Another piece of it dropped out of my head this morning ...
--
After they fed him, he did not relax, if anything he wound up tighter, but he answered their questions with a readiness that surprised Biggles, for some reason; he felt as if it should have been harder.
The stranger, von Stalhein, had been working with the gang they were after as a security consultant - which pinged on something; Biggles realized that the gang had been a lot more elusive than they ought to have been, and he should have seen it before. (Had he seen it before? He almost felt as if he had.) This von Stalhein chap was obviously more competent than their run of the mill arms smugglers. Biggles felt a tingle of satisfaction; at least there was a reason why they had been working so hard on what should have been an easy case.
"You said you were working with them." Algy, perhaps by benefit of being the one to catch him, had not warmed up to von Stalhein at all. "Did you quit?"
"No." Von Stalhein hesitated, looked at him very briefly, but mostly at Biggles. "They -- stopped taking my orders. It was very sudden, and under the circumstances, I assumed they must have been paid off by someone. They refused to acknowledge that they were working for me. It was as if ..." He swallowed. "As if they had forgotten me completely."
"You seemed to feel we ought to know you as well," Biggles said, his brain working busily. "Should we?"
"What do you mean, should we?" Algy asked. "I've never seen him before in my life."
"We have met," von Stalhein said, looking not quite at Biggles but past him.
"On a case? Where? When? Spit it out, if you've got it," Algy said impatiently.
"It's more than that, isn't it?" Biggles said. He gazed at von Stalhein curiously; the man was a mystery and he found that he was enjoying unraveling it, much more than he had been enjoying a rather dull case involving arms smugglers. "You were very surprised when we didn't react to you."
"Biggles, he's trying to swindle us," Algy said.
"Is he? Perhaps he is a highly skilled actor, it's true --" Again a strange, elusive flash of familiarity, as if he'd spoken the first half of a riddle, but the rest was gone before he could catch it. ".... but I think he was sincere. He did think we ought to know him. Something very strange has happened."
Re: Biggles, EvS + everyone
--
After they fed him, he did not relax, if anything he wound up tighter, but he answered their questions with a readiness that surprised Biggles, for some reason; he felt as if it should have been harder.
The stranger, von Stalhein, had been working with the gang they were after as a security consultant - which pinged on something; Biggles realized that the gang had been a lot more elusive than they ought to have been, and he should have seen it before. (Had he seen it before? He almost felt as if he had.) This von Stalhein chap was obviously more competent than their run of the mill arms smugglers. Biggles felt a tingle of satisfaction; at least there was a reason why they had been working so hard on what should have been an easy case.
"You said you were working with them." Algy, perhaps by benefit of being the one to catch him, had not warmed up to von Stalhein at all. "Did you quit?"
"No." Von Stalhein hesitated, looked at him very briefly, but mostly at Biggles. "They -- stopped taking my orders. It was very sudden, and under the circumstances, I assumed they must have been paid off by someone. They refused to acknowledge that they were working for me. It was as if ..." He swallowed. "As if they had forgotten me completely."
"You seemed to feel we ought to know you as well," Biggles said, his brain working busily. "Should we?"
"What do you mean, should we?" Algy asked. "I've never seen him before in my life."
"We have met," von Stalhein said, looking not quite at Biggles but past him.
"On a case? Where? When? Spit it out, if you've got it," Algy said impatiently.
"It's more than that, isn't it?" Biggles said. He gazed at von Stalhein curiously; the man was a mystery and he found that he was enjoying unraveling it, much more than he had been enjoying a rather dull case involving arms smugglers. "You were very surprised when we didn't react to you."
"Biggles, he's trying to swindle us," Algy said.
"Is he? Perhaps he is a highly skilled actor, it's true --" Again a strange, elusive flash of familiarity, as if he'd spoken the first half of a riddle, but the rest was gone before he could catch it. ".... but I think he was sincere. He did think we ought to know him. Something very strange has happened."