Part 50 (1/2)
Vivian asked Gann, ”Will anyone be here when we return?”
He didn't reply for a moment, then said, ”Everyone will be gone.” He told them, ”Miriam and I will meet in Jerusalem.”
Vivian smiled. ”That's very nice.”
Mercado, who was again thinking about exit strategy, asked Purcell, ”Could you get that aircraft out of here?”
”We could carry it out.”
”Why can't you fly it out?”
”It has to take off first, Henry. That's the hard part.”
”If you land, you can take off.”
”I may have blown the tires. I'll look at it later.” He asked, ”Where would you like to go?”
”French Somaliland.”
Gann interjected, ”I think we will need to walk out of here.” He a.s.sured them, ”A number of Royalist partisans have been to Somalia and back. I have a few chaps who will come along.”
Miriam returned and announced that dinner would be served in an hour, and she offered to show everyone to their rooms.
They all stood and Miriam led them to an arched loggia, along which were wooden doors. She indicated a door and said, ”For Mr. Mercado.” Miriam thought she knew the sleeping arrangements and indicated another door. ”For Mr. Purcell, and Miss Smith.” She added, ”I hope we have gotten your luggage correctly placed.”
Gann pointed to the end of the loggia and said, ”Bath down there.” He suggested, ”Let's say c.o.c.ktails in one hour, on the patio.”
Purcell, Vivian, and Mercado thanked their hosts, and entered their rooms.
Purcell looked around the small, whitewashed room with a beamed ceiling. There were no windows, but narrow wooden louvers sat high in the wall to let in air and light, and to keep out wildlife and uninvited guests.
There were two gray steel beds against one wall that looked like they'd come from an inst.i.tution. Against the opposite wall was a wooden table, on which sat their luggage and an oil lamp. In one corner was a chair, and in another was a washstand with a bowl and pitcher. He said, ”Looks like a monk's cell.”
”This will look good after a week in the jungle.”
”It will look like a palace.”
She asked him, ”Are you all right with this?”
He didn't reply.
”I can ask for a separate room.”
”Let me do that.”
”Frank. Look at me.”
He looked at her.
”I am sorry, and I love you.”
”We'll discuss this in Gondar.”
”We are not going to Gondar.”
”Right.”
She changed the subject and said, ”I didn't think Sir Edmund had so much romance in his soul.”
Purcell admitted, ”I was a bit surprised.”
”Love conquers all.”
”Any good news?”
”I'm going to find the bath.” She left.
He stood there awhile, then decided he needed a bath.
He found the door at the end of the loggia and went inside a roofless enclosure in which was a sunken pool against the far wall. The face of a black stone lion was embedded in the wall, and a stream of water poured from the lion's mouth. Vivian's clothes lay on a stone bench, and Vivian herself was floating full frontal nude in the pool.
He took off his clothes and slipped into the water, which was unheated but warm.
She said to him, ”No one would believe a village of Jews in the middle of the Ethiopian jungle.” She added, ”Or a Roman spa. Or a monastery of Coptic monks.”
”Don't forget the Jewish princess.”
”Maybe this is a dream.”
With a bit of nightmare, for sure, he thought.
She stayed silent awhile, floating with her eyes closed. She said, ”We're very close.”
”Closer than I thought we'd get.”
”Do you think Miriam will help us?”
”She's thinking about it.”
Neither of them spoke for a while, then Vivian said, ”Thank you for staying with this.”
He didn't reply.
”You could have left, and I wouldn't have blamed you.”
”It's a good story.”