Declare

you proposed to Salim bin Jalawi, Tommo Burks can begin a new life in the Arab states—a very comfortable one at that, more privileged than you can now imagine. What did Jimmie Theodora talk to you about?”
    “When?”
    “When you last spoke with him. When was that, to the best of your vain, ill-considered memory?” He shifted in his chair. “Any further lies will seriously impair the note of mutual respect you and I have established here.”
    Hale had to assume that the Rabkrin was unaware of his summons to London yesterday. “It was just before Ararat in ’48,” he said evenly. “We discussed… that operation, damn it. And I didn’t ever see him again, after that.”
    “It was Cassagnac alone, then, who came to your house yesterday morning, with the news of your imminent detainment and possible immunity?”
    “He was alone, yes.” “Incautious of him—but then you and he had been friends, I believe.” Ishmael smiled. “In the old days.”
    Hale took a quick gulp of Scotch and then stood up and paced to the farthest birdcage and stared at a couple of angry-looking roosters. “I guess it’s a lucky thing for you that SIS braced me when they did,” he said tightly.
    “Not coincidence,” came Ishmael’s voice from behind him, barely audible above the birds’ squabbling. “Your masters are clearly aware that we are preparing for another attempt on the mountain—and you were the man in charge, working against us, when we tried it fourteen years ago. They would naturally want to compel your counsel and assistance in trying again to counter it. And when instead you fled England, ringing all the alarms, I was activated in case you decided to hole up among your leave-behind Hadhira or Bedouin networks. Other Rabkrin agents were activated in other places, or sent, to watch for you. Paris, Rome, even Chipping Campden, pitiably.”
    Rome? thought Hale. Because I used to be a Catholic? Theodora said Dick White had consulted the Pope… And Paris? That would have to be in case I had gone looking for Elena, through the French SDECE; apparently the Rabkrin really doesn’t know her present whereabouts.
    He walked back to his chair and sat down. “Right,” Hale said, “now you want my… counsel and assistance. What if I’m not worth it, as things work out? I might not be much help, even with the best will in the world, you know. I’ll tell you right now, if I … go with you, it’ll cost you a lot.” This shaky, defiant tone was good. “And—and I might not go with you in any case, you understand. I’ve never been disloyal, not to the service, at least.”
    “Only to your country, as in the matter of steering oil concessions to the Americans out from under the British Petroleum Company, and as in aiding Nazi war criminals to escape proper retribution. I do see. But how do you reconcile—I’m simply curious, my dear fellow—how do you reconcile having killed Cassagnac with ‘not being disloyal to the service’? I would have thought that was a memorable event.”
    It was a good thrust, and Hale had stared at Ishmael and shrugged before he had thought of an answer; but without a measurable pause he said, “Cassagnac? But he wasn’t SIS, was he? He was GRU, or Rabkrin, or French DGSS. At best he was part-time MI5.”
    Ishmael laughed, and again it was nearly coughing. “I like ‘at best’! Interdepartmental rivalry! You don’t have to tell me about it. Well, but you must admit you’ve shaved your patriotism down to a very narrow reed. It will not support you.” He leaned forward, and the birds all clamored in their cages. “Break it now. Say, ‘I break it now.’ ”
    “Before I would—”
    “You bought that coat you’re wearing today after losing your previous one at the airport, and you have some kind of ankh or drogue stone in your pocket. I know you do, because if you did not have it, I would not have had to raise smells and flares here to summon the servant; and the birds are inhabited tonight. Do you understand? Assassins from Russia or England are not what you should primarily be afraid of.”
    Hale remembered the storm clouds he had seen over the Persian Gulf last night; but he forced himself to laugh and say, “I’ll admit that—on Ararat itself—”
    The old man got to his feet and was nearly shouting to be heard over the controversies among the birds. “What sort of personage did your Lawrence of Arabia learn of, in the brontologion scroll he found at the Qumran