Thieves Fall Out by Gore Vidal Read Free Book Online Page A

Le Mouche. Then, with a wave of his hand, he disappeared through the doorway of the cavernous bar, like a crab scuttling out of sight.
    It was not until Pete was halfway to the Stanley that he realized he had never mentioned to Le Mouche that he was traveling that night to Luxor.
    * * *
    He picked up his suitcase at the hotel and checked out, leaving word that if the Consulate called he could be reached at the Karnak Inn in Luxor. A taxicab took him to Shepheard’s.
    He was met by Hastings in the lobby. The Englishman was in an expansive mood. “Look quite shipshape,” he said, slapping Pete heartily on the shoulders. “Big improvement, eh? New shoes, by God! Come, let’s have a drink while we wait for the lady fair.”
    They sat in the main lobby, only a potted palm separating them from a group of British ladies discussing bridge. They ordered gin.
    “All ready for the big trip?”
    “All set.”
    “You’ll like Luxor. Colorful, historic, that sort of thing. Some fine lookers, too. If you go in for them.”
    Pete said he did, although his score so far in Cairo was unimpressive.
    “You’ll find our friend Mr. Said a big help in these matters. He can fix you up properly. Anything you want. Arab, French, Italian, what have you—or what have
they.
In stock, that is!” He gave a short rumble of laughter. “My advice is try the Arabs.’’
    “I hope to,” said Pete, but he was thinking of Hélène now, of how much he had wanted her the night before. He couldn’t understand what had gone wrong. In the car she had been unmistakably interested. Then, for no reason, she had frozen. He decided that she would be his main objective when he got back from Luxor.
    He wondered as he drank whether or not it was a good idea to mix liquor with hasheesh. Since he felt no ill effects, he decided it would do no harm. The mood of the drug was beginning to wear off, in any case.
    “One thing,” said Hastings, turning around in the deep wicker chair and fixing his pale stony eyes on Pete. “Keep away from government people—your government, my government, this government. They’re
all
bad for us.”
    “Then we’re operating outside the law?”
    “If you want to be technical.”
    “
I
don’t want to be technical. I’m just afraid maybe the police will be.”
    “All of them can be bought, if nothing gets out of hand. Also, don’t mess with politics.”
    “Politics? That’s about the last thing I’m interested in.”
    “Hope so. See that it is.”
    Pete was mystified, but he had made up his mind to ask no questions until his employers volunteered answers.
    Hélène, cool in white, with a flower in her hair, appeared in the lobby. She was as serene as ever when she joined them in their corner. The sight of her reawakened Pete’s desire, and also his anger. He would make her pay for handling him the way she had.
    But if she was aware of his outraged masculinity, she did not betray it. She spoke lightly, of gossip. “He has done it again, Hastings,” she said, after a greeting that had included them both equally, dispassionately.
    “Who is that, my dear?”
    “The King. This time it’s supposed to be a singer, a pretty German girl. You know the one—she sang at L’Auberge, I think, last season.”
    “Ah! Anna Something-or-other. Mueller? Yes. Handsome creature. Took a fancy to her myself.”
    “So has he. I’m told the court is in its usual uproar.”
    “Don’t envy the poor child.” Hastings shook his head gloomily. “Not my dish at all, if I were a woman.”
    “Ambitious girls are a class apart,” said Hélène. “But now we’re doing the dreary Cairo trick of gossiping about the King to someone who hasn’t the slightest interest in what he or any of the other buffoons in this country do. Forgive us, Peter.” For the first time since they had met that evening, she looked him directly in the face, a faint, sardonic smile on her lips.
    He blushed, remembering the night before. “I’m very much