The Living Death by Nick Carter Read Free Book Online Page B

been flown in and placed in his room. He was not to drink or eat anything during the formal luncheons and dinners that was not served to everyone. He was to take no pills of any kind. Most important, he was not to go anywhere without me or be alone with anyone unless I was there. I excepted Signora Caldone and he thanked me with that little twinkle in his eyes again. After we checked in, I went over the Professor's rooms, a living room and a bedroom, and checked out all the windows and door locks. There were afternoon seminars scheduled and the Professor wanted to rest a while first so I went into the adjoining room that was mine, closed the door and unpacked my one, small bag. I usually traveled light. I wasn't alone more than twenty minutes when there was a knock on the door and I found Amoretta standing there wearing a bikini of bright orange and a clear, plastic jacket over it. The bikini was valiantly clinging to her, fighting a lost cause for modesty. In the brief suit, I really got a look at her magnificent figure, an hour-glass come to life, glowing, olive skin, wide hips and magnificent thighs. She stood with her legs slightly apart, a stance that only emphasized the throbbing sensuality of her body. She took one step into the room, just enough so that her breasts were tantalizingly close to me. She carried a beach towel over one arm.
    Tin going down to the beach," she said to me, making the statement an invitation.
    "I'm not," I answered, and watched the surprise flare in her eyes. She gazed at me as though I were out of my mind. I half thought so, too.
    'But this is the place for it, the time for it and the weather for it," she said logically. "Unless perhaps it is me you do not care to go with."
    She threw in the last sentence with her lower lip forming the slight pout I'd first noticed at the service station. It was a typically female ploy and an old one. I wasn't going to go for it.
    "You know better than that," I told her. The pout went away at once and she gazed seriously up at me. God, those eyes were enough to make anyone forget home and mother.
    "All right, I heard you explaining everything to
Zio
Enrico," she said. "But there must be some time we can see each other. To be here in Portofino with a man like you and spend it alone would be more than a waste. It would be a sin."
    'My sentiments exactly in regard to you, Amoretta," I agreed. "Let me work on it. Maybe something will turn up."
    Amoretta turned away slowly, her eyes telling me that I'd better work on it. I watched her walk down the hall, slowly, her hips undulating with each step. I had to hold myself back from going out after her, grabbing that soft, seductive rear and dragging her back into the room. I hoped Hawk appreciated the sacrifices I made in the line of duty.
    Letting Amoretta walk away was not all. By the end of the afternoon I'd attended three seminars with Professor Caldone, and I had scientific papers coming out of my ears on everything from the Interaction of Enzymes in Globular Disturbances to Reproduction Studies of the Hydroids. I never knew anything concerning sex could be so damned dull. But I also met a good number of the others attending the meeting. The list roughly broke down into four Norwegians, two Frenchmen, three Germans, four Russians, two Yugoslavs, three Chinese, four Americans and a scattering of other nationalities. There were a few I hadn't met attending other seminars being held concurrently. I also met Karl Krisst, a round, jovial-faced man, taller than his round shape indicated, with small, darting eyes that hinted at a shrewd, fast mind behind the surface blandness.
    "Karl, here, is our most valuable man," Professor Caldone said as we were introduced. "As Secretary of the ISS his task is to arrange every one of our monthly meetings. He chooses the site, arranges for accommodations, plans the seminars and the dinners,
sees
that everyone gets an invitation and generally makes our get-togethers what they