The 92nd Tiger Read Free Page B

The fact is, that I have a rather unusual proposition to put to you. I thought it would be easier if I explained it to you personally. You’ll certainly need time to think about it. It’s so unusual that I shouldn’t be at all surprised if you rejected it out of hand.’
    His tone of voice suggested that not only would he be unsurprised, he would actually be glad if his proposition was rejected. Hugo said, ‘Let’s hear about it before we turn it down.’
    ‘I have to offer you the post of military adviser to the Ruler of Umran.’
    ‘Come again.’
    ‘Umran, in the Persian Gulf. I don’t expect you’ve heard of it. Not many people have.’ Mr. Taverner unfolded himself from behind his desk, moved across to the wall, and pulled a cord. A map descended from a mahogany pelmet.
    ‘There it is,’ he said. ‘It needs a large-scale map to show it at all. It’s the very tip of the peninsula. Its nearest neighbour is Ras-al-Khaima.’
    Hugo peered at the map with interest.
    ‘All that green bit, on the right,’ he said. That’s Muscat and Oman, isn’t it?’
    ‘The Sultanate of Oman. It changed its name after the palace coup last year.’
    ‘And those bits down there?’
    ‘Umm al-Gaiwain, Fujaira, Ajman and Sharja. They’re all Independent Trucial Shaikhdoms. Interesting places. They live in hopes of striking it rich when oil is discovered.’
    ‘And Umran?’
    ‘Umran had what you might call a mixed economy. As you see, it is less than fifty miles across the straits to Iran.’
    ‘The Gibraltar of the Persian Gulf.’
    Mr. Taverner considered the expression, repeating it silently to himself.
    ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘You might call it that. It was not the political significance of its position that I was considering when I mentioned its nearness to Iran, although that has important implications. What I meant to imply was that its proximity to the mainland on the other side made it a natural entrepot for smuggling. Gold smuggling in particular. Its other principal source of income was the striking of new and remarkable issues of postage stamps. There is one set in which the head of the Ruler was printed upside down which is in demand by philatelists all over the world.’
    ‘You say that these were its sources of income. Do I gather that they have now struck oil?’
    ‘They have not actually struck it. Like all those states, they have sold exploration concessions to hopeful prospectors. Sometimes the same concession several times over. But there are now more exciting possibilities. A company called Metbor, who drill for hard minerals in most parts of the world, are examining a number of trial borings in Umran at the moment.’
    ‘What do they expect to find? Gold. Silver. Copper.’
    Mr. Taverner pursed his lips, and said, ‘Yes, that sort of thing.’
    ‘He’s lying,’ said Hugo to himself. ‘Or giving me half-truths.’ The moment had come to ask the question. It had to be asked sooner or later.
    ‘Why pick on me?’
    Mr. Taverner smiled faintly and said, ‘As you may imagine, this was the first question which we asked. We were very willing to assist the Ruler and we had available a number of most suitable candidates. Men who had spent a good deal of time in that part of the world, with experience in the services or in diplomacy. We compiled a short list of six of the most promising, and invited the Ruler to interview them and select one. He rejected them.’
    ‘All of them?’
    ‘All of them, and without even seeing them. He wanted you.’
    ‘He must be mad.’
    Mr. Taverner appeared to be considering the point very carefully. He said, ‘Not mad. Romantic. He is a student of television. He has observed you, on a number of occasions, dealing with difficult and dangerous situations. He feels – and there we must agree with him – that there is likely to be no shortage of difficulties and dangers in Umran in the near future. And he has decided that you are the man he would like to have with