Читать книгу The Alexander Cipher - Will Adams - Страница 20

The Egyptian army officer was still speaking on the phone. He seemed to be talking for a very long time. He came out with a pen and a pad of paper, crouched to jot down the licence plate of Knox’s Jeep. Then he went back inside and read it out to whoever was at the other end of the phone.

The Jeep’s keys were in the ignition. For a crazy moment, Knox contemplated driving for it. If Hassan caught him, he was finished anyway. But though the Egyptian soldiers looked cheerful and relaxed enough, that would change in a heartbeat if he fled. The threat of suicide bombers was simply too high around here for them to take risks. He’d be shot dead before he made it fifty yards. So he forced himself to relax, to accept that his fate was out of his hands.

The officer replaced the handset carefully, composed himself, walked across. He wasn’t swaggering any more. He looked thoughtful, even apprehensive. He gestured to his men. Immediately, they became alert. He stooped a little to talk through the Jeep’s open window, tapping the spine of Knox’s passport against the knuckles of his left hand as he did so.

He said: ‘I am hearing whispers of a most remarkable story.’

Knox’s stomach squeezed. ‘What whispers?’

‘Of an incident involving Hassan al-Assyuti and some young foreigner.’

‘I know nothing about that,’ said Knox.

‘I’m glad,’ said the officer, squinting down the road to Sharm, as though expecting a vehicle to appear at any moment. ‘Because, if the rumours are true, the young foreigner in question has a very bleak future.’

Knox swallowed. ‘He was raping a girl,’ he blurted out. ‘What was I supposed to do?’

‘Contact the authorities.’

‘We were in the middle of the fucking sea.’

‘I’m sure you’ll have your chance to tell your side.’

‘Bollocks,’ said Knox. ‘I’ll be dead within an hour.’

The officer flushed. ‘You should have thought of that before, shouldn’t you?’

‘I should have covered my arse, you mean? Like you’re doing now?’

‘This isn’t my fight,’ scowled the officer.

Knox nodded. ‘People in my country, they think that all Egyptian men are cowards and thieves. I tell them they’re wrong. I tell them that Egyptian men are honourable and brave. But maybe I’ve been wrong.’

There was an angry muttering. One of the soldiers reached in the open window. The officer clamped his hand around his wrist. ‘No,’ he said.

‘But he—’

‘No.’

The soldier retreated, a little shamefaced, while the officer looked down thoughtfully at Knox, clearly uncertain what to do. A pair of headlights crested a hill behind. ‘Please,’ begged Knox. ‘Just give me a chance.’

The officer had noticed the approaching headlights too. His jaw tightened as he came to his decision. He tossed the passport onto the passenger seat, then signalled his men to stand aside. ‘Get out of Egypt,’ he advised. ‘It’s no longer safe for you.’

Knox let out a long breath. ‘I’m leaving tonight.’

‘Good. Now go before I change my mind.’

Knox put the Jeep into gear, accelerated away. His hands began shaking wildly as his body flooded with the euphoria of escape. He held himself back until he was a distance down the road, then he whooped and punched the air. He’d done a stupid, reckless thing, but it looked as though he’d got away with it.