There followed two empty hours during which Bond sat and looked out of the window at the wall opposite. From time to time he got up and paced to and fro and then sat down again. For the first hour, Tatiana sat and pretended to look through a pile of magazines. Then she abruptly went into the bathroom and Bond vaguely heard water gushing into the bath.
At about 6 o’clock, Tempo came out of the bedroom. He told Bond that he was going out. `There is food in the kitchen. I will return at nine and take you to the train. Please treat my flat as your own.’ Without waiting for Bond’s reply, he walked out and softly shut the door. Bond heard his foot on the stairs and the click of the front door and the self-starter of the Morris.
Bond went into the bedroom and sat on the bed and picked up the telephone and talked in German to the long-distance exchange.
Half an hour later there was the quiet voice of M.
Bond spoke as a travelling salesman would speak to the managing director :°f Universal Export. He said that his partner had gone very sick. Were there any fresh instructions?
`Very sick?’
`Yes, sir, very.’
`How about the other firm?’
`There were three with us, sir. One of them caught the same thing. The other two didn’t feel well on the way out of Turkey. They left us at Uzunkopru–that’s the frontier.’
`So the other firm’s packed up?’
Bond could see M’s face as he sifted the information. He wondered if the fan was slowly revolving in the ceiling, if M had a pipe in his hand, if the Chief of Staff was listening on the other wire.
`What are your ideas? Would you and your wife like to take another way home?’
`I’d rather you decided, sir. My wife’s all right. The sample’s in good condition. I don’t see why it should deteriorate. I’m still keen to finish the trip. Otherwise it’ll remain virgin territory. We shan’t know what the possibilities are.’
`Would you like one of our other salesmen to give you a hand?’ `It shouldn’t be necessary, sir. Just as you feel.’
Til think about it. So you really want to see this sales campaign through?’ Bond could see M’s eyes glittering with the same perverse curiosity, the same rage to know, as he himself felt. `Yes, sir. Now that I’m half way, it seems a pity not to cover the whole route.’
`All right then. I’ll think about giving you another salesman to lend a hand.’ There was a pause on the end of the line. `Nothing else on your mind?’
`No, sir.’
`Goodbye, then.’
`Goodbye, sir.’
Bond put down the receiver. He sat and looked at it. He suddenly wished he had agreed with M’s suggestion to give him reinforcements, just in case. He got up from the bed. At least they would soon be out of these damn Balkans and down into Italy. Then Switzerland, France–among friendly people, away from the furtive lands.
And the girl, what about her? Could he blame her for the death of Kerim? Bond went into the next room and stood again by the window, looking out, wondering, going back over everything, every expression and every gesture she had made since he had first heard her voice on that night in the Kristal Palas. No, he knew he couldn’t put the blame on her. If she was an agent, she was an unconscious agent. There wasn’t a girl of her age in the world who could have played this role, if it was a role she was playing, without betraying herself. And he liked her. And he had faith in his instincts. Besides, with the death of Kerim, had not the plot, whatever it was, played itself out? One day he would find out what the plot had been. For the moment he was certain. Tatiana was not a conscious part of it.
His mind made up, Bond walked over to the bathroom door and knocked. She came out and he took her in his arms and held her to him and kissed her. She clung to him. They stood and felt the animal warmth come back between them, feeling it push back the cold memory of Kerim’s death.