"Good. Now, tomorrow your search planes will come back with reports of having found floating wreckage, right?"

  "As rain."

  "The wreckage will be reported to have been picked up, and the news will be released over BBC World Service that there was evidence of an explosion, and that the current theory is that an explosive device in the possession of Arab skyjackers was detonated accidentally, destroying the plane."

  "Just so."

  "What are your plans for the plane, Fred? Surely the insurance companies will be curious."

  "Leave that to us. If nothing else remains of the Empire, we retain at least that penchant for duplicity that earned us the title Perfidious Albion."

  Hel laughed. "All right. It must have been quite a job to gather that many operatives from all over Europe and have them pose as passengers."

  "It was indeed. And the pilots and crew were RAF fellows who had really very little check-out time on a Concorde."

  "Now you tell me."

  "Wouldn't have done to make you edgy, old man."

  "I regret your problem of having a hundred-fifty people in on the secret. It was the only way I could do it and still keep your government to the lee of the Mother Company's revenge. And, after all, they are all your own people."

  "True enough. But that is no assurance of long-term reliability. But I've arranged to manage the problem."

  "Oh? How so?"

  "Where do you imagine those buses are going?"

  Hel adjusted his tie and zipped up his duffle. "All hundred-fifty of them?"

  "No other airtight way, old boy. And within two days, we'll have to attend to the extermination crew as well. But there's a bright side to everything, if you look hard enough. We're having a bit of an unemployment problem in the country just now, and this will produce scads of openings for bright young men and women in the secret service."

  Hel shook his head. "You're really a tough old fossil, aren't you, Fred."

  "In time, even the soul gets callused. Sure you won't have a little farewell drink?"

  PART FIVE

  Shicho

  Château d'Etchebar

  His muscles melting in the scalding water, his body weightless, Hel dozed as his feet enclosed Hana's in slack embrace. It was a cool day for the season, and dense steam billowed, filling the small bathing house.

  "You were very tired when you came home last night," Hana said after a sleepy silence.

  "Is that a criticism?" he muttered without moving his lips.

  She laughed lightly. "On the contrary. Fatigue is an advantage in our games."

  "True."

  "Was your trip... successful?"

  He nodded.

  She was never inquisitive about his affairs; her training prohibited it, but her training also taught her to create opportunities for him to speak about his work if he wanted to. "Your business? It was the same sort of thing you did in China when we met?"

  "Same genre, different phylum."

  "And those unpleasant men who visited us, were they involved?"

  "They weren't on the ground, but they were the enemy." His tone changed. "Listen, Hana. I want you to take a little vacation. Go to Paris or the Mediterranean for a few weeks."

  "Back only ten hours and you are already trying to be rid of me?"

  "There may be some trouble from those 'unpleasant men.' And I want you safely out of the way. Anyway"—he smiled,—"you could probably use the spice of a strong young lad or two."

  "And what of you?"

  "Oh, I'll be out of the enemy's range. I'm going into the mountains and work that cave Beñat and I discovered. They're not likely to find me there."

  "When do you want me to leave, Nikko?"

  "Today. As soon as you can."

  "You don't think I would be safe here with our friends in the mountains protecting me?"

  "That chain's broken. Something happened to Miss Stern. Somebody informed."

  "I see." She squeezed his foot between hers. "Be careful, Nikko."

  The water had cooled enough to make slow movements possible, and Hel flicked his fingers, sending currents of hotter water toward his stomach. "Hana? You told me that you could not bring up the subject of marriage again, but I said that I could and would. I'm doing that now."

  She smiled and shook her head. "I've been thinking about that for the past few days, Nikko. No, not marriage. That would be too silly for such as you and I."

  "Do you want to go away from here?"

  "No."

  "What then?"

  "Let's not make plans. Let's remain together for a month at a time. Perhaps forever—but only a month at a time. Is that all right with you?"

  He smiled and nestled his feet into hers. "I have great affection for you, Hana."

  "I have great affection for you, Nicholai."

