Assignment Moon Girl Read Online Free Page B

It’s a long trek. We turn west soon, head for the Chasmeh -e- Shotoran . I call it
Satan’s Throat. It’s a sandy plain between two thrusts of higher land. Some old Achaemenid ruins there. Then we go across twenty
miles of gravel, to Howz -e- Mirza .
More ruins. After that, the really bad lands begin, the great salt desert of
Kavir. Hope you can stand the heat.”
    After another hour, Sepah, guided by some mysterious sign in
the changeless desert, abruptly veered west. The lowering sun was a blinding
red ball before them. Durell appreciated his sunglasses. Beele sank down into a
quiet abyss of pain. He was about fifty, with thinning sandy hair and a
small yellowish beard, gaunt cheeks, and the bone structure of the British
upper classes. His gray eyes, when not clouded by the pain of his broken rib,
were smoothly intelligent.
    “The girl was seen in Isfahan,” he said quietly. “No
mistake. After all, her face has been on the front pages of newspapers all over
the globe. She was first spotted in Kashan—a center of the Shi’ites, you
know, fervently religious. The famous Mullah Kashani was born there. But the
locals are known as cowards and thieves. Tanya was spotted with a camel caravan
going north.”
    “How could that be?”
    Beele only shrugged. “Next sighting, Isfahan. ‘ Esfahan, nesf -e jahan . Isfahan is half the world,’ they say. She was
with some tourists doing the Tchahar Baq-the Four Gardens—shopping district.
She didn’t belong. But she had that exalted look the locals get there. The city
has its magic. Secret, ornamented, heavy with history, old man.”
    “Stay with the girl,” Durell suggested.
    “She was picked up by Mahmoud Lakh.”
    “Who is he?”
    “They say he’s one of Har-Buri’s hashishim . An assassin. The
constables spotted them, but they got away. Trail is clear enough, however.”
    “How long ago was this?”
    “Four days.”
    “She wasn’t spotted since?”
    “Hanookh saw her. Couldn’t take her from Mahmoud. Not there.
It was near the tomb of Baba Qasem . Hanookh tried,
but Mahmoud was quicker and slicker.”
    Hanookh spoke from the front seat. “Am I to commit suicide?
They went into Bakran’s house. Behind the wall, Bakran had twenty men. I went for
the police, but they were too late. The girl was gone when we raided. So now we
have only Mr. Beele’s guess as to where she is. Nazdik —somewhere near. But our
curious followers are gaining on us, gentlemen.”
    Ike Sepah complained. “I’m doing the best I can, Hanookh.”
    “You should drive like you make love. Tond and garm . Fast and hot.”
    “What would you know about my private life?”
    Hanookh laughed. “I hear tales about you.”
    Beele sighed. “Tanya is not a myth, Durell. She’s here and
she’s been on the moon. What happened to her can be of vast importance to your
space program, if you can get a few answers from her.”
    “We wouldn‘t kidnap her,” Durell said.
    “Naturally. But an hour’s questioning, skillfully done—well,
her data would be invaluable. And you’d gain goodwill in Moscow when you
returned her.”
    “It doesn’t add,” Durell said. “No space probes were
reported or traced. She just appears running wildly down a street in Teheran
saying she’s been on the moon.”
    “Mysterious, I admit,” Beele said. “But there will be some
explanation, I’m sure.”
    “But not what we expect,” Durell said.
     
    They went on for two more hours, over a vast and featureless
gravel plain. The hot wind whined, lusting for their lives. Presently a range
of hills appeared, with a flat tongue of sand dunes between, interspersed
with stony hills like the mesas of the Southwest. Beele ordered Sepah to bear
closer to the left-hand ridge. The sun went behind the rise, and long shadows
engulfed them. It would soon be dark. Durell looked backward again.
    “They are still there?” Hanookh asked quietly.
    “Both parties. Separated, but coming on.”
    Durell took field glasses and