"Sir."
I stood to attention in front of the desk. Number One nodded encouragingly as the Boss's PA leaned back in his chair and looked at me.
"Are you sure?"
"I am, sir. I recognised the voice as soon as I heard it and then I saw him as clearly as I am seeing you."
"Yes, but you might have been mistaken," the PA said. "It's a long time since you last saw him, isn't it?"
"Yes, sir, but no. Gabriel's pretty distinctive, sir."
"Hmmm." The PA rubbed his eyes and exchanged glances with One. "I suppose we'll have to let the Boss know."
"That's what I thought, sir," One said. "You don't get the bigwigs down here every day of the week."
"Right, but he's not going to like it." The PA got to his feet and walked across the floor to the door marked "MD". He knocked softly and after a moment a voice said something I didn't catch. The PA eased the door open and put his head in. "Something's cropped up, sir, something I think you ought to know about."
He pushed the door wider and beckoned to us to follow him. The Boss was sitting behind an enormous desk, looking just a tiny bit tired. He put both hands down on the desk top and let his gaze travel across us.
"Well?" he said.
"Sir," the PA did the introductions, "This is Captain Fleet of the Palestine Brigade, Jerusalem section, and his second in command. They were on duty in the temple today when something out of the ordinary occurred. In your own words, captain."
"Sir!"
Number One, already standing smartly to attention, stiffened his pose. "We were on duty, sir, keeping an eye on things as usual, sir. I noticed that the priest in charge of offering the incense, an Enemy servant named Zacharias, sir, was taking a bit longer than he should have done, sir, so I dispatched my Number Two, sir, to find out what was keeping him." He turned to me. "Over to you, Number Two."
"It was Gabriel, sir," I said. "As I approached I heard him say something about 'You will be dumb until this all comes true' and I recognised the voice. However I proceeded through the curtain and established a visual confirmation. Gave me quite a turn, sir, I don't mind telling you."
"Gabriel!" the Boss exclaimed. "How long had he been in there?"
Number One coughed and moved uneasily. This was the dangerous bit.
"Er - we don't know for sure, sir. Not long, I don't think."
"What?" the Boss demanded. "Did none of you see him enter the place?"
"Er - no, sir. There was a lot going on, sir, must have been looking in the wrong direction at the crucial moment, sir, er . . ."
"And what was he doing there? Do you know that?"
"No, sir. We have a detail keeping a very close watch on the priest, Zecharias, sir, but it's very difficult, sir. He's got a strong bodyguard of Enemy agents, came round him as soon as he was out of the temple and shut us right out. Very well planned operation, sir."
"I see." The Boss stood up and walked over to the big window behind his desk. "That will be all, captain. Report back to me personally as soon as you have anything definite on what this visit was all about."
"Sir!"
Number One and I saluted, turned and marched out of the office. Once the door was safely shut One made a motion of wiping his brow and grinned at me.
"I don't mind telling you, Two, that we went through a sticky moment back there. Failing to notice the arrival of an Enemy agent as important as that could have landed us in very serious trouble. I still can't work out how we came to miss him."
"Probably we were so busy watching that girl," I said, grimacing wryly.
"Probably," One said. "I'll see she gets a dose of whatever is going around. Twenty-four hours on the khazi should keep her eye in check for a while."
"Oh come on," I protested - I had a bit of a soft spot for that girl, she was so useful in disrupting Enemy activities. "It was hardly her fault."
"Two," said One, "if there is trouble going on, I like to spread it around. Specially if it affects me. See to it."
"Very good, sir." I said, brightening up a bit. The lads down at the lab had a new batch of bugs that they wanted to try out. If I couldn't get a free drink or two out of providing them with a guinea pig, I wasn't the demon I used to be.