N01   1 <#FLOB:N01\><p_><quote_>"We will go to the airport soon. When they 
N01   2 are not suspicious. I hope we do not get any orders from Moscow in 
N01   3 that time."<quote/> Myeloski slid his chair away and lit a 
N01   4 cigarette. After a few puffs, he said: <quote_>"You are privileged, 
N01   5 you know."<quote/><p/>
N01   6 <p_><quote|>"Why?"<p/>
N01   7 <p_><quote_>"Because Sverdlovsk is off-limits to 
N01   8 foreigners."<quote/><p/>
N01   9 <p_>Duncan was surprised. <quote_>"I didn't know that still went 
N01  10 on."<quote/><p/>
N01  11 <p_><quote_>"Oh yes. It is a closed city. No non-communist has ever 
N01  12 visited there. You will be the first. You can put that in your 
N01  13 memoirs, if you live that long."<quote/><p/>
N01  14 <p_><quote_>"Why is it closed to foreigners?"<quote/><p/>
N01  15 <p_><quote_>"I don't know. I suppose, if that's where the family 
N01  16 were killed, that it would be a tourist attraction for the wrong 
N01  17 reasons. It's not something the Government would want to be 
N01  18 reminded of. Now, or in the past."<quote/><p/>
N01  19 <p_>Eventually, after two nervous hours, and one large, gruesome 
N01  20 and soggy meal, Myeloski told the commissioner that they would be 
N01  21 going for a drive to look at the local countryside and would then 
N01  22 return to the hotel. He explained that he had already booked out, 
N01  23 but would be returning there for the night by 7 p.m. The 
N01  24 commissioner, a local policeman, had accepted Myeloski's statement 
N01  25 as a matter of course. He understood that waiting for fresh orders 
N01  26 from Moscow was boring. Might as well be out driving than sitting 
N01  27 in a cold room waiting.<p/>
N01  28 <p_>Once they had left the police station and driven round the 
N01  29 corner, Myeloski slammed his foot down on the accelerator and sped 
N01  30 off towards the airport.<p/>
N01  31 <p_>That's when they found there were no flights until the next 
N01  32 day.<p/>
N01  33 <p_>While Duncan waited in the passenger area, Myeloski went off to 
N01  34 quiz the air-traffic controller as to the availability of any 
N01  35 military or other flights to Sverdlovsk.<p/>
N01  36 <p_>And that's when Duncan saw the Antonov AN-2 land and taxi in to 
N01  37 park on the far side of the two Migs.<p/>
N01  38 <p_>The AN-2 first appeared in 1947 and became the workhorse of 
N01  39 Russian airspace. It fulfilled the same role as the DC3, the 
N01  40 Dakota. But, unlike the DC3, the AN-2 has only one engine and is a 
N01  41 biplane. The earlier models were powered by a Shvetsov radial 
N01  42 engine, although the modern versions have a turboprop unit up 
N01  43 front. The plane Duncan saw was of an early variety.<p/>
N01  44 <p_>Although primarily a cargo-plane, the AN-2 could seat up to 
N01  45 sixteen passengers. With a top cruising speed of 115 miles per hour 
N01  46 and a ceiling of 14,000 feet, the plane became a legend in the 
N01  47 Russian outback. It could take off on a grass strip of only 600 
N01  48 feet and was as solid as a London double-decker bus, and about as 
N01  49 comfortable. With a stall speed under 50 miles per hour, the 
N01  50 aircraft seemed to hover over the end of runways like a helicopter 
N01  51 before landing.<p/>
N01  52 <p_>The plane parked at Tobolsk airport was a freighter, and the 
N01  53 two pilots climbed out through the side-door. They were followed by 
N01  54 a man in a white coat and a nurse.<p/>
N01  55 <p_>The pilots opened the freight-doors and climbed back into the 
N01  56 plane as an ambulance drove out to them. Through the wheels of the 
N01  57 Mig undercarriage Duncan saw a stretcher being unloaded and put in 
N01  58 the back of the ambulance. The man in white, obviously a doctor, 
N01  59 and a nurse climbed into the back of the ambulance, the pilot in 
N01  60 front with the ambulance crew. The vehicle left the ramp as the 
N01  61 other pilot closed the freight-doors.<p/>
N01  62 <p_>Behind him, Myeloski pushed through the crowd and sat down next 
N01  63 to Duncan.<p/>
N01  64 <p_><quote_>"No flights at all. And no trains, not until tomorrow. 
N01  65 I think we'll have to take the car."<quote/><p/>
N01  66 <p_><quote_>"That'll take forever. Can't Moscow help?"<quote/><p/>
N01  67 <p_><quote_>"Not unless we want to get stuck with the KGB. I know 
N01  68 Yashkin. We have worked together for many years. He will not want 
N01  69 me to call him."<quote/><p/>
N01  70 <p_><quote_>"It's over five hundred kilometres. We wouldn't get 
N01  71 there till lunch-time tomorrow. That's if we left now."<quote/><p/>
N01  72 <p_>Myeloski puffed up his cheeks and let the breath noisily escape 
N01  73 from his clenched lips. He stared ahead, at the Mig which was now 
N01  74 being refuelled.<p/>
N01  75 <p_><quote_>"It's a pity we haven't got one of those,"<quote/> he 
N01  76 said, indicating the fighter. Behind the jet, a bowser had arrived 
N01  77 to refuel the AN-2.<p/>
N01  78 <p_><quote_>"No harm in asking, is there?"<quote/> Duncan stood up. 
N01  79 <quote_>After all, we've nothing to lose."<quote/><p/>
N01  80 <p_><quote_>"The Mig - I suppose you can fly it also. But it only 
N01  81 has two seats."<quote/><p/>
N01  82 <p_><quote_>"Come on. And bring your police warrant-card with 
N01  83 you."<quote/><p/>
N01  84 <p_>Duncan set off towards a side-door, carrying his small case. 
N01  85 Myeloski jumped up and followed him.<p/>
N01  86 <p_>A guard barred their way to the apron, Duncan stopped and 
N01  87 indicated Myeloski, who pulled out his warrant-card and showed it 
N01  88 to the guard.<p/>
N01  89 <p_><quote_>"Police business."<quote/> Myeloski fell into his role, 
N01  90 his voice dismissive and gruff. The guard checked his credentials 
N01  91 and then stepped back, opening the door for them. He was about to 
N01  92 end his shift and wanted to get home. If he detained them, he would 
N01  93 only have to wait for a senior officer to turn up. And that could 
N01  94 take a long time.<p/>
N01  95 <p_>As they moved on to the apron, Myeloski fell in beside Duncan. 
N01  96 <quote_>"We cannot steal a Mig. However important it 
N01  97 is."<quote/><p/>
N01  98 <p_><quote_>"But you can commandeer that one."<quote/> Duncan 
N01  99 pointed at the AN-2. Myeloski stopped dead and stared at the old 
N01 100 biplane. His fear of the skies took hold again. <quote_>"It's been 
N01 101 used as an ambulance flight. When they've finished refuelling, just 
N01 102 order him to fly us to Sverdlovsk. You said you could open doors, 
N01 103 remember?"<quote/><p/>
N01 104 <p_>Myeloski slowly and painfully came to terms with the situation. 
N01 105 He knew the Englishman was right. This was their one chance to keep 
N01 106 up with the kidnappers. He walked forward, towards the plane that 
N01 107 was being refuelled and up to the pilot. The pilot was of the old 
N01 108 school, a grizzled war veteran in his sixties who had never flown 
N01 109 the airlines but knew the Siberian terrain like the back of his 
N01 110 hand. While Myeloski spoke to him, Duncan kept back, in the 
N01 111 shadows. He surveyed the Mig, appreciating its powerful and clean 
N01 112 lines. They had finished refuelling, and the bowser and ground crew 
N01 113 moved away. The twin jet engines whined as they started to turn and 
N01 114 then surged into a thunderous roar as the igniters sparked the fuel 
N01 115 that exploded through the turbines.<p/>
N01 116 <p_>Duncan put his hands over his ears and turned away, back 
N01 117 towards Myeloski and the pilot. The policeman was shouting above 
N01 118 the roar, holding his warrant-card up for the pilot to see. The Mig 
N01 119 bounced on its brakes as the pilots released the plane, turning it 
N01 120 away from the ramp. It taxied towards the runway, its canopy still 
N01 121 open. Myeloski walked towards Duncan.<p/>
N01 122 <p_><quote_>"OK. He will take us. But he wants to wait for his 
N01 123 co-pilot. They are part of the air ambulance service. I told him 
N01 124 that you were a pilot and that it was important we go 
N01 125 now."<quote/><p/>
N01 126 <p_><quote_>"What did you threaten him with?"<quote/><p/>
N01 127 <p_><quote_>"Prison. What else?"<quote/><p/>
N01 128 <p_>So much for <tf|>perestroika. Duncan walked with him back to 
N01 129 the AN-2. The bowser-man had refuelled the plane and was 
N01 130 disconnecting the fuel-lines.<p/>
N01 131 <p_><quote_>"I need to get a flight-plan. From the tower."<quote/> 
N01 132 The pilot spoke to Myeloski, who looked at Duncan for help.<p/>
N01 133 <p_><quote_>"Do it over the radio. Say we have received an 
N01 134 emergency and need to go now."<quote/> The pilot watched Duncan as 
N01 135 he spoke, realizing he was a foreigner.<p/>
N01 136 <p_><quote_>"They will not accept it."<quote/><p/>
N01 137 <p_><quote_>"Yes, they will."<quote/> Duncan moved between the 
N01 138 pilot and the fuel<?_>-<?/>truck. He pulled his jacket back, and 
N01 139 the pilot saw the Coonan Magnum. Its shape was brutal in the dusk 
N01 140 of the day. Duncan smiled at him. <quote_>"On the 
N01 141 radio."<quote/><p/>
N01 142 <p_>Myeloski, now knowing that they were committed to a new course, 
N01 143 came closer to the pilot. As he spoke, he looked away from the 
N01 144 refueller, so as not to be heard. <quote_>"Comrade, we are not 
N01 145 enemies of the State, or spies. We are here on government business 
N01 146 that is of a secret nature. We need your plane. If you are not 
N01 147 going to help us, then my friend will shoot you. Have no doubt of 
N01 148 that."<quote/> He saw that the pilot believed him, not by his 
N01 149 words, but because of the look on Duncan's face. <quote_>"He is 
N01 150 also a pilot and will fly this plane if you do not."<quote/><p/>
N01 151 <p_>The refueller came towards them, waving a sheet of paper. 
N01 152 <quote_>"I need your signature for the fuel,"<quote/> he 
N01 153 shouted.<p/>
N01 154 <p_>Duncan stepped back, his jacket closed. The pilot took the 
N01 155 sheet from the lineman and read through it, checking the contents, 
N01 156 taking his time. The Mig on the runway turned on full power as it 
N01 157 started its take-off run.<p/>
N01 158 <p_><quote_>"We must hurry, comrade. We must get to the patient 
N01 159 quickly."<quote/> Myeloski spoke up, taking the pilot by the arm. 
N01 160 The pilot took the pen offered to him by the refueller and signed 
N01 161 the sheet. He was then given the top copy, and the refueller 
N01 162 returned to his bowser. He stopped to look at the Mig, its lights 
N01 163 blazing, reach the halfway point on the runway.<p/>
N01 164 <p_><quote_>"Wouldn't you rather be flying one of those?"<quote/> 
N01 165 he shouted across the engine roar.<p/>
N01 166 <p_>The Mig swung its nose up, lifted off the ground and seemed 
N01 167 suspended in time and stillness for a moment. Then the wheels 
N01 168 tucked up, the nose lifted sharply skyward and the jet roared into 
N01 169 the air, its ear-shattering blast shaking the ramp and the small 
N01 170 terminal building. The fighter pilots were giving the spectators a 
N01 171 show, and the refueller saw some of the waiting passengers by the 
N01 172 windows applauding the take-off. He grinned and turned to the 
N01 173 others, but they were gone. He saw the small side-door of the 
N01 174 aircraft close. He shrugged. Bloody pilots, always in a hurry. Then 
N01 175 he got into his bowser and drove away.<p/>
N01 176 <p_>Inside the plane, Duncan slid into the right seat, next to the 
N01 177 pilot. Myeloski was busy strapping himself into a small 
N01 178 tubular-steel seat in the fuselage. Both men in the front put on 
N01 179 their headsets.<p/>
N01 180 <p_><quote_>"Call up the tower; say we're going south, to Tiumen. 
N01 181 That it is an emergency. Tell them you are refuelled and that you 
N01 182 are taxiing out whilst waiting for them to get your clearance. 
N01 183 Start the engines first."<quote/><p/>
N01 184 <p_><quote_>"It is most irregular. I always get clearance from the 
N01 185 tower first."<quote/><p/>
N01 186 <p_><quote_>"Not this time. Just do as I've told you."<quote/><p/>
N01 187 <p_>Duncan picked up the map that lay next to the pilot and 
N01 188 attempted to identify the landmarks. It was a topographical map, 
N01 189 and he found Tobolsk marked on it. At the same time, he watched the 
N01 190 pilot go through the start-up procedures. He saw the 
N01 191 battery-switch, the magnetos and the fuel-cock. In essence, that 
N01 192 was all he needed to know in case he had to start the plane at some 
N01 193 future date. The pilot primed the engine, still warm from its 
N01 194 previous flight, then applied the starter. As the big radial 
N01 195 spluttered and came alive, he fed in the fuel and then applied the 
N01 196 throttle. The engine rattled for a few more seconds as fuel was fed 
N01 197 into each cylinder and finally exploded into life. The pilot pulled 
N01 198 the throttle back to idle and turned on the radios.<p/>
N01 199 <p_>In the tower, the controller was surprised to see the AN-2 
N01 200 start its engine. He was even more surprised to hear the pilot ask 
N01 201 for taxi instructions and for a clearance. It was most irregular, 
N01 202 but he had only been stationed here for a short time and accepted 
N01 203 that it was an emergency. He cleared the AN-2 to taxi for the 
N01 204 runway.<p/>
N01 205 <p_>Myeloski sat quietly in the dark of the fuselage. He had 
N01 206 tightened when the giant Shetsov radial had burst into life, 
N01 207 sending a metallic shudder through the cabin. As they started to 
N01 208 taxi, the fuselage had groaned, its age very apparent. The 
N01 209 policeman shut his eyes, bowed his head and prayed to his God.<p/>
N01 210 <p_>The biplane turned on its tailwheel and taxied to the 
N01 211 runway.<p/>
N01 212 <p_><quote_>"Line up,"<quote/> ordered Duncan when they reached the 
N01 213 end.<p/>
N01 214 
N02   1 <#FLOB:N02\>No longer can I bear with the ruined god, betrayed and 
N02   2 beaten by his own magic. Calling on powers best left unsummoned, he 
N02   3 took human beings apart - and then he put them back together again. 
N02   4 For a while it worked (there was redemption); and while it worked 
N02   5 he and I were one, on the banks of the Vistula. He put <tf|>us back 
N02   6 together. But of course you shouldn't be doing any of this kind of 
N02   7 thing with human beings ... The party is over. He lies there in the 
N02   8 peeling pyramid of the attic bedroom, on his cot shaped like a 
N02   9 gutter. A damp pink pillow is twisted in his fists. I'll always be 
N02  10 here. But he's on his own.<p/>
N02  11 <h_><p_>7<p/>
N02  12 <p_>She loves me, she loves me not<p/><h/>
N02  13 <p_>THE WORLD HAS stopped making sense again, and Odilo forgets 
N02  14 everything again (which is probably just as well), and the war is 
N02  15 over now (and it seems pretty clear to me that we lost it), and 
N02  16 life goes on for a little while. Odilo is innocent. His dreams are 
N02  17 innocent, purged of menace and sickness. Oh, sure, he quivers on 
N02  18 slippery poles as tall as the moon is high, and lopes nude down 
N02  19 tunnels while alarm-clocks sound, etc - but there are no worrying 
N02  20 resonances. And, as against that, his sleep savours many vulgar 
N02  21 triumphs with treasure chests and locks of hair and sleeping 
N02  22 beauties. And toilet bowls. The tutelary spirit of these dreams is 
N02  23 no longer the man in the white coat and the black boots: it is a 
N02  24 woman, a woman the size and shape of a galleon's sail, who can 
N02  25 forgive him everything. My hunch is that this woman is his mother, 
N02  26 and I'm anxious to know when she's going to show up. Odilo is 
N02  27 innocent. Odilo is, it turns out, innocent, emotional, popular, and 
N02  28 stupid.<p/>
N02  29 <p_>Also potent. He has no power whatever, of course, and does his 
N02  30 stuff in the Reserve Medical Corps with impeccable ovinity. But 
N02  31 he's potent. Ask little Herta, who will defeatedly attest to it. 
N02  32 She can barely walk. National Socialism is nothing more than 
N02  33 applied biology. Odilo is a doctor: a biological soldier. So this 
N02  34 two-year orgy we're having must form part of his personal campaign. 
N02  35 He's on active service; he smells powder; he's going over the top 
N02  36 for the baby. Yes, they still want one, even though Eva was such a 
N02  37 disappointment. When Odilo has Herta on the bed, splayed and 
N02  38 buckled, with her ankles on either side of the headboard, it's as 
N02  39 if he's trying to kill something rather than create it. But we all 
N02  40 know by now that violence creates, here on earth. Never before have 
N02  41 we been so potent, not even in New York when we were combing nurses 
N02  42 out of our hair. Herta sometimes looks as though she could do with 
N02  43 the odd impotent interlude. But there aren't any. What made the 
N02  44 difference, I wonder? After Schloss Hartheim, which seemed to go on 
N02  45 for ever, the three of us moved out of her parent's house and came 
N02  46 down here to Munich and its Alpine air. Away from Herta's childhood 
N02  47 room, away from the angels on the walls that used to watch over 
N02  48 her. Here, in our apartment, we have a skeleton watching over us, 
N02  49 made of white wood, and anatomical drawings loud with ginger 
N02  50 meat.<p/>
N02  51 <p_>The German girl is a natural girl. She comes just as she is. 
N02  52 With no makeup and hairy legs. This is okay by Odilo. In fact he 
N02  53 forbids the use of cosmetics, even soap; and as for her hair and 
N02  54 down, her crackling armpits, her upper locks and lower wreath - 
N02  55 Herta, I suspect, could be woollier than any yak and still keep 
N02  56 Odilo happy. He calls her his <foreign|>Schimpanse: his chimpanzee. 
N02  57 I have too say that I'm mad about her too. Herta's body gossips 
N02  58 with youth. Her ears are like cookies, her teeth are like candy. 
N02  59 Her flesh is as taut as the flesh of an olive. At first she wasn't 
N02  60 so keen, always complaining of tiredness or soreness or emotional 
N02  61 unease; but these days, as Odilo says again and again to all his 
N02  62 friends (and the compliment, I think, is pitched decorously high), 
N02  63 she bangs like a shithouse door in a gale. Herta is so small that 
N02  64 it seems natural to be quite strict with her. She is eighteen. And 
N02  65 getting smaller all the time. One mustn't give in to pessimism, and 
N02  66 it's pointless to look too far ahead, but in a couple of years she 
N02  67 won't even be legal.<p/>
N02  68 <p_>It's very sweet. Now that the wedding nears, Odilo is 
N02  69 altogether gentler. He has stopped having tantrums. No longer is 
N02  70 his chimpanzee required to do the housework naked, and on all 
N02  71 fours. Herta responds with gratitude, and with an apparently 
N02  72 unbounded tenderness, never seen before ... Erotic rapture, it 
N02  73 transpires, is in a sense a reptilian condition. The higher mind, 
N02  74 the soul, the princes of the faculties - they absent themselves. 
N02  75 And so too, most emphatically, does the reptile brain. Let me think 
N02  76 about it. When human and reptile brains get together, they want to 
N02  77 do harm from a position of safety. But when it's just their bodies, 
N02  78 they seem to want to do good, and close up, with maximum risk to 
N02  79 the self. I don't know. I'm still there, in their bed, and I like 
N02  80 it; but the oozy ecstasy belongs to Odilo, that glistening lizard, 
N02  81 and to Herta, that glistening lizardess, in their world of 
N02  82 succulent slime, where no words are necessary: you just croak and 
N02  83 hum ... Their love life is steadily divesting itself of all 
N02  84 irregularities. For instance, they used to play a kind of game 
N02  85 (about twice a week, or rather more often if Odilo put his foot 
N02  86 down), where she must lie still and show no sign of life, 
N02  87 throughout. Similarly, he used to take a healthy interest in his 
N02  88 wife's bowel movements, as is meet. But that's all behind him now. 
N02  89 When she weeps and sulks he dries her tears with kisses, and not 
N02  90 with a punch in the breasts. And nowadays she hardly cries at all: 
N02  91 the wedding is only weeks away. Less and less often, though still 
N02  92 pretty regularly (say most nights), Odilo quits his pact of 
N02  93 reptiles and, with enthusiasm, seeks his herds of friends: their 
N02  94 strength in musky numbers, their heat of hide and stall. We shout 
N02  95 and we drool, with the distorted faces of babies; individually we 
N02  96 have no power or courage, but together we form a glowing mass. 
N02  97 Often the night's play begins with us going out and helping Jews. 
N02  98 Odilo, Herta and I are officially on our honeymoon now but in fact 
N02  99 we're going nowhere. Except back to Berlin, for the wedding.<p/>
N02 100 <p_><tf|>My position on the Jews has always been without ambiguity. 
N02 101 I like them. I am, I would say, one of nature's philo-Semites. It's 
N02 102 their eyes I particularly admire. That glossy, heated look. An 
N02 103 exoticism that points towards the transcendent - who knows? Anyway, 
N02 104 why talk about their <tf|>qualities? I am childless; but the Jews 
N02 105 are my children and I love them as a parent should, which is to say 
N02 106 that I don't love them for their qualities (remarkable as these 
N02 107 seem to me to be, naturally), and only wish them to exist, and to 
N02 108 flourish, and to have their right to life and love.<p/>
N02 109 <p_>I remember names and faces, names I heard called at dawn 
N02 110 gatherings in town squares, or by empty fuel pits and anti-tank 
N02 111 ditches, or under the light of policemen's bonfires, or in waiting 
N02 112 zones, in train stations, in green fields at night. And names I saw 
N02 113 on printed lists, quotas, manifests. Lonka and Mania, and Zonka and 
N02 114 Netka, Liebish, Feigele, Aizik, Yaacov, Motl, and Matla, and 
N02 115 Zipora, and Margalit. Back from Auschwitz-Birkenau-Monowitz, from 
N02 116 Ravensbr<*_>u-umlaut<*/>ck, from Mauthausen, Natzweiler and 
N02 117 Theresienstadt, from Buchenwald and Belsen and Majdanek, from 
N02 118 Belzec, from Chelmno, from Treblinka, from Sobibor.<p/>
N02 119 <p_>The sick smile that Odilo sported throughout his wedding day 
N02 120 seems, in retrospect, all too appropriate. I kept seeing this leer 
N02 121 of his, the leer of a wary yokel, reflected in the numerous little 
N02 122 mirrors set around Herta's marriage crown (traditional: to ward off 
N02 123 evil spirits, and so on). Yes, his smile was a good commentary on 
N02 124 the occasion; ditto the painfully explosive backslaps delivered by 
N02 125 his many new menfriends. How else should a person look, while, in 
N02 126 the course of a single ceremony, he kisses everything goodbye - 
N02 127 just blows it all away in a prodigal storm of confetti and rice? 
N02 128 She gave me the wreath of myrtle, the saffron and cinnamon, the 
N02 129 bread, the butter, and the rest of it. And I gave her all my power. 
N02 130 We switched our rings from the fourth finger of the left hand to 
N02 131 the fourth finger of the right. They said it was an auspicious 
N02 132 marriage moon: it was rising. But I could see that the moon above 
N02 133 my head was really on the wane. Hence the unbearable blows to back 
N02 134 and shoulder. Hence the coprophagic smile. Hence Herta's triumphal 
N02 135 laughter.<p/>
N02 136 <p_>She delightedly moves back into her parent's house, and lies 
N02 137 there, among golden-winged angels. And Odilo? Where are <tf|>our 
N02 138 parents, for Christ's sake? Suddenly I'm in a five-floor 
N02 139 boarding-house, turbid with cabbage and gymshoes, sharing an attic 
N02 140 with Rolf and Reinhard and R<*_>u-umlaut<*/>diger and Rudolph, and 
N02 141 living a nightmare, an <foreign|>Alpdruck, of towel-fights and 
N02 142 text-books and jokes about courtship and corpses. That's right: I'm 
N02 143 at med school. In the New Germany too, and feeling rather jumpy and 
N02 144 furtive along with everybody else. Even the streets are like a dorm 
N02 145 these days, with much peer-group pressure and unpredictably intense 
N02 146 scrutiny, adolescent, unpleasant, sexual but sexually obscure or 
N02 147 half-formed, and made up of ridiculous postures which no one is 
N02 148 allowed to laugh at. Laugh at these ridiculous postures, and 
N02 149 everybody will want to kill you. How fortunate that I am 
N02 150 unkillable. Unkillable, but not immortal. What happened to our 
N02 151 manhood?<p/>
N02 152 <p_>It could be worse, because we still see Herta every day, at the 
N02 153 school: she's a tight-skirted secretary in Superintendence. I often 
N02 154 get ten minutes with her in a corridor, and sit quite near her 
N02 155 table in the cafeteria, and there's a stairwell where we go and 
N02 156 kiss - where we breathe into one another. Apart from that it's park 
N02 157 benches and dark archways. Mickey Mouse sniggers and Greta Garbo 
N02 158 averts her pained gaze from our mortified writhings on the shallow 
N02 159 fur of cinema seats. We cling close in the safety of crowds under 
N02 160 streetlights and torchlights. During certain ten-minute intervals 
N02 161 in her parent's front room, while they set out the filthy plates 
N02 162 for dinner, I have achieved much ... Also on our spring and summer 
N02 163 picnics. Among the delphinium, the snapdragon, the hollyhock and 
N02 164 the sweet-pea, on a blanket, by a basket, she will grant me a 
N02 165 nostalgic caress - always followed, on Odilo's part, by hours of 
N02 166 snivelling entreaty. Where once we ruled, now we serve. His most 
N02 167 prosperous theme is that the frustration is damaging his health. 
