Desert Fire Read Free Page A

bastards want to start it all over again?”
    â€œIraq cannot remain in the Dark Ages, Sarah. A strong, modern Iraq will be a stabilizing force in the region. Iran is poised to strike. You must know that.”
    â€œHussein will build bombs.”
    â€œThat’s what you and I will prevent.”
    She laughed out loud, and Whalpol caught her meaning.
    â€œNot just us, Sarah; there are many others, of course. But you are in a unique position to help us.”
    â€œI could tell my government.”
    Again the German major smiled. “They would not believe you. Please, Sarah, your life is nothing here. Make something of it. Do some good in the world. Your father would understand this, Sarah. Do you?”
    Â 
    Had she known what it would be like, she reflected now, morosely, she still would have taken the assignment. There had been moments with Ahmed when she had felt alive, happy, finally in love.
    â€œI thought you would be with him tonight,” Whalpol said, pulling her away from her thoughts. “Nothing has
gone wrong, has it, between you two?”
    â€œNo,” she said softly. “He’s worked very late all this week, and he’s tired, that’s all.”
    â€œThe two of you should go away for the weekend. I have a place on the Wied River you could use.”
    â€œWired for sound, no doubt,” Sarah said.
    Whalpol shrugged.
    â€œYou’re a dirty voyeur, Ludwig. I suppose you get a big kick out of this. Your little arrangements.”
    â€œThe bloom is off the rose,” Whalpol mumbled. “It’s time, I think, to give you a new assignment.”
    A bolt of fear shot through her. “What?”
    â€œYou are burned out, Sarah. You are no longer being completely honest with me. Or yourself, for that matter. In fact, I think you have fallen in love with poor Ahmed Pavli. Is that it, Sarah?”
    â€œI’ll handle it,” she said miserably.
    â€œIt’s my job, I can handle it for you.”
    â€œHe’s a good man,” she cried. “Leave him alone. Leave them all alone!”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œLet me tell him.”
    â€œTell him what, Sarah? That you have slept with him on orders from the German government to find out if Iraq is stealing even more nuclear technology than we are already selling them?”
    â€œI’ll tell him that I no longer love him.”
    â€œYou aren’t capable of that type of lie. Not that.”
    â€œLet me tell him that!” she shrieked. “He deserves that much. I deserve it. I’ve earned it.”
    Even as she was saying it, she wondered if she meant it, or if, as Whalpol suggested, she was incapable of such a lie. She did love Ahmed, but their relationship could not go any further without the truth between them. A truth she could not share with him.
    â€œEasy,” Whalpol was saying.
    â€œLet me deal with it,” she said, calmer now, taking a deep breath. “I don’t want him hurt, Ludwig.”

    â€œNeither do I,” Whalpol answered gently. “Let me think about it, and tomorrow we’ll talk, just you and I. We’ll work something out. Despite what you think, I’m not an ogre.”
    â€œI understand.”
    â€œI don’t think so, but we’ll talk tomorrow.”
    â€œTomorrow,” she said, but she was drifting again, watching the lights of the oncoming traffic as they neared town, and wondering where her life was going.

5
    THE THREE-STORY APARTMENT building was thick, brooding, in the chill, wind-driven rain. The windshield wipers of Whalpol’s car provided a rhythm to Sarah’s efforts at keeping herself together.
    â€œWould you like me to come up with you?” Whalpol asked her.
    â€œNo, I’ll be all right.” She got out of the car, crossed the sidewalk and let herself into the building without looking back. Inside, she leaned against the door. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. She half expected