"He deserves to be."

"I mean he would be safe then—from everybody."

I asked Martins, "Did you show her the photographs I gave you—of the children?"

"Yes. I thought it's got to be kill or cure this time.

She's got to get Harry out of her system. I propped the pictures up among the pots of grease. She couldn't avoid seeing them. I said, 'The police can't arrest Harry unless they get him into this zone, and we've got to help!'

"She said, 'I thought he was your friend.' I said, 'He was my friend.' She said, 'I’ll never help you to get Harry. I don't want to see him again, I don't want to hear his voice. I don't want to be touched by him, but I won't do a thing to harm him.'

"I felt bitter—I don't know why, because after all I had done nothing for her. Even Harry had done more for her than I had. I said, 'You want him still,' as though I were accusing her of a crime. She said, 'I don't want him, but he's in me. That's a fact—not like friendship. Why, when I have a love dream, he's always the man.'"

I prodded Martins on when he hesitated. "Yes?"

"Oh, I just got up and left her then. Now it's your turn to work on me. What do you want me to do?"

"I want to act quickly. You see it was Harbin's body in the coffin, so we can pick up Winkler and Cooler right away. Kurtz is out of our reach for the time being, and so is the driver. We'll put in a formal request to the Russians for permission to arrest Kurtz and Lime: it makes our files tidy. If we are going to use you as our decoy, your message must go to Lime straight away—not after you've hung around in this zone for twenty-four hours. As I see it you were brought here for a grilling almost as soon as you got back into the Inner City: you heard then from me about Harbin: you put two and two together and you go and warn Cooler. We'll let Cooler slip for the sake of the bigger game—we have no evidence he was in on the penicillin racket. He'll escape into the second bezirk to Kurtz and Lime will know you've played the game. Three hours later you send a message that the police are after you: you are in hiding and must see him."

"He won't come (он не придет)."

"I'm not so sure (я не так уверен). We’ll choose our hiding place carefully (мы выберем наше потайное место осмотрительно; carefully — тщательно, аккуратно; внимательно; заботливо; осмотрительно, осторожно; care — забота, попечение)—when he'll think there's a minimum of risk (когда он подумает, что тут минимум риска). It's worth trying (это достойно того, чтобы попробовать). It would appeal to his pride and his sense of humour (это бы понравилось его гордости и его чувству юмора; to appeal — взывать) if he could scoop you out (если он мог бы вытащить: «выкопать» вас «наружу»; scoop — лопатка, совок; to scoop /out/ — черпать; копать; выкапывать). And it would stop your mouth (и это бы заткнуло вам рот: «остановило бы ваш рот»)."

Martins said, "He never used to scoop me out—at school (он никогда не вытаскивал меня — в школе)." It was obvious that he had been reviewing the past with care and coming to conclusions (было очевидно, что он пересматривал прошлое с вниманием и приходил к заключениям).

"That wasn't such serious trouble (это не были такие серьезные проблемы: «такое затруднительное положение») and there was no danger of your squealing (и не было никакой опасности, что вы проговоритесь).