His sandals made no noise on the footpath, and Maggie’s hooves sank silently into the dusty earth, so as he neared the hut he whistled a tune, in case anyone other than Anatoly should be inside: he was careful not to startle Afghans, who were all armed and jumpy. He ducked his head and entered. To his surprise, the cool interior of the hut was empty. He sat down with his back to the stone wall and settled to wait. After a few minutes he closed his eyes. He was tired, but too tense to sleep. This was the worst part of what he was doing: the combination of fear and boredom which overcame him during these long waits. He had learned to accept delays, in this country without wristwatches, but he had never acquired the imperturbable patience of the Afghans. He could not help but imagine the various disasters which might have overtaken Anatoly. How ironic it would be if Anatoly had trodden on a Russian antipersonnel mine and blown his foot off. Those mines actually injured more livestock than humans, but they were no less effective for that: the loss of a cow could kill an Afghan family as surely as if their house had been bombed with them all inside. Jean-Pierre no longer laughed when he saw a cow or a goat with a rough-hewn wooden leg.
In his reverie he sensed the presence of someone else, and opened his eyes to see Anatoly’s Oriental face inches from his own.
“I could have robbed you,” said Anatoly in fluent French.
“I wasn’t asleep.”
Anatoly sat down, cross-legged, on the dirt floor. He was a squat, muscular figure in baggy cotton shirt and trousers with a turban, a checked scarf and a mud-colored woolen blanket, called a pattu, around his shoulders. He let the scarf drop from his face and smiled, showing tobacco-stained teeth. “How are you, my friend?”
“Well.”
“And your wife?”
There was something sinister in the way Anatoly always asked about Jane. The Russians had been dead against the idea of his bringing Jane to Afghanistan, arguing that she would interfere with his work. Jean-Pierre had pointed out that he had to take a nurse with him anyway—it was the policy of Médecins pour la Liberté always to send pairs—and that he would probably sleep with whoever accompanied him, unless she looked like King Kong. In the end the Russians had agreed, but reluctantly. “Jane is fine,” he said. “She had the baby six weeks ago. A girl.”
“Congratulations!” Anatoly seemed genuinely pleased. “But wasn’t it a little early?”
“Yes. Fortunately there were no complications. In fact the village midwife delivered the baby.”
“Not you?”
“I wasn’t there. I was with you.”
“My God.” Anatoly looked horrified. “That I should have kept you away on such an important day . . .”
Jean-Pierre was pleased by Anatoly’s concern, but he did not show it. “It couldn’t be anticipated,” he said. “Besides, it was worth it: you hit the convoy I told you of.”
“Yes. Your information is very good. Congratulations again.”
Jean-Pierre felt a glow of pride, but he tried to appear matter-of-fact. “Our system seems to be working very well,” he said modestly.
Anatoly nodded. “What was their reaction to the ambush?”
“Increasing desperation.” It occurred to Jean-Pierre, as he spoke, that another advantage of meeting his contact in person was that he could give this kind of background information, feelings and impressions, stuff which was not concrete enough to be sent by radio in code. “They’re constantly running out of ammunition now.”
“And the next convoy—when will it depart?”
“It left yesterday.”
“They are desperate. Good.” Anatoly reached inside his shirt and brought out a map. He unfolded it on the floor. It showed the area between the Five Lions Valley and the Pakistan border.
Jean-Pierre concentrated hard, recalling the details he had memorized during his conversation with Mohammed, and began to trace for Anatoly the route the convoy would follow on its way back from Pakistan. He did not know exactly when they would return, for Mohammed did not know how long they would spend in Peshawar buying what they needed. However, Anatoly had people in Peshawar who would let him know when the Five Lions convoy departed, and from that he would be able to work out their timetable.
Anatoly made no notes, but memorized every word Jean-Pierre said. When they had finished they went over the whole thing again, with Anatoly repeating it to Jean-Pierre as a check.
The Russian folded the map and put it back inside his shirt. “And what of Masud?” he said quietly.
“We haven’t seen him since last I spoke to you,” said Jean-Pierre. “I’ve only seen Mohammed—and he is never quite sure where Masud is or when he will appear.”
“Masud is a fox,” said Anatoly with a rare flash of emotion.
“We will catch him,” said Jean-Pierre.
“Oh, we will catch him. He knows the hunt is in full cry, so he covers his tracks. But the hounds have his scent, and he cannot elude us forever—we are so many, and so strong, and our blood is up.” He suddenly became conscious that he was revealing his feelings. He smiled and became practical again. “Batteries,” he said, and he brought a battery pack out of his shirt.
Jean-Pierre took the little radio transceiver from the concealed compartment in the bottom of his medical bag, extracted the old batteries and exchanged them for new ones. They did this every time they met, to be sure that Jean-Pierre should not lose contact simply by running out of power. Anatoly would carry the old ones all the way back to Bagram, for there was no point in taking the risk of throwing away Russian-made batteries here in the Five Lions Valley, where there were no electrical appliances.
As Jean-Pierre was putting the radio back into his medical bag, Anatoly said: “Have you got anything in there for blisters? My feet—” Then he stopped suddenly, frowned and cocked his head, listening.
Jean-Pierre tensed. So far they had never been observed together. It was bound to happen sooner or later, they knew, and they had planned what they would do, how they would act like strangers sharing a resting place and continue their conversation when the intruder had left—or, if the intruder showed signs of staying long, they would leave together, as if by chance they happened to be heading in the same direction. All that had been previously agreed, but nevertheless Jean-Pierre now felt his guilt must be written all over his face.
In the next instant he heard a footfall outside, and the sound of someone breathing hard; and then a shadow darkened the sunlit entrance, and Jane walked in.
“Jane!” he said.
Both men sprang to their feet.
Jean-Pierre said: “What is it? Why are you here?”
“Thank God I caught up with you,” she said breathlessly.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jean-Pierre saw Anatoly turn away, as an Afghan would turn away from a brazen woman. The gesture helped Jean-Pierre recover from the shock of seeing Jane. He looked around quickly. Anatoly had put away the maps several minutes earlier, fortunately. But the radio—the radio was sticking out an inch or two from the medical bag. However, Jane had not seen it—yet.
“Sit down,” said Jean-Pierre. “Catch your breath.” He sat down at the same time and used the movement as an excuse to shift his bag so that the radio poked out from the side facing him and away from Jane. “What’s the matter?” he said.
“A medical problem I can’t solve.”
Jean-Pierre’s tension eased a fraction: he had been afraid she might have followed him because she suspected something. “Have some water,” he said. He reached into his bag with one hand, and with the other pushed the radio in while he rummaged. When the radio was concealed he drew out his flask of purified water and handed it to her. His heartbeat began to return to normal. He was recovering his presence of mind. The evidence was now out of sight. What else was there to make her suspicious? She might have heard Anatoly speaking French—but that was not uncommon: if an Afghan had a second language it was often French, and an Uzbak might speak French better than he spoke Dari. What had Anatoly been saying when she walked in? Jean-Pierre remembered: he had been asking for blister ointment. That was perfect. Afghans always asked for medicine when they met a doctor, even if they were in perfect health.