An Evil Eye

84

Yashim’s palinka splashed in the glass.

“Fevzi Pasha has disappeared? How do you know?”

Palewski frowned. “I’m not entirely without resources, Yashim,” he said, stiffly. “Even I have my networks.”

“I only meant-” He faltered. “What does it mean, he’s disappeared?”

His friend hunched forward in his chair, wrapping his hands around his glass. “I’m not absolutely sure, Yashim. According to the monsignor, the Kapudan pasha was supposed to tour the islands. They never saw him, or the fleet.”

Yashim relaxed back into his armchair. “That’s not such a surprise. We were all supposed to think he’d taken the fleet to the islands, but in reality he was under secret orders to go south.”

“You know that?”

“I’m not entirely without resources. I have my networks.” He smiled. “Husrev Pasha told me as much.”

“Did he say, Yashim, that the fleet is in port, at Alexandria?”

“ Off Alexandria,” Yashim corrected him. “It’s a show of force.”

“That’s not how it was described to me this morning.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“Who does? Your Kapudan pasha, Yashim, seems to have handed the Ottoman navy over to the Egyptians.”

“I don’t believe it.”

Palewski shrugged. “As you like. You may be right. Even Jesuits are fallible, after all.”