N02 168 Another thing that usually works is the naming of flowers, in 
N02 169 English. The woods embolden her. The German girl is a natural girl. 
N02 170 Odilo is hysterically grateful for any sylvan handful or eyeful or 
N02 171 mouthful that comes his way. But I'm not. He forgets. I remember. 
N02 172 This tormented groping. I am excoriated by erotic revanchism. And I 
N02 173 know something he seems unable to face: it will never happen again. 
N02 174 The future always comes true. Sadly we gather forget-me-nots. She 
N02 175 loves me ... Actually we hardly dare look at her now, the tiny 
N02 176 typist, such power does she wield. <foreign|>Ja say the ghosts of 
N02 177 painted letters on the trees in the avenues. <foreign|>Nein says 
N02 178 Herta as she takes my hand and places it, for an angry moment, 
N02 179 between her thighs. Then, in the late afternoon, to the school: 
N02 180 zygoma, xanthelasma, volvulus, all drained from him, at least, at 
N02 181 last, all that ugly shit. But most of his lessons, to my surprise, 
N02 182 aren't about the human body being a machine: they are about 
N02 183 hospital administration. Sometimes, late at night, Odilo and I 
N02 184 sneak out alone on to the roof of the boarding-house, while the 
N02 185 Germans dream their dreams.
N02 186 
N03   1 <#FLOB:N03\>Michael Alder had first begun that arrangement about a 
N03   2 year earlier at the same time as he'd mentioned he had found a 
N03   3 distant elderly relative. It was about six months since she had 
N03   4 handled some letters which said the old man needed nursing-home 
N03   5 care.<p/>
N03   6 <p_>The half-share secretary had had no idea she was being 
N03   7 interviewed - John Kenna's police contacts were the kind who 
N03   8 carried briefcases in place of batons.<p/>
N03   9 <p_>But there was a final sentence in the telex, a direct quote 
N03  10 from the anonymous briefcase cop.<p/>
N03  11 <p_><quote_>"Subject Alder has no criminal record. But he has been 
N03  12 noted twice as a name on the fringe of separate marine insurance 
N03  13 frauds. No involvement was proved, but he remains potentially 
N03  14 interesting."<quote/><p/>
N03  15 <p_>Dr James Kennedy had a separate telex page. In some ways, the 
N03  16 details were more positive, in other ways they were less. Basic 
N03  17 fact was that he was <quote_>"Scottish by birth, an undistinguished 
N03  18 medical graduate of Edinburgh University".<quote/><p/>
N03  19 <p_>His first post had been three years in the casualty department 
N03  20 of a London hospital. He had left that for an oil company job in 
N03  21 the Middle East, then had moved on again after eighteen months. 
N03  22 Next he had been two years with the medical sales section of a 
N03  23 Swiss pharmaceutical company before he moved on again.<p/>
N03  24 <p_>Then James Kennedy had vanished from the known medical scene 
N03  25 for more than five years. When he had surfaced again, it was back 
N03  26 in Scotland with vague descriptions of <quote_>"work with medical 
N03  27 agencies in the Lebanon and Spain"<quote/>.<p/>
N03  28 <p_>It was less than a year since he had arrived in Port Torquil, 
N03  29 saying he wanted to put down roots. Younger medical practitioners 
N03  30 were scarce around the islands, and there had been a general 
N03  31 welcome when he set up practice in the fishing village. He was 
N03  32 liked, he was respected, he worked hard.<p/>
N03  33 <p_>But James Kennedy had disappeared in Port Torquil at 
N03  34 approximately the same time as Michael Alder had arrived. James 
N03  35 Kennedy who had a radio hidden in an upstairs bedroom and lied 
N03  36 about whiskies.<p/>
N03  37 <p_>There was one thing more.<p/>
N03  38 <p_>Old John Hill, the distant relative discovered by Michael Alder 
N03  39 then eventually shipped out to a private nursing home on the 
N03  40 mainland, <quote_>"is still listed on National Health Service 
N03  41 central computer records as being one of Dr James Kennedy's 
N03  42 patients in Port Torquil"<quote/>.<p/>
N03  43 <p_>Six months on - that could happen. But also six months on, 
N03  44 Social Security's central pensions computer still continued to list 
N03  45 the old man as living in Port Torquil, where his pension was being 
N03  46 paid to a duly authorized agent and relative, Mr Michael Alder. The 
N03  47 authorization, on the grounds of John Hill's frailty and ill 
N03  48 health, had been countersigned by the old man's general 
N03  49 practitioner - James Kennedy.<p/>
N03  50 <p_>There were other fragments, scooped together by the industrious 
N03  51 John Kennan, some without being asked. Harry Gold, boatyard owner, 
N03  52 had served an eighteen-month term for trading in stolen boats. Even 
N03  53 the crew of the <tf|>Dirk hadn't escaped scrutiny. Tom Barratt, the 
N03  54 beanpole electronics technician, had a medal for bravery that went 
N03  55 back to the Falklands. The plump, plain Martha Edwards had twice 
N03  56 been fined, once been jailed as an Animal Rights activist...<p/>
N03  57 <p_>He swept the telex messages aside. The two that mattered most, 
N03  58 the two about Alder and Kennedy, posed their own stark, bleak, 
N03  59 questions. Maybe some of the others mattered too.<p/>
N03  60 <p_>Maybe that depended on what might be waiting ahead.<p/>
N03  61 <p_>Half an hour later, Lannair Island was a growing bulk on 
N03  62 <tf|>Tern's radar screen. In another twenty minutes, the patrol 
N03  63 launch had come back to half speed using the outer diesels. What 
N03  64 had been an air-gobbling roar had become a purr, the tell-tale 
N03  65 white of her wash had vanished.<p/>
N03  66 <p_>If Lannair had any fresh visitors, <tf|>Tern had become a mere 
N03  67 shadow of an outline in a grey, broken sea under a dark night sky. 
N03  68 Andy Grey had the radar watch, Gogi MacDonnell had taken over the 
N03  69 helm, and Sam Pilsudski had emerged like a maritime mole to sniff 
N03  70 the air and help on deck.<p/>
N03  71 <p_><quote_>"No good, skipper,"<quote/> said Andy Grey for the 
N03  72 third time in as many minutes. <quote_>"Ghosting - a lot of 
N03  73 ghosting. The same we get around Torquil's Shield."<quote/> He 
N03  74 glanced uneasily towards Gogi MacDonnell. <quote_>"Same with the 
N03  75 compass."<quote/><p/>
N03  76 <p_><quote|>"Gogi?" asked Carrick.<p/>
N03  77 <p_><quote_>"Aye, fine skipper,"<quote/> said MacDonnell 
N03  78 placidly.<p/>
N03  79 <p_><quote|>"Jesus," said Sam Pilsudski piously. <quote_>"He's 
N03  80 happy!"<quote/> The engineer officer stared out at the night, at 
N03  81 the black rise of island, and at the foaming patches of sea ahead. 
N03  82 <quote_>"You happy, Clapper?"<quote/><p/>
N03  83 <p_><quote|>"No," said Clapper Bell solemnly, shaking his head.<p/>
N03  84 <p_>Andy Grey looked round, staring at them, then swore when he saw 
N03  85 their grins under the soft red night-vision lighting of the 
N03  86 bridge.<p/>
N03  87 <p_><quote_>"Stop clowning,"<quote/> ordered Carrick with a faint 
N03  88 irritation. Even in the darkness he could now pick up individual 
N03  89 outlines of rock along Lannair's shore. <quote_>"Gogi, bring her 
N03  90 down - slow ahead both."<quote/><p/>
N03  91 <p_><quote_>"Slow ahead both,"<quote/> repeated MacDonnell. He 
N03  92 eased back on both outer throttles, and immediately <tf|>Tern 
N03  93 slowed to a whispering crawl.<p/>
N03  94 <p_>Carrick was satisfied. They were closing on the high east cliff 
N03  95 of the island. If Lannair was half a mile long, then the patrol 
N03  96 launch was less than that distance out. He could even see the black 
N03  97 beginning of the downward slope to the low rocks of the western 
N03  98 shore. The west -<p/>
N03  99 <p_><quote|>"Skipper!" Clapper Bell spoke urgently, pointing. 
N03 100 <quote_>"On the slope. A light!"<quote/><p/>
N03 101 <p_>Andy Grey opened his mouth to protest at an old joke worn thin. 
N03 102 Then he saw the way Bell was staring towards the island and changed 
N03 103 his mind.<p/>
N03 104 <p_><quote|>"Skipper?" This time, Bell made it a question.<p/>
N03 105 <p_><quote_>"Got it,"<quote/> confirmed Carrick. <quote_>"Mark 
N03 106 it."<quote/><p/>
N03 107 <p_>While <tf|>Tern muttered on at the same slow, rolling pace, 
N03 108 occasional spray pattering along her length, the same brief 
N03 109 will-o'-the-wisp light danced for a few moments more on Lannair in 
N03 110 the way a carelessly used torch might shine. Then it had gone. By 
N03 111 then, Carrick had the bridge glasses ready. The light suddenly 
N03 112 showed again, more a reflection this time, further along the slope. 
N03 113 Climbing.<p/>
N03 114 <p_>It vanished again. This time the light didn't reappear.<p/>
N03 115 <p_><quote_>"We're in business,"<quote/> murmured Sam Pilsudski. He 
N03 116 hauled one of his thin cheroots out of his top overall pocket, 
N03 117 stuck it in his mouth, leaving it dangling unlit, and grinned. 
N03 118 <quote_>"Front door or back door, Webb?"<quote/><p/>
N03 119 <p_>It had to be back door. With any luck, <tf|>Tern was still 
N03 120 invisible in the night, and someone was on Lannair. Carrick knew 
N03 121 their immediate task was to find out why.<p/>
N03 122 <p_>A hogback outcrop of islet was visible to starboard. It was big 
N03 123 enough to give cover, safe enough for <tf|>Tern to loiter 
N03 124 behind.<p/>
N03 125 <p_>Five minutes later, the patrol launch was snug in the shadow of 
N03 126 the hogback islet, lying maybe two lengths off the foaming sea 
N03 127 around its base. By then, Andy Grey had his orders, Carrick and 
N03 128 Clapper Bell were in the scuba compartment changing into their 
N03 129 black neoprene rubber wet-suits, and the will-o'-the-wisp light 
N03 130 still hadn't been seen again.<p/>
N03 131 <p_>Clapper Bell had two breathing sets neatly laid out. As Carrick 
N03 132 and the big Glasgow-Irishman fastened final zips, pulled on 
N03 133 harness, and went into a routine check of each other's breathing 
N03 134 apparatus, Andy Grey joined them from the bridge.<p/>
N03 135 <p_><quote_>"Ready, skipper?"<quote/> His thin face was slightly 
N03 136 strained.<p/>
N03 137 <p_><quote|>"Ready," agreed Carrick. <quote_>"Just remember one 
N03 138 thing, Andy. If we flush any boat out from Lannair, don't go mad. 
N03 139 Track it on radar. Nothing more."<quote/><p/>
N03 140 <p_><quote_>"Except come back for us,"<quote/> suggested Clapper 
N03 141 Bell easily.<p/>
N03 142 <p_>They went out on deck. Together the two black-clad figures in 
N03 143 turn spat into his face-mask glass then rinsed the mask in the 
N03 144 pitching sea alongside - still the best way to keep the glass from 
N03 145 misting underwater - then exchanged a final glance.<p/>
N03 146 <p_><quote|>"Go," said Carrick.<p/>
N03 147 <p_>Biting on their mouthpieces, pulling down their face masks, 
N03 148 they splashed down into the water, surfaced again, then immediately 
N03 149 duck-dived under. The night chill of the sea hit for a moment, then 
N03 150 receded.<p/>
N03 151 <p_>The sea was black as ink, two plumes of bubbles were rising 
N03 152 from the scuba sets, air-regulator valves were clicking in a total, 
N03 153 disciplined rhythm. They didn't have to go deep. Using his wrist 
N03 154 compass, checking his depth gauge, conscious of Clapper Bell 
N03 155 swimming almost within touching distance, Carrick settled into a 
N03 156 steady, kicking crawl beat with only the occasional snatch of a 
N03 157 current or eddy to divert his attention until they hit a brief band 
N03 158 of tall, thick kelp weed. The kelp clawed at their suits and scuba 
N03 159 gear, but was only a fragile barrier.<p/>
N03 160 <p_>Then they were through, their feet were touching seabed shingle 
N03 161 and in another moment they were wading ashore on Lannair.<p/>
N03 162 <p_>Where they had landed, the ground was a wilderness mix of flat 
N03 163 slabs of rock and thick banks of small, smooth pebbles. They could 
N03 164 hear the wind - and with it, maybe something else, something coming 
N03 165 from the other side of the island. Bell mimed a question, Carrick 
N03 166 shook his head in reply, and they spent a couple of minutes 
N03 167 stripping off their aqualung harnesses then leaving the aqualungs, 
N03 168 their fins and other equipment in the shadow of one slab of 
N03 169 rock.<p/>
N03 170 <p_>The faint, distant noise was still there. It was like the low 
N03 171 moan and whine of a small ship's electrical generator. For another 
N03 172 moment, they crouched and took their bearings. To their left, the 
N03 173 slope rose steadily and smoothly to the crest of rock. But ahead, 
N03 174 beyond the shore rock, there was only a moderate hillock rise 
N03 175 separating them from whatever was whining on the other side.<p/>
N03 176 <p_><quote_>"Let's do it,"<quote/> said Carrick softly, and started 
N03 177 to move. Seawater was still coming in small damping trickles from 
N03 178 his wet-suit as he began to rise.<p/>
N03 179 <p_><quote|>"No," hissed Clapper Bell, grabbing his wrist and 
N03 180 hauling him back down.<p/>
N03 181 <p_>A man was walking along the crest of the hillock, relaxed 
N03 182 enough to be whistling under his breath, in no hurry. He had a 
N03 183 hand-torch, and when he shone it briefly to be sure of his route 
N03 184 then there was enough reflected glow from the little pool of light 
N03 185 to show that he was wearing an old peaked cap and overalls and that 
N03 186 he had a rifle slung over one shoulder.<p/>
N03 187 <p_>The torchlight swung again as the man used two slabs of rock 
N03 188 like stepping stones. Clapper Bell muttered a grunt, nudging 
N03 189 Carrick. Carrick nodded, watching the man continue to follow a path 
N03 190 he seemed to know until he vanished over the hillock.<p/>
N03 191 <p_><quote_>"He's one o' the pair from the harbour last 
N03 192 night,"<quote/> said Bell hoarsely. <quote_>"Remember 
N03 193 him?"<quote/><p/>
N03 194 <p_>Tight-lipped, Carrick nodded. He had plenty of reason to 
N03 195 remember Joe and Petey. The man had been Joe, who had stopped 
N03 196 enjoying his evening when Carrick had hit him in the middle with 
N03 197 that swinging spar of quayside wood.<p/>
N03 198 <p_>It was something else he'd miscalculated, and Clapper Bell had 
N03 199 made the same mistake at the time. The harbour attack had been 
N03 200 planned, not the casual whim of two wandering drunks. The two had 
N03 201 been sent off on a deliberate task, probably told to rough up the 
N03 202 newly arrived stranger a little so that he was less likely to keep 
N03 203 sticking his nose in where it wasn't wanted.<p/>
N03 204 <p_>But now one of them was here. Carrick glanced back to where 
N03 205 they'd first spotted him coming. That way led down from the top of 
N03 206 Lannair's east-facing sea-cliff. Any kind of path in that direction 
N03 207 gave a new significance to the moving light they'd seen from 
N03 208 <tf|>Tern. There must be some kind of trip-wire style lookout post 
N03 209 up there at the top of the cliff.<p/>
N03 210 <p_><quote_>"How about now?"<quote/> muttered Clapper Bell, still 
N03 211 crouched low beside him. In his black rubber wet-suit, the 
N03 212 Glasgow-Irishman looked like a large, damp seal.<p/>
N03 213 <p_><quote_>"This time."<quote/> An edge of moonlight had broken 
N03 214 through the clouds, and that helped. <quote_>"But we stay clear of 
N03 215 trouble."<quote/><p/>
N03 216 <p_>Clapper Bell grinned, then they got to their feet. Walking 
N03 217 under the faint, cloud-filtered moonlight, they crossed through 
N03 218 ankle-length grass and stunted heather and headed in the same 
N03 219 direction the fisherman with the rifle had taken. Almost 
N03 220 immediately, they found they were on a faint but traceable path of 
N03 221 sorts and they could go faster.
N03 222 
N04   1 <#FLOB:N04\>I backed the loan she raised then, by the way. 
N04   2 Frightful place, I thought. Hideous little house with horrible 
N04   3 great cellars. In such a depressing part of London, 
N04   4 too."<quote/><p/>
N04   5 <p_><quote_>"Islington's 'coming up',"<quote/> Castalia said.<p/>
N04   6 <p_><quote_>"Well, it didn't seem to be, then."<quote/><p/>
N04   7 <p_><quote_>"Evelyn Waugh lived ten minutes away from Janet's 
N04   8 factory in the early 1930s. And so did George Orwell, a bit 
N04   9 later."<quote/><p/>
N04  10 <p_><quote_>"I can see <tf|>Orwell there. All that 'Down and Out on 
N04  11 Wigan Pier' business of his. But Waugh - that does surprise 
N04  12 me."<quote/><p/>
N04  13 <p_><quote_>"He was young and poor and not yet embittered. And 
N04  14 there's some wonderful architecture in that district."<quote/><p/>
N04  15 <p_><quote_>"Well, Janet's factory isn't a good example of 
N04  16 it."<quote/><p/>
N04  17 <p_>Castalia laughed. <quote_>"I agree with you there."<quote/><p/>
N04  18 <p_><quote_>"I suppose she's transformed the cellars. They were 
N04  19 creepy as hell when I saw them."<quote/><p/>
N04  20 <p_><quote_>"I don't know about <tf|>transformed. I suppose she 
N04  21 cemented the floors and she's added a lot of iron bars and gates, 
N04  22 and created two areas for production and packaging."<quote/><p/>
N04  23 <p_><quote_>"Oh my God, Castalia, don't <tf|>you start bombarding 
N04  24 me with that jargon!"<quote/><p/>
N04  25 <p_><quote_>"Not very complicated jargon, really,"<quote/> Castalia 
N04  26 said. <quote_>"I must say 'areas' - I can't say 'rooms' for those 
N04  27 great spaces, divided by a corridor with folding metal 
N04  28 gates."<quote/><p/>
N04  29 <p_><quote_>"Sounds ghastly!"<quote/> said James.<p/>
N04  30 <p_><quote_>"Yes, perfectly ghastly! There's strip lighting 
N04  31 everywhere in the building except in her office. And there are a 
N04  32 lot of very gloomy-looking women in pale-blue overalls, with 
N04  33 bluebirds over their left breasts."<quote/> James laughed. Castalia 
N04  34 said, <quote_>"The corridor in the cellars is awful. Like something 
N04  35 in a prison. I thought of Piranesi, though of course it lacks his 
N04  36 grandeur. And the door from the cellars into the rest of the 
N04  37 building is made of metal bars. A foreman locked it during the 
N04  38 lunch hour. Janet's afraid of things being stolen ... though 
N04  39 <tf|>what things, heaven knows! When she stays there in the 
N04  40 evenings, does she lock up the place herself? Or do they have a 
N04  41 night watchman?"<quote/><p/>
N04  42 <p_><quote_>"No, I don't think so. Too extravagant. And I doubt if 
N04  43 many burglars are keen on 'Blue Bird'. I don't think she goes round 
N04  44 locking up - though she has keys, of course - to everything, I 
N04  45 should imagine. She has a great bunch of them in her bag - her 
N04  46 'handbag' as she still calls it. I once told her she clanked like 
N04  47 Marley's ghost. She didn't appreciate it. Don't think she knew who 
N04  48 Marley was. Of course, I suppose she locks up after she's been 
N04  49 there alone in the evening. You know, I often think 'working late' 
N04  50 is just an excuse for sitting at the centre of her web, like some 
N04  51 great spider ... simply gloating."<quote/><p/>
N04  52 <p_>Castalia laughed. Then she said, <quote_>"You mean, when she 
N04  53 works late she's all alone in that gloomy house? You'd think she'd 
N04  54 be frightened."<quote/><p/>
N04  55 <p_><quote_>"Oh, not Janet!"<quote/><p/>
N04  56 <p_><quote_>"Perhaps she meets a lover."<quote/><p/>
N04  57 <p_><quote_>"Janet? You must be joking!"<quote/><p/>
N04  58 <p_><quote_>"As a matter of fact, I am."<quote/> Castalia looked at 
N04  59 her watch. The time was half-past nine. <quote_>"Will she still be 
N04  60 working now?"<quote/><p/>
N04  61 <p_><quote_>"Very probably. Why? Do you intend to call?"<quote/><p/>
N04  62 <p_><quote_>"Now <tf_>you're<tf/> joking. Does she tell you in 
N04  63 advance when she's going to stay up in London?"<quote/><p/>
N04  64 <p_><quote_>"Oh yes, always. A day or two before. Not for <tf|>my 
N04  65 sake. Because of making arrangements about the 
N04  66 children."<quote/><p/>
N04  67 <p_><quote_>"A model mother!"<quote/><p/>
N04  68 <p_><quote_>"I suppose so."<quote/> James sighed. <quote_>"She's 
N04  69 certainly determined to model the children on herself. No trace of 
N04  70 decadent Daddy is going to be allowed to surface."<quote/><p/>
N04  71 <p_><quote_>"James, you're such a defeatist!"<quote/> But 
N04  72 Castalia's tone was buoyant. <quote_>"Can't influence your 
N04  73 children. Can't refuse to sign intolerable documents. But listen 
N04  74 now, James. I've got one favour to ask you. Put off signing that 
N04  75 thing about the Constable until late next week."<quote/><p/>
N04  76 <p_>James groaned. <quote_>"Next week,"<quote/> he said. 
N04  77 <quote_>"<tf|>Late next week! What's today? Wednesday. My God, and 
N04  78 with the weekend looming ahead. Do you realize what pure hell my 
N04  79 life's going to be? And what a difference can a week 
N04  80 make?"<quote/><p/>
N04  81 <p_><quote_>"Keep Syrupy glued to your side, James, and do it as a 
N04  82 favour to me. Do it for Castalia. Remember? 'One for Miss 
N04  83 Castalia,' Nanny used to say when she gave you a spoonful of rice 
N04  84 pudding."<quote/><p/>
N04  85 <p_>He laughed.<p/>
N04  86 <p_><quote_>"One for Miss Castalia, now James ..."<quote/><p/>
N04  87 <p_><quote_>"Oh well. All right. But I can't think what 
N04  88 -"<quote/><p/>
N04  89 <p_><quote_>"One for Miss Castalia!"<quote/><p/>
N04  90 <p_><quote_>Yes. All right."<quote/><p/>
N04  91 <p_><quote_>"Good night, James darling."<quote/> She put down the 
N04  92 receiver. She stood up. Then she raised her arms as if to greet 
N04  93 sunrise in the square outside. But it was dusk.<p/>
N04  94 <p_>It was dark by the time she reached the corner of the street in 
N04  95 Islington. Walking past the fenced wasteland, then along the 
N04  96 terrace, she was conscious of the quietness. The workshops were all 
N04  97 closed. The caf<*_>e-acute<*/>'s contract for 'Breakfast all Day' 
N04  98 had expired. The infrequent street lamps made small pools of 
N04  99 light.<p/>
N04 100 <p_>The big metal door to the factory's front yard was shut, and 
N04 101 the door at the side was, too. However, it was not locked, Castalia 
N04 102 found when she tried the handle. She glanced up and down the empty 
N04 103 street, then went inside, shutting the door behind her.<p/>
N04 104 <p_>The yard was even quieter than the street. Silence dropped over 
N04 105 her like a cloak. Castalia did not go up to the front door. It was 
N04 106 closed, and there was no light showing at the front of the 
N04 107 building. She crossed the yard, in which three lorries and Janet's 
N04 108 car were parked, and reached the cement path along which the 
N04 109 products were wheeled to the lorries, and which led to the back 
N04 110 yard. Here, in otherwise total darkness, shone a single square of 
N04 111 light. It came from Janet's window. Quietly Castalia advanced until 
N04 112 she was nearly opposite it. Then she looked up. Janet stood by the 
N04 113 window, and Castalia stiffened and became absolutely still. But 
N04 114 Janet could not see her or, though standing by the window, was not 
N04 115 looking out.<p/>
N04 116 <p_>Now Janet turned, and began to wander round the room. 
N04 117 Occasionally - like Greta Garbo in <tf_>Queen Christina<tf/> - she 
N04 118 touched something. She stroked the china bluebird on her desk, and 
N04 119 ran a hand over the back of a chair. She moved over to the glass 
N04 120 showcase, opened it, and fingered a jar. Having closed the case 
N04 121 again, she stepped back, surveying its entire contents with a 
N04 122 doting look. Then she moved to the desk, and sat down in her chair. 
