my garden! But I had destroyed them, and fortunately before he could discover my identity. Oh, you may be sure he had tried to trace me, but I had been protected by the barriers I had placed about Blowne House. Now, however, I too was out in the open . .

`But I still can't see how the British government could be tricked into giving him a handful of atomic bombs!' I pressed. 'Are we all in the hands of lunatics?'

Crow shook his head. 'You should know by now,' he said, 'that the British give nothing for nothing. What the government stood to gain was far greater than a measly £2,000,000. Magruser had promised to deliver a power-screen, Henri, a dome of force covering the entire land, to be switched on and off at will, making the British Isles totally ^-invulnerable!'

'And we believed him?'

'Oh, there had been demonstrations, all faked, and it had been known for a long time that he was experimenting _with a "national defence system". And remember, my friend, that Magruser had never once stepped out of line. He was the very model of a citizen, a man totally above suspicion who supported every welfare and charity you could name. Why, I believe that on occasion he had even funded the government itself; but for all this he had not the means of powering his damnable weapons. And now you begin to see something of the brilliance of the man, something of his fiendishness.

'But to get back to what I was saying: I finally cornered him, we were about to be introduced, I even stuck out my hand for him to shake, and -

At that very moment a window blew in and the storm which had been blowing up for over an hour rushed into the room. Rushing winds, Henri, and fifty ladies, and gentlemen spilling their drinks and hanging onto their hats - and a whirling dervish of a thing that sucked up invitation cards and flowers from vases and paper napkins and flew between Magruser and myself like .. . like one of hell's own devils!

'How his pink eyes narrowed and glared at me then, and in another moment he had stepped quickly out of my reach. By the time order was restored Magruser was gone. He had rushed out of the house to be driven away, probably back to his plant outside Oxford.

'Well, I too left in something of a hurry, but not before my friend had promised not to tell Magruser who I was. Later, Magruser did indeed call him, only to be fobbed off with the answer that- I- must have been a gatecrasher. And so I was safe from him - for the moment.

'When I arrived home my telephone was ringing, and at first I was of a mind not to pick it up - but . . . it was the information I had been waiting for, a quotation from the Mad Arab himself, Abdul Alhazred.' Here Crow paused to get up, go to his desk, rummage about for a second or two and return with a scrap of paper. He seated himself once more and said: 'Listen to this, Henri:

"Many and multiform are ye dim horrors of Earth, infesting her ways from ye very prime. They sleep beneath ye unturned stone; they rise with ye tree from- its root; they move beneath ye sea, and in subterranean places they dwell in ye inmost adyta. Some there are long known to man, and others as yet unknown, abiding ye terrible latter days of their revealing. One such is an evil born of a curse, for ye Greatest Old One, before He went Him, down into His place to be sealed therein and sunken under ye sea, uttered a cry which rang out to ye very corners of ye All; and He cursed this world then and forever. And His curse was this: that whosoever inhabit this world, which was become his prison, there should breed amongst them and of their flesh great traitors who would ever seek to destroy them and so leave ye world cleared off for ye day of His return. And when they heard this great curse, them that held Him thrust Him down where He could do no more harm. And because they were good, they sought to eradicate ye harm He had willed, but could not do so. Thus they worked a counter-spell, which was this: that there would always be ones to know the evil ones when they arose and waxed strong, thus protecting ye innocents from His great curse. And this also did they arrange: that in their fashion ye evil ones would reveal themselves, and that any man with understanding might readily dispose of such a one by seizing him and saying unto him, 'I know you, and by revealing his number . . ."

'And in the end it was as simple as that, Henri...

'Late as the evening had grown, still I set about to-strengthen those psychic or magical protections I had built about Blowne House. Also, I placed about my own person certain charms for self-protection when I was abroad and outside the safety of these stout walls; all of which took me until the early hours of the morning. That day — that very day — Sturm Magruser would be collecting his deadly detonators, the triggers for his devilish device; and in my mind's eye I pictured a vehicle pulling up at some innocuous-seeming but well-guarded and lethally supplied establishment, and the driver showing a pass, and documents being signed in triple-triplicate and the subsequent very careful loading of seven heavy crates.

'There would be a pair of executive jets waiting on the private runway inside Magruser's Oxford' plant, and these would take six of the atomic bombs off to their various destinations around the globe. And so it can be seen that my time was running down. Tired as I was, worn down by worry and work, still I must press on and find the solution to the threat.'

'But surely you had the solution?' I cut in. 'It was right there in that passage from Alhazred.'

'I had the means to destroy him, Henri, yes — but I did not have the means of delivery! The only thing I could be sure of was that he was still in this country, at his centre of operations. But how to get near him, now that he knew me?'

'He knew you?'

Crow sighed. 'My face, certainly, for we had now met. Or almost. And if I knew my quarry, by now he might also have discovered my name and particulars. Oh, yes, Henri. For just as I have my means, be sure Magruser had his. Well, obviously I could not stay at Blowne. House, not after I realized how desperate the man must be to find me. I must go elsewhere, and quickly.

'And I did go, that very night. I drove up to Oxford.'

'To Oxford?'

'Yes, into the very lion's den, as it were. In the morning I found a suitable hotel and garaged my car, and a little later I telephoned Magruser.'

'Just like that?' Again I was astonished. 'You telephoned him?'

'No, not just like that at all,' he answered. 'First I ordered and waited for the arrival of a taxi. I dared not use my Mercedes for fear that by now he knew both the car and its number.' He smiled tiredly at me. 'You are beginning to see just how important numbers really are, eh, Henri?'

I nodded. 'But please go on. You said you phoned him?'

'I tried the plant first and got the switchboard, and was told that Mr Magruser was at home and could not be disturbed. I said that it was important, that I had tried his home number and was unable to obtain him, and that I must be put through to him at once.'

'And they fell for that? Had you really tried his home number?'

'No, it's not listed. And to physically go near his estate would be sheer lunacy, for surely the place would be heavily guarded.'

'But then they must have seen through your ruse,' I argued. 'If his number was ex-directory, how could you possibly tell them that you knew it?'

Again Crow smiled. 'If I was the fellow I pretended to be, I would know it,' he answered.

I gasped. 'Your friend from the ministry! You used his name.'

'Of course,' said Crow. 'And now we see again the importance of names, eh, my friend? Well, I was put through and eventually Magruser spoke to me, but I knew that it was him before ever he said a word. The very sound of his breathing came to me like exhalations from a tomb! "This is Magruser," he said, his voice full of suspicion. "Who is speaking?"

"Oh, I think you know me, Sturm Magruser, answered. "Even as I know your