Honour Among Thieves

short corridor. The General followed them down the passage. They all came to a halt in front of the open safe. 'Allow me,' said General Hamil, 'to inform you of one statistic you failed to mention, Professor, when you briefed me on this amazing feat of engineering. Perhaps you simply didn't know, although I am bound to admit that you have done your homework thoroughly. But did you realise that one person locked in a safe of this size, with a capacity of 504 cubic feet, can only hope to survive for six hours? I do not yet know the exact length of time two people can hope to survive while sharing the same amount of oxygen. But I will very shortly.' He removed a stopwatch from his pocket, waved his swagger stick, and the soldiers hurled first Hannah and then Scott into the safe. The smile remained on the General's face as two of the soldiers pushed the massive door closed. The lights all began flashing red. The General clicked his stopwatch. When the car came to a halt, Kratz reckoned that the distance they had travelled was under a mile. He heard the door open and felt a shove on his arm to indicate he should get out of the car. He was pushed up three stone steps before entering a building and walking into a long corridor. His footsteps echoed on the wooden floor. Then he was guided into a room on his left, where he was pushed down onto a chair, tied and gagged. His shoes and socks were removed. When he heard the door close, he sensed he was alone. It was a long time - he couldn't be sure just how long -before the door opened again. The first voice he heard was General Hamil's. 'Remove the gag,' was all he said. Kratz could hear him pacing round the chair, but at first the General said nothing. Kratz began to concentrate. He knew the pill was good for two hours, no more, and he suspected that it was already forty or fifty minutes since they had driven him away from Ba'ath headquarters. 'Colonel Kratz, I have waited some time for the privilege of making your acquaintance. I have long admired your work. You are a perfectionist.' 'Cut the crap,' said Kratz, 'because I don't admire you or your work.' He waited for the first slap of gloves across his face or for a fist to come crashing into his jaw, but the General simply continued to circle the chair. 'You mustn't be too disappointed,' said the General. 'I feel sure, after all you've heard about us, that you must have expected at least some electric shocks by now, perhaps the Chinese water torture, even the rack, but I fear - unlike Mossad, Colonel - that when dealing with people of your seniority we long ago dispensed with such primitive methods. We have found them to be outmoded, a thing of the past. Worse, they just don't get results. You Zionists are tough and well trained. Few of you talk, very few. So we've had to resort to more scientific methods to gain the information we need.' If it was still within the hour, thought Kratz, he had judged it well. 'A simple injection of PPX will ensure that we learn everything we want to know,' continued the General, 'and once we have the information we require, we'll simply kill you. So much more efficient than in the past, and with all the environmental complaints one gets nowadays, so much more tidy. Though, I must confess, I miss the old methods. So you'll appreciate why I couldn't resist locking Miss Kopec and Professor Bradley in their safe, especially as they hadn't seen each other for so long.' Kratz's hand was pressed back and held against the arm of the chair. He felt fingers searching for a vein, and when the needle went in, he flinched. He began counting: one, two, three, four, five, six... He was about to find out if one of Europe's leading chemists had, as she claimed, found the antidote for the Iraqis' latest truth drug. Mossad had tracked down the supplier in Austria. Strange how many people think there are no Jews left in Austria. ... thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine ... The drug was still in its testing stage, and needed to be proved under non-laboratory conditions. If a person could remain fully in control of his senses while appearing to be under hypnosis, then they would know their antidote was a success. . .. one minute, one minute one, one minute two, one minute three . .. The test would come when they stuck the second needle in, and that might be anywhere. Then the trick was to show no reaction whatsoever, or the General would immediately realise that the original injection had failed to have the