N04 123 Back to the window, she bent over some papers.<p/>
N04 124 <p_>Castalia moved to the steps that led to the passage where 
N04 125 Janet's office was. She went up them, and carefully grasped the 
N04 126 handle of the door ahead, then very gently twisted it. It opened. 
N04 127 Castalia gave a deep sigh. She smiled. She pulled the door shut 
N04 128 again, went down the steps, and re-crossed the yard. As she skirted 
N04 129 the square of light from Janet's window, she looked up again: at 
N04 130 Janet still bowed over her desk, obviously at ease in her little 
N04 131 blue nest in this dark and deserted building.<p/>
N04 132 <p_>Castalia went back the way she had come. Outside, she walked 
N04 133 briskly towards Upper Street and the 19 bus which would take her 
N04 134 almost the whole way home.<p/>
N04 135 <p_>It was Sunday afternoon. The square was hushed. Castalia was 
N04 136 sitting at her desk, taking notes from an article in <tf_>Italian 
N04 137 Studies<tf/>. She started at the ringing of the telephone so close 
N04 138 beside her.<p/>
N04 139 <p_><quote|>"Hullo."<p/>
N04 140 <p_><quote_>"Castalia, wondered if I'd find you in."<quote/><p/>
N04 141 <p_><quote_>"Well, you have, James."<quote/><p/>
N04 142 <p_><quote_>"Coast's clear for the moment. Janet's taken the 
N04 143 children to tea with the Fannings."<quote/><p/>
N04 144 <p_><quote_>"Poor old Fannings,"<quote/> Castalia murmured, very 
N04 145 low.<p/>
N04 146 <p_><quote|>"What?"<p/>
N04 147 <p_><quote|>"Nothing."<p/>
N04 148 <p_><quote_>"Castalia, I had to speak to you. Just to tell you I 
N04 149 can't hold out any longer. I'll have to sign this damn thing about 
N04 150 selling the Constable. Janet's driving me mad. On and on she goes 
N04 151 about that business in London. And about poor old Syrupy. The 
N04 152 nagging ... the pressure - Castalia, I just can't take it. I'm 
N04 153 going to have to sign. She's staying over in London next Wednesday 
N04 154 night. Working late again, you know. And on Thursday she's got an 
N04 155 appointment at the auction house. She says she's going to take the 
N04 156 authorization with her. <tf|>Signed."<quote/> James gave a feeble 
N04 157 laugh. <quote_>"And I think she will. God!"<quote/> he exclaimed. 
N04 158 <quote_>"To think I used to like her dominating me. Now it makes my 
N04 159 life pure misery."<quote/><p/>
N04 160 <p_><quote_>"I remember telling you it might pall. <tf_>The gods 
N04 161 are just, and of our pleasant vices make instruments to plague 
N04 162 us.<tf/> Shakespeare's always right."<quote/> Her tone became 
N04 163 brisk: <quote_>"Wednesday, you say? And she's taking the document 
N04 164 with her?"<quote/><p/>
N04 165 <p_><quote_>"That's the plan."<quote/><p/>
N04 166 <p_><quote_>"Well, James, you'd better sign,"<quote/> Castalia 
N04 167 said.<p/>
N04 168 <p_><quote_>"Better sign?"<quote/><p/>
N04 169 <p_><quote_>"Yes, didn't you just tell me you were going to? Well, 
N04 170 go ahead."<quote/><p/>
N04 171 <p_><quote_>"Aren't you furious with me?"<quote/> he asked.<p/>
N04 172 <p_>Castalia laughed. <quote_>"No, not a bit."<quote/><p/>
N04 173 <p_>James said, <quote_>"You know, Castalia, there are times when 
N04 174 you completely baffle me."<quote_><p/>
N04 175 <p_><quote_>"Mmm. Well - don't worry. Just sign ... and then forget 
N04 176 about the whole thing."<quote_><p/>
N04 177 <p_><quote_>"Forget about the Constable?"<quote/><p/>
N04 178 <p_><quote_>"Yes. And keep cool, James."<quote/><p/>
N04 179 <p_><quote_>"So I'm to sign?"<quote/> There was a hopeless note in 
N04 180 his voice. Then he said, <quote_>"You know, I rather hoped you 
N04 181 might <tf|>galvanize me. Re-charge me with energy to keep on 
N04 182 resisting. But now you seem to have given up the struggle, too. I 
N04 183 never expected -"<quote/><p/>
N04 184 <p_><quote_>"Stop worrying, James."<quote/> Then she said, 
N04 185 <quote_>"Trust me."<quote/><p/>
N04 186 <p_><quote_>"Trust you?"<quote/> he said blankly.<p/>
N04 187 <p_><quote_>"Yes. <tf_>Trust me<tf/>. Goodbye, James."<quote/> She 
N04 188 rang off.<p/>
N04 189 <p_>It was ten o'clock on Wednesday evening when Castalia again 
N04 190 took the turning to the Blue Bird factory. All along the terrace 
N04 191 were dustbins, waiting to be emptied next morning. Some were of 
N04 192 black plastic, but most were of battered tin. There was a smell of 
N04 193 rot in the air.<p/>
N04 194 <p_>Castalia carried a large black shopping bag over her left arm. 
N04 195 Reaching the factory, she went through the side door - unlocked, as 
N04 196 before - and made her way to the back yard. Here, everything was as 
N04 197 it had been on her last visit. The square of light shone again from 
N04 198 Janet's window. Looking up, Castalia saw that Janet was writing at 
N04 199 her desk.<p/>
N04 200 <p_>Castalia went up the steps to the back door, and turned the 
N04 201 handle. Tonight, she pushed the door open, and stepped into the 
N04 202 passage. Then she closed the door behind her. Janet, economically, 
N04 203 had switched off the strip light in the passage, but light came 
N04 204 from the partly open door of her office.<p/>
N04 205 <p_>Castalia ran her right hand through her hair. Then she went to 
N04 206 Janet's door, pushed it wide open, and went in. Janet looked up 
N04 207 sharply.<p/>
N04 208 <p_>An initial blankness on Janet's face was succeeded by an 
N04 209 expression of astonishment. She said, <quote_>"Castalia! What on 
N04 210 earth are you doing here? How did you get in?"<quote/><p/>
N04 211 <p_><quote_>"Oh, round the back."<quote/> Then she said, <quote_>"I 
N04 212 thought this would be a perfect opportunity for us to have a 
N04 213 chat."<quote/><p/>
N04 214 <p_><quote_>"A chat?"<quote/> said Janet. <quote_>"But how did you 
N04 215 know I'd be here?"<quote/><p/>
N04 216 <p_><quote_>James told me."<quote/><p/>
N04 217 <p_>Janet frowned, but then her face cleared. A little smile 
N04 218 appeared on it, then gradually widened. <quote_>"Ah, 
N04 219 Castalia,"<quote/> she said in her plummiest tones, <quote_>"I 
N04 220 think I know what you've come about. The Constable - that's it, 
N04 221 isn't it?"<quote/> As she said this, her voice deepened as if she 
N04 222 were playing it like an organ.<p/>
N04 223 <p_><quote_>"Well, partly,"<quote/> Castalia said.<p/>
N04 224 <p_><quote_>"Do sit down, my dear,"<quote/> Janet said.<p/>
N04 225 <p_><quote_>"Would you mind if I didn't? I rather like pacing 
N04 226 around. That's what I always do at home."<quote/><p/>
N04 227 <p_><quote_>"Well, I'd love you to feel at home here - so please 
N04 228 pace away!"<quote/> Janet gave a little laugh.<p/>
N04 229 <p_>Castalia paced over to the showcase. Then she turned to face 
N04 230 Janet. She rested her right elbow on the case in the attitude of 
N04 231 the young man in the Nicholas Hilliard miniature.<p/>
N04 232 <p_>Now Janet, still smiling, gently shook her head. <quote_>"Ah, 
N04 233 Castalia,"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"You wanted to find me alone, 
N04 234 so that we could talk in peace. About my decision - <tf|>our 
N04 235 decision, I mean, of course - to sell the Constable."<quote/> Janet 
N04 236 glanced down at an open briefcase - slim and expensive-looking - 
N04 237 propped against the desk. <quote_>"I have James's authorization 
N04 238 here,"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"Everything's quite above 
N04 239 board."<quote/> She shook her head again.
N04 240 
N05   1 <#FLOB:N05\><h_><p_>6<p/>
N05   2 <p_>Monday<p/><h/>
N05   3 <p_>Edward was at his desk, as instructed, by nine o'clock. The 
N05   4 weekend had been a washout but there was Paris to look forward to. 
N05   5 He had already booked one dinner, at L'Ambroisie in the Place des 
N05   6 Vosges where they did the best ravioli in the world, Italy not 
N05   7 excepted. He spent part of the morning discussing his lecture with 
N05   8 colleagues. Every time the phone rang he expected it to be Mordaunt 
N05   9 but, by the time he went out for lunch, the equerry still hadn't 
N05  10 called.<p/>
N05  11 <p_>Edward was lunching with Thierry Dinant, a distinguished 
N05  12 Belgian scholar from the Royal Museum in Brussels. Dinant had 
N05  13 called Hillier about a week before but, on finding that the 
N05  14 Director of the Royal Collection was in hospital, had invited 
N05  15 Edward to Overton's instead.<p/>
N05  16 <p_>Edward made his way there shortly after one. Dinant's choice 
N05  17 could not have been more convenient. The Belgian was tall and 
N05  18 rather stern-looking, with thick glasses. He spoke perfect English. 
N05  19 He was already seated at the table and greeted Edward warmly.<p/>
N05  20 <p_><quote_>"Monday's not the ideal day for fish, I know. But I can 
N05  21 never resist the whitebait here. I hope you don't mind."<quote/><p/>
N05  22 <p_>Edward shook his head. <quote_>"You seem more of a regular here 
N05  23 than I am - and my office is across the road."<quote/> He 
N05  24 smiled.<p/>
N05  25 <p_><quote_>"I have been travelling a lot recently, it's true, and 
N05  26 to England as much as anywhere. I'll tell you why in a minute - but 
N05  27 let's order first."<quote/><p/>
N05  28 <p_>Dinant caught the waiter's eye and for a while he was engrossed 
N05  29 in ordering the food. Edward was half amused and half comforted by 
N05  30 the seriousness with which he did this. When he had finished, 
N05  31 Dinant sat back on the banquette seating and looked at Edward.<p/>
N05  32 <p_><quote_>"How bad is Hillier?"<quote/><p/>
N05  33 <p_><quote_>"I'm not sure. He's had an operation for two slipped 
N05  34 discs. It's a tricky business. Some people recover quickly - and 
N05  35 completely. Some don't. With him it's too early to 
N05  36 tell."<quote/><p/>
N05  37 <p_><quote_>"I'll deal with you, then."<quote/><p/>
N05  38 <p_><quote_>"What on earth do you mean?"<quote/><p/>
N05  39 <p_><quote_>"I said I would explain why I have been travelling so 
N05  40 much. For the last three years, besides my duties at the Royal 
N05  41 Museum in Brussels, I have been head of something known as the 
N05  42 Rubens Research Project. As you know, Rubens had a vast output and 
N05  43 a large studio. Towards the end of his life he had gout. These 
N05  44 facts taken together mean that there are inevitably certain 
N05  45 pictures attributed to him that are nothing of the kind. It's the 
N05  46 task of the Rubens Research Project to separate the wheat from the 
N05  47 chaff."<quote/><p/>
N05  48 <p_>The waiter brought the wine and Dinant tried it.<p/>
N05  49 <p_><quote_>"Over the past months, I've been inspecting so-called 
N05  50 Rubenses in - oh, Madrid, Milan, Melbourne, Moscow. Pleasant work 
N05  51 but hard. I've also looked at the pictures in your Royal 
N05  52 Collection."<quote/><p/>
N05  53 <p_>At this, Edward flashed him a look. That must have been agreed 
N05  54 with Hillier, for this was the first Edward had heard of it. What 
N05  55 was coming?<p/>
N05  56 <p_>Dinant, who had been leaning forward, now sat back as the 
N05  57 whitebait arrived. He squeezed lemon over them.<p/>
N05  58 <p_><quote_>"You ... or should I say Her Majesty has a picture 
N05  59 entitled <tf_>The Three Marys at the Sepulchre<tf/>. I'm sorry to 
N05  60 say that my colleagues and I do not think this is by the 
N05  61 master."<quote/> He swallowed some whitebait.<p/>
N05  62 <p_>Edward had guessed what Dinant was going to say moments before 
N05  63 he said it. He toyed with his foot. How should he respond?<p/>
N05  64 <p_>Dinant spoke again. <quote_>"I'm telling you this out of 
N05  65 courtesy, of course. Our research report will not be published 
N05  66 until next year. You may like to alert Her Majesty in advance and 
N05  67 perhaps alter your own attribution in anticipation. I'm sure that 
N05  68 some newspaper will make play with the idea that a Rubens in the 
N05  69 Royal Collection is a fake."<quote/><p/>
N05  70 <p_>Dinant showed no emotion as he said all this and he could not 
N05  71 have guessed what was going on inside Edward's head. All Edward 
N05  72 said now was, <quote_>"What is your evidence, Thierry?"<quote/><p/>
N05  73 <p_>Dinant pulled down the corners of his mouth. <quote_>"The 
N05  74 picture is not mentioned in the letters. The minor figures, which 
N05  75 in a real Rubens would have been painted by assistants, do not fit 
N05  76 with the style of any known assistant, and the provenance is the 
N05  77 same as one or two other pictures which we believe are 
N05  78 fake."<quote/><p/>
N05  79 <p_>Edward didn't reply immediately but sipped some wine. Dinant 
N05  80 was right about one thing: if the papers got hold of this they 
N05  81 would have a field day. A fake in the Royal Collection! However, 
N05  82 that wasn't what concerned him most.<p/>
N05  83 <p_><quote_>"Hillier is not going to like it."<quote/><p/>
N05  84 <p_>Dinant lowered his eyes. <quote_>"I know. But I can't help 
N05  85 that. They are not his pictures. They couldn't be sold anyway. We 
N05  86 are not hurting anyone's pocket."<quote/><p/>
N05  87 <p_><quote_>"Yes - I see that. That's not what I meant."<quote/><p/>
N05  88 <p_><quote_>"What did you mean, then?"<quote/><p/>
N05  89 <p_><quote_>"It calls scholarship into question. He is certain the 
N05  90 <tf_>Three Marys<tf/> is a genuine Rubens."<quote/><p/>
N05  91 <p_><quote_>"He <tf|>is? I'm surprised. There must be - what? - two 
N05  92 thousand pictures in the Royal Collection. He can't be expected to 
N05  93 know everything intimately."<quote/><p/>
N05  94 <p_><quote_>"No ... I agree with that. You're a good scholar, 
N05  95 Thierry, but there are certain things you don't know."<quote/><p/>
N05  96 <p_><quote_>"You mean there's something else about this picture 
N05  97 that I don't know?"<quote/><p/>
N05  98 <p_><quote_>"In a manner of speaking - yes."<quote_> Edward leaned 
N05  99 back as the waiter brought their main courses and then fussed 
N05 100 around, serving spinach, potatoes, hollandaise sauce.<p/>
N05 101 <p_><quote_>"Go on,"<quote/> urged Dinant as soon as the waiter had 
N05 102 left. <quote_>"Explain what you mean. What don't I know about this 
N05 103 picture?"<quote/><p/>
N05 104 <p_>Edward wiped his lips with his napkin. <quote_>"You don't know 
N05 105 that a month ago I sent Hillier a memo concerning the <tf_>Three 
N05 106 Marys<tf/>. In that memo I said that I thought the picture was not 
N05 107 by Rubens. For exactly the same reasons as you. He replied just 
N05 108 before he went into hospital. He said I was wrong and implied, more 
N05 109 or less, that I didn't know what I was talking about. Now you say 
N05 110 the same thing as I do. He's not going to like it one bit. I 
N05 111 haven't been at the Palace very long and I'm already having a 
N05 112 run-in with my boss. Your research isn't going to help, either. In 
N05 113 fact, it's going to make the situation a whole lot 
N05 114 worse."<quote/><p/>
N05 115 <h_><p_>7<p/>
N05 116 <p_>Tuesday<p/><h/>
N05 117 <p_>Psychologically, and to an extent administratively, Buckingham 
N05 118 Palace is divided into four. There are the royal apartments, at the 
N05 119 north end of the building, which almost no one except the royal 
N05 120 family and their personal servants ever sees. There is the 
N05 121 administrative area on the west side, where Mordaunt and others 
N05 122 have their offices. There are the great rooms of state: the 
N05 123 ballrooms, banqueting halls, reception rooms for investitures, and 
N05 124 so on. These are located in the centre of the palace, on the east 
N05 125 side, looking out on to the Mall. Finally, there is a very small 
N05 126 area with a very special function. Edward wasn't aware of this when 
N05 127 he summoned, by Mordaunt, on the following Tuesday. It was again a 
N05 128 glorious morning, so he walked over from St James's, arriving, as 
N05 129 he had been asked, just before noon. He was due at Heathrow at 
N05 130 five, for his flight to the Louvre conference. There should be 
N05 131 plenty of time.<p/>
N05 132 <p_>This time, one of Mordaunt's three secretaries came to meet him 
N05 133 at the Buckingham Gate entrance. She led the way deep into the 
N05 134 palace, at ground-floor level. They passed a billiard room - for 
N05 135 staff - with three tables; several kitchens, a show-repair shop, a 
N05 136 laundry where green velvet uniforms, with gold piping, hung in 
N05 137 rows. They walked until they were, Edward judged, right under the 
N05 138 royal apartments. He was shown up a staircase and into a room with 
N05 139 an easy chair, and offered coffee. There was one other person in 
N05 140 the room, a man a couple of years Edward's junior who, to judge 
N05 141 from his haircut, shoes and general demeanour, was a policeman in 
N05 142 plain clothes. Had Mordaunt gone back on himself and brought in 
N05 143 Scotland Yard? Now, perhaps, the mystery would be explained. The 
N05 144 man nodded at Edward but said nothing. He was reading a 
N05 145 paperback.<p/>
N05 146 <p_>Edward sat back in the easy chair and sipped his coffee. He had 
N05 147 nothing to read as they waited.<p/>
N05 148 <p_>He was getting used to waiting. There had been no word from 
N05 149 Mordaunt yesterday after lunch. He had waited until six, growing 
N05 150 steadily more tetchy. However, on his arrival at St James's Palace 
N05 151 this morning, The General told him immediately that he was summoned 
N05 152 to BP. <quote_>"You look worried, Edward,"<quote/> she added. 
N05 153 <quote_>"And you've worn the same tie two days running. Am I 
N05 154 allowed to know what's going on?"<quote/><p/>
N05 155 <p_>Edward shook his head. <quote_>"<tf|>I don't know what's going 
N05 156 on, General. I'll tell you as soon as I find out anything. <tf|>If 
N05 157 I'm allowed to."<quote/><p/>
N05 158 <p_>She sniffed. <quote_>"You're as bad as the son. He has his 
N05 159 secrets too."<quote/><p/>
N05 160 <p_>Though Wilma always succeeded in cheering Edward, his sense of 
N05 161 well-being had soon been lost as he walked from one palace to the 
N05 162 other. Edward had been slightly miffed by his treatment from the 
N05 163 equerry. He hated being kept in the dark. But at least things 
N05 164 should be cleared up now. The whole business had obviously been 
N05 165 moving behind the scenes. He looked across at the policeman. He 
N05 166 seemed a bit young to be of senior rank. At the same time, where 
N05 167 Edward now sat was obviously some sort of anteroom: perhaps 
N05 168 Mordaunt and the policeman's superior were in the next room, 
N05 169 discussing the affair.<p/>
N05 170 <p_>No sooner had he thought this than the inner door opened and 
N05 171 Mordaunt appeared. <quote_>"Come in, Andover,"<quote/> he said. 
N05 172 <quote_>"Bring your coffee with you."<quote/><p/>
N05 173 <p_>Mordaunt beckoned Edward forward. <quote_>"Do you know Mr 
N05 174 Lockwood?"<quote/><p/>
N05 175 <p_>As he stepped into the room, Edward took a large breath and 
N05 176 tried not to let his jaw hang open. As he shook hands with the 
N05 177 Prime Minister, he said, <quote_>"We met once, at the Royal Academy 
N05 178 dinner."<quote/><p/>
N05 179 <p_>The Prime Minister nodded but said nothing. In the newspapers 
N05 180 it was often said of William Lockwood that he bore a marked 
N05 181 resemblance to the late Herbert von Karajan, the German conductor. 
N05 182 He was small, with wiry, iron-coloured hair, an intense gaze and 
N05 183 deep creases in his cheeks.<p/>
N05 184 <p_>Slightly dazed by the sudden turn of events, Edward found 
N05 185 himself a seat next to a window. He could see now that they were in 
N05 186 a sort of sitting-room with french windows at the far end, opening 
N05 187 on to a balcony and, beyond that, a bed of roses. Rather late in 
N05 188 the day, he took in the fact that, this being Tuesday, the Prime 
N05 189 Minister must have just finished his weekly audience with the 
N05 190 Queen. So this was where it took place.<p/>
N05 191 <p_>Amazingly, the Prime Minister appeared to be waiting for 
N05 192 Mordaunt, who had slipped back into the anteroom and was speaking 
N05 193 in subdued tones to the policeman who, Edward now realized, was a 
N05 194 bodyguard. The equerry came back in, closing the door behind him. 
N05 195 <quote_>"I was just checking with Webber, sir,"<quote/> he said to 
N05 196 Lockwood. <quote_>"I understand you are due at the New Zealand High 
N05 197 Commission at one-fifteen. We may need all the time in between but 
N05 198 we'll try not to make you late."<quote/><p/>
N05 199 <p_>Lockwood moved his gaze from Mordaunt to Edward. He looked 
N05 200 serious. <quote_>"Now what <tf|>is all this? Her Majesty asked me 
N05 201 to stay on - and so I have. But - "<quote/><p/>
N05 202 <p_><quote_>"In fact, sir,"<quote/> interrupted Mordaunt, 
N05 203 <quote_>"it will be better if Dr Andover speaks first. It's always 
N05 204 better from the horse's mouth."<quote/> The equerry looked across 
N05 205 at Edward. <quote_>"Edward, tell the Prime Minister about the 
N05 206 paintings you have been sent."<quote/><p/>
N05 207 <p_>Edward did as requested. How many times was he going to have to 
N05 208 tell his story, he thought to himself, without finding out what the 
N05 209 damn mystery was all about? At least he had a new snippet to add to 
N05 210 what Mordaunt already knew. <quote_>"A third picture arrived this 
N05 211 morning,"<quote/> he ended. <quote_>"This one is a Poussin sepia 
N05 212 drawing. It's signed and was stolen - by the Nazis again - in 
N05 213 Piacenza.
N05 214 
N05 215 
N06   1 <#FLOB:N06\><p_><quote|>"Davis!" she called.<p/>
N06   2 <p_>Davis appeared from the mine. <quote_>"Joey's right, it's 
N06   3 hopeless trying to dig like this."<quote/><p/>
N06   4 <p_><quote_>"We're going to visit Uncle John."<quote/><p/>
N06   5 <p_><quote_>"Are you?"<quote/> He shot an angry look at Joey.<p/>
N06   6 <p_><quote_>"You don't mind, do you?"<quote/><p/>
N06   7 <p_><quote_>"What if I do? What if I say you're not to go, will it 
N06   8 make any difference?"<quote/><p/>
N06   9 <p_><quote_>"Of course,"<quote/> she said confidently. <quote_>"It 
N06  10 will make me wonder if I might not be better off staying there, if 
N06  11 I'm not free to come and go as I please here."<quote/> She had no 
N06  12 doubt that Joey would take her even if Davis forbade it. 
N06  13 <quote_>"Do you want to come with us?"<quote/> she asked. Davis 
N06  14 didn't answer and she took his silence to mean no. She could not 
N06  15 see his face, the look he gave Joey, the implied threat.<p/>
N06  16 <p_>Tanner and Bobby stood in the teeming rain, facing each other 
N06  17 across the mouth of the mine.<p/>
N06  18 <p_><quote_>"For God's sake, Bobby, use your head. It's raining, 
N06  19 the mine's half full of water and there's no gold in it 
N06  20 anyway."<quote/><p/>
N06  21 <p_><quote_>"That's what you say."<quote/><p/>
N06  22 <p_><quote_>"That's what I know."<quote/> They gazed at each other 
N06  23 for a moment, then Tanner exhaled in frustration. <quote_>"Let's 
N06  24 give it away, Bobby, let's try somewhere else."<quote/><p/>
N06  25 <p_><quote|>"No."<p/>
N06  26 <p_><quote|>"Please," he said desperately. <quote_>"I want to do 
N06  27 this with your agreement. I want to cut our losses and start 
N06  28 building a decent life, either here in a new mine, in Melbourne 
N06  29 with a new job, or with you two in boarding school and me at 
N06  30 sea."<quote/> He wiped the rain away from his face. <quote_>"Those 
N06  31 are the choices so make up your mind, because whether you want to 
N06  32 or not we're giving up this useless damn hole in the 
N06  33 ground."<quote/> Tanner finished angrily, but the boy had ceased to 
N06  34 listen long before his last words. <quote_>"Don't go back into the 
N06  35 mine, Bobby, it's too dangerous."<quote/> Tanner softened his tone. 
