and she stood up and began pacing up and down, and Vandam thought: Not so tough. He opened the door and went in. He sat down at the table without speaking, “Mis left her standing, which was a psychological disadvantage for a woman: Score the first point to me, he thought. He heard Jakes come in behind him and close the door. He looked up at Sonja. “Sit down.” She stood gazing at him, and a slow smile spread across her face. She pointed at his bandages. “Did he do that to you?” she said. Score the second point to her. “Sit down.” “nank you.” She sat. “Who is ‘he’?” “Alex Wolff, the man you tried to beat up tonight.” “And who is Alex Wolff?” “A wealthy patron of the Cha-Cha Club.” “How long have you known him?” She looked at her watch. “Five hours.” “What is your relationship with him?” She shrugged. “He was a date.” “How did you meetT’ ‘The usual way. After my act, a waiter brought a message inviting me to sit at Mr. Wolff’s table.” “Which one?” “Which table?” “Which waiter.” “I don’t remember.” “Go on.” “Mr. Wolff gave me a glass of champagne and asked me to have dinner with him. I accepted, we went to the restaurant, and you know the rest.” “Do you usuafly sit with members of the audience after your act?” “Yes, it’s a custom.” “Do you usually go to dinner with them?” “Occasionally.” “Why did you accept this time?” “Mr. Wolff seemed like an unusual sort of man.” She 168 Ken Follett
looked at Vandam’s bandage again, and grinned. “He was an unusual sort of man.” “What is your full name?” “Sonia el-Aram.” “Address?” “Rhan, Zamalek. It’s a houseboaV’ “Age?” “How discourteous.” “Age?” “I refuse to answer.” “You’re on dangerous ground—w” “No, you are on dangerous ground.” Suddenly she startled Vandam. by letting her feelings show, and he realized that all this time she had been suppressing a fury. She wagged a fmger in his face. “At least ten people saw your uniformed bullies arrest me in the restaurant. By midday tomorrow half of Cairo will know that the British have put Sonja in jail. If I don’t appear at the Cha-Cha tomorrow night there will be a riot. My people will burn the city. You’ll have to bring troops back from the desert to deal with it. And if I leave here with a single bruise or scratch, IT show it to the world onstage tomorrow night, and the result will be the same. No, mister, it Isn’t me Who?s on dangerous ground.” Vandam looked at her blankly throughout the tirade, then spoke as if she had said nothing extraordinary. He had to ignore what she said, because she was right, and he could not deny it. “Let’s go over this again,” he said niudly. “You say you met Wolff at the Cha-Cha-” “No,” she interrupted. “I won’t go over it again. IT cooperate with you, and I’ll answer questions, but I will not be interrogated.” She stood up, turned her chair around, and sat down with her back to Vandam. Vandam. stared at the back of her head for a moment. She had well and truly outmaneuvered him. He was angry with himself for letting it happen, but his anger was mixed with a sneaking admiration for her for the way she had done it. Abruptly, he got up and left the room. Jakes followed. Out in the corridor Jakes said: “What do you thinkT’ “Well have to let her go.” Jakes went to give instructions. While he waited, Vandam thought about Sonja. He wondered from what source she had TIRE KEY TO REBECCA 169
been drawing the strength to defy him. Whether her story was true or false, she should have been frightened, confused, intimidated and ultimately compliant. It was true that her fame gave her some protection; but, in threatening him with her fame, she ought to have been blustering, unsure and a little desperate, for an isolation cell normally frightened any~ one-especially celebrities, because the sudden excommunication from the familiar glittering world made them wonder even more than usually whether that familiar glittering world could possibly be real. What gave her strength? He ran over the conversation in his mind. The question she had balked at had been the one about her age. Clearly her talent had enabled her to keep going past the age at which run-of-the-mill dancers retired, so perhaps she was living in fear of the passing years. No clues there. Otherwise she had been calm, expressionless and blank, except when she had smiled at his wound. Then, at the end. she had allowed herself to explode, but even then she had used her fury, she had not been controlled by it. He called to mind her face as she had raged at him. What had he seen there? Not just anger. Not fear. Then he had it. It had been hatred. She hated him. But he was nothing to her, nothing but a British officer. Therefore she hated the British. And her hatred had given her strength. Suddenly Vandam. was tired. He sat down heavily on a bench in the corridor. From where was he to draw strength? It was easy to be strong if you were insane, and in Sonja’s hatred there had been a hint of something a little crazy. He had no such refuge. Calmly, rationally, he considered what was at stake. He imagined the Nazis marching into Cairo; the Gestapo in the streets; the Egyptian Jews herded into concentration camps; the Fascist propaganda on the wireless … People like Sonja looked at Egypt under British rule and felt that the Nazis had already arrived. It was not true, but if one tried for a moment to see the British through Sonja’s eyes it had a certain plausibility: the Nazis said that Jews were sub-human, and the British said that blacks were like children; there was no freedom of the press in Germany, but there was none in Egypt either; and the British, like the Germans, had their political police. Before the war Vandam had 170 Ken Follett