  "By the Skeptical Balls of Thomas! What's going on in here?" Le Cagot had snatched open the door of the bathing room and entered, bringing unwelcomed cool air with him. "Are you two making your own private whiteout? Good to see you back, Niko! You must have been lonely without me." He leaned against the wooden tub, his chin hooked over the rim. "Arid good to see you too, Hana! You know, this is the first time I've seen all of you. I shall tell you the truth—you are a desirable woman. And that is praise from the world's most desirable man, so wear it in health."

  "Get out of here!" Hel growled, not because he was uncomfortable with nudity, but because Le Cagot's tease would go flat if he didn't seem to rise to the bait.

  "He shouts to hide his delight at seeing me again, Hana. It's an old trick. Mother in Heaven, you have fine nipples! Are you sure there isn't a bit of Basque in that genetic stew of yours? Hey, Niko, when do we see if there is light and air at the other end of Le Cagot's Cave? Everything is in readiness. The air tank is down, the wet suit. Everything."

  "I'm ready to go up today."

  "When today?"

  "In a couple of hours. Get out."

  "Good. That gives me time to visit your Portuguese maid. All right, I'm off. You two will have to resign yourselves to getting on without my company." He slammed the door behind him, swirling the scant steam that remained in the room.

  After they had made love and taken breakfast, Hana began her packing. She had derided to go to Paris because in late August that city would be relatively empty of vacationing bourgeois Parisians.

  Hel puttered for a time in his garden, which had roughened somewhat in his absence. It was there Pierre found him.

  "Oh, M'sieur, the weather signs are all confused."

  "Is that so?"

  "It is so. It has rained for two days, and now neither the Eastwind nor the Northwind have dominance, and you know what that means."

  "I'm confident you will tell me."

  "It will be dangerous in the mountains, M'sieur. This is the season of the whiteout."

  "You're sure of that?"

  Pierre tapped the tip of his rubicund drunkard's nose with his forefinger, signifying that there were things only the Basque knew for certain, and weather was but one of them.

  Hel took some consolation in Pierre's assurance. At least they would not have to contend with a whiteout.

  * * *

  The Volvo rolled into the village square of Larrau, where they would pick up the Basque lads who operated the pedal winch. They parked near the widow's bar, and one of the children playing pala against the church wall ran over and did Hel the service of bashing the hood of the car with a stick, as he had seen the man do so often. Hel thanked him, and followed Le Cagot to the bar.

  "Why are you bringing your makila along, Beñat?" He hadn't noticed before that Le Cagot was carrying his ancient Basque sword/cane under his arm.

  "I promised myself that I would carry it until I discover which of my people informed on that poor little girl. Then, by the Baby-Killing Balls of Herod, I shall ventilate his chest with it. Come, let's take a little glass with the widow. I shall give her the pleasure of laying my palm upon her ass."

  The Basque lads who had been awaiting them since morning now joined them over a glass, talking eagerly about the chances of M'sieur Hel being able to swim the underground river to the daylight. Once that air-to-air exploration had been made, the cave system would be officially discovered, and they would be free to go down into the hole themselves and, what is more, to talk about it later.

  The widow twice pushed Le Cagot's hand away; then, her virtue clearly demonstrated, she allowed it to remain on her ample bottom as she stood beside the table, keeping his glass full.

  The door to the W.C. in back opened, and Father Xavier entered the low-ceilinged bar, his eyes bright with fortifying wine and the ecstasy of fanaticism. "So?" he said to the young Basque lads. "Now you sit with this outlander and his lecherous friend? Drinking their wine and listening to their lies?"

  "You must have drunk deep of His blood this morning, Father Esteka!" Le Cagot said. "You've swallowed a bit of courage."

  Father Xavier snarled something under his breath and slumped down in a chair at the most distant table.

  "Holà," Le Cagot pursued. "If your courage is so great, why don't you come up the mountain with us, eh? We are going to descend into a bottomless pit from which there is no exit. It will be a foretaste of hell for you—get you used to it!"

  "Let him be," Hel muttered. "Let's go and leave the silly bastard to pickle in his own hate."

