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He could only guess that the thief himself was coming back, and he grew colder at the thought. Perhaps Youssef had decided not to wait to soften Rick up. On the other hand, there was a remote possibility he had the cat. If he was a thief with honor, he might simply be coming to take them back. The idea seemed unlikely. Scotty wouldn't give up the cat, except in exchange for the two of them.
It was nearly black, except for myriad stars. Hassan lay with his ear to the ground. Rick held perfectly still and waited. Finally Hassan sat up. "Close now," he whispered. Rick wondered briefly if they shouldn't put up a fight, but he knew it would be useless. Youssef had too many men. The camels appeared like wraiths from behind the dune, and Rick blinked trying to see more clearly.
If Youssef had found it himself, it was hours ago. He wouldn't have waited to search Hassan's car, if he had ever intended to search it. An inner voice urged, "Tell him where the cat is. It's not your cat, and there's no reason to believe that Kemel Moustafa has any more right to what's inside of it than Youssef has."
He turned to glance around the control room before leaving. The plaster on the ceiling would need repairing where the Sten gun had chipped it down to the concrete roof slab, but there was little real damage to show the effect of last night's fight. Even the window broken by Youssef had been repaired. How simple it all had been once Ismail ben Adhem had taken over.
We took Ali Moustafa into custody, but not before a phone call reached him from New York. His chief clerk listened to this call and sold the information to Youssef. The clerk also agreed, for a share of the profits, to pretend to be Ali, and he enlisted the help of the other clerks. We know this from the clerk. He talked freely, in the hope of leniency." Ben turned to Youssef.
In a moment he had Winston on the line. "Rick's gone," he said tersely. "Hassan, too. The car was brought to the hotel by a stranger. Rick left the cat in the car, behind the rear cushion. He wouldn't do that unless he knew he was going to be searched. My guess is that Youssef snatched them. I think it's time we got the police in on this!" The Howling Jackals
The thief lifted it, and water poured into his mouth in a thin stream. Rick licked his lips. "I'd like some of that," he said. Youssef recorked the bag. "Doubtless," he agreed. "Mr. Brant, I size you up as what you Americans term a stubborn case. However, I am prepared to drop this whole affair right now if you will turn over the cat without further trouble." "We gave you a cat," Rick reminded.
There was no way around the caravan without going into the desert, and the car was too close to turn around. They were trapped! Rick hurriedly took the cat from his pocket and stuffed it down behind the cushion of the car, pushing until it was well hidden. He knew he would be searched; why else would Youssef come? He hoped a search was all there was to worry about.
"Second question: can't you just pick up Youssef on a kidnapping charge?" "We could, if we knew where to find him. But Youssef is a hard man to locate when he goes underground. We've been trying to get something on him for years, and we know him well. This time he's over-played his hand and we've got him. It's only a question of time." "How about Moustafa?" Rick asked. "Is he guilty of anything?"
"Rick, this is Inspector Ismail ben Adhem of the Cairo Police." The inspector held out a brown hand. Rick sensed the strength in it, although the handshake was normal. "I'm glad you're here," the boy said frankly. "Between Youssef and Kemel Moustafa, we're sort of in a jam." The inspector smiled. "Well see if we can get you out of it. Suppose you call me Ben, just to make things easy.
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