The Khamsin Curse Read Online Free PDF Page B

Professor Mallisham is up to on
the island of Philae. Do you know what Moran’s connection is to
Mallisham?”
    “Ostensibly, he’s a gun for
hire. He’s providing security at the site Mallisham is working on
which I presume is the island you just mentioned.”
    “I recall Dr Watson describing
him in one of his chronicles as the second most dangerous man in
England - I presume he was quoting Sherlock – and now that
Professor Moriarty is out of the picture that must make Moran the
most dangerous?”
    “He would have that honour if
he actually spent any time in England, but he prefers Africa. He
wasn’t interested in taking over Moriarty’s criminal empire, even
though he would have given the Yard a run for its money.”
    “What’s your theory? Why didn’t
he return from Reichenbach and take over the empire?”
    Sharp blue eyes winnowed the
fellaheen from the foreign tourists, noting any that didn’t quite
fit the grain. “I suspect he’s a man of action. He prefers to be in
the thick of it rather than give the orders. That’s what made him
such a perfect soldier. He could have been promoted to top rank but
for his devil-may-care attitude. He rubbed too many people up the
wrong way.”
    “Was he dishonourably
discharged?”
    Major Nash waved away a couple
of flies to disguise the fact he forgot himself and shook his head.
“No. There was a scandal and he chose to retire.”
    “Not a question of avoiding a
court martial?”
    “Nothing like that.”
    “Not a lack of bravery?”
    “Never! He was mentioned in
despatches after the battle of Char Asiab. Should have been awarded
a Victoria Cross more than once but he was always overlooked.”
    “What was the scandal?”
    “Take your pick: Deflowering
the unmarried daughter of a superior officer. Starting a fist fight
at a Vice-regal dinner. Cheating at cards at the Bangalore Club.
Getting drunk at the Maharajah’s annual ball and insulting the
Maharani. All of the above have been documented but the straw that
broke the camel’s back is unknown. Enough about Moran. Steer clear
of him. Who else will be on board the Lady Constance?”
    “Miss Hypatia Lee, Miss Daisy
Clooney and Mrs Lorna Baxter; respectively, daughter, niece and
personal secretary of Mr Jefferson Lee. By the bye, the Lady
Constance is morphing into the goddess Sekhmet.”
    He caught sight of a figure
wading through the sand toward them. “Here comes Dr Watson. He must
have decided not to go all the way around the Sphinx. You better
tell him what we discussed so he doesn’t let the cat out of the bag
when he sees me at the hotel later this evening. But don’t do it
yet. Several men have been keeping an eye on us since we left the
hotel. I can’t figure out if they’re watching you or me.”
    “Your shoulders are too
broad.”
    “What?”
    “You don’t look like a calash
driver – your shoulders are too broad and your back is too
straight.”
    He tried not to laugh as he
hoisted himself up and remembered to slump wearily on his perch.
One glance at Dr Watson’s face alerted him to the fact something
was gravely wrong. The doctor looked distressed. Major Nash
wondered if the doctor had just had a nasty encounter with Colonel
Moran, but he dared not turn around and was forced to
eavesdrop.
    The Countess couldn’t fail to
note the doctor’s stricken state and wasted no time getting to the
bottom of it. “You look as if you’ve just crawled out of a pit full
of death adders.”
    He removed his Panama hat and
mopped his sweaty brow with the sleeve of his
sandy-hued-sort-of-lilac linen jacket. “I just bumped into Colonel
Hayter.”
    She wondered if he got the two
colonels confused. “You mean Colonel Moran?”
    “I know who I mean,” he
snapped. “Gerald Hayter was on the other side of the Sphinx
interviewing a group of Englishmen who’d made a complaint about
their dragoman luring them to a shop which sold fake
artifacts.”
    “Caveat emptor! That’s half the
shops in Cairo.