One of the workmen?
A friend of theirs, I think.
First, the boots, and then the face; Owen recognized the man who had run after Sorgos on the night of the boisterous public meeting in the Der.
It must be, said Nikos. Nicodemus said that Herbst-Wickel was insisting on payment in gold. It must be for the explosives.
One things for sure, said Georgiades; its not for the ikons. The amount they need is nothing like the amount hes getting.
Its got to be the explosives. What else would he want gold dust for?
Its a hell of a clumsy way to get gold, though, isnt it? said Owen.
Ah, yes, said Georgiades, But-dont you see? hes never done it before. Its not something you buy everyday. Take me, for instance: I never buy gold. You buy gold? he asked Nikos.
Nikos sniffed disdainfully.
If I did, he said, Id know how to go about it better than he does.
Very amateurish, said Owen.
Ah, yes, but, you see, he is an amateur. Its the first time hes ever done anything like this. The same with all of them, probably. Never bought gold, never bought explosives, never even tried to kill a Grand Duke before!
Why did they pick on explosives, then? Why not just try and shoot him?
Nikos shrugged.
Perhaps they wanted to make sure.
The danger is, said Owen, that they try to make too sure and send a lot of other people with him. Explosives are not for amateurs. God knows who they might blow up!
The way theyre going, said Nikos, theyre not going to be in a position to blow anyone up, not by the time the Grand Duke gets here, anyway. Not if it depends on Sorgos acquiring enough gold to pay for the explosives. If you look at what he must have been able to get in this ham-fisted way, he must still be miles short.
Thats our big hope.
Well, said Georgiades, if it all depends on Sorgos, isnt the solution obvious?
Take him in, you mean?
Someone else might do it then, said Nikos, someone whos more efficient.
In any case, said Owen, Im hoping hes going to lead us to the rest of the people involved. Youve got someone on him?
Yes, said Nikos. Apparently hes still buying.
Thats good. Dont forget, Herbst-Wickel want payment in advance. It means theyve still not got the explosives.
Owen had hoped that, having passed the case over to Mahmoud, for the time being he could forget about protection gangs, but early the next morning he received an agitated summons from Mustapha.
Whats the trouble?
Two! said Mustapha, shaking his head disbelievingly. Two on the same night!
Two what?
More demands from the gangs. I thought you said everything was going to be all right?
Yes, said Nikos. Apparently hes still buying.
Thats good. Dont forget, Herbst-Wickel want payment in advance. It means theyve still not got the explosives.
Owen had hoped that, having passed the case over to Mahmoud, for the time being he could forget about protection gangs, but early the next morning he received an agitated summons from Mustapha.
Whats the trouble?
Two! said Mustapha, shaking his head disbelievingly. Two on the same night!
Two what?
More demands from the gangs. I thought you said everything was going to be all right?
It will be. Dont worry. Who were they from?
The same as before. One was from the Black Scorpion. You know, like the first time. The other was one of those who came the other time, you know, the time they beat that dope up.
He inclined his head in Selims direction. Selim, however, was unmoved. Indeed, he was positively beaming.
This is getting beyond a joke! said Mustapha. I dont mind paying protection to one gang, or, rather, I do, but theres not much I can do about it. But I cant pay protection to everyone in Cairo!
Dont worry. Ill look after it.
Well, I should hope you would. I pay my taxes, you know. Or, at least, some of them. Thats another bunch of robbers for you! Its about time I got something back.
Dont worry. You wont have to pay. Ill see to it. Or, at least,-remembering that Mahmoud was now supposed to be looking after this end of things-Ill talk to someone who will.
Oh, yes, said Mustapha sceptically. Passing the buck, are you?
No. Ill get on to him right away. Meanwhile, youve got Selim. And friends.
Friends? said Mustapha, scandalized. You mean that?
He drew Owen to the door and pointed along the street. A hulk lying in the shade raised an arm in acknowledgement.
He looks big enough, said Owen.
Oh, hes big enough, all right. If he could only manage to drag himself to his feet. And the only time he does that is when he comes in here and asks for something to keep him going. Well, Id like to keep him going, all right, going somewhere else, fast. Protection racket? This mans a protection racket all on his own!
Only coffee, I hope?
Only coffee? Look, coffee costs money, as well as all the other things my wife gives him. Another of these down-and-outs she cant resist! I tell you, Im feeding half the population. And the other bloody half is sending me protection notes!
At last Owen managed to get away. He had just turned the corner when he heard himself hailed by Selim.
Effendi! Effendi!
Yes?
Effendi, there is much to report!
Report away, then.
