"Never mind--you are. That gives me a certain hold on you, whatever
your purposes."
The blond head nodded. "I wondered about that. That remark you made to
me down in the cell suggested--well, I couldn't take chances.
Especially when you showed you were something extraordinary by
snapping those straps and bursting the door open. I came along with
the search party in hope of finding you."
He had to admire the quick mind behind the wide smooth brow. "You damn
near did--for them," he accused her.
"I couldn't do anything suspicious," she answered. "But I figured you
hadn't leaped off the cliff in sheer desperation. You must have had
some hiding place in mind and under water seemed the most probable.
In view of what you'd already done I was pretty sure you could hold
your breath abnormally long." Her smile was a little shaky. "Though I
didn't think it would be _inhumanly_ long."
"You've got brains," he said, "but how much heart?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, are you going to throw Dr. Tighe and me to the wolves now? Or
will you help us?"
"That depends," she answered slowly. "What are you here for?"
His mouth twisted ruefully. "I'm not here on purpose at all," Dalgetty
confessed. "I was just trying to get a clue to Dr. Tighe's
whereabouts. They outsmarted me and brought me here. Now I _have_ to
rescue him." His eyes held hers. "Kidnapping is a Federal offense.
It's your duty to help me."
"I may have higher duties," she countered. Leaning forward, tautly,
"But how do you expect to do this?"
"I'm damned if I know." Dalgetty locked moodily out at the beach and
the waves and the smoking spindrift. "But that gun of yours would be a
big help."
She stood for a moment, scowling with thought. "If I don't come back
soon they'll be out hunting for me."
"We've got to find another hiding place," he agreed. "Then they will
assume I survived after all and grabbed you. They'll be scouring the
whole island for us. If we haven't been located before dark they'll be
spread thin enough to give us a chance."
"It makes more sense for me to go back now," she said. "Then I can be
on the inside to help you."
He shook his head. "Uh-uh. Quit making like a stereoshow detective. If
you leave me your gun, claiming you lost it, that's sure to bring
suspicion on you the way they're excited right now. If you don't I'll
still be on the outside and unarmed--and what could you do, one woman
alone in that nest? Now we're two with a shooting iron between us. I
think that's a better bet."
After a while, she nodded. "Okay, you win. Assuming"--the half-lowered
gun was raised again with a jerking motion--"that I will aid you. Who
are you? _What_ are you, Dalgetty?"
He shrugged. "Let's say I'm Dr. Tighe's assistant and have some
unusual powers. You know the Institute well enough to realize this
isn't just a feud between two gangster groups."
"I wonder...." Suddenly she clanked the automatic back into its
holster. "All right. For the time being only though!"
Relief was a wave rushing through him. "Thank you," he whispered.
Then, "Where can we go?"
"I've been swimming around here in the quieter spots," she said. "I
know a place. Wait here."
She stepped across the cave and peered out its mouth. Someone must
have hailed her, for she waved back. She stood leaning against the
rock and Dalgetty saw how the sea-spray gleamed in her hair. After a
long five minutes she turned to him again.
"All right," she said. "The last one just went up the path. Let's go."
They walked along the beach. It trembled underfoot with the rage of
the sea. There was a grinding under the snort and roar of surf as if
the world's teeth ate rock.
The beach curved inward, forming a small bay sheltered by outlying
skerries. A narrow path ran upward from it but it was toward the sea
that the woman gestured. "Out there," she said. "Follow me." She took
off her shoes as he had done and checked her holster: the gun was
waterproof, but it wouldn't do to have it fall out. She waded into the
sea and struck out with a powerful crawl.