Nile Shadows

diligent . . .

those traits seem to have become dangerous somehow in our century. As if there's no room anymore for the wobbly human factor. Automatons seem to be what society wants today. By the numbers, one two three. . . . Whatley will even tell you he's not a very aggressive man by nature. Just competitive. . . .

The Colonel paused again

It's true he used to be a good sportsman before he lost his right arm. . . .

A sudden change came over the Colonel. His chest sank and he groaned, looking more naked than ever in his mended undershirt and his faded yachting cap. He reached down to move his false leg and a look of resignation settled over his face.

Damn, he muttered, that's it for me. I've had my early morning fling at being defiant and ready for anything. From now on I take what comes and deal with it in whatever plodding way I can. Breakfast is over.

The Colonel looked at his watch.

Time to get cleaned up. I'll call Bletchley as soon as I get to the office. I can't imagine there'd be any difficulty about a meeting with Joe. Bletchley was a great fan of Colly's after all, and it must have been Bletchley who came across Joe's name in Stern's file in the first place and decided to get him over here from America. Nor can it be a coincidence that he assigned Colly's old cover to Joe, resurrecting this notion of a Purple Seven Armenian. Bletchley had to know what he was doing, and I can't imagine he'd want to give Joe serious trouble now. Maybe he has to straighten some things out with him, but surely it can't have anything to do with the way Whatley's been going about matters.

The Colonel rummaged around cleaning out his pipe.

Oh by the way, Harry. I assume you had your bad ear turned this way when I was going on about Whatley a moment ago. Fellow officer and so forth.

Didn't hear a word, Colonel.

Yes. Well then....

The Major was ready to leave but he hesitated. He had the impression the Colonel wasn't quite finished.

Was there anything else, sir?

The Colonel fumbled with his pipe.

No not really. I was just . . .

The Colonel glanced at the pipe in his hands and put it down on the table, an emphatic motion. There was an odd mixture of regret and wistfulness in his face, something the Major wasn't used to. In his shapeless underwear and his old yachting cap, the Colonel suddenly looked forlorn.

Silence, the Colonel muttered. . . . Why does there have to be so much silence in our lives?

He looked up at the Major.

Did I ever tell you I just missed being given command of the Monastery? It was the plum of course, but .

. .

The Major shook his head and waited. Something about the Stern case, he realized, had released a profound surge of emotion in the Colonel.

But I didn't get it, muttered the Colonel. It happened a few years ago. I had the background for it, that wasn't in doubt, and I even had this new false leg as an added qualification. . . .

The Colonel attempted a smile, a sad expression.

But I didn't get it in the end. I wasn't considered determined enough, whatever that's supposed to mean.

A polite way of saying ruthless, I suppose. So they decided to go with Bletchley even though this wasn't the area he knew, and they gave him Whatley as a deputy because Whatley's so thorough, and I was given the Waterboys instead. More your line, they said. Pretty much the traditional kind of operations and a much larger staff and all the ancillary services, which you can handle. . . . Not that Bletchley didn't deserve the job, he did. He's good and no one would deny he's conscientious, and they might have been right about me when it comes to the sort of work the Monastery does. But still. . . .

The Colonel's voice trailed off. He gazed down at the table and shook his head.

Anyway, Bletchley got the Monastery and he saw a lot more of Stern after that than I did. And he also saw a good deal more of Colly, whom he seemed to take a particular liking to, and so . . .

The Colonel's hand slowly went out to the chunk of cheese on the table. He picked up a small piece, toying with it, the crumbs spilling through his fingers.

Enigma, he thought all at once, the idea coming to him from nowhere. That's what's behind all of this.

Somehow Stern found out about Enigma. . . . Of course, that was his Polish story. And Bletchley found out Stern knew and he dug Joe's name out of Stern's files, Colly's brother, of course, and he got Joe over here and gave him Colly's old identity and . . . But how did Bletchley find out about Stern? There's no one here who . . .

Unless Stern had told someone, thought the Colonel . . . and that someone had spoken to Bletchley.

The Colonel stared at the table. If that was what had happened and Joe knew the truth, there was simply no way Bletchley could let him go now. Joe could never leave Cairo, it was out of the question. Bletchley had no choice in the matter. He would agree to a meeting and then he would have to . . . Well maybe they were right to have given him the job, thought the Colonel. Maybe he is better fitted for it than I am, more determined or whatever. After all, Colly's brother. . . .

The Major was still standing beside the kitchen table. The Colonel glanced up at him and smiled sadly.

He shrugged.

Just my mind wandering, he said, it has nothing to do with this. Anyway, I'll call Bletchley as soon as I get to the office and explain the situation. I'm sure he'll agree to a meeting.

The Major nodded eagerly.

Very good, sir.

Yes, well. . . .

The Colonel groaned and heaved himself up from the table. For a moment he stood there tottering on his false leg, getting his balance, gazing down at his books.

Well that's it for now, Harry, it's time to get on with the day. And I hate to say it but I already feel as if I weighed a thousand pounds. Somehow the good things in life always seem to be over almost before we knew they were there. . . .

***

The Major was at his desk when his private telephone rang exactly at noon. He picked it up and said hello.

A wandering minstrel here, Major. Any news of a meeting with the local pharaoh before the sun sets?

The Major gave Joe a time and a place.

After the sun sets, you say? Well that's all right with me. Most of my business seems to have been conducted at night since I've been in Cairo. Nature of the business maybe, wouldn't you say?

The Major laughed, adding that he was sorry the location of the meeting wouldn't be as dramatic as the Sphinx had been the night before.

No, well, we can't always have such sweeping views of the night-tide sky, now can we, Major? Life has to go on in its little ways and the Sphinx is just too big a concept for any of us to be visiting it every night.

Too big and then some, too hard to understand too. An inscrutable notion after all, like life and a lot of things. Until the appointed time and place then. . . .

The line went dead. The Major hung up the phone and looked across the room at the Colonel, who was sitting in the corner watching him. The Colonel nodded, rose.

That's it, said the Colonel. We've done what we could and it's up to Bletchley now.

The Colonel went limping back to his office.

Shameless, he thought, Harry using a private code like that right in front of me. The Sphinx, indeed. It's easy enough to understand how he was taken with Joe, but all the same charm isn't really what's wanted in wartime. It turns heads. . . .