“Thanks for the lessons,” Douglass said.
“How did a fair-to-middling airplane driver like you wind up flying aerial barges?”
“Just lucky, I guess,” Kennedy said.
“And just for the hell of it, Colonel, if that were a check ride, you would have passed it.”
They smiled at each other again.
“Let’s go see if we can make Bitter blush again,” Douglass said.
[FOUR]
Canidy didn’t see the policeman with his hand held up until he was almost on him.
He had been too busy watching the road in front of him. It had been a long time since he had ridden a bicycle, and while it was true, he had found out, that once you learned how, you never forgot, it was also true that pedaling a bicycle required muscles he hadn’t used in a long time. Even moving as slowly as they had been riding, his calves and upper thighs were heavy with exhaustion.
And the road was covered with frozen slush, which caught the wheel of the bicycle when it rode in one of the ruts. He had taken four spills, and one of them was a bad one, throwing him heavily on his right shoulder and bruising his right knee There was no chance to stop before he got to the policeman, although he made a valiant effort. And, he saw, there was no place to run either, no corner to duck around. The policeman had appeared from nowhere because he had been inside a small, wooden guard shack almost hidden by the buttresses of the Arpad Bridge. There was nothing ahead but the bridge itself, and if the policeman couldn’t run him down on foot, which seemed likely, then he would have no trouble shooting at him.
The policeman got out of his way, as Canidy locked the hand brakes and skidded to a stop on the icy slush, the bike slipping out from under him.
He heard Ferniany laugh behind him as Canidy fell to his knees.
And then the policeman said something. Canidy had no idea what he said, but he thought there was a tone of laughter in it Canidy got to his feet, picked up the bicycle, and walked to where the policeman was now examining Ferniany’s identity documents. Canidy rested the bicycle against his leg, reached inside his ragged shepherd’s coat for his papers, and held them ready in his hand until the policeman was ready to take them.
He looked toward the far end of the bridge. He could not tell if there was another policeman in another hidden shack at the far end. Probably not. The Arpad Bridge crossed a branch of the Danube between Pest and Margit Island.
The Margit Bridge crossed the other branch of the Danube to Buda. If there was another guard shack, it would be on the Margit Bridge, not at the end of this one If it became necessary to kill this policeman–by breaking his neck or cutting his throat–it would still be possible to continue across the Danube here.
The policeman handed Ferniany’s papers back and turned to Canidy. He was shaking his head He said something. Canidy had no idea what it was, but he shrugged i The policeman took his papers Canidy saw Ferniany take his garrote from his pocket The policeman returned Canidy’s papers with what could have been A’, courteous bow. Then he turned Canidy around and unfastened the straps of the rucksack Canidy had on his back. He came out with a small cheese and a j small sausage. I Canidy gestured that he was welcome to it. The policeman smiled and ‘ then politely fastened the straps on the rucksack. Then he went to Ferniany’s , bicycle and began to unfasten the straps holding a limp rucksack over the fender. Canidy put his hands up his sleeves, hoping it looked as if he were trying to warm his hands He jerked the strap around the hilt of his Baby FaiP |
hairn free and tested to see if he could quickly get it out of its sheath. It was a dagger that had been developed by Captain Bruce Fairhairn of the Shanghai Municipal Police. The “Baby” was the smaller of two versions and was used when concealment was desirable.