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Smith he remembered, and yet, in some way, a changed Nayland Smith. His snappy, erratic style of speech, sometimes so disconcerting, remained the same as ever. The change was in his expression. He had the kind of tan that never completely wears off, but through it Brian seemed to see that he had become unhealthily pale. His features, too, were almost haggard, and he wore a thin strip of surgical plaster across the bridge of his nose.
    As he mixed two stiff drinks, Brian said, “My father is well, thank you, and sends his best wishes. But I’m told you have been a sick man, Sir Denis.”
    “Right. Do I look it?”
    “You look fit enough now, but I can see you’ve been through a tough time.”
    “I owe my life, Merrick, to the Seyyîd Mohammed. The man’s a master physician. Lucky for me I knew him. Those devils were hard on my heels when I got to his house. They’d penetrated my disguise, you see.”
    Brian handed him his drink and sat down facing him.
    “I’m afraid I
don’t
see, Sir Denis. I’ve been walking in circles ever since I was selected for this job. I don’t know what I have to do. I don’t know what you’re up against. I’m honored and delighted to be with you, whatever the game may be, but I do want very much to know what it’s all about. Peter Wellingham wouldn’t tell me. I wouldn’t have taken the job if I hadn’t happened to know you already.”
    Nayland Smith, who wore gray flannel trousers and an old sports jacket, pulled out from one of the large pockets an outsize tobacco pouch and began to stuff some rough-cut mixture into the bowl of a very charred brier pipe.
    “Then it’s good you did,” he said. “Wellingham couldn’t tell you much because he doesn’t know much. The fewer people who know about this, the better. First, you might like to know how I got in? Service entrance. Walked up the stairs.”
    “Why?”
    “
He
knows you’re here to join me, Merrick.”
    “He? Who’s he?”
    “Dr. Fu Manchu. You’ve heard me talk to your father about him. He’s the biggest menace the Western world has ever had to cope with. He has the brain of a genius and the soul of Satan. He’s stronger today than he ever was. His agents are everywhere, in every corner of the world. This building is certainly covered. So are you. Either one of us might disappear tonight!”
    “Good God!”
    “It’s a fact. I can’t show myself in Cairo till I’ve got in touch with the British authorities. So far they don’t know I’m here. After that, we’ll both have official protection. Abdul Ahmad is an old worker of mine. He’s sworn to secrecy. So is the Seyyîd Mohammed.”
    He dropped the pouch back in his pocket and lighted his pipe. Brian stared.
    “This is a deeper mystery than ever, Sir Denis. You were on your way back from the Far East, I guess—”
    Nayland Smith shook his head. “East Berlin.”
    “Berlin! Then whatever brought you to Cairo?”
    “I wasn’t alone, Merrick. The man I had rescued from behind the Iron Curtain was with me. My mission was financed by Washington. United States agents had reported that Dr. Otto Hessian, the world-famous physicist, was held a prisoner, working under compulsion on an invention calculated to end nuclear warfare.”
    “Didn’t England want him?”
    “His results will be shared by both governments. We got into France. I planned to cross the sea from Le Havre to New York. In fact, we were on our way to the
Liberte’s
dock when a car passed our cab going the same way.”
    Nayland Smith’s pipe went out. He stopped to relight it.
    “Yes?” Brian spoke excitedly.
    “There was only one passenger in the car. It was Dr. Fu Manchu.”

CHAPTER SIX

    E nthralled by all he had heard, and awed by the responsibility that he had been chosen to share with Sir Denis, Brian was about to speak when Nayland Smith raised his hand.
    “
Ssh.
Listen!”
    He seemed to be watching the closed door. Brian watched it, too. But he saw and heard