When Green Meets Grey: Part Thirteen

The bedouin spurred on their horses and camels, as the battle at the monastery hotted up. The Green Man rode ahead, drawing his long-barrelled revolver. He fired at one of the camoflaged men attacking the monastery. Despite the man having been at the very limit of his range, the man fell dead. A cheer went up from the gathered bedouin, as they fell upon the hapless goons. Being goons, they fell easily, killing a couple of bedouin and wounding a few more. The machine gunner tried to attack them , only to be felled by another shot from the Green Man. The Girl in Grey gave a whoop of joy as the few remaining mercenaries turned tail and ran. The Bedouin rode in pursuit, but the Green Man rode up to the great gate of the monastery, which was slowly opening.

"Green Man!" a man dressed all in black, with a

black skull-cap embroidered with gold braid crosses, stepped out, smiling. "You have come at last!"

"Abbot Girgis," the Green Man dismounted. "It's good to see you, too. Did you get my message?"

"But of course," the Abbot laughed. "Why else would wicked men attack our haven? Now, who is your charming friend?" He looked up at the Girl in Grey.

"This," the Green Man explained, "is The Girl in Grey, a very dear friend of mine. She's helping me with this case."

"And the lovely Sister Lynette?" the Abbot smiled, his voice soft and a little harsh.

"Is on holiday," the Green Man informed him. "So I needed some different help. Besides, the Girl in Grey and I are both pledged to fight crime anonymously, not revealing our identities."

"I understand all about the wish to chage names when engaged in the battle against the darkness," the venerable abbot chuckled. "Once, I was a priest in Cairo, and there, as Saaman Bey, I was the masked avenger of evil. But now I am retired to this monastery, to serve the Lord in a new way - and to lead the bedouin in a war against the drug importers who use this desert. That," he turned to the Girl in Grey, "is why I ma so keen to help the Green Man when he tells me about a hidden pyramid which is now the seat of Satan. We shall gave you a squad of crack troops to help."

"Thank you, father Abbot," the Green Man bowed, "but we cannot accept your generous offer. We go in alone -tonight."