BIGGLES FOREIGN LEGIONNAIRE

by Captain W. E. Johns

IX. ALADDIN’S LAMP (Pages 100 – 112)

“The following day passed without incident, and when the time arrived Biggles and Ginger went out over the wall. The car was there to pick them up, and after its usual tour to mislead them put them down at the front door of the Villa Mimosa”. Raban assures them everything is ready and provides them with two sets of civilian clothes, in the form of ordinary white linen suits. The are given their air tickets and Ginger notes the Biggles was correct in guessing the airport. “It was Maison Blanche, Algiers”. They are then both given “a small club badge, in the shape of an oriental lamp with a number in the centre, to be worn in the buttonhole. Ginger’s number was 122, and Biggles’s he noticed, was 123”. They are told to go to a night-club named Aladdin’s Lamp, in the Stretta Albani, in the dock quarter at Alexandria. They both get in the car and leave. At the airport, Biggles and Ginger go through to the waiting-room and they see Klutz, who speaks to them. They are accompanied by their driver. “It was apparently to confirm this meeting that the negro had followed them in, for now, with a grin, he went out. They never saw him again”. Klutz buys a newspaper and reacts badly to something he reads. Biggles buys one as well and sees a headline that reads “Financier murdered”. The article says that last night, Mr. Nestor Janescu was shot dead by an unknown assailant on his yacht Silvanus. Biggles shows the article to Ginger. They think they are to be the only passengers on the plane, when Algy and Bertie turn up, passing themselves off as tourists. Both pairs of men show no indication of knowing each other. The five passengers board the plane, Klutz, Biggles, Ginger, Algy and Bertie. The plane stops to refuel at Tripoli and all get out to stretch their legs. The friends are unable to speak to each other as Klutz is always in earshot. As they reboard the plane, Algy discreetly passes Biggles a written note that informs him “All as planned. Marcel okay”. Later, Biggles writes on the margin of his newspaper “Aladdin’s Lamp. Stretta Albani. Maybe hotel first. Watch. Destroy this”. He then asks Algy if he wants the morning paper. Algy is able to read the message, then he tears off the margin and chews it to pulp. It was evening by the time they touched down in Alexandria. Klutz recommends a hotel to Biggles and Ginger called the Continentale in North Crescent Square and he sees them to a taxi to send them on their way. The hotel turns out to be smaller but a much more pretentious establishment than Ginger imagined. The proprietor “was smooth-skinned and swarthy. Ginger judged him to be either an Egyptian or a Turk”. There is no register to sign, no visitor’s book. Biggles says to Ginger “Did you notice the way that fellow stared at our badges? He was taking our numbers. This is all part of the outfit, run for members, so watch your step. Apart from ourselves I believe there’s no one else in the place”. Biggles and Ginger go out to a restaurant for a meal then make their way to the club. Biggles is of the opinion that “The hotel is maintained as a respectable establishment. But the gang probably employs all sorts of people, toughs and coloured men. They would need a rendezvous, but it wouldn’t do for them to use the hotel. They meet at the club. I’d say most the people who use the club don’t even know of the hotel. So if anything went wrong, or someone squealed and the club was raided, the hotel wouldn’t be affected”. “I see,” murmured Ginger. “The hotel for the upper crust and the club for the riff-raff”. They get a taxi to the club and the driver says he knows the place well. “From the leer he gave them Ginger suspected that what he knew of it was not to its credit. Biggles paid him off under a hanging oriental lamp outlined in neon tubes”. “Entering, they were met by a wave of hot air, a haze of Turkish tobacco smoke, and an enormous coloured man dressed in a barbarous costume. A tall turban on his head served to increase his height. He looked at their badges, grinned, and motioned them in”. Inside, were small tables near the walls, leaving an open space in the middle for entertainers. “Most of the tables were occupied, chiefly by men wearing the now-familiar club badge which, Ginger now realized, was a small replica of the one that hung outside the establishment”. “No sooner were they seated than a sleek, dark-skinned waiter, with a fez on his head, appeared, and put a bottle of champagne on the table”. Biggles says he didn’t order that and tells him to take it away. They are then approached by “a short, stout, unhealthy-looking white man of about fifty, whose skin looked as if it hadn’t seen daylight for a long time”. “Ginger knew the type: overfed, over-indulgent in every form of vice, over everything except clean living”. He says his name is Charlie and invites them to have a drink. Biggles declines and says they are there on business and he wants to get on with it. Charlie frowned. “What’s de hurry. Summat wrong with de house?” “For those who like this sort of joint I’d say it's just about perfect,” answered Biggles evenly. “And what don’t you like about it?” asks Charlie. “I don’t like the noise, I don’t like the smell, and I don’t like the look of some of your customers,” answered Biggles. “No offence meant,” he went on quickly. Charlie has a word with another man at a nearby table and the man joins Biggles and Ginger. His badge shows he is number twenty-nine. “Speaking with a queer foreign accent which Ginger could not place he enquired coldly: “What’s the idea upsetting Charlie?” “If he’s upset that’s his affair,” replied Biggles. Number twenty-nine asks where Voss is. Biggles tells him “He’s dead” and gives a brief explanation why. Twenty-nine says he is here to fetch them. They are to be at the airport tomorrow morning at six and they are to get in a Beechcraft Bonanza outside hangar number three. Biggles declines to have a drink and both he and Ginger then leave.