Assignment Madeleine by Aarons Edward S

Author:Aarons, Edward S. [Aarons, Edward S.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

DURELL took a cup of coffee from the thermos Jane Larkin handed him. There was a knapsack of sandwiches and two bottles of Algerian wine and a bottle of Martel. There was a gallon thermos jug of water that Talek had failed to pour out onto the sand, and Durell thought grimly that he should be grateful for small favors. The rest of the picture was clear enough. Talek had betrayed them. He belonged to the rebels and had enlisted with the French only to act as a spy for the guerrillas. But the big question was whether he worked for the extremists nr for el-Abri’s forces. The answer here was important. It might mean the difference between life and death.

Durell sipped his coffee slowly. In this business you took calculated risks time and again, judging the chances on the weight of all the facts you could gather in hand. Now and then, however, all your best calculations could be upset by something totally unlocked for. Such as Jane Larkin. He hadn’t expected her to interfere with Charley the way she had. If she hadn't screamed, Durell would not have interrupted the scene.

He had deliberately made it easy for Madeleine to steal the handcuff keys. Perhaps too easy. L‘Heureux had caught on to that maneuver. But it was doubtful if he had suspected it until the very last moment.

Not that Durell wanted L’Heureux to escape. But his job here went beyond simply escorting the man hack to civilization and adequate punishment. There was all that American currency floating around the area. The money wasn’t important in itself. The thing that was important was what the money might do. He hadn’t forgotten a single word el-Abri had told him about the money. He had been thinking about it ever since.

There were Frenchmen in Algiers who profited by this war, who might wish to prolong it or to win it without compromise, without yielding to any single one legitimate aspiration of the other side. It was to their advantage to fan the fires of terror and violence to the point where no compromise could be effected.

Finding the American money in the hands of the rebels could do that. Propaganda could make much of it, all wrong. The United States could be accused of secretly financing and abetting the rebellion, perhaps on a deal to gain certain oil concessions in the Sahara. It was not too fantastic that some of the inflamed and angry and tormented men would believe it. If pressure were being exerted by the saner, more rational men in this country to end the war, such a propaganda campaign could make them close ranks, join the shadowy few without understanding how they were being manipulated, and the war would go on and on, without visible end.

The money had to be found, and quickly.

It had to be removed quietly, returned to the proper authorities.

Durell had narrowed his thinking down to one point. L’Heureux knew where the money was hidden. There

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