N06  36 <quote_>"Fossick on the surface if you must but it's Sunday, the 
N06  37 day of rest, a damn miserable one at that and my advice to you is 
N06  38 to take the rest and think hard about what I've said, for I promise 
N06  39 you I'll not stay in this place much longer."<quote/><p/>
N06  40 <p_><quote_>"What if I won't go with you?"<quote/><p/>
N06  41 <p_><quote_>"Commissioner said this claim and everything else was 
N06  42 mine to control as long as I provided for you and Jilly. What will 
N06  43 you do if I take it all and move it further up the gully or sell it 
N06  44 and go back to Melbourne?"<quote/> The boy said nothing, but walked 
N06  45 to the edge of the mine and stared at the inky waters in its 
N06  46 depths. He turned and examined the rest of the claim, reduced to a 
N06  47 sea of mud by their excavations.<p/>
N06  48 <p_><quote_>"My father saw a nugget as big as his fist."<quote/> He 
N06  49 spoke slowly, enunciating each syllable clearly the way a man might 
N06  50 if he was in pain.<p/>
N06  51 <p_><quote_>"Your father saw someone in his mine, someone who beat 
N06  52 him to death, and in his last moments of consciousness his mind 
N06  53 conjured up a vision of that which he most wanted to see."<quote/> 
N06  54 Tanner's voice held such bitterness and grief that even the boy 
N06  55 couldn't argue with him. Instead, Bobby made for the shanty, 
N06  56 leaving Tanner alone in the mud and the rain.<p/>
N06  57 <p_>He remained there even after the boy had reached the shanty, 
N06  58 and it shocked Joey to find him like that, a solitary figure 
N06  59 unmoving in the pouring rain.<p/>
N06  60 <p_><quote|>"Tanner," he called, and the figure turned slowly to 
N06  61 face him.<p/>
N06  62 <p_><quote_>"What's wrong?"<quote/> Amy had recognised the sound of 
N06  63 concern.<p/>
N06  64 <p_><quote|>"Nothing." Joey gently urged the horse forward.<p/>
N06  65 <p_><quote_>"What brings you out in all this rain?"<quote/> Tanner 
N06  66 asked, and there was no warmth in his voice. Joey helped Amy down 
N06  67 from the horse, and she extended her hands to Tanner, but he didn't 
N06  68 take them. <quote_>"Perhaps we should go inside."<quote/><p/>
N06  69 <p_><quote_>"Are the children there?"<quote/> Amy asked.<p/>
N06  70 <p_><quote|>"Yes."<p/>
N06  71 <p_><quote_>"Then I'd rather talk out there for the 
N06  72 moment."<quote/> Tanner glanced at Joey, hoping to glean some idea 
N06  73 of what was going on from his usually expressive face.<p/>
N06  74 <p_><quote_>"It's awful wet,"<quote/> Joey ventured.<p/>
N06  75 <p_><quote_>"Then you go in,"<quote/> Amy said. <quote_>"It's best 
N06  76 we talk alone."<quote/> Joey left and Amy reached again for 
N06  77 Tanner's hands, and this time he responded. <quote_>"I wish you'd 
N06  78 come and see me sometimes."<quote/> She squeezed his hand. 
N06  79 <quote_>"The track to the water holes comes quite near here, you 
N06  80 must know when Davis isn't there."<quote/><p/>
N06  81 <p_><quote_>"And if I didn't you could always get Joey to drop off 
N06  82 one of those beads Davis made you to let me know the coast is 
N06  83 clear."<quote/> She bowed her head and Tanner instantly regretted 
N06  84 his words. There was an awkward silence, then Amy felt behind her 
N06  85 neck and undid the chain from which hung the small cross and ring 
N06  86 that Tanner had given her. She took Tanner's hand and placed them 
N06  87 in it. She heard his sharp intake of breath and realised that he 
N06  88 had misinterpreted her gesture. She maintained her grip on his 
N06  89 hand.<p/>
N06  90 <p_><quote_>"These belong to Catherine, not me."<quote/> She smiled 
N06  91 at him. <quote_>"They meant so much when you gave them to me, a 
N06  92 reassurance, a promise, and I know they'll mean the same to 
N06  93 Catherine, perhaps more."<quote/> She waited for him to respond, 
N06  94 wishing that she could see his face.<p/>
N06  95 <p_><quote_>"Maybe the ring,"<quote/> he said, <quote_>"but keep 
N06  96 the cross."<quote/><p/>
N06  97 <p_><quote_>"No, it was your mother's, even Jilly has more right to 
N06  98 it than I."<quote/><p/>
N06  99 <p_><quote_>"I'd sooner you had it."<quote/><p/>
N06 100 <p_><quote_>"I can't take it."<quote/><p/>
N06 101 <p_><quote_>"Do you want no part of me?"<quote/> he asked bitterly, 
N06 102 and her brave smile crumbled.<p/>
N06 103 <p_><quote_>"I never meant to hurt you."<quote/> Her lips trembled. 
N06 104 <quote_>"I wanted, I wanted -"<quote/> She stopped, unable to 
N06 105 explain.<p/>
N06 106 <p_><quote_>"What do you want, Amy?"<quote/><p/>
N06 107 <p_><quote_>"I want you to be happy, I want us all to be happy. I 
N06 108 want you to get out of this mine and away from those awful 
N06 109 children. I want you to be with Catherine and to be happy. I want 
N06 110 you to be my Uncle John, I want to call you that and if I marry 
N06 111 Davis I want you to be the one who gives me away."<quote/> Her 
N06 112 voice faltered and ceased.<p/>
N06 113 <p_>In the silence that followed Tanner could only think of one 
N06 114 thing that she'd said, one phrase, one word - if she married Davis. 
N06 115 'If', not 'when'. He looked down at her standing before him in the 
N06 116 icy rain, her hair sodden and matted clinging to her face and neck, 
N06 117 her saturated dress hanging about her slight frame. Her face was 
N06 118 raised up to him, but the rain made it impossible for him to tell 
N06 119 if she was crying. He believed she was. She looked worse than she 
N06 120 had that first day in London, a child miserably reaching out to the 
N06 121 closest thing she had to a parent. Other things she'd said began to 
N06 122 register in his mind. <quote_>"Those awful children,"<quote/> a 
N06 123 sign of jealousy perhaps, a kind of sibling rivalry, and her 
N06 124 blessing for himself and Catherine. His grip tightened over the 
N06 125 cross and the ring, a lovely gesture and one that he'd misread. It 
N06 126 finally struck him how much the animosity between himself and Davis 
N06 127 had hurt her, for if she had objected to Catherine the way he had 
N06 128 to Davis it would have torn him apart. He put his arm around 
N06 129 her.<p/>
N06 130 <p_><quote_>"I'd be honoured to stand up with you if you ever get 
N06 131 married and I couldn't imagine you calling me anything but Uncle 
N06 132 John."<quote/> He guided her to the shanty. <quote_>"How did you 
N06 133 know about Catherine?"<quote/><p/>
N06 134 <p_><quote_>"Joey told me."<quote/><p/>
N06 135 <p_><quote|>"Joey," he said thoughtfully.<p/>
N06 136 <p_><quote_>"He said nothing would come of it because you weren't 
N06 137 the type to push and Catherine was too frightened."<quote/><p/>
N06 138 <p_><quote_>"A very perceptive man, our Joey."<quote/><p/>
N06 139 <p_><quote_>"Why should she be frightened of you?"<quote/><p/>
N06 140 <p_><quote_>"I don't think it's me in particular."<quote/> They 
N06 141 paused at the shanty door. <quote_>"I think she's been alone too 
N06 142 long, hurt too often, to let anyone close to her."<quote/> He 
N06 143 ushered her through the door.<p/>
N06 144 <p_><quote_>"Will the ring and the cross help?"<quote/><p/>
N06 145 <p_><quote_>"They might."<quote/><p/>
N06 146 <p_>On the rear wall of the shanty was a fireplace. It had not been 
N06 147 necessary to use it during the summer months, nor even desirable, 
N06 148 for it smoked constantly and, although it gave off little heat, it 
N06 149 would have made the shanty intolerably stuffy. Worst of all it was 
N06 150 totally, impractical for cooking and no one could use it without 
N06 151 getting burnt, least of all Amy. Necessity had forced Tanner to 
N06 152 light the fire and he guided Amy towards it, scolding her mildly 
N06 153 for coming out in such weather. Joey was already squatting by the 
N06 154 hearth, attempting to get a billy to boil. He smiled at them.<p/>
N06 155 <p_><quote_>"Might be an idea if Amy stays here for a few days, 
N06 156 'til we get a bit of dry weather."<quote/><p/>
N06 157 <p_><quote|>"No," Amy began apprehensively.<p/>
N06 158 <p_><quote_>"It'll be all right,"<quote/> Joey interrupted.<p/>
N06 159 <p_><quote_>"Davis won't like it."<quote/> Tanner shared Amy's 
N06 160 misgivings.<p/>
N06 161 <p_><quote_>"He'll understand,"<quote/> Joey insisted. <quote_>"Our 
N06 162 tent's running with water, the blankets are soaked, the food's 
N06 163 ruined and the fire's out. I need a few days to build some bunks 
N06 164 and a cook house where we can keep a fire going."<quote/><p/>
N06 165 <p_>Tanner looked at him sceptically. <quote_>"You think Davis will 
N06 166 agree to Amy staying up here while you do all that?"<quote/><p/>
N06 167 <p_><quote_>"It's not up to him."<quote/> Joey glanced at Amy.<p/>
N06 168 <p_><quote_>"Would you like to stay?"<quote/> Tanner asked her. 
N06 169 <quote_>"Just 'til things dry out a bit?"<quote/><p/>
N06 170 <p_><quote_>"I should go back and talk to him first,"<quote/> she 
N06 171 said.<p/>
N06 172 <p_>Tanner shook his head. <quote_>"You can't keep on traipsing 
N06 173 about in this rain."<quote/> Amy moved uneasily, she looked cold 
N06 174 and miserable, unwilling to leave but afraid to stay. 
N06 175 <quote_>"Joey, would you mind going back and getting Davis? If your 
N06 176 food's ruined and your fire's out he'll appreciate a hot meal, and 
N06 177 maybe after he's had one he'll see the logic in Amy staying here 
N06 178 for a while."<quote/> Joey nodded. <quote_>"Bring back the blankets 
N06 179 and Amy's clothes, and we'll see if we can dry them out."<quote/> 
N06 180 Joey made to rise. <quote_>"Have your tea first."<quote/><p/>
N06 181 <p_>Jilly brought the mugs, beaming at Joey as she handed them to 
N06 182 him.<p/>
N06 183 <p_><quote_>"I've missed you,"<quote/> Joey said. She turned her 
N06 184 head coyly and snuggled close to Tanner. <quote_>"Well, I'll be 
N06 185 damned."<quote/><p/>
N06 186 <p_><quote|>"What?" Amy asked.<p/>
N06 187 <p_><quote_>"He's stolen my best girl, whisked her away from under 
N06 188 me nose."<quote/> Jilly giggled and Amy guessed that she had 
N06 189 preferred Tanner to Joey. She smiled genuinely, pleased by the 
N06 190 change in Jilly and more than willing to forgive her for her past 
N06 191 transgressions. Bobby was another matter. She frowned as she 
N06 192 thought of him. They were too close in age for her to accept the 
N06 193 excuse of youth for his behaviour and too far apart in ethics, 
N06 194 intellect and maturity for her go have any understanding of it. 
N06 195 Jilly touched Amy's hand the way one might touch a deaf person to 
N06 196 get their attention.<p/>
N06 197 <p_><quote_>"Uncle John's going to take me to see Mummy and Daddy's 
N06 198 grave."<quote/><p/>
N06 199 <p_>Amy didn't know how to respond but the child sounded pleased, 
N06 200 so she said: <quote_>"That's nice."<quote/><p/>
N06 201 <p_><quote_>"We're going back to Melbourne and I'm going to have a 
N06 202 proper bed."<quote/><p/>
N06 203 <p_><quote_>"That's nice,"<quote/> Amy said again but with less 
N06 204 conviction, for Tanner's departure was the last thing she 
N06 205 wanted.<p/>
N06 206 <p_>Joey and Davis returned sooner than expected, bringing armfuls 
N06 207 of wet blankets and clothes. Davis dumped his goods down in front 
N06 208 of the fire.<p/>
N06 209 <p_><quote_>"I've brought what food I could salvage too."<quote/> 
N06 210 He smiled at everyone. <quote_>"It's nice of you to ask us back 
N06 211 here."<quote/> Tanner and Joey exchanged glances, but neither said 
N06 212 anything. <quote_>"It'll only take us a day or two to fix things 
N06 213 up."<quote/> He'd shed his wet coat and was sitting next to Amy, 
N06 214 using her hands to warm himself. <quote_>"I wish I could get hold 
N06 215 of a decent length of canvas, make a roof over the tent and extend 
N06 216 it out like a verandah so that it covered the camp fire as 
N06 217 well."<quote/> He looked round the shanty as if searching for items 
N06 218 that might be of use to him.
N06 219 
N07   1 <#FLOB:N07\><p_><quote_>"Shirley forgave him. It's an old Islamic 
N07   2 custom, the relatives can choose their own retribution. She decided 
N07   3 to go for the money. Very practical."<quote/><p/>
N07   4 <p_>They'd reached the door.<p/>
N07   5 <p_><quote_>"Is this for real, Harry?"<quote/><p/>
N07   6 <p_>He reached into his jacket pocket and took out an airline 
N07   7 ticket.<p/>
N07   8 <p_><quote_>"Would I tell a lie?"<quote/><p/>
N07   9 <p_>She kissed him gently on the cheek.<p/>
N07  10 <p_><quote|>"Probably."<p/>
N07  11 <p_>Harry switched off the lights, put his hand on the door lever 
N07  12 and pulled it open. The headlights were dazzling. Angela shielded 
N07  13 her eyes. There wasn't one set of lights: there were half a dozen. 
N07  14 Behind them, in the darkened warehouse, Paul emerged from the 
N07  15 glass-windowed foreman's office, Betacam on his shoulder, red 
N07  16 indicator light flashing on and off to show he was still turning 
N07  17 over.<p/>
N07  18 <p_>Angela looked at Harry, then at the cars. Two silhouetted 
N07  19 figures were walking towards them: Roger Carlisle on the left, 
N07  20 Chief Inspector Norman Calloway on the right.<p/>
N07  21 <p_><quote_>"You bastard!"<quote/> Angela screamed.<p/>
N07  22 <h|>27
N07  23 <p_><quote|>"MANGAN," SAID HARRY. <quote_>"Where's 
N07  24 Mangan?"<quote/><p/>
N07  25 <p_><quote_>"Across the road in hospitality,"<quote/> said Roger. 
N07  26 <quote_>"Waiting for Ben."<quote/><p/>
N07  27 <p_><quote_>"How long before he gets here?"<quote/><p/>
N07  28 <p_>Roger checked his watch.<p/>
N07  29 <p_><quote_>"Twenty-five minutes."<quote/><p/>
N07  30 <p_>The deputy Director of News and Current Affairs was sharing a 
N07  31 drink with Robert Kettle and Tim Green in room B29, a plush dungeon 
N07  32 along the corridor from the video-tape suite whose wall of heavy 
N07  33 curtains concealed not a window but a blank concrete wall. He 
N07  34 looked up and smiled as Roger and Harry came through the door.<p/>
N07  35 <p_><quote_>"You hanging around for the kill, Harry?"<quote/> he 
N07  36 asked.<p/>
N07  37 <p_><quote_>"We all are."<quote/> Harry went across to the drinks 
N07  38 trolley and poured himself a whisky. <quote_>"The thing that 
N07  39 interests me, Tony, is how much they pay you."<quote/><p/>
N07  40 <p_>Mangan smiled.<p/>
N07  41 <p_><quote_>"What, the BBC?"<quote/><p/>
N07  42 <p_><quote_>"No, the government."<quote/><p/>
N07  43 <p_>The smile was gone.<p/>
N07  44 <p_><quote_>"What are you talking about?"<quote/><p/>
N07  45 <p_><quote_>"The security services, Tony old chap. Those nice boys 
N07  46 with the OBEs who take people like you out to lunch and invite you 
N07  47 to do a little something for Queen and country. The State within 
N07  48 the State."<quote/><p/>
N07  49 <p_><quote_>"He's drunk,"<quote/> Mangan told Tim and Robert.<p/>
N07  50 <p_><quote_>"Not yet,"<quote/> said Harry.<p/>
N07  51 <p_><quote_>"Is this true, Tony?"<quote/> asked Roger.<p/>
N07  52 <p_><quote_>"Is what true?"<quote/><p/>
N07  53 <p_><quote_>"That you work for the security services."<quote/><p/>
N07  54 <p_><quote_>"Of course not."<quote/><p/>
N07  55 <p_>Harry looked at the clock. Ben was due in fifteen minutes.<p/>
N07  56 <p_><quote_>"Don't be daft, Rog - he works on the need to know 
N07  57 principal. He hasn't told his brain yet."<quote/><p/>
N07  58 <p_><quote_>"Need to know what?"<quote/> asked Mangan.<p/>
N07  59 <p_><quote_>"That Ben Webb killed Jo O'Brien,"<quote/> said Harry. 
N07  60 <quote_>"Any fool could have figured that Terry's trial was a farce 
N07  61 if they'd bothered to think about it. Only the police didn't bother 
N07  62 to think, it's not what they're good at. They had a corpse and a 
N07  63 prime suspect and pressure for a fast conviction. But your friends 
N07  64 in Whitehall aren't fools. They had their eyes on Latchkey already 
N07  65 - a left-wing charity with political connections, staffed by 
N07  66 promiscuous homosexuals - why wouldn't they? Three for the price of 
N07  67 one. Jo may even have been on their payroll all along. And they had 
N07  68 their eye on young Ben, too: bright young lad with political 
N07  69 ambitions, you never know, may get somewhere some day. They knew 
N07  70 Ben had been making noises to Willie Walpole about the state of 
N07  71 Latchkey's accounts. So when Jo's found dead after a fight, they 
N07  72 have another suspect, just as promising as Terry and twice as 
N07  73 interesting. What's more Ben didn't have an alibi: he played a game 
N07  74 of squash, had supper with friends and then went home to an empty 
N07  75 bed, because Angela was off at a concert in Croydon. Or so he 
N07  76 thought."<quote/><p/>
N07  77 <p_><quote_>"You're mad,"<quote/> said Tony. Tim and Robert were 
N07  78 watching him, gob-smacked.<p/>
N07  79 <p_><quote_>"For most of this week I've wondered if I am. I didn't 
N07  80 use to believe all this State-within-a-State stuff either. But the 
N07  81 heavy brigade convinced me."<quote/><p/>
N07  82 <p_><quote_>"Keep talking,"<quote/> said Tim.<p/>
N07  83 <p_><quote_>"There isn't a lot more to say. Except that for the 
N07  84 past eight years Tony's friends have been under the impression that 
N07  85 Ben Webb was a murderer. And rather than do the decent thing 
N07  86 they've sat on their little secret, waiting until the day when Ben 
N07  87 became a power in the land. Which he now is, I suspect with a 
N07  88 little unnoticed help along the way. He might well have made it 
N07  89 anyway, if a little less smoothly - he's a bright boy, with a sharp 
N07  90 eye for the main chance. Personally, I don't happen to think much 
N07  91 of him as a politician, I think he's a slick opportunist: optimism, 
N07  92 and honesty happen to be marketable commodities at the moment, so 
N07  93 that's what Ben sets himself up as. In a different climate he'd be 
N07  94 just as likely to sell himself as Mr Shrewd or Mr Technocrat or Mr 
N07  95 Call-A-Spade-A-Spade. But that's something the punters have to suss 
N07  96 out for themselves. Big stakes. And then poor old Pete Pattichis 
N07  97 gets it into his head to start digging around, and muggins here 
N07  98 sets all the fire alarms off ringing people up asking them about 
N07  99 the Latchkey business. That's when the Heavy Mob came on board. All 
N07 100 they wanted to know initially was what was in the bag Pete was 
N07 101 handing me, whether he had the missing diary. But when that screwed 
N07 102 up, things started to get more drastic. Up to and including driving 
N07 103 a truck at me on the M6. Failing to rub out Kapowski was a minor 
N07 104 detail. The big fuck-up was that Ben Webb didn't kill O'Brien in 
N07 105 the first place. His wife did."<quote/><p/>
N07 106 <p_>He checked his watch again. Less than ten minutes to go.<p/>
N07 107 <p_><quote_>"Did Ben know?"<quote/> asked Tim.<p/>
N07 108 <p_><quote_>"I suspect not. The first he was meant to know about it 
N07 109 was after the election, when the men in grey suits would present 
N07 110 themselves and reveal they knew his little secret. A spook's dream: 
N07 111 a senior politician with a guilty past shared only by the forces of 
N07 112 Law and Order, which is how I imagine those dinosaurs see 
N07 113 themselves."<quote/><p/>
N07 114 <p_>Mangan got up. His face had gone white, whether through fear or 
N07 115 anger Harry still had no idea.<p/>
N07 116 <p_><quote_>"Your play, Tony,"<quote/> said Roger.<p/>
N07 117 <p_>But he was already halfway to the door. The others were still 
N07 118 watching him when the phone in the corner rang. Ben Webb was in 
N07 119 reception.<p/>
N07 120 <p_><quote_>"You going to tell him?"<quote/> asked Tim.<p/>
N07 121 <p_><quote_>"Not yet,"<quote/> said Roger. <quote_>"Let him do the 
N07 122 show first."<quote/><p/>
N07 123 <p_>Harry and Miranda watched the programme upstairs in the 
N07 124 <tf_>Not Proven<tf/> office. Harry perched on the edge of the 
N07 125 conference table, Miranda slumped in the chair behind Phyllis' 
N07 126 desk. They were both too tired and tense to talk much. After the 
N07 127 opening titles, Tim Green came on the screen, and started into his 
N07 128 introduction. Harry leaned forward, waiting for the camera to cut 
N07 129 to Ben, waiting to see his expression.<p/>
N07 130 <p_><quote_>"In a moment,"<quote/> said Tim, <quote_>"I'll be 
N07 131 talking to the deputy Leader of the Labour party..."<quote/><p/>
N07 132 <p_>And there was Ben, looking authoritative but unstuffy in a grey 
N07 133 wool suit. Harry relaxed and lit a cigarette.<p/>
N07 134 <p_><quote_>"Who's going to tell him?"<quote/> asked Miranda.<p/>
N07 135 <p_><quote_>"I am,"<quote/> said Harry. <quote_>"Has to be 
N07 136 me."<quote/><p/>
N07 137 <p_>He stood up and walked across the office and pulled up a chair 
N07 138 beside her.<p/>
N07 139 <p_><quote|>"Thanks."<p/>
N07 140 <p_><quote_>"For what?"<quote/> asked Miranda.<p/>
N07 141 <p_><quote_>"For trusting me."<quote/><p/>
N07 142 <p_><quote_>"Trusting you? What on earth makes you think I trust 
N07 143 you, Harry?"<quote/><p/>
N07 144 <p_>Harry sighed.<p/>
N07 145 <p_><quote_>"OK, for staying on the story."<quote/><p/>
N07 146 <p_><quote_>"I told you, Harry, I'm doing it for the money. What do 
N07 147 you do it for?"<quote/><p/>
N07 148 <p_><quote_>"Habit, I suspect."<quote/><p/>
N07 149 <p_>She gave him a tired smile.<p/>
N07 150 <p_><quote_>"Are you going to keep doing it?"<quote/><p/>
N07 151 <p_><quote_>"I thought we weren't going to try and change each 
N07 152 other's habits."<quote/><p/>
N07 153 <p_><quote_>"I'm not, I'm just curious."<quote/><p/>
N07 154 <p_><quote_>"Then the answer is, probably. And you?"<quote/><p/>
N07 155 <p_><quote_>"I haven't decided yet."<quote/><p/>
N07 156 <p_><quote_>"About us, or about the job?"<quote/><p/>
N07 157 <p_><quote_>"You. I don't give a fig about the job."<quote/><p/>
N07 158 <p_><quote_>"I don't suppose you'd be tempted by a few days away 
N07 159 from it all?"<quote/><p/>
N07 160 <p_><quote_>"Like where?"<quote/><p/>
N07 161 <p_><quote_>"North Cyprus. I still have the tickets."<quote/><p/>
N07 162 <p_>Miranda looked up at the screen. Ben Webb was in Handsworth, 
N07 163 glad-handing Sikhs.<p/>
N07 164 <p_><quote_>"How about Birmingham?"<quote/><p/>
N07 165 <p_><quote_>"You serious?"<quote/><p/>
N07 166 <p_><quote_>"Absolutely. I've never been to Birmingham."<quote/><p/>
N07 167 <p_>Ben handled the interview with Tim Green like a pro: confident, 
N07 168 witty, unflappable. Harry and Miranda waited until it was almost 
N07 169 over, then took the lift down to reception.<p/>
N07 170 <p_><quote_>"Do you want to be in on this?"<quote/> asked Harry.<p/>
N07 171 <p_>Miranda shook her head.<p/>
N07 172 <p_><quote_>"I'm going home, Harry. I'll see you later."<quote/><p/>
N07 173 <p_>Across the foyer Ben's driver was sitting reading the evening 
N07 174 paper.<p/>
N07 175 <p_><quote_>"How you doing, Harry."<quote/><p/>
N07 176 <p_><quote_>"Not great, to be honest."<quote/><p/>
N07 177 <p_>As soon as the interview was over Roger Carlisle collected Ben 
N07 178 from the studio floor.<p/>
N07 179 <p_><quote_>"Have you time for a drink, Ben?"<quote/><p/>
N07 180 <p_>Ben looked at Sam Dickinson, who had joined them.<p/>
N07 181 <p_><quote_>"Up to you, Ben."<quote/><p/>
N07 182 <p_><quote_>"Not tonight, thanks Roger."<quote/><p/>
N07 183 <p_>Ben's detective was there now too, and Roger led the entourage 
N07 184 out into the circular corridor that rings the inside of the 
N07 185 building, through the double doors and out into reception.<p/>
N07 186 <p_><quote_>"Hallo, Ben,"<quote/> said Harry.<p/>
N07 187 <p_><quote|>"Harry!" A double-fisted handshake: looking down Harry 
N07 188 could see how raw and blistered Ben's hands were after two weeks 
N07 189 pumping flesh. <quote_>"I didn't know you were in tonight. Were you 
N07 190 happy with your film?"<quote/><p/>
N07 191 <p_><quote_>"Ben, I need to talk to you in private."<quote/><p/>
N07 192 <p_><quote_>"What, now? Just the two of us?"<quote/><p/>
N07 193 <p_>Harry looked at Roger. Roger gave him a nod.<p/>
N07 194 <p_><quote|>"Three."<p/>
N07 195 <p_><quote_>"Is this really important?"<quote/><p/>
N07 196 <p_><quote|>"Yes," said Roger.<p/>
N07 197 <p_>Ben shrugged his shoulders.<p/>
N07 198 <p_><quote_>"OK. Where?"<quote/><p/>
N07 199 <p_>Harry didn't want to go back down to the hospitality room, 
N07 200 which would by now be full of production staff finishing off the 
N07 201 left-over claret while they waited for their taxis home.<p/>
N07 202 <p_><quote_>"Do you mind fresh air?"<quote/><p/>
N07 203 <p_><quote_>"How long are we going to be?"<quote/><p/>
N07 204 <p_><quote_>"Not long,"<quote/> said Harry.<p/>
N07 205 <p_>It was a soft night, a warm damp breeze blowing from the 
N07 206 south-west. They walked out down the ramp into the car park, away 
N07 207 from the floodlights that illuminated the front of the building. 
