`Let's leave that till after dinner shall we?'
They dined early, and Lovelace thought he had never sat through a more trying meal. Christopher displayed alternate moods of pessimism and gaiety. Although almost a teetotaller, he ordered a magnum of champagne and began to talk of his last wishes in the event of his being caught and killed by Zarrif’s men. Valerie grew paler and paler as the meal dragged on until Lovelace feared that she would faint at the table; but with almost superhuman pluck she managed to keep her end up and laugh with Christopher during his outbursts of forced hilarity.
When at last coffee was served, Lovelace produced a small map of Athens and its environs. Passing it to Christopher, he explained to him the route he must take to reach Zarrif’s house. It was not difficult, being a straight main road except for the last quarter mile, and, as the house stood alone on the slope of the hill, Christopher agreed that he would have no trouble in finding it.
`Right, then,' Lovelace went on. `I shall have to leave you in a few minutes now, to keep my appointment, but I want you to follow me in a private car which I've hired for you from the Delphic garage. It'll be handed over to you here by their man at a quarter to nine. In it there's a pair of folding steps and a kit bag containing various other things we'll need. You will drive yourself out, but you're not to stop at the house; go straight on round the bend at the back and up the hill for about two hundred yards. Stop then, and wait until I join you there. I've ordered your car a bit early to make certain of it arriving up to time; but don't start before nine, because I don't want you hanging about there longer than necessary. I hope to be out of the house by half past, but in any case I'll manage to be with you, somehow, before a quarter to ten.' He turned to Valerie: `Could you fly the Adriatic by night if need be?'
'Oh, yes,' she nodded; `I've done far more difficult trips than that.'
`Then I want you to return to the airport when Christopher sets off. See that your plane's in readiness, then wait at the hotel. If you don't hear from us by eleven o'clock you're to leave at once for Brindisi. Is that all clear?'
As the others nodded he lifted his glass of champagne. 'Well, here's lots of luck to all of us,' he said briefly. Finishing his wine, he stood up and left them.
On his second visit to Zarrif’s house he paid off his taxi. The guards made no difficulty about letting him through, and the secretary, who was still at work, led him at once into the inner room.
Zirrif inquired courteously if he was better, and on learning that although still shaky he was fairly fit, settled down to bombard him with a fresh series of questions. Lovelace dealt with them to the best of his ability, but one almost took him off guard. It was a sudden inquiry. 'Do you know anything about the Millers of God?'
For a moment he feared that his imposture had been discovered, and that Zirrif had only been playing with him; but his one hope lay in keeping up his part.
'Yes,' he said slowly. 'It's a sort of society, isn't it, which threatens people who speculate in currencies to such an extent that nations are forced into a corner and driven off gold.'
'It threatens those and others. What more do you know of it?' Zarrif’s piercing eyes seemed to probe the deepest corners of his visitor's mind.
'Nothing only rumours picked up in travelling here and there.'
`I see. You have nothing definite you can give me, Well . . .' The wizened old man's questions switched to another subject, and Lovelace breathed again.
A few moments later he pretended to be seized with another attack. Zirrif showed no surprise, but treated him with the same consideration as before.
When Lovelace returned to the big, gloomy room he apologised and said: 'If there's any more Information you want I'll come out tomorrow morning. I'll be all right again by then.'
Zirrif nodded. There is still much that I wish to hear. If you are free to return to Abyssinia I should like to have you with me. It is always of great value to be able to consult a man who has been so recently at the scene of action.'
Lovelace hesitated a moment.
'You will not find it necessary to work for a long time afterwards if you do as I suggest,' Zirrif went on quietly. `I pay my people well, as anyone who has been in my service will tell you.'
'All right I'm game,' Lovelace replied, simulating a stab of pain. 'What time do we start?'
'My secretary, Cassalis, will meet you by the bookstall at the airport at one thirty tomorrow. We shall leave shortly after. Good night.'
Zirrif pressed the bell upon his table, and three minutes later Lovelace heard the iron gates of the house clang to behind him.
He found the hired car up on the hillside. It was partly concealed by a group of cypresses. The moon had risen and showed the plain below almost as clearly as in daylight, but it showed something else as well. Valerie was seated in the driver's seat beside Christopher.
`What the hell are you doing here?' Lovelace snapped at her angrily. `Didn't I tell you.
'Never mind what you told me,' she cut him short as she got out. 'I'm my own mistress and I take orders from no one. I'm only here to mind the car and get you away more quickly.'
For a second he was minded to call off the whole business, but Christopher was beside him now, trembling with excitement and urging him to give his orders. No such opportunity to get Zirrif might ever occur again. With sudden decision he gripped Christopher by the arm.
`You see the left end of the house. The last three windows on the first floor are those of Zarrif’s bedroom. The next is the bathroom, and the fifth the lavatory. If you look carefully you'll see a dark streak running down from it. That's the two ends of a rope I bought this afternoon, took in round my waist, and threw out of the window a few minutes ago after passing it behind the pipe that runs up to the cistern. It'll bear you easily and it's not difficult to climb.'
'Yes!' breathed Christopher. 'Yes!'
Lovelace pulled the step ladder and bag out of the back of the car. `Come on,' he said, and led the way off the road down the rocky slope.
Christopher had Valerie in his arms. With feverish lips he was kissing her all over her face. Suddenly he thrust her from him and scrambled after Lovelace down to the wall.
Lovelace was already getting his kit out of the big bag. It consisted of a large screw hook, a pair of rubber gloves, a length of electric wire, a roll of insulating tape, a pair of wire cutters, and another length of rope.
Propping the steps against a near by tree, he screwed the hook into the trunk about ten feet up, level with the wall top, then, passing the length of wire through it, he drew on his rubber gloves and, moving the steps, attached one end of it to the alarm wire above the wall. Next, he shifted the steps fifteen feet along, drew the loose wire taut through the hook, and performed the even more delicate operation of attaching its free end so that it would carry the current round the V and take the strain without sounding the alarm. Moving the steps again, he set them up half way between the two joins.
`Be ready to run,' he whispered, glancing over his shoulder. With a set face he cut the alarm wire where it now formed the base of the triangle he had erected.
They held their breath for a second, fearing to hear the electric gongs shatter the silent night, but no sound broke the stillness,
'It's all right,' Lovelace muttered. 'Pass me the rope.'
When Christopher handed it to him he threw one end of it over the wall in the centre of the gap where the wire had been a moment before, ran down the steps, and attached the other to the lower portion of the tree.
Christopher already had one foot on the steps. Lovelace caught him by the elbow. 'Go canny when you reach the sill in case they've spotted the rope and are waiting for you. If they are, you'll have to drop and run. If all goes well, pull the rope by one end when you reach the ground again and bring it back with you. If you can do that they'll never know how you got in. We'll be waiting for you at the car. Up you go now and good luck to you!'