The Code War by Ciaran Nagle Page B

corridor and taking
off their sunglasses.
    T hey
seemed reluctant to be presumptive about which beds or bedrooms
should be theirs.
    Nancy felt the tension in the air
immediately. She decided to allow it to build. It would make her
job easier.
    The boys walked almost wordlessly
from room to room getting their bearings and peering out of the
windows. Gradually they returned from their meandering and gathered
together awkwardly in the TV room. On the wall was a map of Israel.
Andy was standing in front of it, tracing the route they had come
with his finger.
    Nancy stood beside him. 'Ooh, there must be a lot of interesting places
to visit nearby,' she remarked casually. 'Have you brought your
driving licence with you, Andy?'
    'Yes, I brought it in case of
emergencies. But I'm not planning to do any driving here. A hire
car would cost a fortune. And anyway Professor Aaronovitch is going
to drive us to the dig every day in his car. Why do you
ask?'
    'Oh, I was just wondering.' Nancy's innocent smile wouldn't have fooled a
child. But the boys' minds weren't on maps or driving. They were
occupied by something far more primal. One girl among three
men.
    The suitcases remained in the hall outside the bedrooms. Nancy
noticed that the scent of her perfume had filled the room. It must
be driving them crazy. She slowly inspected all the furnishings,
dancing her fingers over the ornaments and swaying her hips as she
went.
    'Isn't this menorah lovely? Such
elegant arms it has. And they've left us
some fruit.' She picked up an apple and turned it in her
hand.
    Martin planted himself in one of the chairs. The other two boys took
the sofa.
    They were all waiting for Nancy to make
the first move. In truth, since Nancy had organised the travel and
accommodation it naturally fell to her to make the decisions about
the sleeping arrangements. None of the boys showed the slightest
inclination to relieve her of this responsibility.
    Also she was the girl. She had to pick
her roomshare companion. It couldn’t be the other way round.
    The silences were getting
longer .
    It was time. Nancy placed the apple on a sideboard then leant back
against it. She knew precisely what she wanted to achieve. But she
had to pitch it just right. She folded her arms and looked from one
boy to the next. Poise and timing were everything. But while she
had a delicate job to do, she also knew she had the time to enjoy
it. The moment was delicious and she intended to squeeze every last
drop from it.
    Eventually her lips parted
and she wet them slightly with her
tongue. ‘Look,’ she began, flashing her eyes quickly at all three
boys before looking down faux-demurely at the ground. ‘These are
obviously awkward times and I think we’re going to have to make do
and compromise as best we can.’ She paused. ‘What I mean is, I
think we’re going to have to be grown up about this.’
    The boys looked at her, saying
nothing.
    ‘ The thing is,’ she
continued slowly, ‘there are only two bedrooms and I was rather
hoping that we’d be able to get three beds in one room so I could
have one bed in the other. But that would just make your room too
cramped. Or have one person sleep in the lounge. But that seems
unfair. Especially as we've all paid the same price.
    So it means that we’re going to have to
think of something different. Something radical. We're going to
have to improvise and adapt ourselves to the circumstances. That's
the intelligent thing to do, isn't it?’
    The boys were trying hard not to look
too intently at Nancy but each one’s antenna were straining to pick
up any kind of a clue to confirm where she was heading. No one
moved or said a word.
    ‘ So you see, one of
you is going to have to sleep. With me. I mean, in my room, with
me. One of you will have to sleep in the other bed in my room.’
Again she flashed her eyes at them, enjoying their obvious
discomfort and her own sense of control.
    ‘ But even that’s not
going to work because it’s just