“What the hell's the big idea of trying to kill me?” I asked as he came up to me.
“You are a traitor, a double agent,” he blustered. “You thought you were smarter than I am, but now you see that you aren't. Now you will pay for this mistake with your life!"
“You’re crazy, you Russian ape," I told him. “You've killed God knows how many innocent people trying to get me, and for what? Why do you want to kill me, anyway? What makes you think I betrayed you?”
“You deny it? American pig! For this insult to my intelligence it will be a pleasure to kill you personally!”
“Just what the devil am I supposed to have done?”
“First, Yankee dog, you spent the night at the harem of Sheikh Tajed el Atassi. Then you fled Damascus and turn up in Baghdad with the chief henchman of Sheikh el Atassi. Finally, you accompany him to a meeting at which many dupes of the enemies of Russia are in attendance. Do you think I am such a fool as to believe that you are not in league with them?”
“Wait a minute! Wait a cotton-picking minute! Getting to see Sheikh el Atassi was part of the job I'm doing for the Party."
“Liar! Don't you think we know that Sheikh el Atassi has been of great use to an Egyptian who is an agent of the Peking regime?"
Talk about double think! I had the dizzying sensation of having fallen right smack into the middle of Orwell's 1984. “Of course I know you know what, you maniac!” I shouted. "You told me back in Baghdad, remember? That’s why I set out to ingratiate myself with the sheikh in the first place. How else was I ever going to trace Anna Kirkov?"
“Yes, you fooled me for a little while," Potemchenko said irrelevantly. “But looking back now I see it all clearly. You used the information I gave you as a pretext for making contact with the sheikh. He gave you information to be passed on to the Chinese from Baghdad. You have been playing both sides of the game."
"That’s ridiculous!" I told him.
"Then how was it that you gained entrance to the sheikh's harem? And how was it that you were allowed to leave unscathed? No man is allowed inside there except at the express invitation of the sheikh. If you hadn't known him before, you never would have gotten out alive. And why did you flee Damascus? I'll tell you why! You were trying to give me the slip before I caught on to your double-game. That's why! And how is it that you made contact with Ben-Kavir? You're not going to tell me that was a coincidence. You must have pre-arranged the meeting."
"It's all part of the same thing," I told him. “I got to see the skeikh by returning a houri who had run away from his harem. I left Damascus because I had a lead on Anna Kirkov that pointed to Baghdad. I didn't stop to tell you because I was in a hurry and I had no orders to check with you before making any moves. And, yes, my meeting with Ben-Kavir was sheer chance."
"Really?" He looked at me like a man who had been saving the choice part for last. “And I suppose you can explain away the fact that the night before you contacted me you left the Damascus police station with a representative of the American embassy and accompanied him to that embassy. By Lenin, I believe you may well be a triple agent."
"I can't explain that to you," I told him quietly. “You'll just have to take my word that it's all part of the same mission."
“I will take your word for nothing. You are a traitor and now you are going to die." He took the tommygun from one of his henchmen and raised it towards me.
“Potemchenko," I said slowly, looking him straight in the eye, "if you kill me, you're as good as dead yourself. My orders come straight from the Kremlin. My mission is extremely important to them. Anyone who botches it by killing me will be eliminated as the incompetent boob he is. Believe me, Potemchenko, if you don't contact Moscow before killing me, you'll be dead within a week.”
He hesitated. Conditioned to obey unquestioningly, he was caught between his instinct that I was a traitor and the fear that he might indeed be exceeding his authority. “I don't believe you," he said finally, but there was a shaky note in his voice.
“You don't dare take the chance," I told him. “You can kill me any time. I'm your prisoner. But if you're smart you'll contact Moscow first."
“All right, American pig. I will call Moscow. But if you are leading me on as I'm sure that you are, rest assured that your death shall be doubly unpleasant." He turned to his henchmen. “Guard him carefully,” he instructed. “I will only be a few minutes." He started for the car and I guessed correctly that there was a short-wave transmitter in it.
About twenty minutes later he returned, obviously chagrined. “Release him," he instructed the guards with obvious reluctance.
“So I was right, Potemchenko.“ I couldn't resist rubbing it in.
“Moscow says that you are to be trusted," he admitted stiffly.
“And so four or five men are dead because you chose to shoot first and ask questions later."
“'They were all working hand-in-hand with the Chinese.
“What about him?" I pointed to Basra's body, "He wasn't working for the Chinese. He was just a poor cab driver, an innocent bystander.”
“An Arab pimp!" Potemchenko blew a mouthful of saliva and contempt at the corpse. “What difference does one piece of dung like that make? It is only the ultimate good for all that is important.”
I choked back my rage. "Give me a lift back to town," I said .
“Yes. I have some information to pass on to you from Moscow. I will tell you as we ride. One thing." He stopped in his tracks. “I am still not convinced that you are a loyal agent."
"After Moscow vouched for me? Why, Potemchenko, questioning the Kremlin’s judgment! That could make you a traitor!"
“We shall see who is the traitor!” he said ominously and started for the car again. “I still do not understand what you were doing at the American embassy."
“Why didn't you ask your Egyptian stooge, the Damascus police chief?" I suggested.
“That puppet? He knows only what we choose to tell him, nothing more. He only knew you went there, not why .”
So I'd guessed right. It had been the oily Egyptian who tipped off Potemchenko about my visit to the embassy. I made a mental note to tell Charles Putnam -- if I ever saw him again—that the police chief was not to be trusted.
I pushed the thought to the back of my mind as Potemchenko began relaying the information from Moscow. It seemed that a Dr. Suno Wong, Red China's foremost atomic research scientist, had left Peking by plane that afternoon. The N.K.V.D.'s information was that he was bound for Kabul, Afghanistan. Their feeling was that the purpose of his trip might be a meeting with Anna Kirkov.
I didn't tell Potemchenko how right I thought that guess might be. I didn't tell him that Ben-Kavir had hinted to me that Mustafa Ben Narouz might also be in Kabul. I didn't tell him just how likely I thought it that Anna Kirkov might be there herself.
"I leave for Kabul myself tonight," Potemchenko concluded. “Will you go there?"
“Tonight I go to sleep," I told him. “I'll see how I feel about it in the morning."
“If you came with me tonight, the plane I have arranged for would have you there before morning."
"No thanks," I told him flatly.
“Al1 right." His easy agreement told me that Moscow must have straightened him out as to any authority he might have thought he had over me. I was glad of that. I didn’t want him tripping me up again. The more distance between us, the better I liked it.
He dropped me at my hotel. I went straight up to my room. I opened the door, closed it behind me, and turned on the 1ight. I found myself looking down the muzzle of a .45 with a silencer attachment.