Simon opened the door and swung out a long leg.
“A noble duty, Horatio,” he murmured, “but we belong here — remember? The sheriff wouldn’t like it if he thought we’d jumped ship.”
The Admiral stood firmly planted in his path. His face was no longer ruddily friendly, and his eyes were half shuttered.
“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know how you were able to disembark, but my orders—”
That was as far as he got, for at that moment the precise section of his anatomy known to box-fighting addicts as the button came into unexpected violent contact with an iron fist which happened at that moment, by some strange coincidence, to be traveling upwards at rocket speed. For one brief instant the Admiral enjoyed an entirely private fireworks display of astonishing brilliance, and thereupon lost interest in all mundane phenomena.
The Saint caught him as he crumpled and eased his descent to the gravel. There was no other movement in the parking lot, and the slow drumming of the distant surf blended with a faint filtration of music from inside the club to overlay the scene with the beguiling placidity of a nocturne. Simon took another grip and heaved the Admiral quite gently into the deeper shadows of some shrubbery, where he began to bind and gag him deftly with the Admiral’s own handkerchief, necktie, and suspenders.
“You, too, can be a fine figure of a man, bursting with vibrant health and super strength,” recited Patricia. “Send for our free booklet, They Laughed When I Talked Back to the Truck Driver.”
“If Mary Livingstone ever loses her voice, you can get a job with Jack Benny,” said the Saint. “Now while I finish this up, will you be a good girl and go in and engage Esteban in dulcet converse — with his back to the door. I’ll be with you in two seconds.”
To be drearily accurate, it was actually sixty-eight seconds later when the Saint entered the gaming room again. He found Esteban facing a vivacious Pat, and it was clear from his back that it would take something rather important to drag him away from her.
The Saint was able to provide this. It manifested itself as a pressure in the center of Esteban’s spine.