73

"I'm paying you to fly, not talk."

"I can do both!" he says, his grin getting wider. "It doesn't work like that with me, mate. With me, you've gotta pay me if you want me not to talk!"

Stevo's comment was right, though. These are remarkable lengths to go to for a meeting. Somewhere out there in the mountains waits Jian Zhu, a man whose name you only learned yesterday when you read it at the end of a telegram. The message had reached you at your hotel in Srinigar after you got home from tedious negotiations with the director of the museum there. It was such a striking message that you can still remember it word for word:

DR SPILLANE STOP KNOW YOUR WORK STOP NEED YOUR HELP STOP PRECIOUS TREASURE OF CHINESE PEOPLE AT RISK FROM NAZI AGENTS STOP GENEROUS REWARD OFFERED STOP MEET ME AT AIRFIELD AT FOLLOWING COORDINATES STOP FAST ACTION ESSENTIAL