N07 208 <quote_>"This place used to be a Chinese Garden, do you know 
N07 209 that?"<quote/> asked Ben. <quote_>"Some Victorian eccentric built 
N07 210 it for his own amusement. I've met people who grew up here in the 
N07 211 fifties, the great game for kids was to break in at night and go 
N07 212 swimming in the lake. They must have demolished it to make way for 
N07 213 the BBC."<quote/><p/>
N07 214 <p_>Half way down a line of parked cars Ben stopped and leaned back 
N07 215 against the side of a Range Rover, hands in pockets.<p/>
N07 216 <p_><quote_>"So what's the great secret, boys?"<quote/><p/>
N07 217 <p_>Harry looked around to make sure they were alone.<p/>
N07 218 <p_><quote_>"The police arrested Angela two hours ago for the 
N07 219 murder of Jo O'Brien."<quote/><p/>
N07 220 <p_>Ben looked straight at Harry.<p/>
N07 221 <p_><quote_>"For what?"<quote/><p/>
N07 222 <p_><quote_>"For Jo's murder. It also looks as though she shot 
N07 223 Willie Walpole."<quote/><p/>
N07 224 <p_>Ben was shaking his head.<p/>
N07 225 <p_><quote_>"This is a joke, isn't it?"<quote/><p/>
N07 226 <p_>A <}_><-|>hundrd<+|>hundred<}/> yards to their left the 
N07 227 audience from a game show was pouring out into the night, making 
N07 228 its way towards a line of parked coaches, ready for the long trip 
N07 229 home to Coventry or Southampton.<p/>
N07 230 <p_><quote_>"I'm afraid not,"<quote/> said Roger.<p/>
N07 231 <p_>And then Harry told Ben the whole story, as simply and directly 
N07 232 as he could. The politician stood in silence, running his fingers 
N07 233 through his hair. In the distance the detective stood at the top of 
N07 234 the ramp, watching them.<p/>
N07 235 <p_><quote_>"Where is she now?"<quote/> asked Ben when Harry had 
N07 236 finished.<p/>
N07 237 <p_><quote_>"Shepherd's Bush Police Station,"<quote/> said 
N07 238 Roger.<p/>
N07 239 <p_><quote_>"I'm sorry, Ben,"<quote/> Harry said quietly.<p/>
N07 240 <p_>Ben reached across and put his hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry 
N07 241 didn't much like the man, but he felt for him now. He also 
N07 242 suspected that Angela had been right, Ben did love her in his own 
N07 243 way.<p/>
N07 244 <p_><quote_>"I'm sorry too, Harry."<quote/><p/>
N07 245 <p_>Above and behind them a commissionarie came out through the 
N07 246 reception doors, eyes straining in the darkness.<p/>
N07 247 <p_><quote_>"Mr Carlisle or Mr Kapowski out there 
N07 248 anywhere?"<quote/><p/>
N07 249 <p_><quote_>"Over here,"<quote/> Roger shouted back.<p/>
N07 250 <p_><quote_>"Chairman's on the phone for you."<quote/><p/>
N07 251 <p_><quote_>"Tell him we're in a meeting,"<quote/> Harry joined 
N07 252 in.<p/>
N07 253 <p_><quote_>"Don't worry, I'll take it,"<quote/> said Roger, and 
N07 254 started off up the ramp towards the building.<p/>
N07 255 <p_>Ben was staring at the wall behind Harry's head.<p/>
N07 256 <p_><quote_>"What are you going to do?"<quote/> Harry asked him.<p/>
N07 257 <p_>Ben's eyes came back into focus.<p/>
N07 258 
N07 259 
N08   1 <#FLOB:N08\><p_><quote_>"Luck's on your side."<quote/><p/>
N08   2 <p_>He inched his palm along the ceiling, which was warm and 
N08   3 painfully rough, and leaned out a fraction. A scent of flowers 
N08   4 mixed with the stony smell of sunbaked dust surged into his throat. 
N08   5 The roof of the building below him shuddered up towards him as 
N08   6 though it was being inflated, and he saw what he'd missed seeing: 
N08   7 if that roof was visible to him, the blowlamp would be visible from 
N08   8 all the higher balconies. <quote|>"Clown," he said through his 
N08   9 teeth, and stepped down with his right foot onto the chair.<p/>
N08  10 <p_><quote_>"Stan Laurel,"<quote/> the Birmingham girl answered at 
N08  11 last, and Jack felt the chair slide from beneath him. He was 
N08  12 falling. He couldn't hold onto the edge of the ceiling without 
N08  13 letting go of the blowlamp. The world tilted as though some organ 
N08  14 of balance had come loose behind his eyes, and his left foot kicked 
N08  15 the briefcase off the balcony. His backward plunge lasted long 
N08  16 enough for him to think what he could do to save himself, which was 
N08  17 nothing. At least his chin was still tucked into his chest, so that 
N08  18 only his shoulders thumped the dividing wall, scraping on the rough 
N08  19 stone as he sprawled on his back. <quote_>"What was that?"<quote/> 
N08  20 said the Birmingham girl.<p/>
N08  21 <p_>Jack's skull had started to ache rhythmically, his back fell as 
N08  22 though it had been stripped like wallpaper, but he had no time to 
N08  23 recuperate. He rolled over, and the balcony rolled with him. He 
N08  24 closed his eyes and made himself lie still while he counted eleven, 
N08  25 slowing down over the last few numbers, then he swayed to his feet 
N08  26 and grasped the sliding frame of the right-hand window before 
N08  27 wobbling into the room.<p/>
N08  28 <p_>When his knees collided with the end of his bed he bowed 
N08  29 forwards almost helplessly and began to ransack the suitcase. As 
N08  30 soon as he found his swimming trunks he lowered himself onto the 
N08  31 bed, which was further beneath him than he'd thought, and found 
N08  32 himself toppling backwards. He kicked off his sandals and dragged 
N08  33 off his trousers and underpants - the easy part - then he attempted 
N08  34 to thread his legs through the trunks. At the third try he managed 
N08  35 to locate both leg<?_>-<?/>holes, but the trunks were the wrong way 
N08  36 round. He heard Julia saying <quote_>"See you in a few 
N08  37 minutes"<quote/> and tottered to his feet. He hauled the trunks up 
N08  38 and grabbing the nearest towel, wrapped the blowlamp in it just as 
N08  39 Julia came it.<p/>
N08  40 <p_>She halted as she saw him, and he willed her to be letting her 
N08  41 eyes adjust to the relative dimness of the room, but she was gazing 
N08  42 at him. <quote_>"So much for your unpacking,"<quote/> she said. 
N08  43 <quote_>"More like a dog after a bone."<quote/><p/>
N08  44 <p_><quote|>"Woof," he said, and repeated it so that it didn't 
N08  45 sound at all like 'Whoomph.'<p/>
N08  46 <p_><quote_>"You're worse than Laura ever was."<quote/><p/>
N08  47 <p_><quote_>"I must take after myself."<quote/><p/>
N08  48 <p_><quote_>"Never mind, I said I'd do it."<quote/> Then she stared 
N08  49 harder at him. <quote_>"You're back to front."<quote_><p/>
N08  50 <p_><quote_>"New fashion."<quote/><p/>
N08  51 <p_><quote_>"Don't go out like that, Jack. You'll have Laura 
N08  52 imagining everyone's looking."<quote/><p/>
N08  53 <p_><quote_>"If she even notices,"<quote/> he said, but arguing 
N08  54 would waste time. He shoved the towel and its contents more firmly 
N08  55 beneath his armpit and yanked the trunks down past his scrotum, 
N08  56 then he wriggled until they slid to his ankles. His movements were 
N08  57 rubbing his shirt over his raw shoulders, and he was afraid there 
N08  58 might be blood for Julia to notice. He turned around carefully, his 
N08  59 headache beating like a drum machine, once he was free of the 
N08  60 trunks, and sat on one of the chairs near the beds, the 
N08  61 thin-skinned upholstery pricking his buttocks. He was hooking the 
N08  62 trunks to him with one foot when someone rapped on the door. 
N08  63 <quote_>"Is that Laura?"<quote/> Julia called.<p/>
N08  64 <p_><quote|>"Yes."<p/>
N08  65 <p_><quote_>"Come in then, and stop putting on that funny 
N08  66 voice."<quote/><p/>
N08  67 <p_><quote_>"Hang on, I don't think -"<quote/> Jack said, reeling 
N08  68 to his feet and clutching at the towel with one hand while 
N08  69 attempting to drag his trunks up with the other. They had only 
N08  70 reached his knees when the Birmingham girl, who proved to be in her 
N08  71 twenties but who had sounded younger, stepped into the room. 
N08  72 <quote_>"Well, excuse <tf|>me,"<quote/> she said, backing out fast. 
N08  73 <quote_>"I was only going to ask if you'd lost this."<quote/><p/>
N08  74 <p_>Julia ran after her and did her best to appear solemn. 
N08  75 <quote_>"Sorry about the misunderstanding. Our daughter's called 
N08  76 Laura too."<quote/><p/>
N08  77 <p_><quote|>"Really," the other Laura said as if that made the 
N08  78 situation even more suspect.<p/>
N08  79 <p_><quote_>"What did you say you were wanting to ask?"<quote/><p/>
N08  80 <p_>The length of the question gave Jack time to stumble to the 
N08  81 door. <quote_>"If you'd dropped this,"<quote/> the Birmingham Laura 
N08  82 said, holding up the briefcase.<p/>
N08  83 <p_><quote_>"I don't think so,"<quote/> Julia said. <quote_>"I'm 
N08  84 sure it can't be ours. Though now you mention it, it does look a 
N08  85 bit -"<quote/><p/>
N08  86 <p_><quote_>"It looks like an old briefcase,"<quote/> Jack 
N08  87 interrupted. <quote_>"It isn't ours."<quote/><p/>
N08  88 <p_>Their neighbour kept her gaze fixed on his chest as though she 
N08  89 was determined not to look higher or lower. <quote_>"Sorry to have 
N08  90 bothered you, I'm sure,"<quote/> she said, and retreated into the 
N08  91 next apartment.<p/>
N08  92 <p_>Julia contained her giggles until Jack shut the door. 
N08  93 <quote_>"I should have let you keep your trunks on after 
N08  94 all."<quote/><p/>
N08  95 <p_>He wished he could stay and share the joke. <quote_>"I'll see 
N08  96 you both on the beach."<quote/><p/>
N08  97 <p_><quote_>"I should think our Laura's just about ready if you 
N08  98 want to wait for her. You've got her towel, by the way. Here's 
N08  99 yours."<quote/><p/>
N08 100 <p_>Jack took it from her and ventured into the sunlight, which 
N08 101 collided with his head, reviving the ache. <quote_>"Are you ready, 
N08 102 Laura Orchard?"<quote/> he called.<p/>
N08 103 <p_><quote_>"Almost. Why are you calling me that?"<quote/><p/>
N08 104 <p_><quote_>"I'll leave your towel next to mine on the 
N08 105 beach,"<quote/> he told her, and stumbled down the nearest flight 
N08 106 of steps. At the bottom he glanced both ways before shoving the 
N08 107 blowlamp down the front of his trunks. They hid it, and he felt 
N08 108 comfortable enough with it until he tried to walk; then it began to 
N08 109 nudge his penis with a gentleness which he suspected would soon 
N08 110 become unbearable. He stuck Laura's towel under his arm and reached 
N08 111 into his trunks to adjust his penis as he moved towards the lowest 
N08 112 set of steps, and glanced up in case either Julia or Laura was 
N08 113 watching him. Neither of them was, but the Birmingham couple were, 
N08 114 and looking decidedly dubious. <quote_>"Just dealing with my 
N08 115 equipment,"<quote/> he mumbled wildly, and fled down the steps.<p/>
N08 116 <p_>Below the road in front of the hotel a concrete slipway led 
N08 117 down to the narrow pebbly beach. Most of the bare-breasted young 
N08 118 women were lying face down on recliners, except for one who was 
N08 119 bouncing a baby in the waves. Several Greek children were skimming 
N08 120 stones across the water while their grandmother, a large swarthy 
N08 121 woman in a bathing suit and cap and with varicose veins so 
N08 122 pronounced they looked like rubber tubes inserted beneath the skin 
N08 123 of her legs, plodded through the shallows. Jack spread the towels 
N08 124 on the slipway and unbuttoned his shirt, wincing at the prospect of 
N08 125 peeling it off his shoulders. When he removed it, however, he found 
N08 126 there was no blood on it. He dropped it on his towel and wriggled 
N08 127 his feet out of his sandals - the blowlamp wouldn't let him stoop - 
N08 128 then, hoping that the bare young women wouldn't take his posture as 
N08 129 a response, he waddled down to the sea.<p/>
N08 130 <p_>He expected it to be warmer than it proved to be. When he trod 
N08 131 in it he had to restrain himself from jumping back. In a couple of 
N08 132 seconds it felt more welcoming, and he waded forwards until he was 
N08 133 knee-deep. Waves tugged gently at his legs, pebbles appeared to 
N08 134 sway back and forth underwater, and he felt in danger of losing his 
N08 135 balance. He couldn't loiter in case Julia or Laura saw him. He 
N08 136 floundered into the leisurely waves, and the water closed around 
N08 137 his trunks.<p/>
N08 138 <p_>It felt as though the blowlamp at his groin had extended a cold 
N08 139 grasp around his hips. The largest wave he'd met so far broke at 
N08 140 his waist, splashing his chest, and he thought the impact had 
N08 141 knocked him over. He pulled the blowlamp out of his trunks and held 
N08 142 it underwater. Now he could stoop, but there was no hiding-place in 
N08 143 sight. Pebbles dug into the soles of his feet, a swarm of tiny fish 
N08 144 nipped at his ankles. Though the water seemed capable of floating 
N08 145 his legs from under him and carrying him helplessly away, he would 
N08 146 have to go deeper if he wanted to be certain that the waves 
N08 147 wouldn't return the blowlamp to him.<p/>
N08 148 <p_>He shouldn't have come into the sea, he thought; he should have 
N08 149 gone up the hill. Perhaps he still could. Then he heard Laura 
N08 150 calling <quote_>"Look at Dad,"<quote/> and he wallowed forwards, 
N08 151 having glimpsed a large underwater rock that appeared to be almost 
N08 152 within his reach. It seemed to raise itself and inch towards him, 
N08 153 but that was an illusion produced by the water, as was its 
N08 154 closeness to him. The sea was halfway up his chest when he gained 
N08 155 the rock and fell to his knees on top of it, water filling his 
N08 156 nostrils and stinging his shoulders. He snorted his nostrils clear 
N08 157 and shook his throbbing dizzy head and sucked in a lungful of air, 
N08 158 then he plunged his face into the sea and reached beneath the 
N08 159 rock.<p/>
N08 160 <p_>It was lying on sand. Something squirmed away from his fingers 
N08 161 and burrowed deeper. He dug as deep a trench in the heavy sodden 
N08 162 sand as he could without raising his head out of the water. His 
N08 163 vision was blurring, his lungs were beginning to struggle to keep 
N08 164 the air down; he felt as though the sea which was thundering dully 
N08 165 in his ears was penetrating his skull. When it seemed that all the 
N08 166 air in his lungs was about to burst out of him through whatever 
N08 167 exit it could make he thrust the blowlamp into the trench, nozzle 
N08 168 fist. The nozzle dug its own hole, and the body was well under the 
N08 169 rock. He shoved himself away from it and reared up out of the 
N08 170 water, spitting and blinking and gasping, so desperate for air that 
N08 171 his impetus threw him backwards. The sea replaced the sky, and a 
N08 172 wave held him under.<p/>
N08 173 <p_>It could only happen to Jack Awkward. He'd come all this way 
N08 174 solely in order to drown himself. He flailed at the water with his 
N08 175 arms and legs, but he could neither regain his footing nor find the 
N08 176 surface with his face. Everything around him seemed to be infected 
N08 177 by his dizziness. Another wave carried him for some distance, and 
N08 178 he realised he was floating, out of control. Then pebbles scraped 
N08 179 the knuckles of his right hand and he bruised his toes on a stone, 
N08 180 and managed to crouch on all fours and shove his face above the 
N08 181 water. For a few seconds he could only splutter and try to blink 
N08 182 his salty eyes into focus, then he saw that the wave had carried 
N08 183 him in the direction of the beach. Laura was swimming towards him. 
N08 184 <quote|>"Dad," she called without breaking her stroke, <quote_>"you 
N08 185 nearly swam."<quote/><p/>
N08 186 <p_><quote_>"If that's what it's like I'm glad it was only 
N08 187 nearly."<quote/><p/>
N08 188 <p_>When he'd recovered, however, he turned on his back and let the 
N08 189 water buoy him up. All he needed to do in order to float was relax, 
N08 190 and he thought he was entitled to relax at last. He counted the 
N08 191 seconds as another wave returned him to the beach: eleven, twelve, 
N08 192 thirteen, and pebbles grazed his shoulders. It was lucky that he 
N08 193 didn't need to swim, he thought, struggling to his feet and 
N08 194 trudging through the waves.<p/>
N08 195 <p_><quote/>"That was impressive,"<quote/> Julia said, paddling to 
N08 196 meet him; then her smile faltered. <quote_>"What have you done to 
N08 197 yourself?"<quote/><p/>
N08 198 <p_><quote_>"Didn't you see me fall on the rock?"<quote/><p/>
N08 199 <p_><quote_>"Oh, Jack."<quote/> She made to touch his shoulders and 
N08 200 grimaced sympathetically instead. <quote_>"'Have a shower before 
N08 201 the salt gets in."<quote/><p/>
N08 202 
N08 203 
N09   1 <#FLOB:N09\><h|>2
N09   2 <p_>That night, on the last train back to Berlin from Potsdam, I 
N09   3 sat in a carriage by myself. I ought to have been more careful, 
N09   4 only I was feeling pleased with myself for having successfully 
N09   5 concluded the doctor's case: but I was also tired, since this 
N09   6 business had taken almost the whole day and a substantial part of 
N09   7 the evening.<p/>
N09   8 <p_>Not the least part of my time had been taken up in travel. 
N09   9 Generally this took two or three times as long as it had done 
N09  10 before the war; and what had once been a half-hour's journey to 
N09  11 Potsdam now took nearer two. I was closing my eyes for a nap when 
N09  12 the train started to slow, and then juddered to a halt.<p/>
N09  13 <p_>Several minutes passed before the carriage-door opened and a 
N09  14 large and extremely smelly Russian soldier climbed aboard. He 
N09  15 mumbled a greeting at me, to which I nodded politely. But almost 
N09  16 immediately I braced myself as, swaying gently on his huge feet, he 
N09  17 unslung his Mosin Nagant carbine and operated the bolt action. 
N09  18 Instead of pointing it at me, he turned and fired his weapon out of 
N09  19 the carriage window, and after a brief pause my lungs started to 
N09  20 move again as I realized that he had been signalling to the 
N09  21 driver.<p/>
N09  22 <p_>The Russian burped, sat down heavily as the train started to 
N09  23 move again, swept off his lambskin cap with the back of his filthy 
N09  24 hand and, leaning back, closed his eyes.<p/>
N09  25 <p_>I pulled a copy of the British-run <tf|>Telegraf out of my 
N09  26 coat<?_>-<?/>pocket. Keeping one eye on the Ivan, I pretended to 
N09  27 read. Most of the news was about crime: rape and robbery in the 
N09  28 Eastern Zone were as common as cheap vodka which, as often as not, 
N09  29 occasioned their commission. Sometimes it seemed as if Germany was 
N09  30 still in the bloody grip of the Thirty Years' War.<p/>
N09  31 <p_>I knew just a handful of women who could not describe an 
N09  32 incident in which they had been raped or molested by a Russian. And 
N09  33 even if one makes an allowance for the fantasies of a few 
N09  34 neurotics, there was still a staggering number of sex-related 
N09  35 crimes. My wife knew several girls who had been attacked only quite 
N09  36 recently, on the eve of the thirtieth anniversary of the Russian 
N09  37 Revolution. One of these girls, raped by no less than five Red Army 
N09  38 soldiers at a police station in Rangsdorff, and infected with 
N09  39 syphilis as a result, tried to bring criminal charges, but found 
N09  40 herself subjected to a forcible medical examination and charged 
N09  41 with prostitution. But there were also some who said that the Ivans 
N09  42 merely took by force that which German women were only too willing 
N09  43 to sell to the British and the Americans.<p/>
N09  44 <p_>Complaints to the Soviet Kommendatura that you had been robbed 
N09  45 by Red Army soldiers were equally in vain. You were likely to be 
N09  46 informed that <quote/>"all the German people have is a gift from 
N09  47 the people of the Soviet Union."<quote/> This was sufficient 
N09  48 sanction for indiscriminate robbery throughout the Zone, and you 
N09  49 were sometimes lucky if you survived to report the matter. The 
N09  50 depredations of the Red Army and its many deserters made travel in 
N09  51 the Zone only slightly less dangerous than a flight on the 
N09  52 <tf|>Hindenburg. Travellers on the Berlin-Magdeburg railway had 
N09  53 been stripped naked and thrown off the train; and the road from 
N09  54 Berlin to Leipzig was so dangerous that vehicles often drove in 
N09  55 convoy: the <tf|>Telegraf had reported a robbery in which four 
N09  56 boxers, on their way to a fight in Leipzig, had been held up and 
N09  57 robbed of everything except their lives. Most notorious of all were 
N09  58 the seventy-five robberies committed by the Blue Limousine Gang, 
N09  59 which had operated on the Berlin-Michendorf road, and which had 
N09  60 included among its leaders the vice-president of the 
N09  61 Soviet-controlled Potsdam police.<p/>
N09  62 <p_>To people who were thinking of visiting the Eastern Zone, I 
N09  63 said <quote|>"don't", and then if they still wanted to go, I said, 
N09  64 <quote_>"Don't wear a wristwatch - the Ivans like to steal them; 
N09  65 don't wear anything but your oldest coat and shoes - the Ivans like 
N09  66 quality; don't argue or answer back - the Ivans don't mind shooting 
N09  67 you: if you must talk to them speak loudly of American fascists; 
N09  68 and don't read any newspaper except their own <tf_>Taegliche 
N09  69 Rundschau<tf/>."<quote/><p/>
N09  70 <p_>This was all good advice and I would have done well to have 
N09  71 taken it myself, for suddenly the Ivan in my carriage was on his 
N09  72 feet and standing unsteadily over me.<p/>
N09  73 <p_><quote_>"<foreign_>Vi vihodeetye<foreign/> (are you getting 
N09  74 off)?"<quote/> I asked him.<p/>
N09  75 <p_>He blinked crapulously and then stared malevolently at me and 
N09  76 my newspaper before snatching it from my hands.<p/>
N09  77 <p_>He was a hill-tribesman type, a big stupid Chechen with 
N09  78 almond-shaped black eyes, a gnarled jaw as broad as the steppes and 
N09  79 a chest like an upturned church-bell: the kind of Ivan we made 
N09  80 jokes about - how they didn't know what lavatories were and how 
N09  81 they put their food in the toilet bowls thinking that they were 
N09  82 refrigerators (some of these stories were even true).<p/>
N09  83 <p_><quote_>"<foreign|>Lzhy (lies),"<quote/> he snarled, 
N09  84 brandishing the paper in front of him, his open, drooling mouth 
N09  85 showing great yellow kerbstones of teeth. Putting his boot on the 
N09  86 seat beside me, he leaned closer. <quote|>"<foreign|>Lganyo," he 
N09  87 repeated in tones lower than the smell of sausage and beer which 
N09  88 his breath carried to my helplessly flaring nostrils. He seemed to 
N09  89 sense my disgust and rolled the idea of it around in his grizzled 
N09  90 head like a boiled sweet. Dropping the <tf|>Telegraf to the floor 
N09  91 he held out his horny hand.<p/>
N09  92 <p_><quote_>"<foreign_>Ya hachoo padarok<foreign/>,"<quote/> he 
N09  93 said, and then slowly in German, <quote_>"... I want 
N09  94 present."<quote/><p/>
N09  95 <p_>I grinned at him, nodding like an idiot, and realized that I 
N09  96 was going to have to kill him or be killed myself. 
