which she will collect from you again at the end of this meeting. I want
to make it very clear that none of this material will ever leave this
room.
It is of the most confidential nature, and belongs to me alone. I will
take a most stringent view of any breach of this instruction.'
As Utte handed out the folders, von Schiller looked at each recipient in
turn. His expression made it clear what the penalty would be for any
contravention of his instructions.
Then von Schiller opened the dossier that lay on the tabletop in front
of him. He stood over it, leaning forward on his bunched fists.
'In your folders you will find copies of the Polaroid photographs that
were recovered from Quenton-Harper's camp. Please look at these now.'
Each of them opened their own folder.
'Since our arrival Dr Nahoot has had an opportunity to study these, and
he is of the opinion that they are genuine, and that the stele in the
photographs is an authentic artefect of ancient Egyptian origin, almost
certainly dating from the Second Intermediate Period, circa 1790 BC. Is
there anything you wish to add to that, Doctor?'
'Thank you Herr von Schiller.' Nahoot smiled eaginously, but his dark
eyes weren nervous. There was something cold and dispassionate about the
old German that terrified him. He had displayed ro emotion whatsoever as
he ordered Nahoot to arrange the death of Duraid Al Simma and his wife.
Nahoot knew that he would be equally unmoved if he were- to order
Nahoot's own murder. He realized that he was riding the tiger's back. 'I
would just like to qualify that statement. I said that the stele
pictured in these prints appeared to be genuine. Of course I would not
be able to give you a definite opinion until I was able to examine the
actual stone at first hand.'
'I note your qualificatioq,' von Schiller nodded, 'and we are assembled
here to find the means to obtain the stele for your examination and
verdict.' He picked up the glossy print that Utte had made from the
original that morning in the laboratory darkroom in the adjoining hut.
Photography was not the least of her many talents and skills and she had
done a very competent job. The copies of the Polaroids that Helm had
transmitted to him in Hamburg had been blurred and distorted, but still
they had been sufficient to bring him rushing across the continents in
all this haste. Now he held these clear likenesses in full colour, and
his excitement threatened to suffocate him.
While they were all silent, he caressed the print as lovingly as if it
had been the actual object that it portrayed.
If this were genuine, as he knew instinctively that it was, then it
alone would be well worth the considerable cost in time and money and
human life that he had already paid.
It was a marvelous treasure, to match even the original seventh scroll
which was already in his collection. The condition and state of
preservation of the stele after four thousand years seemed to be
extraordinary. He lusted for it as he had for few things in his long
life. It required an effort to set aside this pervasive longing, and to
apply his mind to the task ahead of him.
If, however, the stele is genuine, Doctor, can you tell us, or rather,
