'It was the same as the truck we passed this afternoon.
I saw the sign at the same angle as before and it came back to me. The
red Pegasus, the flying horse.'
He studied her face for a while, 'Are you absolutely certain?'
'Absolutely!' She nodded vehemently.
Nicholas stared out over the magnificent panorama of the gorge spread
below them. It was forty miles to the far wall of the canyon, but in the
brilliant rain-washed air it seemed so close that he could reach across
and touch it.
'A coincidence?'he wondered at last.
'Do you think so? A very strange and wonderful coincidence, then.
Pegasus in both Yorkshire and Gojam?
Do you accept that?'
'It doesn't make sense. The truck that hit you was stolen-'
'Was it?' she demanded. 'Are we sure of that?'
'If it wasn't, then let's hear your ideas.'
'If you were planning an assassination, would you rely on stealing a
truck conveniently left at a Little Chef for you?'
He shook his head, 'Go on.'
'Suppose you arranged for your own truck to be placed there for you, and
for your driver to report it stolen only after you had a good head start
on the police.'
'It's possible,' he agreed without enthusiasm.
'Whoever murdered Duraid, and made two further attempts to kill me,
obviously has considerable resources at his disposal. He is able to make
arrangements in Egypt and England. On top of that, he has the seventh
scroll in his possession. He has our notes and all our workings and
translations which point him clearly to this spot on the Abbay river.
Just suppose that he has control of a company like Pegasus - is there
any reason why he can't be here in Ethiopia, just as we are, right at
this moment?'
Nicholas was silent for a while. He picked up a stone from the ledge
beside him and tossed it out over the cliff.
They both watched it drop away, dwindling in size until it vanished in
the veils of spray far below where they sat.
Abruptly Nicholas stood up and reached for her hand to pull her to her
feet beside him. 'Come on,' he said.
'Where are we going?'
'Pegasus base camp. Let's go and have a chat to the site foreman.'
Boris protested angrily and hurried to intervene when Nicholas climbed
into the Toyota and started the engine, 'Where the hell do you think you
are going?, 'Sight-seeing.' Nicholas let in the clutch. 'Back in an
hour.'
'Hey, English, my truck!' He ran to catch up with them, but Nicholas
accelerated away.
'Charge me for the hire.' fie grinned back at Boris in the rear-view
mirror. -off and followed the They reached the signposted turn side
track over the ridge. The Pegasus camp lay on the far side. Nicholas
braked to a halt on the crest of the rise and they studied it in
silence.