Effendi, I saw those men last night. Including that little bastard who was one of those who attacked me the other day. And I said to myself: I will stave that mans head in! But then, Effendi, I reflected. Am I not a policeman, I said to myself? Do not I serve the Mamur Zapt? And would he wish me to do a thing like that? Surely not. He would wish me to hold back until I could stave in the heads of all the bastards. So, Effendi, said Selim, swelling with pride, I held back!
Good for you. Now-
Then, Effendi, I thought more. These are evil men, I said, and they will come again. And when they come again, by God, this time I will be ready and I will level the score. And the good thing is, I dont have to go to them; they will come to me. All I have to do is sit here on my backside. That was pretty good thinking, wasnt it, Effendi? said Selim anxiously.
Pretty good. Now-
I put it to Babakr. That was Babakr up the street, Effendi. I think you saw him?
Yes, indeed.
Well, I put it to him and he thought it was a good idea too. He said, its better that the mountain should not go to Mohammed, especially if its very hot, but that Mohammed should come to the mountain. And then we can throw the bloody mountain at him. That was a good thought, wasnt it, Effendi? I must say, Id never thought of Babakr as a religious man before, but that was pretty good.
Yes, well, thanks, Selim-
But that is not all, Effendi. When the second man came, that little bastard who was here the other day, I said to myself: I will not stave his head in, but is it right that I should let him go? If I miss the chance, I may lose him forever. I may never see him again. But if one were to follow him home, so that I would know where to look for him-
You followed him home?
Well, no, Effendi, not I. Im the one who has the ideas. It is for other people to do the walking. So I told Mekhmet-
Mekhmet followed him?
Yes, Effendi. He was at first unwilling-Effendi, the man is but a hollow reed-but I persuaded him. So if you would like to give him a piastre, no more, the mans not worth it, but I wouldnt mind a couple for myself, Effendi-
Just a minute, said Owen. Are you saying that Mekhmet followed this man all the way home?
Thats right, Effendi. It was a bad place they went to, down in the Babylon-
Fetch Mekhmet, said Owen.
Chapter 8
Babylon, or Bab-ei-On, the Old City, had been there before the Muslims came. Its original inhabitants had been the Copts, lineal descendants of the Egyptians in the time of the Pharoahs. Over the centuries they had become Christians and the Ders were essentially Christian enclaves against the Muslim invaders. The Muslim tide had swept over the original fortified churches destroying the forts but leaving the churches, and it was in their precincts that Christians had traditionally gathered. Over the years many Copts had moved out, up to the modern, more prosperous city of the Arabs, but in their place had come other Christians: Greek (which was why there were almost as many Greek churches as there were Coptic in Babylon), Macedonians, Montenegrins and Serbians. Most recently there had come Georgians. Here, too, a generation ago, had come the Mingrelians; and with them had come Sorgos.
It was in one of the Ders that, with the instinct for alliance characteristic of the new immigrant, he had settled when he had made the journey from his native Caucasus. There he had found his first job, incongruously, perhaps, as an apprentice bookbinder, although one should remember that he was familiar with leather-working. There, in time, he had opened his own workshop. In the same Der he had bought his house and it was there that his son had been born. The Der was where his roots lay; and the place in which, when the time came, he naturally looked to for allies.
Georgiades had been ferreting them out. The people who had known Sorgos in the early years were now mostly dead but acquaintance had been preserved in their families, was a kind of family matter, and Sorgos was still well known in the Der.
Yes, he came here often. Not, perhaps, as much as he did, for it was a long way to travel. When his son had opened the bookshop near the Clot Bey, he had moved with him.
It was in the bookshop that Katarina had been born. The world she had grown up in was very different from that of the Der. Her father, quickly literate, had slipped easily into the Europeanized culture which his trade had opened up to him. Mingrelian, he was still, but Cairo, now, and even Paris, was his intellectual home and not the Caucasus.
The mother? Mingrelian, of course, and apparently very beautiful. She had died giving birth to Katarina. Her daughter, after the earliest years, had grown up in a household without women, one in which she was actually closer to her father and his world than to her grandfather and the closed world of the Der.
The Der, said Georgiades, was the thing, not the Mingrelians. They were scattered now around Cairo and there were not many of them. Sorgos, as senior elder, commanded great prestige and the few Mingrelians left worked dutifully to preserve their language, but community they hardly were. Most of them had been assimilated into other communities which were now for them more important. Sorgos might still eat patriotic fire but the attention of the other Mingrelians had passed to other pursuits. A few had been disposed to join him in his Crusade against the Grand Duke but, said Georgiades, the fact that the original public meeting had been held in the Der was not coincidental. It was there, not amongst the Mingrelians, that Sorgos expected to find his allies.