I kept my eyes on Djenina. “You make a very persuasive case.”
“Nick!” Gabrielle said loudly.
I did not look at her. “What would my pay amount to, as colonel?”
Djenina smiled. “Americans are always so practical when it comes to money.” Then he shrugged. “A full colonel here probably makes no more than you do now. But I could, and would, make a special arrangement so that you would earn twice the usual pay, for special duty on my staff.”
I sat there silent a moment, as if I were considering all angles. “And if the coup were successful, I would definitely be head of intelligence and security?”
Gabrielle tried to interrupt again, but I wouldn’t let her. “Be quiet,” I said harshly. Then I looked back at Djenina. “Well?”
Djenina was enjoying Gabrielle’s discomfort. He smiled again as he spoke to me. “You have my word for it. I will put it in writing.”
I paused. “I’ll have to give it some thought.”
The smile faded slightly. “All right. You may have all night. Tomorrow morning you must give me an answer.”
“And the girl?”
“We will not harm her.”
I studied his face and it had all the honesty of a desert bandit. But I had gained us some time, hopefully. Until dawn tomorrow. Anything could happen during the night.
“And what happens to us tomorrow morning if I refuse your offer?” I asked.
The smile widened slightly. “There will be a small firing squad, I’m afraid. I’ve already sent for a detachment of men, just in case. It will all be very official, of course. You will be shot as spies, which you most certainly are.” His voice softened. “But I think you will not be so foolish, Carter. I think you will do what is best for you.”
“I’ll give you my answer in the morning,” I told him.
“Fine. Ahmed, take them upstairs. Leave Mr. Carter handcuffed for the time being. You will station the corporal outside the palace on that side, and you will take up a position outside their locked rooms.” He looked at me to see my reaction to his thoroughness. “Good night, to both of you.”
We were led upstairs, and on the way Gabrielle would not look at me, let alone speak. I tried to recall the details of the map Djenina had taken back from me, so I could have them in case we ever got away from here. Upstairs we were ushered into adjoining rooms, and the doors were locked tight.
My room was a large one with a bed, a small sofa, and an overstuffed chair. The ceiling bore a mural depicting a scene from old Morocco. There was a bathroom off the room, and it was decorated with mosaic tiles.
I went over to the window and looked out. It was a long drop to the ground. The other soldier was already outside, walking his post along the side of the building, a submachine gun slung over his shoulder.
I sighed heavily. I wondered what I had really accomplished. With a guard outside the windows and doors and my wrists in cuffs, it suddenly seemed pretty unlikely that I could find a way to get Gabrielle and myself out of this place alive.
I lay on the bed, trying not to notice the way the handcuffs bit into the flesh of my wrists. Gabrielle was just beyond the thick wall across the room, but there was no way to get to her. If time were not so important, and if I could be sure he would not hurt her, I could have given Djenina an affirmative answer immediately and played along until I could get away from him or kill him. But I had to get out of here by tomorrow morning if I was to have any chance of reaching the lab in time.
I lay there thinking. If I could pick the lock on the cuffs, I would have some freedom. But how do you pick a lock on your own bound wrists? It was a nice question.
Maybe the answer was to forget the handcuffs. I could do plenty with them on, if I could just get out of this room. I decided to wait until the early hours of the morning, when the guards would be half asleep. Then I would try to get the guard outside in the corridor to come in here, on his own, without calling the general. Maybe he would see no harm in taking me to Djenina for another private talk, without the girl. It wouldn’t hurt to ask.
But my plan was never to come off. General Djenina had ideas of his own. About midnight I heard a knock at my door, a murmured command to the guard, and the door was unlocked. Djenina opened it and stood in the doorway for a moment as I sat on the edge of the bed.
“I would like to have another talk with you,” he said, closing the door behind him.
“I was expecting you,” I said.
He strode across the room with his hands clasped behind him, an imposing figure with his black-belted uniform and his shiny, high boots over military breeches. He stood at the window, looking out into the blackness.
“It was difficult to speak frankly with the girl there,” he said. He turned to me, his eyes boring into mine. “You have the qualities I like in an associate, Carter. And you have the know-how to make a coup work for us. In addition to the extra pay I mentioned downstairs, I can see that you receive many other — fringe benefits, I believe you would call them Gifts from grateful political leaders, who are protected by my troops. A fine home, Carter, and a fine American car at your disposal, with a chauffeur if you wished. Women. All the women you will ever want. And when you become my minister of state security, you will have extraordinary power. You will be a force in Moroccan politics and history.”
“You make a good case for your side,” I said with a small grin.
“You will have a greater career than you ever imagined. This is not a pipe dream. I can make it all come true, with your help.
“On the other hand, if you were to insist on retaining your previous questionable loyalties, you would be putting me in an awkward position. I cannot afford an enemy like you, Carter. But with you on my side, and the capital which will be forth-coming shortly from Peking, I can find my destiny in this country, and you can be a part of it.”
He came and stood beside me. “What do you think? Will you take this opportunity? Only you can put the cloak of greatness on you, Carter.”
I looked at the floor for another moment, then rose to meet him eye to eye. “There seems to be little choice.”
A look of smug satisfaction came over his square face. “Then you will come with me?”
“Yes,” I said. “But what about the girl?”
The smile faded from his lips, his eyes locked with mine, and I knew with an awful certainty how miserable it would be to be under the influence and power of this man. “The girl is quite another matter,” he said coldly. “The girl must die.”
I looked away. That was what I had figured.
“And you must do it.”
I looked back at him and tried to hide my hatred. “You want too much.”
“Do I?” he said flatly. “In return for your own life? For riches and power? Do I really ask too much, Carter? No, I think not. Because killing the girl will be your act of fealty to me. It will be your way of showing me that you’ve really changed loyalties. Kill the girl, who means very little to you, and we will ride the wind together.”
Now the bastard was getting poetic. I looked back into his eyes, and I think it bothered him a little that I was at his level. He was accustomed to looking down on people.
“How?” I asked.
He grinned again. He drew the big automatic from its holster at his side. “Would this do?”
I looked at the gun. A slug from it would tear Gabrielle in half. But I had to make him think I was willing to do it. It would give us both an opportunity to fight back, anyway, if luck was with us. “I think that ought to be sufficient,” I said. “When do I do it?”
“As soon as possible,” he said.
I thought a moment. Now was as good a time as any to make a break for it. Maybe the darkness would help if I could get outside.
“I’ll do it now,” I said, putting an edge of tension in my voice.