the Khufra Run (1990) by Higgins Jack

Author:Higgins, Jack [Higgins, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-03-16T14:28:05+00:00

Chapter 7.

Dark Passage

When I went up the long zig-zag of concrete steps that climbed the cliffs to the Villa Rose, I had Sister Claire's sodden habit over one arm and carried a canvas holdall. As for Sister Claire herself, she climbed ahead of me, but only with great difficulty and when we reached the back gate and I pressed the bell, I noticed that she leaned against the wall as if for support. Not that I felt so good myself and my bad leg ached like hell.

After a while there were footsteps, a nasty snuffling sound, which could only be the Alsatian. The door opened to reveal not only Jose and the dog, but Carlo who was holding an automatic shotgun in a most businesslike way.

We moved inside, the old man kicking at the dog to still it. Carlo barred the door behind us and we went up through the garden to where Lillie waited, leaning over the balustrade of the terrace.

'So you made it?' she said. 'What happened to Turk?'

'He's fine. Staying on board the Mary Grant tonight, just in case.'

Sister Claire made it to the terrace and reached out quickly for support and Lillie got an arm around her. For once in her life she actually managed to look concerned about another human being.

'Heh, you don't look so good,' she said. What happened? Did you leave anyone still moving back there?'

'Taleb, for one,' I said. 'But sleep is all she needs.' I passed the soaking habit to Carlo. 'If you could get the old lady to wash and iron that for the morning it would help.'

He and Lillie went out, Sister Claire between them. I left the canvas holdall on a table in the corner of the terrace, went down to the salon and raided the bar. I found a bottle of Irish whisky called Antrim Glen which sounded promising and took it back to the terrace along with a soda syphon and a cut glass tumbler. It tasted as if it had been made in Japan, but I was at that stage when it didn't really matter. I was examining the Admiralty chart of the Khufra Marshes area when Lillie returned.

'What in hell did they do to her?'

'Nothing much. We arrived in the nick of time, trumpets blowing.'

I poured another whisky. She said, 'That stuff I keep for people I don't want to come back again.'

'Well, you know what they say,' I told her. 'You should never go back to anything.'

I had another look at the chart and she sat on the arm of the chair beside me. 'You're crazy, Jack. Crazy, to go, I mean. Come to that, you don't even know where you're going till she decides to trust you enough.'

I traced a pencil circle around Zarza. 'It can't be too far from there, that's certain.'

'I once did a movie on location in the Florida Everglades,' she said. 'If it's anything like that, you're kidding yourselves.'

'You take a chance every day of your life,' I told her, as I folded the map.

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