puppet and the King was a foreigner. There was another reason for the proposal, one which would not be discussed here, one which Sadat would not admit to himself except in the middle of the night: Abdel Nasser had been posted to the Sudan with his unit, and his absence gave Sadat a chance to win for himself the position of leader of the rebel movement.
He pushed the thought out of his mind, for it was ignoble. He had to get the others to agree to the proposal, then to agree to the means of carrying it out.
It was Kemel who spoke first. 'But will the Germans take us seriously?' he asked. Sadat nodded, as if he too thought that was an important consideration. In fact he and Ketnel had agreed beforehand that Kemel should ask this question, for it was a red herring. The real question was whether the Germans could be trusted to keep to any agreement they made with a group of unofficial rebels: Sadat did not want the meeting to discuss that. It was unlikely that the Germans would stick to their part of the bargain; but if the Egyptians did rise up against the British, and if they were then betrayed by the Germans, they would see that nothing but independence was good enough- and perhaps, too, they would turn for leadership to the man who had organized the uprising. Such hard political realities were not for meetings such as this: they were too sophisticated, too calculating. Kemel was the only person with whom Sadat could discuss tactics. Kemel was a policeman, a detective with the Cairo force, a shrewd, careful man: perhaps police work had made him cynical. The others began to talk about whether it would work. Sadat made no contribution to the discussion. Let them talk, he thought; it's what they really like to do. When it came to action they usually let him down.
As they argued, Sadat recalled the failed revolution of the previous summer. It had started with the sheik of al-Azhar, who had preached: 'We have nothing to do with the war.' Then the Egyptian Parliament, in a rare display of independence, had adopted the policy: 'Save Egypt from the scourge of war.' Until then the Egyptian Army had been fighting side by side with the British Army in the desert, but now the British ordered the Egyptians to lay down their arms and withdraw. The Egyptians were happy to withdraw but did not want to be disarmed. Sadat saw a heaven-sent opportunity to foment strife. He and many other young officers refused to hand in their guns and planned to march on Cairo. To Sadat's great disappointment, the British immediately yielded and let them keep their weapons. Sadat continued to try to fan the spark of rebellion into the flame of revolution, but the British had out maneuvered him by giving way. The march on Cairo was a fiasco: Sadat's unit arrived at the assembly point but nobody else came. They washed their vehicles, sat down, waited awhile, then went on to their camp.
Six months later Sadat had suffered another failure. This time it centered on Egypt's fat, licentious, Turkish King. The British gave an ultimatum to King Farouk: either he was to instruct his Premier to form a new, pro-British government, or he was to abdicate. Under pressure the King summoned Mustafa el-Nahas Pasha and ordered him to form a new government. Sadat was no royalist, but he was an opportunist: he announced that this was a violation of Egyptian sovereignty, and the young officers marched to the palace to salute the King in protest. Once again Sadat tried to push the rebellion further. His plan was to surround the palace in token defense of the King. Once again, he was the only one who turned up. He had been bitterly disappointed on both occasions. He had felt like abandoning, the whole rebel cause: let the Egyptians go to bell their own way, he had thought in the moments of blackest despair. Yet those moments passed, for he knew the cause was right and he knew he was smart enough to serve it well.
'But we haven't any means of contacting the Germans.' It was Imam speaking, one of the pilots. Sadat was pleased that they were already discussing how to do it rather than whether to.
Kemel had the answer to the question. 'We might send the message by plane.'
'Yes!' Imam was young and fiery. 'One of us could go up on a routine patrol and then divert from the course and land behind German lines.'
One of the older pilots said: 'On his return he would have to account for his diversion-'
'He could not come back at all,' Imam said, his expression turning forlorn as swiftly as it had become animated.
Sadat said quietly: 'He could come back with Rommel.'
Imam's eyes lit up again, and Sadat knew that the young pilot was seeing himself and Rommel marching into Cairo at the head of an army of liberation. Sadat decided that Imam should be the one to take the message.
'Let us agree on the text of the message,' Sadat said democratically. Nobody noticed that such a clear decision had not been required on the question of whether a message should be sent at all. 'I think we should make four points. One: We are honest Egyptians who have an organization within the Army. Two: Like you, we are fighting the British. Three: We are able to recruit a rebel army to fight on your side. Four: We will organize an uprising against the British in Cairo, if you will in return guarantee the independence and sovereignty of Egypt after the defeat of the British.' He paused. With a frown, he added: 'I think perhaps we should offer them some token of our good faith.'
There was a silence. Kernel had the answer to this question, too, but it would look better coming from one of the others.
Imam rose to the occasion. 'We could send some useful military information along with the message.'
Kernel now pretended to oppose the idea. 'What sort of information could we get? I can't imagine'
'Aerial photographs of British positions.'
'How is that possible?'
'We can do it on a routine patrol, with an ordinary camera.'
Kemel looked dubious. 'What about developing the film?'
'Not necessary,' Imam said excitedly. 'We can just send the film.'
'Just one film?'
'As many as we like.'
Sadat said: 'I think Imam is right.' Once again they were discussing the practicalities of an idea instead of its risks. There was only one more hurdle to jump. Sadat knew from bitter experience that these rebels were terribly brave until the moment came when they really had to stick their necks out. He said: 'That leaves only the question of which of us will fly the plane.' As he spoke he looked around the room, letting his eyes rest finally on Imam.
After a moment's hesitation, Imam stood up.
Sadat's eyes blazed with triumph.
