rapidly to the telephone on the bedside table. Alex remained in a chair by the television set. It was the sixth time Holcroft had tried to place his call. The Britisher had only one telephone number he could use in Kingston; embassy telephones were off-limits for clandestine operations. Each time he had managed to get a line through to Kingston - not the easiest feat in Montego - the number was busy.
'Damn! Goddamn it!' exploded the agent.
'Call the embassy before you have a coronary,' said McAuliff. 'Deal with them.'
'Don't be an ass,' replied Holcroft. 'They don't know who I am. We don't use embassy personnel.'
'Talk to the ambassador.'
'What in God's name for? What am I supposed to say? "Pardon me, Mr Ambassador, but my name's so-and-so. I happen to be..." The bloody explanation - if he'd listen to it without cutting me off - would take the better part of an hour. And then the damn fool would start sending cables to Downing Street!' Holcroft marched back to the window.
'What are you going to do?'
'They've isolated me, you understand that, don't you?' Holcroft remained at the window, his back to McAuliff.
'I think so.'
'The purpose is to cut me off, force me to absorb the full impact of the... past three hours...' The Britisher's voice trailed off in thought.
McAuliff wondered. 'That presupposes they know the Kingston telephone; that they shorted it out somehow.'
'I don't think so,' said Holcroft, his eyes still focused on the waters of the bay. 'By now Kingston knows I've been taken. Our men are no doubt activating every contact on the island, trying to get a bearing on my whereabouts. The telephone would be in constant use.'
'You're not a prisoner; the door's not locked.' Alex suddenly wondered if he was correct. He got out of the chair, crossed to the door and opened it.
Down the corridor were two Jamaicans by the bank of elevators. They looked at McAuliff, and although he did not know them, he recognized the piercing, controlled calm of their expressions. He had seen such eyes, such expressions high in the Flagstaff mountains. They were members of the Halidon.
Alex closed the door and turned to Holcroft, but before he could say anything, the Britisher spoke, his back still to Alex.
'Does that answer you?' he asked quietly.
'There are two men in the corridor,' said McAuliff, pointlessly. 'You knew that.'
'I didn't know it, I merely presumed it. There are fundamental rules.'
'And you still think they're savages?'
'Everything is relative.' Holcroft turned from the window and faced Alex. 'You're the conduit now. I'm sure they've told you that.'
'If "conduit" means I take back your answer, then yes.'
'Merely the answer? They've asked for no substantive guarantees?' The Englishman seemed bewildered.
'I think that comes in Phase Two. This is a step contract, I gather. I don't think they'll take the word of Her Majesty's obedient servant. He uses the term "nigger" too easily.'
'You're an ass,' said Holcroft.
'You're an autocratic cipher,' replied McAuliff, with equal disdain. 'They've got you, agent-mon. They've also got the Dunstone list. You play in their sandbox... with their "fundamental rules."'
Holcroft hesitated, repressing his irritation. 'Perhaps not. There's an avenue we haven't explored. They'll take you back... I should like to be taken with you.'
'They won't accept that.'
'They may not have a choice - '
'Get one thing straight,' interrupted Alex. 'There's a survey team in the Cock Pit - white and black - and no one's going to jeopardize a single life.'
'You forget,' said Holcroft softly - aloofly. 'We know the location within a thousand yards.'
'You're no match for those guarding it. Don't think you are... One misstep, one deviation, and there are mass executions.'
'Yes,' said the Britisher. 'I believe just such a massacre took place previously. The executioners being those whose methods and selections you admire so.'
'The circumstances were different. You don't know the truth.'
'Oh, come off it, McAuliff! I shall do my best to protect the lives of your team, but I'm forced to be honest with you. They are no more the first priority for me than they are for the Halidon! There are more important considerations.' The Englishman stopped briefly, for emphasis. 'And I can assure you, our resources are considerably more than those of a sect of fanatic... coloureds. I'd advise you not to change your allegiances at this late hour.'
The announcer on the television screen had been droning, reading from pages of script handed to him by others in the studio. Alex couldn't be sure - he had not been listening