Mrs. Pollifax on Safari/The R Document/Home before Dark/The Glory Boys/The Spuddy [antikvár]

Részlet:IT WAS barely eight o'clock in the morning when the telephone call came in from Algiers, but Carstairs was already at his desk in the CIA building in Langley, Virginia. With his left hand he switched on a tape recorder, with his right he buzzed for his assistant while he listened with narrowed eyes. At one point he interrupted, saying, "Mind repeating that?" and scribbled several words on paper. When Bishop hurried into the office the call had just been completed."Sorry," Bishop said breathlessly. "I was in the men's room, sir. I've missed something?""You have every right to be in the men's room," Carstairs told him reproachfully, "but you've missed an important call from Algiers. We mayjust mai/have the first whisper of a breakthrough on the Aristotle case."Bishop stared at him incredulously. "After all these months?""It's possible. Remember that fabric shop that Davis' department placed under surveillance in Algiers? The stolen-bank-note job," he added helpfully. "Bennet photographed some messages left out On a desk overnight and he decided that one of them would interest us very much. Bright lad, Bennet. The cables were in French and Arabic and he's only just finished translating them." Carstairs turned on playback of the tape recorder. "Here we are," he said, signaling to Bishop to take the words down in shorthand.