  "God's eyes are everywhere!" the priest snarled, glaring at Hel. "His wrath is inescapable!"

  "Shut your mouth, convent girl," Le Cagot said, "or I shall put this makila where it will inconvenience the Bishop!

  Hel put a restraining hand on Le Cagot's arm; they finished off their wine and left.

  Gouffre Porte-de-Larrau

  Hel squatted on the flat slab that edged their base camp beside the rubble cone, his helmet light turned off to save the batteries, listening over the field telephone to Le Cagot's stream of babble, invective, and song as he descended on the cable, constantly bullying and amusing the Basque lads operating the pedal winch above. Le Cagot was taking a breather, braced up in the bottom of the corkscrew before allowing himself to be lowered into the void of Le Cagot's Cave, down into the waterfall, where he would have to hang, twisting on the line, while the lads locked up and replaced the cable drum.

  After ordering them to be quick about the job and not leave him hanging there, dangling like Christ on the tree, or he would come back up and do them exquisite bodily damage, he said, "All right, Niko, I'm coming down!"

  "That's the only way gravity works," Hel commented, as he looked up for the first glimpse of Le Cagot's helmet light emerging through the mist of the waterfall.

  A few meters below the opening into the principal cave, the descent stopped, and the Basque boy on the phones announced that they were changing drums.

  "Get on with it!" Le Cagot ordered. "This cold shower is abusing my manhood!"

  Hel was considering the task of carrying the heavy air tank all the way to the Wine Cellar at the end of the system, glad that he could rely on Le Cagot's bull strength, when a muffled shout came over the earphones. Then a sharp report. His first reaction was that something had snapped. A cable? The tripod? His body instinctively tightened in kinesthetic sympathy for Le Cagot. There were two more crisp reports. Gunfire!

  Then silence.

  Hel could see Le Cagot's helmet lamp, blurred through the mist of the waterfall, winking on and off as he turned slowly on the end of the cable.

  "What in hell is going on?" Le Cagot asked over the phones.

  "I don't know."

  A voice came over the telephone, thin and distant "I warned you to stay out of this, Mr. Hel."

  "Diamond?" Hel asked, unnecessarily.

  "That is correct. The merchant. The one who would not dare meet you face to face."

  "You call this face to face?"

  "It's close enough."

  Le Cagot's voice was tight with the strain on his chest and diaphragm from hanging in the harness. "What is going on?"

  "Diamond?" Hel was forcing himself to remain calm. "What happened to the boys at the winch?"

  "They're dead."

  "I see. Listen. It's me you want, and I'm at the bottom of the shaft. I'm not the one hanging from the cable. It is my friend. I can instruct you how to lower him."

  "Why on earth should I do that?"

  From the background, Hel heard Darryl Starr's voice. "That's the son of a bitch that took my piece. Let him hang there, turning slowly in the wind, the mammy-jammer!"

  There was the sound of a childish giggle—the PLO scab they called Haman.

  "What makes you think I involved myself in your business?" Hel asked, his voice conversational, although he was frantically playing for time to think.

  "The Mother Company keeps sources close to our friends in England—just to confirm their allegiance. I believe you met our Miss Biffen, the young model?"

  "If I get out of here, Diamond..."

  "Save your breath, Hel. I happen to know that is a 'bottomless pit from which there is no exit.'"

  Hel took a slow breath. Those were Le Cagot's words in the widow's bar that afternoon.

  "I warned you," Diamond continued, "that we would have to take counteraction of a kind that would satisfy the vicious tastes of our Arab friends. You will be a while dying, and that will please them. And I have arranged a more visible monument to your punishment. That château of yours? It ceased to exist an hour and a half ago."

  "Diamond..." Hel had nothing to say, but he wanted to keep Diamond on the other end of the line. "Le Cagot is nothing to you. Why let him hang there?"

  "It's a detail sure to amuse our Arab friends."

  "Listen, Diamond—there are men coming to relieve those lads. They'll find us and get us out."

