Free Spider Shepherd: SAS: #2 by Stephen Leather

glinting in the sunlight. Kathmandu was much bigger than he had imagined, with a dense urban sprawl of four- and five-storey apartment blocks, many painted in vivid colours - lime green, lavender, orange - that dazzled the eye against the deep azure blue background of the sky. However at street-level the dust and traffic fumes created a brown haze as bad as any smog he’d ever seen.
    After they had been dropped off in the city centre, they strolled around for a while, with Gul pointing out some of the sights. ‘Most of the tourists stay in the Thamel district where all the guest houses, restaurants, and shops are concentrated,’ he said.
    ‘Do we look like tourists?’ Jimbo said with feigned disgust. ‘We want to see the real Kathmandu.’
    Gul grinned. ‘Maybe Jhochhen Tol would be more your style then; it used to be known as “Freak Street” in the days in the 1960s and 1970s when Kathmandu was on every hippy’s itinerary… But on second thoughts, maybe not, “Love and Peace” isn’t really SAS style is it? Nor Gurkha-style come to that.’
    Shepherd and his mates parted company from Gul outside the British Embassy, but arranged to meet him that night for a meal. They found the Military Attaché, George Jenner, in his office at the Embassy. An urbane, Sandhurst-trained career officer, he greeted them with a broad smile. ‘Welcome to Nepal,’ he said. ‘Anything I can do to help you, just ask. You will need to keep in touch with us, of course, and if you’re going trekking up-country, you will find that comms are a bit of a problem - as you may have noticed, there are quite a few mountains around here and they do tend to interfere with communications. But you can reach this department at any time, day or night, from anywhere in Nepal by using the communications system in the Nepalese Police Posts; there’s one in every town and village. I’m afraid I won’t be available in person after today because I’m going trekking with the Gurkha recruitment team.’
    ‘Sounds like fun,’ said Shepherd.
    Jenner grinned. ‘I’m an ex-Gurkha Officer myself, I simply wouldn’t miss it for the world. But my clerk will look after all your kit and will pass on any messages that come in from Hereford. So if you can make contact through one of the police posts on a daily basis, he’ll keep you updated. Now, anything else I can help you with?’
    ‘There might be,’ Shepherd said. ‘Do you happen to know a guy called Taff the Rope?’
    ‘Dai Evans? Yes, I know him. I think he is usually to be found at the Tilcho Hotel, a cheap hotel in Pokhara. It’s three or four hours drive west of here. He’s not a regular visitor to Kathmandu and certainly not to the Embassy; he seems to prefer Nepalese company to ours.’ He hesitated for a few moments, studying them over the rim of his china teacup before continuing. ‘Just one other thing before you go: I believe your old comrade, Gul, was on the same plane as you today.’
    ‘Not an old comrade of mine,’ Shepherd said, ‘but yes, he flew in with us.’
    ‘Just a word to the wise then,’ Jenner said. ‘By all means be friendly if you happen to bump into him again, but my advice would be not to get too close to him.’
    ‘Any particular reason why?’ Jock said, his Glaswegian growl as usual sounding like a declaration of war.
    ‘Just that I hear he may be harbouring political ambitions,’ Jenner said with a disarming smile, ‘and it wouldn’t do for us to be seen to be actively favouring a member of the opposition in what is quite a sensitive political situation.’
    ‘Yeah?’ Jock said. ‘Well, he’s a mate and we’re having dinner with him tonight. Get used to it.’
    ‘It’s nice to see that you haven’t lost any of your diplomatic charm,’ Geordie said to Jock as they walked away from the embassy.
    ‘Diplomacy my arse,’ Jock said. ‘A mate’s a mate, and that’s all there is to it.’
    ‘Guy’s got a point, though,’ said Shepherd. ‘By