Bloody Passage - Jack Higgins [16]
"You're certain of this?" I asked him.
"Oh, yes, signor, I have been inside many times on business. I supply the officers' mess with wine and spirits."
I frowned. "Aren't they all Muslims? Isn't alcohol forbidden?"
"Not at Ras Kanai. Not since Masmoudi turned Communist and has ceased to practice his religion."
Which was interesting. Supplies were brought in by a military train, another relic of Italian Imperialism.
I said, "Does this thing unload inside the fortress?"
He nodded. "Oh, yes, signor, but believe me, there is no hope there. The train is searched most thoroughly with the aid of dogs each time it enters. In any event, it only carries military personnel or new prisoners."
I frowned down at the plan. "Doesn't anyone other than the military get into the damned place? Aren't there any civilian workers?"
"The military handle everything, signor," he said firmly and then pulled up short as if at a sudden thought and chuckled. "Of course, there are the women, signor. The Friday-night women. I was forgetting those."
"And which women would those be?"
"Another innovation of Colonel Masmoudi's. He's fond of the ladies and reasonable enough to realize that plenty of his men are in the same boat, so every Friday night they bring in a couple of truckloads of women from Zabia."
"Whores?"
"But of course, signor." He looked bewildered. "They must, after all, be capable of serving more than one man. It requires very special talents."
"I bet it does," I said. "And who supplies these ladies?"
He contrived to look suitably modest. "Why, I do, signor, and it is no easy matter, I can tell you. After a month or two a change is looked for. I have to bring girls from as far away as Tripoli."
"And the trucks?" I said. "Are they allowed in?"
"Oh, no, signor." He shook his head. "The women have to dismount outside and are checked in through the gate."
I sat there for two or three minutes, staring into space and he waited patiently. After a while he said, "Is there anything else, signor?"
I shook my head. "If I need you again, I'll send for you."
He moved to the french window and hesitated. "I have been of help, signor?"
"Oh, yes," I said. "I think you could say that."
He went out quietly and I lay back, eyes closed, going over it all in my mind and after a while, I dozed.
When I awakened it was evening and just before dusk. It was heavy and oppressive, a hint of rain in the air. I crossed the terrace and took the steps down into the garden. Palms swayed in the slight wind, their branches dark feathers against the evening sky that already showed a star here and there.
I moved on, taking a flight of steps up to the ramparts and found Simone leaning over the wall, staring down at the sea, outlined against a sky the color of brass. Perhaps she'd noticed me out of the corner of her eye down there in the garden as I approached, but she certainly gave no sign.
I lit a cigarette and flicked the match far out into the darkness. "Well?"
"Well what?" she said. "If you think I'm going to apologize, you've come to the wrong shop."
"No apologies needed," I said. "But a few facts would be appreciated."
"Such as?"
"Why you did it would do for starters."
"All right, Oliver." She turned to face me. "It was a job, that's all. Just another assignment."
"Well, you're a great little actress. I'll say that for you. You were particularly good at simulating orgasms, by the way. I'll be happy to give you a reference to that effect any time."
She struck out at me furiously, but I got a hand up to block the blow. "Damn you!" she said. "And just how honest were you with me, anyway?"
"A fair point," I said. "Strangely enough I can forgive you nearly all of it, but not Hannah. Never that. That was unforgivable and that was one side of me you did know about. One side of me I never hid from you."
Which hit home rather satisfactorily. Her shoulders sagged a little and she turned away to look out to sea. "Why Stavrou, for