  "That isn't true. In fact, it's a disappointingly pallid lie. But to forestall the possibility of someone stumbling upon this place accidentally, I intend to send men up to bury your Basque friends here, dismantle all this bric-abrac, and roll boulders into the pit to conceal the entrance. I tell you this as an act of kindness—so you won't waste yourself on fruitless hope."

  Hel did not respond.

  "Do you remember what my brother looked like, Hel?"

  "Vaguely."

  "Good. Keep him in mind."

  There was a rattling over the headphones, as they were taken off and tossed aside.

  "Diamond? Diamond?" Hel squeezed the phone line in his fingers. The only sound over the phone was Le Cagot's labored breathing.

  Hel turned on his helmet light and the ten-watt bulb connected to battery, so Le Cagot could see something below him and not feel deserted.

  "Well, what about that old friend?" Le Cagot's half-strangled voice came over the line. "Not exactly the denouement I would have chosen for this colorful character I have created for myself."

  For a desperate moment, Hel considered attempting to scale the walls of the cave, maybe get above Le Cagot and let a line down to him.

  Impossible. It would take hours of work with drill and expansion bolts to move up that featureless, overhanging face; and long before that, Le Cagot would be dead, strangled in the harness webbing that was even now crushing the breath out of him.

  Could Le Cagot get out of this harness and up the cable to the mouth of the corkscrew? From there it was barely conceivable that he might work his way up to the surface by free climbing.

  He suggested this to Beñat over the phone.

  Le Cagot's voice was a weak rasp. "Can't... ribs... weight of... water..."

  "Beñat!"

  "What, for the love of God?"

  A last slim possibility had occurred to Hel. The telephone line. It wasn't tied off firmly, and the chances that it would take a man's weight were slight; but it was just possible that it had fouled somewhere above, perhaps tangled with the descent cable.

  "Beñat? Can you get onto the phone line? Can you cut yourself out of your harness?"

  Le Cagot hadn't breath enough left to answer, but from the vibration in the phone line, Hel knew he was trying to follow instructions. A minute passed. Two. The mist-blurred helmet lamp was dancing jerkily up near the roof of the cave. Le Cagot was clinging to the phone line, using his last strength before unconsciousness to hack away at the web straps of his harness with his knife.

  He gripped the wet phone line with all his force and sawed through the last strap. His weight jerked onto the phone line... snatching it loose.

  "Christ!" he cried.

  His helmet light rushed down toward Hel. For a fraction of a second, the coiling phone line puddled at Hel's feet. With a fleshy slap, Le Cagot's body hit the tip of the rubble cone, bounced, tumbled in a clatter of rock and debris, then lodged head-downward not ten meters from Hel.

  "Beñat!"

  Hel rushed to him. He wasn't dead. The chest was crushed; it convulsed in heaving gasps that spewed bloody foam from the mouth. The helmet had taken the initial impact but had come off during the bouncing down the rubble. He was bleeding from his nose and ears. Hanging head down, he was choking on his own blood.

  As gently as possible, Hel lifted Le Cagot's torso in his arms and settled it more comfortably. The damage he might do by moving him did not matter; the man was dying. Indeed, Hel resented the powerful Basque constitution that denied his friend immediate release into death.

  Le Cagot's breath was rapid and shallow; his open eyes were slowly dilating. He coughed, and the motion brought him racking pain.

  Hel caressed the bearded cheek, slick with blood.

  "How..." Le Cagot choked on the word.

  "Rest, Beñat. Don't talk."

  "How... do I look?"

  "You look fine."

  "They didn't get my face?"

  "Handsome as a god."

  "Good." Le Cagot's teeth clenched against a surge of pain. The bottom ones had been broken off in the fall. "The priest..."

  "Rest, my friend. Don't fight it. Let it take you."

  "The priest!" The blood froth at the corner of his mouth was already sticky.

  "I know." Diamond had quoted Le Cagot's description of the cave as a bottomless pit. The only person he could have heard it from was the fanatic, Father Xavier. And it must have been the priest who gave away Hannah's place of refuge as well. The confessional was his source of information, his Fat Boy.