N09  97 <quote|>"<foreign|>Padarok," I repeated. 
N09  98 <quote|>"<foreign|>Padarok."<p/>
N09  99 <p_>I stood up slowly and, still grinning and nodding, gently 
N09 100 pulled back the sleeve of my left arm to reveal my bare wrist. The 
N09 101 Ivan was grinning too by now, thinking he was on to a good thing. I 
N09 102 shrugged.<p/>
N09 103 <p_><quote_>"<foreign_>Oo menya nyet chasov<foreign/>,"<quote/> I 
N09 104 said, explaining that I didn't have a watch to give him.<p/>
N09 105 <p_><quote_>"<foreign_>Shto oo vas yest<foreign/> (what have you 
N09 106 got)?"<quote/><p/>
N09 107 <p_><quote|>"<foreign|>Nichto," I said, shaking my head and 
N09 108 inviting him to search my coat pockets. <quote|>"Nothing."<p/>
N09 109 <p_><quote_>"<foreign_>Shto oo vas yest?"<quote/> he said again, 
N09 110 more loudly this time.<p/>
N09 111 <p_>It was, I reflected, like me talking to poor Dr Novak, whose 
N09 112 wife I had been able to confirm was indeed being held by the MVD. 
N09 113 Trying to discover what he could trade.<p/>
N09 114 <p_><quote|>"<foreign|>Nichto," I repeated.<p/>
N09 115 <p_>The grin disappeared from the Ivan's face. He spat on the 
N09 116 carriage floor.<p/>
N09 117 <p_><quote_>"<foreign|>Vroon (liar),"<quote/> he growled, and 
N09 118 pushed me on the arm.<p/>
N09 119 <p_>I shook my head and told him that I wasn't lying.<p/>
N09 120 <p_>He reached to push me again, only this time he checked his hand 
N09 121 and took hold of the sleeve with his dirty finger and thumb. 
N09 122 <quote_>"<foreign|>Doraga (expensive),"<quote/> he said, 
N09 123 appreciatively, feeling the material.<p/>
N09 124 <p_>I shook my head, but the coat was black cashmere - the sort of 
N09 125 coat I had no business wearing in the Zone - and it was no use 
N09 126 arguing: the Ivan was already unbuckling his belt.<p/>
N09 127 <p_><quote_>"<foreign_>Ya hachoo vashi koyt<foreign/>,"<quote/> he 
N09 128 said, removing his own well-patched greatcoat. Then, stepping to 
N09 129 the other side of the carriage, he flung open the door and informed 
N09 130 me that either I could hand over the coat or he would throw me off 
N09 131 the train.<p/>
N09 132 <p_>I had no doubt that he would throw me out whether I gave him my 
N09 133 coat or not. It was my turn to spit.<p/>
N09 134 <p_><quote_>"<foreign_>Nu, nyelzya<foreign/> (nothing 
N09 135 doing),"<quote/> I said. <quote_>"You want this coat? You come and 
N09 136 get it, you stupid fucking <foreign|>svinya, you ugly, dumb 
N09 137 <foreign|>kryestyan'in. Come on, take it from me, you drunken 
N09 138 bastard."<quote/><p/>
N09 139 <p_>The Ivan snarled angrily and picked up his carbine from the 
N09 140 seat where he had left it. That was his first mistake. Having seen 
N09 141 him signal to the engine-driver by firing his weapon out of the 
N09 142 window, I knew that there could not be a live cartridge in the 
N09 143 breech. It was a deductive process he made only a moment behind me, 
N09 144 but by the time he was working the bolt action a second time I had 
N09 145 buried the toe of my boot in his groin.<p/>
N09 146 <p_>The carbine clattered to the floor as the Ivan doubled over 
N09 147 painfully, and with one hand reached between his legs: with the 
N09 148 other he lashed out hard, catching me an agonizing blow on the 
N09 149 thigh that left my leg feeling as dead as mutton.<p/>
N09 150 <p_>As he straightened up again I swung with my right, and found my 
N09 151 fist caught firmly in his big paw. He snatched at my throat and I 
N09 152 headbutted him full in the face, which made him release my fist as 
N09 153 he instinctively cupped his turnip-sized nose. I swung again and 
N09 154 this time he ducked and seized me by the coat lapels. That was his 
N09 155 second mistake, but for a brief, puzzled half-second I did not 
N09 156 realize it. Unaccountably he cried out and staggered back from me, 
N09 157 his hands raised in the air in front of him like a scrubbed-up 
N09 158 surgeon, his lacerated fingertips pouring with blood. It was only 
N09 159 then that I remembered the razor-blades I had sewn under my lapels 
N09 160 many months before, for just this eventuality.<p/>
N09 161 <p_>My flying tackle carried him crashing to the floor and half a 
N09 162 torso's length beyond the open door of the fast-moving train. Lying 
N09 163 on his bucking legs I struggled to prevent the Ivan pulling himself 
N09 164 back into the carriage. Hands that were sticky with blood clawed at 
N09 165 my face and then fastened desperately round my neck. His grip 
N09 166 tightened and I heard the air gurgle from my own throat like the 
N09 167 sound of an espresso-machine.<p/>
N09 168 <p_>I punched him hard under the chin, not once but several times, 
N09 169 and then pressed the heel of my hand against it as I sought to push 
N09 170 him back into the racing night air. The skin on my forehead 
N09 171 tightened as I gasped for breath.<p/>
N09 172 <p_>A terrible roaring filled my ears, as if a grenade had burst 
N09 173 directly in front of my face, and, for a second his fingers seemed 
N09 174 to loosen. I lunged at his head and connected with the empty space 
N09 175 that was now mercifully signalled by an abruptly terminated stump 
N09 176 of bloody human vertebra. A tree, or perhaps a telegraph pole, had 
N09 177 neatly decapitated him.<p/>
N09 178 <p_>My chest a heaving sack of rabbits, I collapsed back into the 
N09 179 carriage, too exhausted to yield to the wave of nausea that was 
N09 180 beginning to overtake me. But after only a few seconds more I could 
N09 181 no longer resist it and summoned forward by the sudden contraction 
N09 182 of my stomach, I vomited copiously over the dead soldier's body.<p/>
N09 183 <p_>It was several minutes before I felt strong enough to tip the 
N09 184 corpse out of the door, with the carbine quickly following. I 
N09 185 picked the Ivan's malodorous greatcoat off the seat to throw it out 
N09 186 as well, but the weight of if made me hesitate. Searching the 
N09 187 pockets I found a Czechoslovakian-made .38 automatic, a handful of 
N09 188 wristwatches - probably all stolen - and a half-empty bottle of 
N09 189 Moscowskaya. After deciding to keep the gun and the watches, I 
N09 190 uncorked the vodka, wiped the neck, and raised the bottle to the 
N09 191 freezing night-sky.<p/>
N09 192 <p_><quote_>"<foreign_>Alla rasi bo sun<foreign/> (God save 
N09 193 you),"<quote/> I said, and swallowed a generous mouthful. Then I 
N09 194 flung the bottle and the greatcoat off the train and closed the 
N09 195 door.<p/>
N09 196 <p_>Back at the railway station snow floated in the air like 
N09 197 fragments of lint and collected in small ski-slopes in the angle 
N09 198 between the station wall and the road. It was colder than it had 
N09 199 been all week and the sky was heavy with the threat of something 
N09 200 worse. A fog lay on the white streets like cigar smoke drifting 
N09 201 across a well starched tablecloth. Close by, a streetlight burned 
N09 202 with no great intensity, but it was still bright enough to light up 
N09 203 my face for the scrutiny of a British soldier staggering home with 
N09 204 several bottles of beer in each hand.
N09 205 
N10   1 <#FLOB:N10\><quote_>"Her sister's with the Iroquois. Here would be 
N10   2 as good as anywhere else."<quote/><p/>
N10   3 <p_><quote_>"But ... Henry Murray said the furs are on an island. 
N10   4 How will she make her way to the mainland? And the Iroquois are 
N10   5 fighting us. What will they do to her if they learn she's been 
N10   6 travelling with us? With you?"<p/>
N10   7 <p_><quote_>"Tissee's a resourceful girl. She'll think of some way 
N10   8 to reach the mainland. Anyway, the longer she takes, the less 
N10   9 likelihood there'll be of the Iroquois coming after us. That's if 
N10  10 she decides to tell them she's been travelling with men of the 
N10  11 Upper Canada Trading Company."<quote/><p/>
N10  12 <p_><quote_>"Don't you care what happens to her?"<quote/> James 
N10  13 Cameron's impassioned question surprised him as much as it did 
N10  14 anyone else. <quote_>"I know I've only been here a short while, but 
N10  15 from what I've seen Tissee is both loyal and hardworking. Doesn't 
N10  16 that count for anything?"<quote/><p/>
N10  17 <p_><quote_>"Any suggestion that loyalty and service deserves 
N10  18 reward is a mockery coming from the tongue of a Cameron of Glenelg. 
N10  19 <tf|>I'm a Highlander too, Sir James Cameron. There are many of us 
N10  20 in Canada. When we get together we exchange news of what's 
N10  21 happening back home. The last I heard of Glenelg, loyalty and 
N10  22 service were being trampled underfoot by Lowland sheep. Are you 
N10  23 trying to tell me that 'loyalty' means something when dealing with 
N10  24 Indians, but can be disregarded when Highlanders are involved? Is 
N10  25 that what you think? Not that it matters, I don't give a damn 
N10  26 either way. When we leave the island bound for Detroit, Tissee 
N10  27 stays behind. Now, let's head for the shore and find these 
N10  28 furs."<quote/><p/>
N10  29 <p_>The exchange between the two men had been carried on in low 
N10  30 voices, but it had been heard by most of the men in the two boats 
N10  31 and Cameron seethed with anger. When they returned to Murrayton he 
N10  32 intended making Urquhart pay dearly for speaking to him this way in 
N10  33 front of the other trappers. Scotsman and fine trapper he might be, 
N10  34 but <tf_>no one<tf/> spoke to James Cameron in such a manner.<p/>
N10  35 <p_>As the large canoes nosed through reeds to run aground on the 
N10  36 soft mud of the island's shore, the leading men in each canoe 
N10  37 leaped over the side and hauled the two craft farther on land. As 
N10  38 other men jumped ashore the craft were pulled well clear of the 
N10  39 water and hidden amongst the trees at the water's edge.<p/>
N10  40 <p_><quote_>"Where are the pelts?"<quote/><p/>
N10  41 <p_>One of the trappers from Cameron's canoe put the question to 
N10  42 Dan Urquhart.<p/>
N10  43 <p_><quote_>"They should be about twenty paces in from that 
N10  44 rock."<quote/> Urquhart pointed to a long, rounded rock jutting out 
N10  45 from the island, at right angles from the shoreline. <quote_>"We'll 
N10  46 load the canoes then make camp."<quote/><p/>
N10  47 <p_>By now the sun had dragged itself clear of the waters of the 
N10  48 eastern end of the lake and was beginning its ascent into an almost 
N10  49 cloudless sky.<p/>
N10  50 <p_><quote_>"Tissee, get a fire going. We'll have something to eat 
N10  51 ... do you fish?"<quote/> The question was put to James Cameron.<p/>
N10  52 <p_><quote_>"Of course."<quote/><p/>
N10  53 <p_><quote_>"You'll find a couple of lines in my canoe. Take some 
N10  54 corn for bait and try your luck."<quote/><p/>
N10  55 <p_>James found the lines, each fitted with a number of hooks, and 
N10  56 he made his way along the wooded shoreline, seeking a spot clear of 
N10  57 reeds.<p/>
N10  58 <p_>It was a very large island, probably about seven miles long and 
N10  59 equally as wide and James had no difficulty finding a suitable 
N10  60 place from which to fish. He chose a spot about a half-mile from 
N10  61 the camp. Here there was a large, flat rock which extended out 
N10  62 beyond the reeds into clearer water.<p/>
N10  63 <p_>James had been fishing without success for some minutes when 
N10  64 Tissee came along the edge of the tree-line, gathering dead wood. 
N10  65 Seeing Cameron, she stopped.<p/>
N10  66 <p_><quote_>"You catch many fish?"<quote/><p/>
N10  67 <p_><quote_>"Not one."<quote/><p/>
N10  68 <p_>Tissee laughed. It was a pleasant sound and it effectively 
N10  69 dulled the edge of her next words.<p/>
N10  70 <p_><quote_>"You do not belong here. You should be with your own 
N10  71 people, in a place where others do things for you. But I teach you 
N10  72 catch fish."<quote/><p/>
N10  73 <p_>Dropping the armful of wood to the ground. Tissee scrambled out 
N10  74 on the rock to join James. It was narrow at the end where he was 
N10  75 standing, and she had to clasp him about the waist in order to pass 
N10  76 by.<p/>
N10  77 <p_>Pulling in the line, she inspected the hooks. Making soft 
N10  78 sounds of disapproval, Tissee stripped the bait from each hook, 
N10  79 discarding the large, yellow grains of corn into the water. 
N10  80 Speedily and efficiently re-baiting the hooks she swung the line, 
N10  81 pendulum-style back and forth a couple of times, before lobbing it 
N10  82 with impressive accuracy to land within inches of the rushes. She 
N10  83 jerked on the line almost immediately and hauled it in. James was 
N10  84 mortified to see that Tissee had hooked not one, but two 
N10  85 wildly-flapping, silver-scaled fish.<p/>
N10  86 <p_>The smile Tissee directed at him contained more delight than 
N10  87 triumph, and James shook his head in rueful acceptance of her 
N10  88 superior fishing skill. Tissee dropped the fish to the rock at her 
N10  89 feet and was unhooking them when she and James heard the sound of 
N10  90 two shots - they came from the direction of the camp. As Tissee 
N10  91 straightened up they heard more shots. Sliding past him, Tissee 
N10  92 jumped from the rock and began running in the direction of the 
N10  93 camp. James followed.<p/>
N10  94 <p_>Fortunately for the Scots baronet and the Indian girl, they 
N10  95 were still in the shadow of the trees when they came within view of 
N10  96 the lakeside camp. A whole host of Indians were swarming around the 
N10  97 trappers, wielding axes and knives and discharging guns at 
N10  98 point-blank range.<p/>
N10  99 <p_>Cameron identified Urquhart immediately, his red hair and large 
N10 100 build unmistakable among the trappers who still remained on their 
N10 101 feet. He stood as solid as a great bear, wielding an empty rifle 
N10 102 and surrounded by yelping, aggressive Indians. As James watched, 
N10 103 the big Scotsman beat off three attackers in quick succession, but 
N10 104 the odds against him were too great.<p/>
N10 105 <p_>Watching in helpless horror, James saw a bloody axe raised in 
N10 106 the air and brought crashing down upon the head of Dan Urquhart. 
N10 107 The giant trapper sank to the ground and as he disappeared in the 
N10 108 midst of a stabbing and hacking crowd the hullaballoo reached a new 
N10 109 crescendo.<p/>
N10 110 <p_>Tissee's hand gripped Cameron's arm. Exhibiting no visible 
N10 111 signs of emotions at what she too had just witnessed, she said 
N10 112 simply, <quote|>"Come."<p/>
N10 113 <p_>Pulling him after her, Tissee fled back the way they had come, 
N10 114 keeping to the shadow of the trees. At the rock they had so 
N10 115 recently deserted, she paused to retrieve the fish she had caught 
N10 116 before resuming their flight.<p/>
N10 117 <p_><quote_>"Where are we going?"<quote/> James asked the question 
N10 118 breathlessly, unused to such strenuous activity.<p/>
N10 119 <p_><quote_>"We hide."<quote/><p/>
N10 120 <p_><quote_>"Why have your people attacked us?"<quote/><p/>
N10 121 <p_><quote_>"They are not <tf|>my people. They are Crees. Bad for 
N10 122 you, bad for me."<quote/><p/>
N10 123 <p_>James thought of the savage scene he had just witnessed and he 
N10 124 shuddered. <quote_>"What of the others? Some may still be 
N10 125 alive."<quote/><p/>
N10 126 <p_><quote_>"None of the trappers still alive. My man, the others 
N10 127 ... all dead."<quote/><p/>
N10 128 <p_>James looked quickly for some sign of anguish on Tissee's face; 
N10 129 he saw none.<p/>
N10 130 <p_><quote_>"Don't you care about what's just happened to them, 
N10 131 Tissee? To Urquhart ... your man?<p/>
N10 132 <p_>Coming to an abrupt halt, Tissee looked up at him defiantly. 
N10 133 <quote_>"You think I should tear my hair because my man is dead? 
N10 134 You want me to make plenty noise and bring Crees to us? Maybe you 
N10 135 think they say, 'Sorry, Tissee. We not know one trapper your man?' 
N10 136 No. If I stop to be sad they kill me. Then kill you. We hide, long 
N10 137 way from here. Then I have time feel sad in here."<quote/><p/>
N10 138 <p_>As Tissee put a hand to her heart, James knew that she had put 
N10 139 him firmly in his place for asking such a stupid question. He told 
N10 140 himself that the slaughter he had just witnessed must have induced 
N10 141 a state of shock in him.<p/>
N10 142 <p_>Tissee led the way along the shore for about a mile, wading 
N10 143 knee deep in the water of the lake in order to leave no footprints 
N10 144 when they reached a stretch of smooth, unmarked sand. Soon after 
N10 145 this they came to a swift-running stream that emptied itself into 
N10 146 the lake.<p/>
N10 147 <p_>Keeping to the centre of the stream, Tissee led the way inland, 
N10 148 sometimes pushing her way through undergrowth so dense they would 
N10 149 have made no progress had they left the water. They followed the 
N10 150 narrowing stream for about a mile before Tissee stooped beneath the 
N10 151 low-hanging branches of a tree and dropped to her hands and knees. 
N10 152 Crawling ashore, she led Cameron through the undergrowth until they 
N10 153 reached a small gap between two bushes.<p/>
N10 154 <p_><quote_>"We stay here."<quote/><p/>
N10 155 <p_><quote_>"For how long?"<quote/><p/>
N10 156 <p_>Tissee shrugged. <quote_>"We sleep now. When we wake, we talk 
N10 157 about it."<quote/><p/>
N10 158 <p_><quote_>"What if the Crees come looking for us? We have no 
N10 159 guns."<quote/><p/>
N10 160 <p_><quote_>"Too much whisky in camp for them to look for us. They 
N10 161 drink, sleep, maybe look around for while. Then they go. Take furs 
N10 162 to Nor' West company store."<quote/><p/>
N10 163 <p_><quote_>"How do you think they knew where to find the 
N10 164 furs?"<quote/><p/>
N10 165 <p_>Tissee shook her head. <quote_>"If they see Murray hide furs 
N10 166 they would steal and sell. I think maybe Nor' West company man see 
N10 167 and pay them to wait for us to come for them."<quote/><p/>
N10 168 <p_>James found it difficult to accept her explanation. 
N10 169 <quote_>"You mean someone - a <tf|>white man paid the Crees to wait 
N10 170 for us to arrive ... and to <tf|>kill us?"<quote/><p/>
N10 171 <p_><quote_>"You think such things not done by white men? That only 
N10 172 <tf|>Indians kill people?"<quote/> Tissee looked at Cameron 
N10 173 scornfully. <quote_>"Dan said you know nothing of this land ... 
N10 174 ."<quote/><p/>
N10 175 <p_>Suddenly Tissee stopped talking and an expression of anguish 
N10 176 contorted her face. James realised that the memory of Dan 
N10 177 Urquhart's death had come flooding back to her.<p/>
N10 178 <p_><quote_>"I'm sorry, Tissee ... ."<quote/><p/>
N10 179 <p_><quote_>"Sleep. Maybe tonight we go back see what Crees are 
N10 180 doing."<quote/><p/>
N10 181 <p_>James Cameron was convinced that he would not be able to sleep, 
N10 182 and the prospect of going back to check on the Crees alarmed him. 
N10 183 Yet it was with a sense of guilt that he realised that the sight of 
N10 184 his companions being hacked and clubbed to death had neither 
N10 185 frightened nor horrified him. There had been almost a <tf|>thrill 
N10 186 to it, a sense of great excitement. He was still re-living the 
N10 187 details of the massacre when he fell asleep.<p/>
N10 188 <p_>James Cameron awoke with a start, convinced he had heard 
N10 189 voices. Then he realised that he was listening to the chatter of a 
N10 190 bird somewhere nearby in the forest. Sitting up, he looked about 
N10 191 him for Tissee but she was nowhere to be seen.<p/>
N10 192 <p_>He experienced a moment of panic. What if she had deserted him? 
N10 193 Worse, what if Tissee had decided to betray him to the Crees, in 
N10 194 exchange for her own safety? Gradually, common-sense overrode the 
N10 195 confusion of his sleep-befuddled mind. Tissee could have deserted 
N10 196 him when they heard the first shots at the edge of the lake, or 
N10 197 later in the forest. She would hardly have gone to such lengths to 
N10 198 find a secure hiding-place had she intended handing him over to the 
N10 199 Crees, and turning him over to them would be no guarantee of her 
N10 200 own safety.<p/>
N10 201 <p_>He relaxed. Tissee would not be far away. She had probably gone 
N10 202 off to find food - berries or something similar. He hoped so. He 
N10 203 was ravenously hungry.<p/>
N10 204 <p_>Hunger might be the immediate problem, but James knew that 
N10 205 finding a way off the island and making his way back to Murrayton 
N10 206 was the most important issue. He had no experience of surviving in 
N10 207 such a hostile environment and would need to rely entirely upon 
N10 208 Tissee's skill and knowledge.<p/>
N10 209 <p_>Tissee did not return to the hiding-place until another hour 
N10 210 had elapsed. Her arrival was so silent that she startled him. One 
N10 211 moment he was alone, the next he looked up to see Tissee standing 
N10 212 before him. In her hands she carried a rifle, a powder-horn and a 
N10 213 large leather pouch, attached to which was a rolled blanket.<p/>
N10 214 <p_><quote_>"You've been back to the camp!
N10 215 
N10 216 
N11   1 <#FLOB:N11\>Nothing left. Not a trace. Like poor Tommy."<quote/><p/>
N11   2 <p_><quote_>"Tommy was overweight, hot-tempered, impulsive. He 
N11   3 smoked too much."<quote/><p/>
N11   4 <p_><quote_>"So do you."<quote/><p/>
N11   5 <p_><quote_>"He was a wheeler-dealer, always on the go."<quote/><p/>
N11   6 <p_><quote_>"That's another thing."<quote/> She let go my hand and 
N11   7 quickened her pace. <quote_>"Those deals you did with 
N11   8 Tommy,"<quote/> she said. Her head was down and her face was turned 
N11   9 away.<p/>
N11  10 <p_><quote_>"He cut me in out of the kindness of his heart. Because 
N11  11 he knew things were tough and he wanted to help us."<quote/><p/>
N11  12 <p_><quote_>"They weren't straight, were they?"<quote/><p/>
N11  13 <p_><quote_>"If they weren't, he never told me. I suppose it 
N11  14 depends how you define straight."<quote/><p/>
N11  15 <p_><quote_>"Don't give me double-talk, Joe. The man's 
N11  16 dead."<quote/><p/>
N11  17 <p_><quote_>"I don't know the answer. I never asked."<quote/><p/>
N11  18 <p_>She stopped in her tracks and turned to me. She was crying but 
N11  19 her face was stiff with anger. <quote_>"You've no right to be so 
N11  20 bloody simple-minded. No right at all. Why did you never 
N11  21 ask?"<quote/><p/>
N11  22 <p_><quote_>"I couldn't afford to,"<quote/> I said.<p/>
N11  23 <p_>Two policemen were walking up the hill towards us. When they 
N11  24 came abreast of us they paused and looked at her enquiringly. She 
N11  25 shook her head at them and went on crying. <quote_>"You're such a 
N11  26 loser, Joe. You and the quick buck."<quote/><p/>
N11  27 <p_>I took her hand and squeezed it hard. <quote_>"It's all right, 
N11  28 darling. I loved the guy, too. He was my friend as well as 
N11  29 yours."<quote/><p/>
N11  30 <p_>She took her hand away. <quote_>"That's not an 
N11  31 answer."<quote/><p/>
N11  32 <p_><quote_>"You're not being fair. You already know the bloody 
N11  33 answer. It's not easy to make a living as a photographer and I'm 
N11  34 not David Bailey. What more do you want me to say? That he felt 
N11  35 sorry for me? Tommy helped me out from time to time because he was 
N11  36 fond of us, fond of us both. I may not have asked enough questions 
N11  37 but you chose to pretend it wasn't happening."<quote/><p/>
N11  38 <p_>She walked on, head down, saying nothing.<p/>
N11  39 <p_><quote_>"Remember his wedding present?"<quote/> I asked.<p/>
N11  40 <p_><quote_>"A dinner service, a Royal Doulton dinner service from 
N11  41 Harrods. Of course I remember. We've been eating off it ever 
N11  42 since."<quote/><p/>
N11  43 <p_><quote_>"That was the easy part. The real present was the 
N11  44 little slum property near Paddington. Don't you remember that? A 
N11  45 twenty-five-year lease he'd picked up for four thousand quid. 'Go 
N11  46 shares with me in it, Joe,' he said. 'You won't regret it.' Two 
N11  47 years later we were told the area was being torn down to make room 
N11  48 for the Westway. When the compulsory purchase order came Tommy took 
N11  49 us to the Ritz to celebrate. You were there. How can you 
N11  50 forget?"<quote/><p/>
N11  51 <p_><quote_>"You never told me what was going on."<quote/><p/>
N11  52 <p_><quote_>"What should I have told you? That he knew the planning 
N11  53 officer and the guy who did the official valuations? <tf|>That's 
N11  54 what we've been eating off ever since."<quote/><p/>
N11  55 <p_>She shook her head. <quote_>"That was between you and him. I 
N11  56 never asked about that stuff."<quote/><p/>
N11  57 <p_><quote_>"That makes two of us then."<quote/><p/>
N11  58 <p_>We walked to her studio without exchanging another word. When I 
N11  59 left her all she said was, <quote_>"We should have had him to 
N11  60 dinner more often."<quote/><p/>
N11  61 <p_>TOMMY and his deals.<p/>
N11  62 <p_>The edges of the studio were full of shadows. In the middle was 
N11  63 a circle of hard light, glaring, like the light in the dusty street 
N11  64 outside. A skinny youth sat on the edge of the bed, naked except 
N11  65 for his Y-fronts, knobbly hands hanging loose between his knees. 
