«Yes.» Jensen looked down sombrely at the golden amber of the glass in his hand. «Yes, I know. I almost knew before, but I couldn't be sure, and I couldn't take the chance of being wrong… . A terrible pity that it took the lives of a dozen men to prove me right … There's just the one way left, now.»
«There's just the one,» the commodore echoed. He lifted his glass, shook his head. «Here's luck to Kheros!»
«Here's luck to Kheros!» Jensen echoed in turn. His face was grim.
«Look!» Mallory begged. «I'm completely lost. Would somebody please tell me—»
«Kheros,» Jensen interrupted. «That was your cue call, young man. All the world's a stage, laddie, etcetera, and this is where you tread the boards in this particular little comedy.» Jensen's smile was quite mirthless. «Sorry you've missed the first two acts, but don't lose any sleep over that. This is no bit part: you're going to be the star, whether you like it or not. This is it. Kheros, Act 3, Scene 1. Enter Captain Keith Mallory.»
Neither of them had spoken in the last ten minutes. Jensen drove the big Humber command car with the same sureness, the same relaxed efficiency that hallmarked everything he did: Mallory still sat hunched over the map on his knees, a large-scale Admiralty chart of the Southern Aegean illuminated by the hooded dashboard light, studying an area of the Sporades and Northern Dodecanese heavily squared off in red pencil. Finally he straightened up and shivered. Even in Egypt these late November nights could be far too cold for comfort. He looked across at Jensen.
«I think I've got it now, sir.»
«Good!» Jensen gazed straight ahead along the winding grey ribbon of dusty road, along the white glare of the headlights that cleaved through the darkness of the desert. The beams lifted and dipped, constantly, hypnotically, to the cushioning of the springs on the rutted road. «Good!» he repeated. «Now, have another look at it and imagine yourself standing in the town of Navarone — that's on the almost circular bay on the north of the island? Tell me, what would you see from there?»