sleeping and went off with another woman. Are you going to protect him after that?'
She said nothing.
'Wolff kept his radio on your boat. He sent messages to Rommel at midnight. You knew this, so you were an accessory to espionage. You're going to be shot for spying.'
'All Cairo will riot! You wouldn't dare!'
'You think so? What do we care if Cairo riots now? The Germans are at the gates-let them put down the rebellion.'
'You dare not touch me.'
'Where has Wolff gone?'
'I don't know.'
'Can you guess?'
'No.'
'You're not being helpful, Sonja. It will make things worse for you.'
'You can't touch me.'
'I think I'd better prove to you that I can.' Vandam nodded to the woman officer.
The woman held Sonja still while Jakes tied her to the chair. She struggled for a moment, but it was hopeless. She looked at Vandam, and for the first time there was a hint of fear in her eyes. She said: 'What are you doing, you bastards?'
The woman officer took a large pair of scissors from her bag. She lifted a hank of Sonja's long, thick hair and cut it off.
'You can't do this!' Sonja shrieked.
Swiftly, the woman cut Sonja's hair. As the heavy locks fell away the woman dropped them in Sonja's lap. Sonja screamed, cursing Vandam and Jakes and the British in language which Vandam had never heard from a woman. The woman officer took a smaller pair of scissors and cropped Sonja's hair close to the scalp.
Sonja's screams subsided into tears. When he could be heard Vandam said 'You see, we don't care much about legality and justice anymore, nor do we care about Egyptian public opinion. We've got our backs to the wall. We may all be killed soon. We're desperate.'
The woman took soap and a shaving brush and lathered Sonja's head, then began to shave her scalp.
Vandam said 'Wolff was getting information from someone at GHQ. Who?'
'You're evil,' said Sonja.
Finally the woman officer took a mirror from her bag and held it in front of Sonja's face, At first Sonja would not look in the glass, but after a moment she gave in. She gasped when she saw the reflection of her totally bald head. 'No,' she said. 'It's not me.' She burst into tears. All the hatred was gone. Now she was completely demoralized. Vandam said softly: 'Where was Wolff getting his information?'
'From Major Smith,' Sonja replied.
Vandam heaved a sigh of relief. She bad broken: thank God.
'First name?' he asked.
'Sandy Smith.'
Vandam glanced at Jakes. That was the name of the major from M16 who had disappeared-it was as they had feared.
'How did he get the information?'
'Sandy came to the houseboat in his lunch break to visit me. While we were in bed Alex went through his briefcase.'
As simple as that, Vandam thought. Jesus, I feel tired. Smith was liaison man between the Secret Intelligence Service-also known as M16--and GHQ, and in that role be had been privy to all strategic planning, for M16 needed to know what the Army was doing so that it could tell its spies what information to look for. Smith had been going straight from the morning conferences at GHQ to the houseboat, with a briefcase full of secrets. Vandam had already learned that Smith had been telling people at GHQ he was lunching at the M16 office, and telling his superiors at M16 he was lunching at GHQ, so that nobody would know he was screwing a dancer. Vandam had previously assumed Wolff was bribing or blackmailing someone: it had never occurred to him that Wolff might be getting information from someone without that someone's knowledge.
Vandam said: 'Where is Smith now?'
'He caught Alex going through his briefcase. Alex killed him.'
'Where's the body?'
'In the river by the houseboat.'
Vandam nodded to Jakes, and Jakes went out.
Vandam said to Sonja: 'Tell me about Kernel.'
She was in full flood now, eager to tell all she knew, her resistance quite crushed; she would do anything to make people be nice to her. 'He came and told me you had asked him to have the houseboat watched. He said he would censor his surveillance reports if I would arrange a meeting between Alex and Sadat.'
'Alex and whom?'