N11  66 The ring of spotlights picked out the blemishes on his skin, the 
N11  67 curling straggly hairs on his chest, a question-mark scar on his 
N11  68 shoulder.<p/>
N11  69 <p_><quote_>"A small favour,"<quote/> Tommy had said. <quote_>"A 
N11  70 few hours of your time. Plus some of that professional 
N11  71 know-how."<quote/><p/>
N11  72 <p_><quote_>"Jut tell me what you want."<quote/><p/>
N11  73 <p_><quote_>"I'm setting this up for a pal, you understand. For 
N11  74 someone I do business with. It's a one-off job."<quote/><p/>
N11  75 <p_><quote_>"The favours you've done for me, how could I 
N11  76 refuse?"<quote/><p/>
N11  77 <p_><quote_>"That's what worries me. It's not your style, Joe. Not 
N11  78 mine either. But I owe the guy."<quote/><p/>
N11  79 <p_><quote_>"Never apologise, never explain. You owe him, I owe 
N11  80 you."<quote/><p/>
N11  81 <p_><quote_>"You're going to be on location in Tunisia next 
N11  82 month,"<quote/> Tommy said. <quote_>"I can fix a studio for you 
N11  83 there, no problem. That way there's no awkward questions from the 
N11  84 wife. You go in, you take the pictures, you catch the next plane 
N11  85 out and no one's any the wiser."<quote/><p/>
N11  86 <p_><quote_>"Don't worry about it. Anything to help you 
N11  87 out."<quote/><p/>
N11  88 <p_><quote_>"I don't want to take advantage."<quote/><p/>
N11  89 <p_>There were two girls, both young. One was oriental, 
N11  90 broad-faced, maybe Korean, but with features so delicate as hardly 
N11  91 to be features at all. Tiny breasts, slim hips, a body smoothed 
N11  92 down like a pebble in a stream. The other was American, 
N11  93 blonde-haired, blue-eyed, small-town innocent. The oriental girl 
N11  94 was precise and matter-of-fact, doing a job she'd been paid for. 
N11  95 The American was vague, drifting, high on something that seemed to 
N11  96 transform what was happening into a delicious secret joke.<p/>
N11  97 <p_><quote_>"My name's Helen,"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"I launch 
N11  98 ships."<quote/><p/>
N11  99 <p_>She laughed when the youth took off his Y-fronts and she saw 
N11 100 the disproportionate size of his member. A young laugh, a ripple of 
N11 101 freshness in the heat and glare. <quote_>"Gee 
N11 102 willikins."<quote/><p/>
N11 103 <p_>I moved around the bed photographing tangled limbs, busy 
N11 104 mouths, slippery private parts. They stopped when I told them to 
N11 105 stop, combined, recombined, stopped again, as though this were 
N11 106 nothing more involving than grandmother's footsteps.<p/>
N11 107 <p_>There was a fridgeful of beer in the corner and they drank 
N11 108 between takes. The oriental girl wiped her mouth with the back of 
N11 109 her hand, but delicately, as if this were the proper thing to do, 
N11 110 something she'd been taught. The American put the glistening can 
N11 111 between her breasts, shivered and giggled. The heat from the lights 
N11 112 and the heat from the violent Tunisian sun outside made them sweat 
N11 113 more than the sexual acrobatics. It produced light effects I didn't 
N11 114 like and I made them towel themselves down every few minutes.<p/>
N11 115 <p_>I photographed them in all the possible combinations: in pairs, 
N11 116 as a trio, alone. Seven sets of pictures in the clinging heat. When 
N11 117 it was over the girls disappeared, the rest of us sat around 
N11 118 drinking beer, our T-shirts soaked with sweat. Outside a wind had 
N11 119 got up and the air was gritty with blown sand. When I got back to 
N11 120 the hotel, I took a long bath and ate on my own in the pretentious 
N11 121 restaurant downstairs. I wanted to get home to Judy but a 
N11 122 sand-storm was blowing the next day and the flights were delayed. I 
N11 123 told myself it was a favour to a friend, a clinical operation, 
N11 124 curiously unrousing, not much different from the advertising shots 
N11 125 I'd been taking on location. A young girl on a beach, jeans and no 
N11 126 top. The same attention to light and composition and physical 
N11 127 detail. Pornography by any other name.<p/>
N11 128 <p_>But secretly, I was afraid. Afraid it would catch up on me, 
N11 129 afraid I'd set some obscure machinery in motion that would destroy 
N11 130 my marriage, afraid Judy would find out. I put it down to native 
N11 131 guilt, something in the genes that had no bearing on the world out 
N11 132 there. Even so, a veil came down between Judy and myself. We had 
N11 133 always made a point of not intruding on each other. It was part of 
N11 134 our intimacy. She had her work, I had mine and we took it on trust 
N11 135 that neither of us had anything to hide in our separate lives. All 
N11 136 that changed after Tunis. I became sly for no reason at all. I kept 
N11 137 things hidden and explained myself unnecessarily. Before Tunis, we 
N11 138 used to joke about the models. I pretended to be more attracted to 
N11 139 them than I was, she pretended to be jealous. It was a way of 
N11 140 flattering each other, of adding an edge to our love-making. Now I 
N11 141 avoided mentioning them. I fussed over Judy, bought her flowers, 
N11 142 watched for signs of irritation or discontent, ready to placate, 
N11 143 smooth over, make good. Only Tommy and I knew about the 
N11 144 pornographic pictures and neither of us was saying, yet I was 
N11 145 convinced word would get out.<p/>
N11 146 <p_>After Tunis, the windfalls from Tommy increased. Not 
N11 147 immediately or in frequency but in size. After Tunis, too, I 
N11 148 stopped seeing Tommy as regularly as I had. I resented him for 
N11 149 having asked me to do the job as much as I disliked myself for 
N11 150 having done it. A sneaky resentment, based on collusion. 
N11 151 Understanding the company he kept put the other deals in context. 
N11 152 But I needed the money.<p/>
N11 153 <p_>THE sky was darkening steadily and by the time I reached Chalk 
N11 154 Farm station the rain was bucketing down again. My studio is the 
N11 155 first floor of a decrepit building in Soho which is bound to be 
N11 156 torn down in the next burst of urban renewal. The front room is 
N11 157 spacious and well proportioned, with a high ceiling and long 
N11 158 windows. Once upon a time it was a pretty Victorian drawing-room, 
N11 159 now it is jammed with my gear: aluminium boxes full of cameras and 
N11 160 lenses, arc lights, transformers, coils of cable, movable panels, 
N11 161 rolls of paper and coloured materials, a big table heaped with odds 
N11 162 and ends that also doubles as my desk. Across the landing is a 
N11 163 smaller room I use as a dark room. Once upon a time I had a 
N11 164 secretary, a witty and depressed woman with a fine line in gallows 
N11 165 humour, but she got replaced by a word processor. A black joke she 
N11 166 appreciated. These days I have an assistant when I'm working but 
N11 167 between jobs I make do with an answering machine. The loneliness of 
N11 168 the late 20th century: machines may cost less but they're not very 
N11 169 companionable.<p/>
N11 170 <p_>There were two messages waiting for me on the answering 
N11 171 machine: one from my agent, the other from Inspector Rogers of 
N11 172 Scotland Yard.<p/>
N11 173 <p_>Inspector Rogers was very polite. We understand you were a 
N11 174 friend of the deceased. No doubt you've heard there were certain 
N11 175 irregularities, a suspected break-in. Perhaps we could ask you a 
N11 176 few questions. Of course, it must be very upsetting for you. A 
N11 177 matter of routine, you understand. Explore every avenue. No, it 
N11 178 would be easier, I think, if we came to you. As you say, Mr 
N11 179 Constantine, no time like the present.<p/>
N11 180 <p_>I wandered round the studio clearing away the bits and pieces 
N11 181 that seem to accumulate on my chairs and sofa without any apparent 
N11 182 help from me. Then I thought, Fuck it, and phoned Helen Donovan.<p/>
N11 183 <p_>An American voice, young-sounding but tired. Not one I 
N11 184 recognised but the telephone does funny things. I explained I was 
N11 185 an old friend of Tommy. I told her about the letter.<p/>
N11 186 <p_><quote_>"He asked me to keep an eye on you."<quote/><p/>
N11 187 <p_><quote_>"An eye. That's rich."<quote/><p/>
N11 188 <p_>Tommy and his troublesome women. He worked on his erotic life 
N11 189 like he worked on his business deals, each one a battle, a new 
N11 190 challenge, a potential source of glory. No wonder his heart gave 
N11 191 out.<p/>
N11 192 <p_><quote_>"Are you all right? Do you need anything?"<quote/><p/>
N11 193 <p_><quote_>"I feel lousy, if you want to know. How else am I 
N11 194 supposed to feel? I also feel pissed-off. Like he's left me in the 
N11 195 lurch."<quote/><p/>
N11 196 <p_>There was reggae music in the background, syncopated 
N11 197 percussion, a girl's voice singing, <quote_>"Tonight, tonight is 
N11 198 the night of all nights."<quote/><p/>
N11 199 <p_><quote_>"It's rotten for all of us. He was my oldest 
N11 200 friend."<quote/><p/>
N11 201 <p_>The music ended. A cheerful voice said, <quote_>"The next 
N11 202 request is from Edith Valentine of Bexley Heath."<quote/><p/>
N11 203 <p_><quote_>"Don't get me wrong,"<quote/> Helen said. <quote_>"It's 
N11 204 just that I don't know what I'm going to do without 
N11 205 him."<quote/><p/>
N11 206 <p_>She sounded young enough to be my daughter. Tommy should have 
N11 207 stuck to women nearer his own age. I don't need this, I thought.<p/>
N11 208 <p_><quote_>"I'm terribly sorry. Maybe I can help in some 
N11 209 way."<quote/><p/>
N11 210 <p_><quote_>"Help? Is that what you do when someone 
N11 211 dies?"<quote/><p/>
N11 212 <p_><quote_>"At least I could buy you a drink."<quote/><p/>
N11 213 <p_><quote_>"Why not? Tommy talked about you. A drink to our mutual 
N11 214 friend. It'd be nice to see a sympathetic face."<quote/><p/>
N11 215 We arrangd to meet at the Museum Tavern at 5.45.
N11 216 <p_><quote_>"I'm tallish, middle-aged, not much hair.
N11 217 
N12   1 <#FLOB:N12\>He reached the office of the embassy doctor without 
N12   2 meeting any <foreign|>Abwehr staff and went straight into the 
N12   3 examination room. The doctor, who had learned to be unsurprised by 
N12   4 anything the <foreign|>Abwehr did, followed him.<p/>
N12   5 <p_><quote_>"Lock the door,"<quote/> Christian said. <quote_>"I'm 
N12   6 dead. Murdered. Now I want you to get me on a plane to 
N12   7 Berlin."<quote/><p/>
N12   8 <p_><quote_>"Sit down."<quote/> The doctor examined the pupils of 
N12   9 his eyes and took his pulse. He had already noticed the patches of 
N12  10 black blood matting Christian's hair. <quote_>"How were you 
N12  11 killed?"<quote/><p/>
N12  12 <p_><quote_>"Knocked out and strangled. Watch out for broken 
N12  13 glass."<quote/> He winced as the doctor searched his scalp. 
N12  14 <quote_>"What's that awful stink?"<quote/><p/>
N12  15 <p_><quote_>"Disinfectant. You're soaked in it. Whoever killed you 
N12  16 was very concerned not to contaminate the wound."<quote/><p/>
N12  17 <p_>Christian found that funny. He laughed so much that he reopened 
N12  18 the cut. Eventually the doctor stitched it up. That evening 
N12  19 Christian's coffin, packed with sandbags, was flown out of Lisbon. 
N12  20 Christian was on the same plane, wearing a mask of bandages and 
N12  21 carrying a passport that said he was Albert Meyer, fruit 
N12  22 importer.<p/>
N12  23 <p_>Next day he telephoned <foreign|>Abwehr headquarters. Admiral 
N12  24 Canaris, its head, was not there but his second-in-command, General 
N12  25 Oster, was. Christian got through to Oster's secretary and after 
N12  26 some insistence, bluff, threats, and the casual use of a few 
N12  27 high-powered codewords, he got to speak to Oster himself. 
N12  28 <quote_>"Good morning,"<quote/> he said. <quote_>"Very sad news 
N12  29 about Brigadier Christian."<quote/><p/>
N12  30 <p_><quote|>"Ah." There was a signal lying on Oster's blotter. It 
N12  31 had come from Madrid <foreign|>Abwehr and it said that Christian's 
N12  32 body was being flown home for interment and would be held at 
N12  33 Tempelhof airport mortuary, pending instructions. Nothing more. 
N12  34 Oster had tried to telephone Madrid but the lines were down 
N12  35 somewhere in France: Allied bombing or French sabotage, or maybe 
N12  36 non-aligned mice. <quote_>"Sad indeed,"<quote/> he said. 
N12  37 <quote_>"You are perhaps a relative?"<quote/><p/>
N12  38 <p_><quote_>"Very close. If you meet me beside the coffin in an 
N12  39 hour perhaps we can discuss it."<quote/><p/>
N12  40 <p_>Christian was waiting at the airport mortuary when Oster 
N12  41 arrived. Oster took his hat off. <quote_>"Might we be alone for a 
N12  42 few minutes?"<quote/> he asked the attendant. The man left them to 
N12  43 their grief. <quote_>"I hope you won't be offended,"<quote/> Oster 
N12  44 said, <quote_>"if I ask to see your papers."<quote/><p/>
N12  45 <p_><quote_>"I can do better."<quote/> Christian unwound the 
N12  46 bandages and gave his unshaven cheeks a vigorous massage. 
N12  47 <quote_>"Sorry about the stubble, sir,"<quote/> he said. 
N12  48 <quote_>"Sorry about the secrecy, too. I'm afraid I didn't 
N12  49 completely trust your telephone."<quote/><p/>
N12  50 <p_>Oster knew Christian; indeed he had recommended his promotion 
N12  51 to brigadier. <quote_>"I'm glad you're not in this box,"<quote/> he 
N12  52 said. <quote_>"I thought I recognised your voice. Now what's going 
N12  53 on?"<quote/><p/>
N12  54 <p_><quote_>"It's all rather squalid,"<quote/> Christian said. 
N12  55 <quote_>"But in a nutshell, I believe that my <foreign|>Abwehr 
N12  56 section has been infiltrated by the SD."<quote/><p/>
N12  57 <p_>The SD was the intelligence and espionage arm of the SS, the 
N12  58 Nazi security service, which Heinrich Himmler controlled. In theory 
N12  59 the SS and the SD were responsible only for the internal security 
N12  60 of the Third Reich; that was why Himmler also had charge of the 
N12  61 Gestapo. Military intelligence as a totally separate area. That was 
N12  62 the <foreign|>Abwehr's responsibility. It was the 
N12  63 <foreign|>Abwehr's job to run spies in foreign countries and to 
N12  64 collect military intelligence for the German armed forces. But 
N12  65 Himmler was the most ruthlessly ambitious of Hitler's minister. He 
N12  66 could never be satisfied with what he had. He wanted the 
N12  67 <foreign|>Abwehr too. The rivalry between his SD and Admiral 
N12  68 Canaris's <foreign|>Abwehr was an open secret. It was a small war 
N12  69 within the big war.<p/>
N12  70 <p_>Oster took a little stroll around the coffin and ended up where 
N12  71 he began. <quote_>"I've always assumed the SD are constantly trying 
N12  72 to penetrate us,"<quote/> he said. <quote_>"God knows they hate our 
N12  73 guts."<quote/><p/>
N12  74 <p_><quote_>"Hate is one thing. Attempted murder is 
N12  75 another,"<quote/> Christian said. <quote_>"The man the SD put into 
N12  76 my section was on the verge of destroying my top agent in Britain, 
N12  77 Eldorado. When he realised I knew what he was doing, he tried to 
N12  78 kill me. In fact, he thinks he succeeded."<quote/><p/>
N12  79 <p_><quote_>"This wouldn't be Adler, would it?"<quote/> Oster 
N12  80 asked.<p/>
N12  81 <p_><quote|>"Yes." Christian, forgetting his stitches, scratched 
N12  82 his head and winced. <quote_>"How did you know, sir?"<quote/><p/>
N12  83 <p_><quote_>"Why didn't you have him arrested?"<quote/><p/>
N12  84 <p_><quote_>"I thought of it. Then I thought: No, far better to see 
N12  85 what he does next. Give the SD plenty of rope and maybe they'll 
N12  86 hang themselves, and Adler too."<quote/><p/>
N12  87 <p_><quote|>"Mmm." Oster, who was an inch or two shorter, stood on 
N12  88 tiptoe to see the injury. <quote_>"Nasty ... Well, Adler's beyond 
N12  89 hanging, I'm afraid. Just after you phoned I had another signal 
N12  90 from Madrid. Young Adler suffered a heart attack yesterday and 
N12  91 passed away."<quote/><p/>
N12  92 <p_><quote_>"Heart attack?"<quote/> Christian said. <quote_>"At 
N12  93 thirty-one?"<quote/><p/>
N12  94 <p_><quote_>"He was rash and impetuous. Perhaps he couldn't wait. 
N12  95 What's in this box?"<quote/><p/>
N12  96 <p_><quote_>"Sandbags. Good Spanish earth, soaked in good Spanish 
N12  97 blood from the Civil War, I shouldn't be surprised."<quote/><p/>
N12  98 <p_><quote_>"I'll have those. They'll do my roses a power of 
N12  99 good."<quote/><p/>
N12 100 <p_>Christian went to <foreign|>Abwehr headquarters in Oster's car, 
N12 101 with the curtains closed. On the way they talked about how best to 
N12 102 fight off the SD. <p/>
N12 103 <p_><quote_>"You know, sir,"<quote/> Christian said, <quote_>"When 
N12 104 I think of the sheer volume of intelligence we've been getting out 
N12 105 of the Eldorado Network, and the shining quality, then I'm appalled 
N12 106 the SD should try to destroy it. I mean, that's nothing short of 
N12 107 treachery."<quote/><p/>
N12 108 <p_><quote_>"Himmler doesn't think so. Himmler thinks our existence 
N12 109 is a kind of treachery."<quote/><p/>
N12 110 <p_><quote_>"What on earth does the man want?"<quote/> Christian 
N12 111 asked. Occasionally a whiff of disinfectant crossed his nostrils, 
N12 112 and the phrase 'Death in Madrid' passed through his mind like the 
N12 113 name of some absurd new perfume. <quote_>"The Party can't run 
N12 114 <tf_>every<tf/>thing."<quote/><p/>
N12 115 <p_><quote_>"Who says? It does in Russia."<quote/><p/>
N12 116 <p_><quote_>"Very badly, by all reports. Anyway, military 
N12 117 intelligence is no job for a bunch of Party hacks. It needs 
N12 118 imagination, flair, quick wits."<quote/><p/>
N12 119 <p_><quote_>"I wish I could say they were stupid,"<quote/> Oster 
N12 120 said. <quote_>"That's the trouble with the SD: They're not at all 
N12 121 stupid, they're bloody clever and they catch a lot of spies, real 
N12 122 spies. The SD's got so many people inside the Resistance movements, 
N12 123 they make them look like Swiss cheese. I've got some hard types 
N12 124 working for me, but ..."<quote/> Oster sniffed. <quote_>"Madrid 
N12 125 isn't the only <foreign|>Abwehr station the SD has broken 
N12 126 into,"<quote/> he said. <quote_>"Brussels, Brest, Oslo, Paris, 
N12 127 Hamburg. We kick them out, but it never stops."<quote/><p/>
N12 128 <p_>Christian nodded. He didn't care what happened to 
N12 129 <foreign|>Abwehr Brest. Only a month ago, one of his reports from 
N12 130 Nutmeg, an Eldorado sub-agent, got mistakenly routed by teleprinter 
N12 131 to Brest instead of to Berlin. Brest pinched it and claimed it as 
N12 132 their own work. The SD could have <foreign|>Abwehr Brest, as far as 
N12 133 Christian was concerned. <quote_>"I'm sure Admiral Canaris gives as 
N12 134 good as he gets,"<quote/> he said.<p/>
N12 135 <p_>Oster seemed to find this simple remark very encouraging. He 
N12 136 gave a smile of huge enjoyment that energised his face until he 
N12 137 looked like a middle-aged baby in the middle of a damn good 
N12 138 breast-feed. <quote_>"Canaris holds a fistful of aces,"<quote/> he 
N12 139 said. <quote_>"He knows what Hitler likes. Hitler likes spies, and 
N12 140 we've got the best. As long as the <foreign|>Abwehr can tell Hitler 
N12 141 what's happening on the other side of the hill, the 
N12 142 <foreign|>Abwehr's safe, believe me."<quote/><p/>
N12 143 <p_>They drove into the basement garage of <foreign|>Abwehr 
N12 144 headquarters and took the lift to the top floor. Oster had the keys 
N12 145 to a spacious apartment. <quote_>"The kitchen's well 
N12 146 stocked,"<quote/> he said. <quote_>"Stay inside. And don't shave. I 
N12 147 like you like that. Terribly tough."<quote/> He went out and locked 
N12 148 the door.<p/>
N12 149 <p_>Christian made himself an omelette and drank a bottle of beer. 
N12 150 He spent the afternoon on the balcony, enjoying the view and the 
N12 151 crisp, bright weather. For dinner there was an excellent goulash 
N12 152 and an apple tart. There was even some Spanish wine; a tangy Rioja. 
N12 153 Had Oster arranged all this specially for him? Christian liked to 
N12 154 think so. He went to bed, relaxed and content.<p/>
N12 155 <p_>Admiral Canaris and General Oster came in as he was having 
N12 156 breakfast.<p/>
N12 157 <p_><quote_>"My dear Christian!"<quote/> Canaris said. They shook 
N12 158 hands. <quote_>"Madrid sent us a signal saying you were 
N12 159 dead."<quote/> He gave Christian a piece of paper. <quote_>"You 
N12 160 might like to have it framed. Hang it in the lavatory as a 
N12 161 conversation piece."<quote/><p/>
N12 162 <p_>Christian tucked the signal into his dressing-gown pocket. 
N12 163 <quote_>"From now on, I plan to stay out of lavatories as much as 
N12 164 possible, sir."<quote/><p/>
N12 165 <p_><quote_>"Very wise. Oster says you got brained with a 
N12 166 bottle."<quote/><p/>
N12 167 <p_>Christian nodded. <quote|>"Disinfectant."<p/>
N12 168 <p_><quote_>"I know exactly how you feel, only in my case it was 
N12 169 champagne."<quote/> Canaris touched a small white scar above his 
N12 170 left eye. <quote_>"The work of a jealous husband. The poor man was 
N12 171 insane with rage, which is just as well because if he had stopped 
N12 172 to think he would have used a steak knife on me."<quote/><p/>
N12 173 <p_><quote_>"You were in a restaurant?"<quote/> Oster asked.<p/>
N12 174 <p_><quote_>"The Tour d'Argent, in Paris. Why?"<quote/><p/>
N12 175 <p_><quote_>"Oh ... I just wondered who paid for the champagne, 
N12 176 that's all."<quote/><p/>
N12 177 <p_><quote_>"Oster is enormously practical,"<quote/> Canaris told 
N12 178 Christian. <quote_>"After I've done something he tells me whether 
N12 179 or not it's possible, the man's invaluable, without Oster I'd be 
N12 180 helpless."<quote/> He lifted the coffee pot and found it empty.<p/>
N12 181 <p_><quote_>"Who did pay?"<quote/> Oster asked.<p/>
N12 182 <p_><quote_>"She did. Famous actress, worth millions. Besides, I 
N12 183 was unconscious. Splendid fellow,"<quote/> he said as Oster carried 
N12 184 the coffee pot into the kitchen.<p/>
N12 185 <p_>Christian was amused by the Admiral's chatter and impressed by 
N12 186 his suit, which was grey flannel, double-breasted, sleekly 
N12 187 tailored. Canaris seemed to him enviably polished and elegant, not 
N12 188 like a sailor at all, too slim, his face too lively, his voice too 
N12 189 rich and varied. He made Christian feel like a scruff; but a 
N12 190 favourite scruff. <quote_>"I've been thinking about that bottle of 
N12 191 disinfectant,"<quote/> Christian said. <quote_>"It doesn't seem 
N12 192 quite right."<quote/><p/>
N12 193 <p_><quote_>"You're right, it doesn't. And I'll tell you something 
N12 194 else ..."<quote/> Canaris ate a piece of sliced salami. 
