In the Black Code, chirped Alice. Seduction made me think of it.
And so, concluded Belle, allowing for some deciphering and translating in the dark hours, the timing would be just right for Rommel to have his little fellers sitting beside his herring at breakfast the following morning. Everything that would be useful for Rommel to know, carefully compiled by Colonel Fellers.
Belle smiled, Alice smiled. Joe was utterly astonished. He looked from one sister to the other and whistled softly.
And there, said Belle, is the secret behind the Desert Fox's uncanny foresight. He can read. And thus it seems it may not always be wise to praise famous men.
Or to put it another way, chirped Alice gaily, you know a man by what he puts his nose into first thing in the morning. Little fellers? Herring? . . .
What do you think? Belle asked Joe.
In answer Joe whistled again, very softly.
I think the two of you are astounding, he said. And I also think the Black Code is about to join Hammurabi's code as one more chunk of ancient history in the sandy Middle East. From now on it's herring only for Rommel's breakfast, and a once dashing hero is back to looking like a surly thug when not in uniform.
Well there, twittered Alice brightly.
Belle clicked her knitting needles with conviction.
Next? she said.
***
Joe nodded. He frowned.
I'm sorry, but a few things are still a little unclear to me. Bletchley has told me almost nothing and I haven't been able to talk to Stern yet, so the hieroglyphs are still a mite mysterious. The truth is, I still can't make out Stern's role exactly.
Ask questions then, suggested Belle. Isn't that why you're here?
It is, said Joe, and I have to admit I feel a little bit like some ancient Greek traveler come to pay a call on the Sphinx.
Little Alice laughed.
Come now, we're not as enigmatic as all that, are we? Two forgotten little old women with their aches and pains and their lives behind them?
Joe smiled.
No one would ever describe you that way. The two of you are a legend, you must know that.
To others maybe, said Alice, looking down at her cramped hands, her laughter gone.
Just look at those, she whispered sadly. Two ugly claws, that's what they are.
There there, said Belle in a quiet voice. We mustn't dwell on the unfortunate things, dear. After all, life has been very kind to us in so many ways.
Alice looked up at her sister, who smiled and nodded in encouragement.
Belle sitting stiffly erect.
What a will of iron, thought Joe. Two broken hips and part of her paralyzed and nothing holding her together at all really but that fierce mind of hers, that iron soul that won't give up because she knows her little sister couldn't manage without her. Because she knows Little Alice would just float away like the beautiful dream she's always been. Wind in her hair and running through the fields and climbing trees to see over walls, a pretty singing bird who'd just take flight on the rays of the sun and float off in the summer air forever if it weren't for her older sister waiting back there on the porch where she's always been, solid and substantial and just a mind now, just a soul that won't give in. Big Belle, they've always called her and that's what she is, determined and fierce and all mind and soul now. And precious little else now, God have mercy.
Belle turned to him.
You have questions?
I do, said Joe. I was wondering if Stern has known all along that the Germans have the Black Code?
Not all along. He found out not too long ago, as we did, by way of the Italians. They're good at so many things, but war isn't one of them. Winston summed up the matter once with his usual flair for words. An Italian blitzkrieg was the phrase he used, which is certainly the most hopeless of concepts, and also one reason I've always liked the Italians. A people incapable of making war well are blessed by God. In any case, Alice and I knew only that this American cipher had been stolen in Rome. We didn't know what use it was being put to, or about this Colonel Fellers here in Cairo. But Stern would have been aware of all that. And more important, the Germans would have known that he was.
You're certain of that?
I am now. It's simple enough to reconstruct it in retrospect. I would say the Germans were probably present when the truth slipped out in front of Stern. So if he had spoken to the British, the Germans would have known immediately who had given the secret away. You understand, I'm sure, that Stern's extraordinary value to the Allies has always been that he's thoroughly trusted by the other side. It's this very unusual quality he has about him. This ability to inspire trust.
I know, said Joe.
So knowing that the Black Code had been compromised, Stern was placed in a terrible position.
Stern's usual position, it seems. But the two of you suspected this?
Yes, we both sensed it. We could see how tormented he'd become. It was obvious something was torturing him, but we didn't know what it was until tonight.
This is an idle speculation, said Joe, but do you think Stern was planning to tell the British eventually?
That's neither idle nor speculation, replied Belle. The reason Stern returned to Cairo a few days ago was precisely to do that. Again, this has only become clear to us tonight. Until a few days ago he'd been hoping the British would uncover the truth about the Black Code through other channels, other sources.
He'd been desperately waiting and praying for that. But when this last mission turned out to be such a disaster, he decided he couldn't wait any longer. His mission was part of a larger scheme, apparently, which was a total failure.
Yes, I know about it, said Joe. There were special strike forces and the like against the German and Italian bases being used to attack Malta. Bletchley mentioned it. Stern was probably serving as a pathfinder, the contact for one of the commando groups behind enemy lines.
He was devastated when he returned, continued Belle. Truly wretched. He said he feared the tide might really have turned in favor of the Germans. So he had decided to talk to Bletchley.
Joe was puzzled.
Yet I was with Bletchley yesterday evening and there was no hint at all that he even knew Stern was back in Cairo.
No, Bletchley didn't know Stern was back, or at least he didn't know then. As it turned out, Stern didn't have to go to Bletchley. As soon as Stern reappeared in Cairo he learned that what he'd been so desperately waiting for had finally happened. The British had finally learned about the breaking of the Black Code through other channels.
That would explain Bletchley's new sense of calm last night, said Joe. But at the same time Bletchley has been implying all along that this was exactly the kind of thing that worried him about Stern. This business that's now cleared up by the fact that Colonel Fellers and the Black Code were the source of all the trouble. So it just seems strange that Bletchley didn't say anything about it, or give me some hint that the situation had changed and Stern was no longer under suspicion.
Joe nodded to himself, puzzled anew. But Belle said nothing and he noticed that her face was impassive as she stared at her knitting.
Trouble, thought Joe, for the first time sensing that the Sisters were withholding something from him.
***