Loman asked
What is that noise?
Helicopters.
Silence from the black speaker-grille.
In his mind he was trying to reorganize the end-phase, signalling London for directives, recreating the ruins I'd just told him about. And he couldn't do it.
How long have they been there?
About a minute and a half.
How far away?
Five kilometres, maybe six.
I watched them. There were three of them.
What is your situation appraisal?
I wiped my hand across my mouth again.
They got us on the scanners but not too accurately. They're starting a square search due east of me, three of them.
Are they moving towards your position?
No. Directly away, at right-angles.
I didn't see it could matter. I didn't see it could matter to him or the mission or London because if they found me I was a dead duck and if they didn't find me there wasn't anything I could do here. I wished he'd stop asking questions, too tired for it, not on form.
Are they military aircraft or civilian?
Oh for Christ's sake Loman we've had it, I've told you the timer's been smashed, didn't you hear me?
Are they military, or civilian?
I shut myeyes, let them water, sand had got into them when I'd hit the dune.
Ten seconds.
I can't see from this distance. They're close to the sun.
I am going off the air for thirty minutes but please keep open to receive.
Silence.
Thirty minutes: he'd signal London now for a directive, ask them what to do, but there was nothing to do. He'd tell Diane to use the phone and contact Chirac and request him to stand by with the helicopter but it'd only be a gesture because Chirac wouldn't be able to pick me up without exposing the target area and if he came in after they'd found me there wouldn't be anything to pick up anyway, nothing alive.
I opened my eyes and squinted towards the horizon. The three choppers were moving back along their initial course, farther south by one prescribed strip of their sweep. They could see these rocks but they couldn't see me because I was in shadow and sighting through a gap in the shale. I'd buried my 'chute under the sand before I'd come here, and last evening Chirac had taken down the fabric shelter I'd set up near the plane, so there was nothing for them to see.
The birds had come down five hundred yards away and I watched them. They'd obviously been there when I'd landed and the 'chute had startled them and now they were back, feeding on the pilot and navigator. The helicopter crews couldn't have noticed them or they'd come to investigate because they'd know that the presence of vultures marked the presence of recent life.
Urge to sleep now overwhelming. I took a final look at the timer to make sure it hadn't been the subject of hallucination but it hadn't changed: two of the brass lugs were snapped off near the flange and half the main body of the mechanism had been so badly impacted that I could see one of the intermediary gear-trains lying askew and thrown out of mesh. Strictly no go.
I crawled deeper between the rocks because of the dark nightmare shapes over there: they reminded me of terror and I didn't want them to see me, to come for me in my sleep.
My eyes closed and the great weight of my head came to rest against the rock-face, a last thought, we got close, tell London we got close.
Said I could hear him.
Caught me in a low sleep-curve, groggy.
Zenith 06.31.
I have been in signals with London.
They were still there, I could just catch their distant purring, throp-throp-throp.
Can you hear me?
Hear you.
What is the position of the helicopters now?
Damn his eyes, won't ever leave you alone.
I reached for the water bottle and got the cap off and drank, tasting the blood on my mouth. The sun's heat was beginning to strike into the niche and I couldn't get my legs in the shade. Took my time, thirsty, and he said could I hear him and I didn't answer till I'd finished my drink because that was more important. Then I told him
They're shifting to a second square.
How clearly can you see them?
About distance shot.
Could they see you, if you went into the open?
No.
Of course I should have known.
Will you please verify that the timing mechanism is out of action, irreparably?
Verified.
Is there any damage to the main components?
No.
Please verify.
I should have known by his insistence on these things.
There's no external damage. The timer took the shock.
What is your physical condition?
I need sleep.
He considered this.
Are you capable of carrying the device as far as the freighter?
Should have known, shouldn't I, what he was going to do to me.
Perfectly capable.
Silence for half a minute. I thought he was calculating something. Maybe he was.
Quiller.
Hear you.
London would like you to proceed with the end-phase.
How the hell can I do that if the timer won't -
I didn't finish.
Got it now.
The sun was burning on my legs and I drew them up, forcing myself higher against the rock-face, the effort increasing the circulation and bringing me fully awake. I would have to think about this. He was saying:
Control has asked me to point out that your action would be seen as generous, and therefore much appreciated.
Death sentence.
Civil of them.
He didn't say anything; I suppose he was giving me time to think. They were all being very considerate.
Give me ten minutes, Loman, will you?
Of course. There's no immediate hurry.
I clipped the mike back and stared through the cleft in the rocks. They were still at it, their ragged plumage fluttering as they jerked about, hooking at the meat. That, at least, I would be spared.
Of course the potential expendability of an executive is part of the contract and we know what we're signing. The Bureau is the sacred bull and its first credo is that the mission is more important than the man, otherwise you wouldn't be issued with a capsule if you wanted one, on your way through clearance. And after all, providing you accept the fact at any given time during an operation that you've become expendable the actual means of despatch don't matter: all we ask is that it shall be quick and the only thing quicker than a cyanide pill is putting your thumb on a nuclear detonator.
I couldn't assess my chances when they shifted their search over this area and found me: the thing was that I'd want to initiate some kind of hostile action and they'd finish me anyway. That situation was entirely academic in any case because if London wanted me to complete the mission I'd have time to do it before I was seen.
And I didn't have any choice. I had contracted to hazard my life if the needs of a mission demanded and that was that. I was only taking time out to think about it because if there was an alternative I wanted to use it, but I knew there wasn't one: Loman would throw me to the dogs if it suited his purposes and his present purposes were to go back to London with his instructions carried out and Tango Victor obliterated. Technically there wasn't an alternative because we didn't have time to send for a new delay-mechanism and without one the onlyway to detonate was to press the button myself.