He released the pressure and leaped out of the way as Erikki lunged at him, then squirmed in the bed to get at Gueng but stopped rigid. Moonlight glinted off the curved kookri held near her throat. Azadeh’s eyes were wide open and she was petrified.
“Don’t! Leave her alone…” Erikki said hoarsely in Russian, seeing only Gueng’s Oriental eyes, thinking it must be one of Cimtarga’s men, still confused and in panic. He was heavy with sleep, his head aching from hours of flying, mostly on instruments in bad conditions. “What do you want?” “Speak English. You’re English, aren’t you?”
“No, no, I’m Finnish.” Erikki peered at Ross, little more than a silhouette in the shaft of moonlight. “What the hell do you want?”
“Sorry to wake you like this, pilot,” Ross said hastily, coming a little closer, keeping his voice down. “Sorry, but I had to talk to you secretly. It’s very import - ”
“Tell this bastard to let my wife go! Now!”
“Wife? Oh, yes … yes, of course, sorry. She… she won’t scream? Please tell her not to scream.” He watched the huge man turn toward the woman who lay motionless under the heavy quilt, her mouth still covered, the kookri unwavering. He saw him reach out warily and touch her, eyes on the kookri. His voice was gentle and encouraging but he did not speak English or Farsi but another language. In panic Ross thought it was Russian and he was further disoriented, expecting a British S-G pilot, without a bed partner, not a Finn with a Russian wife, and he was petrified he had led Gueng into a trap. The big man’s eyes came back on him and more danger was there. “Tell him to let my wife go,” Erikki said in English, finding it hard to concentrate. “She won’t scream.”
“What did you say to her? Was it Russian?”
“Yes, it was Russian and I said, ‘This bastard’s going to release you in a second. Don’t shout out. Don’t shout out, just move behind me. Don’t move quickly, just behind me. Don’t do anything unless I go for the other bastard, then fight for your life.’”
“You’re Russian?”
“I told you, Finnish, and I tire quickly of men with knives in the night, British, Russian, or even Finnish.” “You’re a pilot with S-G Helicopters?” “Yes, hurry up and let her go whoever you are or I’ll start something.”
Ross was not yet over his own panic. “Is she Russian?”
“My wife’s Iranian, she speaks Russian and so do I,” Erikki said icily, moving slightly to get out of the narrow beam of moonlight into shadows. “Move into the light, I can’t see you, and for the last time tell this little bastard to release my wife, tell me what you want, and then get out.” “Sorry about all this. Gueng, let her go now.”
Gueng did not move. Nor did the curved blade. In Gurkhali he said, “Yes, sahib, but first take the knife from under the man’s pillow.”
In Gurkhali Ross replied, “If he goes for it, brother, even touches it, kill her, I’ll get him.” Then in English he said pleasantly, “Pilot, you have a knife under your pillow. Please don’t touch it, sorry, but if you do until this is all okay… please be patient. Let her go, Gueng,” he said, his attention never leaving the man. With the side of his eyes he saw the vague shape of a face, long hair touseled and half covering her, then she moved behind the great shoulders, bunching her long-sleeved, winter nightclothes closer. Ross had his back to the light and he saw little of her, only the hatred in her half-seen eyes, even from the shadows. “Sorry to arrive like a thief in the night. Apologies,” he said to her. She did not answer. He repeated the apology in Farsi. She still did not answer. “Please apologize to your wife for me.”
“She speaks English. What the hell do you want?” Erikki felt a little better now that she was safe, still very aware how close the other man with the curved knife was.
“We’re sort of prisoners of the Khan, pilot, and I came to warn you and to ask your help.” “Warn me about what?”
“I helped one of your captains a few days ago - Charles Pettikin.” He saw the name register at once so he relaxed a little. Quickly he told Erikki about Doshan Tappeh and the SAVAK attack and how they had escaped, describing Pettikin accurately so there could be no mistake. “Charlie told us about you,” Erikki said, astonished, no longer afraid, “but not that he’d dropped you off near Bandar-e Pahlavi - only that some British paratroopers had saved him from a SAVAK who’d have blown his head off.”
“I asked him to forget my name. I, er, we were on a job.” “Lucky for Charlie you, we - ” Ross saw the woman whisper in her husband’s ear, distracting him. The man nodded and turned his eyes back again. “You can see me, I can’t see you, move into the light - as to Abdollah, if you were his prisoners, you’d be chained up, or in a dungeon, not loose in the palace.”
“I was told the Khan would help us if we had trouble. We had trouble and he said he’d hide us until he could get us back to Tehran. Meanwhile he put us in a hut, out of sight, across the estate. There’s a permanent guard on us.” “Hide you from what?”
“We were on a, er, classified job, and being hunted an - ” “What classified job? I still can’t see you, move into the light.” Ross moved but not enough. “We had to blow some secret American radar stuff to prevent it being pinched by Soviets or their supporters. I rec - ” “Sabalan?”
“How the hell did you know that?”
“I’m being forced to fly a Soviet and some leftists to ransack radar sites near the border, then take the stuff down to Astara on the coast. One of them was wrecked on the north face - they got nothing out of that one and so far the rest haven’t produced anything worthwhile - as far as I know. Go on - warn me about what?”
“You’re being forced?”
“My wife’s hostage to the Khan and the Soviets - for my cooperation and good behavior,” Erikki said simply.
“Christ!” Ross’s mind was working overtime. “I, er, I recognized the S-G decal when you were circling and came to warn you Soviets were here, they came here early this morning, and they’re planning to kidnap you with the friendly help of the Khan - it seems he’s playing both ends against the middle, double agent.” He saw Erikki’s astonishment. “Our people should know that quickly.”
“Kidnap me to do what?”
“I don’t know exactly. I sent Gueng on a recce after your chopper arrived - he slipped out of a back window. Tell them, Gueng.”
“It was after they had eaten lunch, sahib, the Khan and the Soviet, and they were beside the Soviet’s car when he was leaving - I was in the undergrowth near and could hear well. At first I could not understand them, but then the Khan said, Let’s talk English - there are servants nearby. The Soviet said, Thanks for all the information and the offer. The Khan said, Then we have an agreement? Everything, Patar? The Soviet said, Yes I’ll recommend everything you want. I’ll see the pilot never bothers you again. When he’s finished here he’ll be brought north…” Gueng stopped as the air hissed out of Azadeh’s mouth. “Yes, memsahib?”
“Nothing.”
Gueng concentrated, wanting to get it perfect for them: “The Soviet said, I’ll see the pilot never bothers you again. When he’s finished here he’ll be brought north, permanently. Then…” He thought a moment. “Ah, yes! Then he said, The mullah won’t trouble you again and in return you’ll catch the British saboteurs for me? Alive, I’d like them alive if possible. The Khan said, Yes, I’ll catch them, Patar, do y - ”
“Petr,” Azadeh said, her hand on Erikki’s shoulder. “His name was Petr Mzytryk.”
“Christ!” Ross muttered as it fell into place.
“What?” Erikki said.
“I’ll tell you later. Finish, Gueng.”
“Yes, sahib. The Khan said, I’ll catch them, Patar, alive if I can. What’s my favor if they’re alive? The Soviet laughed. Anything, within reason, and mine? The Khan said, I’ll bring her with me on my next visit. Sahib, that was all. Then the Soviet got into his car and left.”