Read Assignment - Karachi for Free Online Page A

it best—”
    Her voice trailed off again. He did not want to give her a chance to recover. It might have been useful and interesting to have waited a little, to learn her game without smashing down her defenses, to see what her ultimate objective might be. But he could not wait. His job was to protect Sarah Standish. He had to know the truth at once.
    He looked at his watch. It was past one o’clock. He had landed in Karachi nine hours ago, and thanks to the attempted to murder him—for which he had a number of unanswered questions—he had contacted no one except K’Ayub, as yet.
    The girl had not replied to his last query. She turned away, biting her lip in a gesture that was most uncharacteristic of Sarah. A professional actress could have done much better. A professional in Durell’s business would have had no such difficulty.
    Amateurs were always getting themselves killed. . . .
    “Did you all know what plane I was landing in?” he asked.
    “Yes,” she whispered. “All of us knew. I’m sorry, but— please keep your voice down. I suppose this whole thing is silly, but Colonel K’Ayub isn’t supposed to know yet. After all, if the whole group is in some kind of danger—”
    “Where do you fit into it?”
    “I’m Jane King,” she said.
    “And?”
    She smiled wanly. “I’m secretary to Miss Standish. I always have been—that is, for the last two years. It feels like always to me.”
    “And who asked you to act out this masquerade?”
    “Mr. Donegan, at the American Institute Building. He said we were all threatened, somehow, considering what had happened to the members of the first expedition to S-5, and that fanatics were everywhere. He said that Miss Standish was a sitting duck for a kidnap attempt and that she had to be protected at all costs.”
    “So you volunteered to be a decoy?” Durell asked.
    “Yes. Yes, I did.”
    “Knowing the danger?”
    “I—I’m being well paid,” she said.
    “Doesn’t your salary as Miss Standish’s secretary pay you enough? Do you deliberately have to stick your neck out to someone who might want to kidnap or even kill Miss Standish?”
    “I’m not afraid,” she said thinly. “It was only for today and tomorrow, anyway—just until we all leave to pick up our equipment in Rawalpindi.”
    “It doesn’t take long to die, sometimes,” Durell said. He did not know what to make of this girl. He was sure she was not telling him everything. She looked flustered and dismayed, because her attempt to fool him with Sarah’s identity had failed so quickly and miserably. But there was more to her discomfort than that. He looked at her steadily for a moment. She met his gaze, crushed out her cigarette, and recovered enough poise to smile wryly.
    He said quietly, “Donegan suggested the masquerade for you?”
    “Yes. After all, he’s an intelligence officer—”
    “Who else? I mean, who else here knows who you really are?”
    “Well, Rudi knows—I mean, Mr. von Buhlen.”
    “How well do you know him, Jane?”
    “We met in Switzerland last winter.”
    “When he became engaged to Miss Standish, your employer?”
    Jane King flushed. “Yes.”
    “I hear that Rudi von Buhlen is charming to women.”
    “Yes.”
    “Did he charm you?”
    Her chin came up defiantly. “You’re insulting, do you know that?” “I mean to be,” Durell said. “It’s one way to provoke answers. Anyway, Rudi knows you’re posing as Miss Standish, to draw any fire that might be aimed at her.”
    “If you want to put it that way. Rudi first suggested it. And Mr. Donegan thought it was a good idea. But I guess I just wasn’t up to it with anyone who really knows Miss Sarah.”
    “Who else knows of this extra job of yours? Miss Standish? Mr. Donegan? No one else?”
    “No one.”
    She sat down suddenly and began to shiver, although the heat in the walled garden was oppressive now. She clasped her hands and pressed them in her lap between her thighs and leaned forward, as