Redemption - Leon Uris [222]
“I picked up the officers’ mail,” Johnny said. “The major had one letter. I personally took it to him.”
“I received letters from both my parents today,” Jeremy said. “There was nothing in mine to indicate any trouble.”
“The Major ordered me to leave, brusquely,” Yurlob went on, “but as I started out he said…‘Wait, do we have any transportation from the motor pool?’ There was only a supply lorry, the one with the bad gears. The Major ordered me to bring it around.”
As they dressed, Yurlob sniffed a scent known to him as militarily improper. He studied the luxury about him with a straight face.
“Keep talking, I’m listening,” Jeremy said, lacing his boots.
“Fearing the Major was in no state of mind to drive the vehicle, and as the vehicle was not in such a good state to be driven, I offered to drive him. He tried to start the lorry alone but, after nearly stripping the gears, agreed to let me take him into Cairo.”
Sonya arrived with the first of the coffee and went to make more.
“I raced to Cairo just as Major Hubble instructed.”
“What did he say to you? Any orders? Any indication of what was disturbing him?”
“All he asked was to take him to an out-of-the-way hotel where no officers would be. There is a small Sikh club in the Shari el Haram District off Pyramid Road, but hardly a place one takes an officer of the British Army. However, he insisted.”
“I know that area from before the war,” Modi said. “It is a gangster place.”
“I stopped at the Hotel Aida. I registered for him and quickly took him to the room number twenty-two, the best in the place but hardly proper for a man of his stature. He commanded me to leave. I feared for him so I walked around outside to see if I could see his room. I did so. On the top of a building, off a very narrow alley, one could crawl to the edge and just see into a part of his room. I waited as several hours passed. Then others came into his room, quickly and quietly. As I reached his room, I was apprehended by two policemen guarding his door.”
“Didn’t the police draw a crowd?”
“No, no. They came in quietly without causing a disturbance, and there were whispers, only whispers from his room.”
“Are you smelling the same rat I’m smelling, Jeremy?” Rory asked.
“Yes, go on, Yurlob.”
“Inside his room are four policemen, a police inspector, and a civilian. Major Hubble is on the bed without clothing and only barely conscious. I would think, drugged. I smell chloroform. On the floor they pull back a sheet over a woman who has been murdered. It appears she is a prostitute. The civilian tells me to find Lieutenant Jeremy Hubble and gives me this address. He warns me to remain secret or it will be the Major’s life.”
“Farouk el Farouk,” Chester said.
“That’s him,” Jeremy agreed.
“Jaysus,” Rory muttered, “a dead whore on the floor and a British officer in a blown-out state. It’s a setup, Jeremy.”
“Did they ask you about ransom?”
“No,” Yurlob answered. “Only to bring you alone to the Hotel Aida at once.”
“The Lieutenant has refused to let us pay for the villa, as you know,” Rory said. “How have you been paying for it?”
“I set up a line of credit through Weed Ship & Iron in London. My mother runs the office. I’ve paid Farouk el Farouk through Cook’s Travel cheques.”
“Well, it looks like they’re after a nice big one. If that’s all there is to it, maybe we’re in luck,” Rory said. “They’re always scratching around for something like this. How many ranking officers do you suppose have been blackmailed in this city? It’s their game. Jeremy, why the hell would your brother want to go to such a dump?”
“Obviously, he got some terrible news. What makes you so optimistic we can get him back?”
“If it were cut and dried—officer goes to seedy hotel, gets a prostitute, murders her, is unconscious himself. Police arrive. What do they do in normal circumstances? They would take him in and book him on charges. But they didn’t do that.”
“I see it,” Modi said. “A middle-ranking British officer