Fathom Page #5

You won't believe this, but I don't

enjoy throwing you back to the lions.

No, but you do get a kick

out of sending me to jail.

On the other hand, it's the only way you'll

discover I'm the good guy in this story.

Suddenly I can't think

of anything more important.

You've got to be

out of your mind.

Don't touch it!

Miss Harvill, I must have heat,

but I dislike

firecrackers, please.

Take off your earrings

and your bracelet.

Put them down there.

Helicopters,

- mysterious speedboats,

ingenious explosives.

Serapkin is exhilarated

by competition,

but only when he knows

who his competitors are.

Your employers.

Their names? Who are they?

I'll make you a deal.

I'll give you the answers,

you give me the Fire Dragon.

I admire you, Miss Harvill.

Oh, I admire you greatly.

You're cool.

From Serapkin, there is

no greater compliment.

Your offer is generous

but quite impossible.

I do not have the Fire Dragon.

Then why did you send to London

to have someone authenticate it?

You're well-informed...

amazingly.

I did send to London, but all

I had to show was a picture...

taken by the man

who proposes to sell it to me.

The Fire Dragon, Miss Harvill,

the grail for which

we all thirst.

He's a bit cross-eyed,

isn't he?

A defect on the camera's eye,

not the dragon's.

Then you really don't have it?

No... but I know who does.

That's good enough. Tell me

where he is. I'll get it from him.

Very well.

You go to Malaga.

You go to the market.

You go to the third stall

on the left.

The man is there.

He's a cabbage salesman.

Your coolness exceeds

even my own, Miss Harvill.

Why, apart from your...

amply evident charms,

should I give you the one piece

of the puzzle which only I possess?

You're a distinguished man,

Mr. Serapkin.

You wouldn't want to clutter up

your house with a lot of stolen objects.

My dear girl, half the objects

in the Louvre are stolen.

All right.

Then here's a better reason:

Because you might want

to live a little longer,

and the man you're dealing with

is a murderer.

What makes you think so?

The Fire Dragon was found

by a skin diver named Kurt.

Kurt took his last dive yesterday.

What a delightful bit of news.

You see, Miss Harvill,

lam a collector.

I am not interested in

the past history of a work of art,

only its acquisition.

Your information has merely

dealt me a stronger hand,

unlike yours,

which I fear has entirely

run out of cards.

Beauty is a fragile thing,

Miss Harvill.

It can be so easily destroyed.

Now...

who are you working for?

That's a good question.

I wish I knew that myself.

Serapkin always gets

what he wants.

Who are these people?

Who are my enemies?

Pencil me Ln as number one.

Let her go!

I have a funny house rule.

I like my customers...

in shape to pay their bill.

Do you know to whom

you speak, senor?

I don't care if you're

king of the Eskimos. Out.

You will hear

from Serapkin, senor.

Oh, yes, you will hear

very, very soon.

Good day, dovchik.

The travel agents did say...

that Spain wouldn't be boring.

- Thank you.

- Oh, bed, breakfast and bouncing...

all for three pounds a day.

If you like, we can talk

about it over coffee.

- No, I wouldn't

say I was in any trouble.

Aside from a little treason,

arson, murder...

and a parking ticket four days ago

in Seville, I'm having a picnic.

I've a funny feeling that's what's

known as "kidding on the square."

Senor Mike, the langosta

for the lunch.

Yes, I know. Miss Harvill and I

are going out to get them now.

Where are we going?

We've got lobster on the menu for lunch,

and I have to go out and pull them in.

- The boat's a good place to talk.

- Sounds lovely.

I'll just get my gear.

I won't be a second.

If you want to put some cognac

in your coffee, I wouldn't blame you.

Someone you know?

- We were never introduced.

- That's funny.

Kurt was run over before you came

into town. How'd you meet him?

Well... you-know

was telling me about him.

He was a good boy.

Wish I had a better picture of him.

It's that damned camera of mine.

- Your camera?

- Yes. It has a scratch on the lens.

I'll have to get myself

a new one sometime.

- What's the matter?

- Nothing.

Why are you so interested

in my pictures?

I like looking at pictures.

That's what they're here for, isn't it?

You know, you're right.

Come on.

Careful, angel.

Those things are dangerous.

What luck in Lobsterville?

Let's see, shall we?

Well, what do ya know?

Funny-looking lobster.

Yeah. Looks more

like a fire dragon.

Don't you want to touch it,

after all the trouble it's given you?

That was a mistake.

I've been making

quite a few of those lately.

This one's fatal.

When you showed so much

interest in my pictures,

I had a feeling you knew about me,

and now I'm sure.

You know I murdered Kurt.

He found this thing one day when he

was diving, and he showed it to me.

I took a picture of it

and showed it to my friend Serapkin.

He made me a big offer.

So when Kurt told me he was doing a deal

with your friends up at the villa,

I got him out of the house and...

- It would have been much easier if you

hadn't turned up. - It just ain't fair.

Murderers get such lousy breaks.

See you in jail!

Welcome home, lassie.

- Stay away from me!

- Oh, now, you're among friends.

Stop it, Timothy. I'm a hundred years

older than the day we met.

- I'm afraid Merriwether's been talking

to her, sir. - Aye, to be expected.

And very convincing, no doubt.

The tale of a rogue who deserted in

Korea long years ago. Was that not it?

The tale was true, lassie, every word

of it, with one wee exception.

That rogue who deserted was not myself

but one Peter Merriwether.

He simply twisted the truth.

We're the cops, they're the robbers.

My card.

Campbell and Associates, Enquiry Agents,

7 Prince Of Wales Street,

Hong Kong.

Oh.

Some little man in a cellar must be making

a lot of money printing up these things.

If true, why the story

about the H-bomb?

Oh, that. A hoax, old girl.

Rather brilliantly engineered.

You see, there's a bloody great fee

for bagging the Fire Dragon...

and that Merriwether chap.

- Haven't you lost something, Campbell?

- Hmm?

Whither the

roiling Highland burr? - Oh.

Corroborative detail, old girl,

to lend verisimilitude to an otherwise

bald and unconvincing narrative.

I thought it might make me

sound more... official.

- And we needed a skydiver.

- Needed one desperately.

- Had I told you the truth, would you ever

have made that jump? - Jolly unlikely, love.

You'd scarcely have risked your neck for a

mere bauble stolen from the Red Chinese.

Which reminds me, you haven't

popped into the dear thing...

in your recent adventures,

have you 7

I was wondering when

you'd get around to that.

It could even explain how you so

conveniently "popped into" me just now.

Come again, old girl?

There's a funny kind of

"guardian angel" watching over me.

He just saved my life.

Of course, he's not all angel.

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