N12 195 <quote_>"I've been thinking about the lavatory, and that seems all 
N12 196 wrong."<quote/><p/>
N12 197 <p_><quote_>"Too public,"<quote/> Christian said.<p/>
N12 198 <p_><quote_>"Far too public."<quote/><p/>
N12 199 <p_><quote_>"Unless, of course, Adler didn't plan it, he just acted 
N12 200 spontaneously. Impetuously."<quote/><p/>
N12 201 <p_><quote_>"That's even worse."<quote/><p/>
N12 202 <p_><quote_>"I agree, sir. But I think it's what happened: Adler 
N12 203 saw his chance and grabbed the nearest weapon. Whereas if he'd used 
N12 204 his brains and done it properly, he'd have hit me with the marble 
N12 205 ashtray next to the hand-basins and I wouldn't be here 
N12 206 now."<quote/><p/>
N12 207 <p_><quote_>"Big ashtray?"<quote/><p/>
N12 208 <p_><quote_>"Like a soup bowl."<quote/><p/>
N12 209 <p_><quote|>"Ah." Canaris touched the scar on his forehead with the 
N12 210 tip of his little finger. <quote_>"I didn't really get this from a 
N12 211 champagne bottle, you know. I just said that to tease Oster. I fell 
N12 212 down a companionway when I was a midshipman. So the question is 
N12 213 ..."<quote/> Oster came in with a fresh pot of coffee. 
N12 214 <quote_>"What is the question, Oster?"<quote/><p/>
N12 215 <p_><quote_>"Was Adler really working for the SD, and if so why did 
N12 216 they let him make such a hash of a simple murder, and if not who 
N12 217 was he working for and why did they kill him, since he obviously 
N12 218 didn't die of a heart attack?"<quote/><p/>
N12 219 <p_><quote_>"No, no, no. That's not the question at all."<quote/> 
N12 220 Canaris took a cup of coffee and perched on the arm of a settee. 
N12 221 <quote_>"I mean, it might be the second, third or fourth question 
N12 222 but it's not the first. The first question is why did the SD - 
N12 223 assuming Adler was working for the SD - want Christian dead? What 
N12 224 were they hoping to achieve?"<quote/><p/>
N12 225 <p_>Christian opened his mouth to speak and then decided to eat a 
N12 226 piece of toast instead. He had been going to say that Adler's 
N12 227 purpose was to discredit the Eldorado Network, which had been his, 
N12 228 Christian's, creation. But of course, Eldorado wouldn't go out of 
N12 229 operation just because its creator died. Christian felt a slight 
N12 230 flush of shame at his own vanity, and hid behind his napkin.<p/>
N12 231 <p_><quote|>"Suppose," Oster said, <quote_>"just suppose that we've 
N12 232 been misreading the SD's motives. Perhaps they weren't acting from 
N12 233 rivalry or professional jealousy, you know. Just knocking us down 
N12 234 to make them look bigger. Perhaps they're scared of something that 
N12 235 Eldorado is reporting."<quote/><p/>
N12 236 <p_>Canaris rolled his eyes until they looked at the ceiling.
N12 237 
N12 238 
N13   1 <#FLOB:N13\><p_>The entrance opened directly on to a large, cool 
N13   2 room, with tables and chairs scattered haphazardly around it and a 
N13   3 bar at the other end. The place was deserted. Conolly and Douglas 
N13   4 approached the bar and the Irishman banged his fist on it several 
N13   5 times. Presently, a door behind the bar opened and a thin-faced, 
N13   6 elderly man with a drooping grey moustache shuffled through. He 
N13   7 stood there, rubbing his hands on a dirty apron and gazing at the 
N13   8 newcomers through watery eyes. The expression on his face was 
N13   9 sullen.<p/>
N13  10 <p_>Conolly ordered two glasses of wine and some cheese. Without a 
N13  11 word, the old man placed two glasses on the bar top and produced a 
N13  12 bottle of wine, which he placed next to them. He shuffled away to 
N13  13 bring the cheese, and the two SAS officers wandered over to a table 
N13  14 by the window. As they sat there, the occasional passer-by stared 
N13  15 at them with an expression that was equally as sullen as the old 
N13  16 bartender's.<p/>
N13  17 <p_><quote_>"Cheerful-looking bastards, aren't they?"<quote/> 
N13  18 Conolly said. <quote_>"Anyone would think they didn't want to be 
N13  19 liberated."<quote/><p/>
N13  20 <p_><quote_>"Maybe they didn't,"<quote/> Douglas commented. 
N13  21 <quote_>"It doesn't look as though they've had a particularly rough 
N13  22 time."<quote/><p/>
N13  23 <p_>The old man brought their cheese, together with a few pieces of 
N13  24 bread, and stared in disgust at the 'liberation' currency which 
N13  25 Conolly handed to him in payment. He was by no means mollified by 
N13  26 the Irishman's remark that the newly minted notes could be redeemed 
N13  27 for real francs when the French monetary system was stabilized once 
N13  28 more.<p/>
N13  29 <p_>Conolly, visibly annoyed by the man's attitude, asked him 
N13  30 point-blank what was he matter. The barman stared at him for a 
N13  31 moment, then said with a shrug: <quote_>"Bah! We were all of us 
N13  32 here behind <tf_>le Mar<*_>e-acute<*/>chal<tf/> and the National 
N13  33 revolution."<quote/><p/>
N13  34 <p_>He referred to Marshal P<*_>e-acute<*/>tain, the hero of Verdun 
N13  35 in the previous war and the French head of state since the 
N13  36 armistice of 1940. <quote_>"We did not want a war,"<quote/> he 
N13  37 continued. <quote_>"We did not want de Gaulle and his dreams of a 
N13  38 new France. We did not want millions of men and thousands of tanks 
N13  39 to invade our beaches and our fields. Who knows what will happen 
N13  40 now?"<quote/><p/>
N13  41 <p_>Douglas and Conolly stood up, very slowly. <quote|>"Liam," 
N13  42 Douglas said quietly, <quote_>"You'd better tell him. My French 
N13  43 isn't up to it."<quote/><p/>
N13  44 <p_><quote_>"Ah, what's the use?"<quote/> Conolly snapped 
N13  45 <quote_>"It would be a waste of breast."<quote_> He picked up the 
N13  46 wine bottle and headed for the door, followed by Douglas.<p/>
N13  47 <p_>Outside, Conolly slammed the palm of his hand furiously down on 
N13  48 the jeep's bonnet.<p/>
N13  49 <p_><quote_>"Steady on, Liam,"<quote/> Douglas warned. 
N13  50 <quote_>"Don't get upset just because of that old sod."<quote/><p/>
N13  51 <p_>They got back into the jeep and lit cigarettes. Conolly inhaled 
N13  52 deeply, then said: <quote_>"It isn't just the attitude of people 
N13  53 like that. It's everything. Take London, for example."<quote/><p/>
N13  54 <p_><quote_>"I'd rather leave it,"<quote/> Douglas grunted. 
N13  55 <quote_>"But I think I know what you mean."<quote_><p/>
N13  56 <p_>On their earlier return from France they had gone to London for 
N13  57 their de-briefing. Although they had failed in their planned 
N13  58 mission to kill Rommel, they had good reason to be satisfied with 
N13  59 their other achievements, which had contributed in no small measure 
N13  60 to the successful breakout from the Normandy beach-heads. They had 
N13  61 found, too, the answer to a question which had been in their minds; 
N13  62 an aerial reconnaissance photograph, taken on the day after the 
N13  63 invasion, had shown the bridge at Mantes, collapsed into the Seine 
N13  64 in three places. A large number of tanks stood nose to tail on the 
N13  65 road to the north of the river.<p/>
N13  66 <p_>Olivier, it seemed, had carried out his task admirably.<p/>
N13  67 <p_>Douglas and the others had found London depressing. There had 
N13  68 been no particular reason, none that any of them could have 
N13  69 described, unless it was that England's capital was once again 
N13  70 under siege, the target of the German V-1 flying bombs. Londoners 
N13  71 had withstood the <tf|>Blitz of 1940 and 1941 with their 
N13  72 characteristic courage and humour, but this was something different 
N13  73 - something utterly impersonal and sinister. Whether London could 
N13  74 go on 'taking it' was a matter open to serious doubt.<p/>
N13  75 <p_>Colette had gone off to the headquarters of the Special 
N13  76 Operations executive for her own de-briefing, after which she had 
N13  77 travelled to Scotland. The plan had been for Douglas to join her 
N13  78 there, but it had not worked out. Instead, he and Conolly had been 
N13  79 ordered to join the staff of Montgomery's 21st Army Group as 
N13  80 Special Forces' liaison officers, and had spent a month in London, 
N13  81 attending numerous briefings and delivering lectures - mainly to US 
N13  82 Rangers - before being packed off to Normandy once more. The rest 
N13  83 of Douglas's SAS detachment had been dispersed among various 
N13  84 training establishments, much to their disgust - all except for 
N13  85 Olds, who had departed for his home in Norfolk with a heavy bandage 
N13  86 around his thigh and a broad smile on his face.<p/>
N13  87 <p_>Douglas and Conolly, having completed their series of 
N13  88 briefings, were now on their way to rejoin Montgomery's HQ, which 
N13  89 was located in an apple orchard somewhere to the south of Bayeux. 
N13  90 Both were still feeling rather bilious from the effects of the 
N13  91 Channel crossing, which had been made on a fast and very bouncy 
N13  92 naval launch.<p/>
N13  93 <p_>They finished their cigarettes and drove on, passing through 
N13  94 the outskirts of the town, and after getting lost several times 
N13  95 eventually found the HQ, which was carefully concealed and 
N13  96 camouflaged. They reported directly to Montgomery, who, dressed in 
N13  97 his customary khaki slacks, grey pullover and black beret, was 
N13  98 poring over a large map with several of his staff officers.<p/>
N13  99 <p_>He looked up as the two SAS officers entered his command post. 
N13 100 They saluted him and he returned their salute, as punctilious as 
N13 101 ever.<p/>
N13 102 <p_><quote_>"Wait outside for a moment,"<quote/> he said crisply. 
N13 103 <quote_>"I will join you."<quote/><p/>
N13 104 <p_>Montgomery emerged in due course, and invited them to join him 
N13 105 in a stroll through the orchard. The morning was fine. Somewhere in 
N13 106 the distance, artillery rumbled. The commander of the 21st Army 
N13 107 Group launched into what he had to say without preamble.<p/>
N13 108 <p_><quote_>"The assault on Caen begins tonight,"<quote/> he told 
N13 109 them. <quote_>"It will be preceded by a very heavy bombing attack, 
N13 110 followed by an artillery bombardment. It is hoped that this 
N13 111 concentration of firepower will destroy the enemy's will to 
N13 112 resist."<quote/><p/>
N13 113 <p_>Montgomery looked at Douglas and Conolly in turn, then said: 
N13 114 <quote_>"You will remember Major Fitzroy."<quote/> Both men 
N13 115 nodded.<p/>
N13 116 <p_><quote_>"I have received reports from French agents that he is 
N13 117 still alive,"<quote/> Montgomery said. <quote_>"It appears that he 
N13 118 was taken to Bayeux for interrogation, then removed to a German 
N13 119 military hospital in Caen. I want you to go into Caen with the 
N13 120 infantry assault, locate him and bring him out. The Germans must 
N13 121 now be allowed to evacuate him. Major Fitzroy has certain knowledge 
N13 122 that would be very valuable to them, knowledge of matters which 
N13 123 have far greater military significance even than the recent 
N13 124 invasion. With hindsight, he should never have been sent to France 
N13 125 in the first place, but that is another matter."<quote/><p/>
N13 126 <p_>He paused, then went on: <quote_>"The assault goes in at dawn 
N13 127 tomorrow. Use whatever methods you think best to carry out this 
N13 128 mission. You have a completely free hand. I have signed the 
N13 129 necessary authority for you both. That is all. Good 
N13 130 luck."<quote/><p/>
N13 131 <p_>He handed them each a piece of paper, then turned and strode 
N13 132 back to his command post. They looked at what he had given them, 
N13 133 and Conolly let out a low whistle. The document, instructing all 
N13 134 ranks of the British and US Armies to give all possible assistance 
N13 135 to the SAS officers, was not merely signed by Montgomery; it also 
N13 136 bore the signature of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme 
N13 137 Allied commander.<p/>
N13 138 <p_><quote_>"This is powerful stuff,"<quote/> Conolly said. 
N13 139 <quote_>"We could go a long way on this. I didn't know Major 
N13 140 Fitzroy was such a VIP. Wonder what he's been up to?"<quote/><p/>
N13 141 <p_><quote_>"It's not our business to wonder, Liam,"<quote/> 
N13 142 Douglas said firmly. <quote_>"It's good to know that Fitzroy made 
N13 143 it, though, even if he is a prisoner. Come on - we've got a lot of 
N13 144 planning to do."<quote/><p/>
N13 145 <p_>It was late afternoon when Douglas and Conolly arrived at the 
N13 146 front line and reported to the headquarters of an armoured brigade 
N13 147 which was to take part in the initial assault. The brigadier 
N13 148 inspected their written authority with considerable surprise.<p/>
N13 149 <p_><quote|>"Well," he said, <quote_>"I'll be happy to have you tag 
N13 150 along with us, and of course I'll give you all the help I can. Your 
N13 151 objective is quite close to our line of attack, in fact. I assume 
N13 152 you've studied a map of the city?"<quote/><p/>
N13 153 <p_>Douglas said that they had. <quote_>"But I've a feeling it 
N13 154 might not be of much use after the air force has done with the 
N13 155 place,"<quote/> he commented. <quote_>"We might need one of your 
N13 156 tanks to force a way through the rubble. I know it's a lot to ask, 
N13 157 but this mission is extremely important."<quote/><p/>
N13 158 <p_><quote|>"Obviously," the brigadier said, glancing again at the 
N13 159 signatures in front of him. He handed the papers back to the SAS 
N13 160 officers. <quote|>"Douglas," he said musingly. <quote_>"Weren't you 
N13 161 once a tank man yourself?"<quote/><p/>
N13 162 <p_><quote_>"That's right, sir,"<quote/> Douglas told him. 
N13 163 <quote_>"Twentieth Hussars, in the desert."<quote/><p/>
N13 164 <p_><quote_>"Thought I'd come across the name somewhere,"<quote/> 
N13 165 the brigadier said. <quote_>"Those were the days. None of this 
N13 166 bloody <tf|>bocage to contend with then."<quote/><p/>
N13 167 <p_>They reminisced for a while, then Douglas and Conolly went off 
N13 168 to get some food, the brigadier giving them a warning to be on the 
N13 169 lookout for snipers.<p/>
N13 170 <p_><quote_>"Lots of them about. We practically live in our tanks 
N13 171 because of them. One of our chaps got out to relieve himself in a 
N13 172 shell-hole this very morning and got shot in the arse. Luckily, the 
N13 173 bullet only went through the fleshy part. But don't go wandering 
N13 174 off, whatever you do."<quote/><p/>
N13 175 <p_>Later, after they had eaten, Douglas and Conolly surveyed the 
N13 176 ground that lay between the tanks' position and Caen through a 
N13 177 periscope. It was a nightmare vista of death and destruction, for 
N13 178 terrible battles had been fought over this ten square miles of 
N13 179 Normandy during the past fortnight. The ground was torn, scarred 
N13 180 and slashed by shellfire and tank tracks; Panther and Tiger tanks 
N13 181 lay drunkenly across ditches where the anti-tank guns had caught 
N13 182 them, their plates already rusting from the effects of the sharp 
N13 183 summer showers.<p/>
N13 184 <p_>Clouds of flies buzzed around their open turrets, a grim 
N13 185 reminder that the remains of the crews were still inside. An 
N13 186 overpowering stench of death and decay, aggravated by the hot sun, 
N13 187 lay over everything.<p/>
N13 188 <p_>The British tank men called this terrible wasteland Epsom 
N13 189 Downs.<p/>
N13 190 <p_>The evening drew on, and by ten o'clock dusk was falling. 
N13 191 Douglas and Conolly had been dozing when the thunder of massed 
N13 192 aero-engines roused them. They looked to the north, into a 
N13 193 cloudless, electric blue sky.<p/>
N13 194 <p_>As far as they could see, a stream of bombers stretched back 
N13 195 towards England. The aircraft were still above the earth's shadow, 
N13 196 the evening sun shining golden on the metal of their wings and 
N13 197 fuselages. Ahead of the main stream came the pathfinders, passing 
N13 198 over the heads of the watching troops. The leading files turned 
N13 199 away to the right, back towards the coast. Flares showered down 
N13 200 over Caen in a golden rain, dropping in spiralling cascades towards 
N13 201 the doomed city.<p/>
N13 202 <p_>Flak began to blossom around the main bomber stream until the 
N13 203 sky was covered with black puffs. The bombers flew on, seemingly 
N13 204 unconcerned, although in reality they must have been buffeted by 
N13 205 the thousands of explosions and torn by millions of splinters. Only 
N13 206 one dropped away, falling slowly into the shadows, livid flames 
N13 207 flaring from its ruptured fuel tanks. It vanished beyond the 
N13 208 town.<p/>
N13 209 <p_>The deep thud of explosions merged into a single, continuous 
N13 210 thunderclap of sound. Smoke rose slowly into the sky over Caen, 
N13 211 rising to meet the last of the marker flares as they drifted down. 
N13 212 Rank after rank of the bombers dropped their loads and wheeled 
N13 213 away, racing the approaching night as they headed back to their 
N13 214 English bases.<p/>
N13 215 <p_>The onslaught lasted forty-five minutes. In that time, little 
N13 216 more than the blink of an eye when viewed in the context of a war 
N13 217 that had already dragged on for almost five years, nearly a 
N13 218 thousand heavy bombers unloaded three thousand tons of bombs 
N13 219 smashed Caen to rubble from end to end.<p/>
N13 220 
N14   1 <#FLOB:N14\><p_><quote_>"A farmer's wife told me how her husband 
N14   2 had bought some unlabelled fungicide,"<quote/> she said. 
N14   3 <quote_>"It was from a supplier in Bury St Edmunds - I had been 
N14   4 talking to her about the problems with our cows. The fungicide had 
N14   5 got into their cattle's water and several died with respiratory 
N14   6 problems... that was why I was taken to hospital, I 
N14   7 think."<quote/><p/>
N14   8 <p_><quote_>"How's that, Grace?"<quote/><p/>
N14   9 <p_><quote_>"I tried to buy some Resolution, that's what it 
N14  10 was,"<quote/> she explained. <quote_>"The supplier said I had to 
N14  11 keep quiet about it as it hadn't got a product licence yet. Then I 
N14  12 did something really silly. I asked if Shearing had bought any. He 
N14  13 denied knowing who Shearing was. Then of course said he didn't have 
N14  14 any Resolution for sale. He'd never had it for sale."<quote/><p/>
N14  15 <p_><quote_>"Did he call the police?"<quote/><p/>
N14  16 <p_><quote_>"No, I think it must have been Shearing - after I went 
N14  17 there and accused him of murdering Rose. I think I hit him. I 
N14  18 completely lost control - God, I wanted to kill him. I remember 
N14  19 that. I just couldn't calm down. The more I was restrained the 
N14  20 worse it was. I attacked the police as well."<quote/><p/>
N14  21 <p_><quote_>"Good for you!"<quote/> he said. He wanted to embrace 
N14  22 her, but was uncertain of the response he'd get. <quote_>"Why don't 
N14  23 I go talk to this supplier?"<quote/><p/>
N14  24 <p_>The farm supplier's vast warehouse was stacked to the roof with 
N14  25 everything from rolls of plastic pipe to half-ton sacks of 
N14  26 fertilizer, plus every kind of  pesticide. There was no shortage of 
N14  27 customers, and he had to wait to get help. It gave him time to 
N14  28 check out some of the drums.<p/>
N14  29 <p_><quote_>"Is Charlie around?"<quote/> he asked when the  
N14  30 counterhand finally got to him. <quote_>"I need twenty ten-litre 
N14  31 drums of Resolution. Walter Shearing said to see 
N14  32 Charlie."<quote/><p/>
N14  33 <p_>Charlie, who ran the office, said, <quote_>"It's getting to be 
N14  34 a serious problem finding a fungicide that stays effective these 
N14  35 days. I suppose Mr Shearing told you we shouldn't be putting it on 
N14  36 sale yet."<quote/><p/>
N14  37 <p_><quote_>"Yes he did. I have to be careful. No 
N14  38 problem?"<quote/><p/>
N14  39 <p_>As they headed toward the back of the store, Charlie said, 
N14  40 <quote_>"Where is your farm?"<quote/><p/>
N14  41 <p_>Whatever it was that had aroused this man's suspicion, Jak 
N14  42 wasn't ready for the question and didn't give the right answer; so 
N14  43 he didn't get to make his illicit purchase.<p/>
N14  44 <p_>The only move left to them now was to approach Shearing.<p/>
N14  45 <p_>He was less than pleased to see them.<p/>
N14  46 <p_><quote_>"Get out of here. Get out before I throw you 
N14  47 out,"<quote/> he ordered, driving them from his farm office. 
N14  48 <quote_>"And take that mad woman with you... she's persecuting 
N14  49 me."<quote/><p/>
N14  50 <p_><quote_>"Call the cops,"<quote/> Jak challenged, not knowing 
N14  51 how he'd handle it if Shearing did just that. <quote_>"Let's have 
N14  52 them take a real close look at what unlicensed chemicals you've 
N14  53 been using."<quote/><p/>
N14  54 <p_>Shearing stepped back and looked at Grace, then quickly looked 
N14  55 away.<p/>
N14  56 <p_><quote_>"Yes, we were spraying  Resolution,"<quote/> he said. 
N14  57 <quote_>"It's perfectly safe, I can assure you. The Ministry is 
N14  58 about to grant its product licence. I know that for a 
N14  59 fact."<quote/><p/>
N14  60 <p_><quote_>"Supposing there's a hitch because they find it's 
N14  61 causing fatal respiratory problems?"<quote/><p/>
N14  62 <p_><quote_>"Fungal growth in cereals becomes resistant to 
N14  63 pesticides so quickly,"<quote/> he explained, <quote_>"we need new 
N14  64 products to stay on top of the problem. Resolution is effective. 
N14  65 Aggrow Chemicals are three hundred per cent confident of its 
N14  66 licence coming through."<quote/><p/>
N14  67 <p_><quote_>"Nine years ago the Environmental Protection Agency 
N14  68 stopped American chemical selling it Stateside. That's why they're 
N14  69 pushing it everyplace else. Take a look at what it's doing to farm 
N14  70 workers down in Mexico and Chile. Sure it stopped fungal growth , 
N14  71 end everybody it gets on."<quote/><p/>
N14  72 <p_>A hard set came over  Shearing's face. <quote_>"The Pesticide 
N14  73 Advisory Committee here is passing it. Their scrutiny is very 
N14  74 thorough. They wouldn't let it through if it weren't 
N14  75 safe."<quote/><p/>
N14  76 <p_><quote_>"That committee's made up of people with a vested 
N14  77 interest in the agricultural industry,"<quote/> Grace said 
N14  78 shimmering with conviction.<p/>
N14  79 <p_><quote_>"Take my advice, Mrs Chance,"<quote/> Shearing said, 
N14  80 clearly resenting her accusations, <quote_>"accept Aggrow's 
N14  81 compensation and let the matter drop."<quote/><p/>
N14  82 <p_>That was his last word on the subject.<p/>
N14  83 <p_><quote_>"I have no intention of letting the matter 
N14  84 drop,"<quote/> Grace stated. She looked at Jak. He nodded. 
N14  85 Confirming that. Right then he'd have walked through fire for 
N14  86 her.<p/>
N14  87 <p_><quote_>"From what I can see, Grace, the way ahead of us won't 
N14  88 be easy,"<quote/> he warned as they drove back to London.<p/>
N14  89 <p_><quote_>"But we will go on - we must. We can get those details 
N14  90 now."<quote/><p/>
N14  91 <p_><quote_>"Sure we can."<quote/> He didn't speculate about how 
N14  92 the opposition might feel about that.<p/>
N14  93 <p_>In the parking lot under the hotel, he waited a few moments, 
N14  94 searching around for signs of that familiar car.<p/>
N14  95 <p_><quote_>"Is there something wrong?"<quote/> Grace 
N14  96 asked.<quote_>"I figure you'd better know someone's been following 
N14  97 us, Grace. They may be here."<quote/><p/>
N14  98 <p_><quote_>"The police?"<quote/><p/>
N14  99 <p_>He shook his head. <quote_>"Maybe I'm just getting 
N14 100 paranoid."<quote/><p/>
N14 101 <p_><quote_>"Shall I collect the key?"<quote/> she offered.<p/>
N14 102 <p_>Up in his bedroom, she said, <quote_>"Two men called earlier to 
N14 103 see you.  The woman on the reception desk didn't know who they 
N14 104 were. If it's not the police, surely that means someone thinks we 
N14 105 really are on to something."<quote/><p/>
N14 106 <p_>He watched her pace the room, tossing her thick red hair back 
N14 107 over her shoulder. She was excited, and probably a little scared. 
N14 108 He was scared, but excited also. He wanted to make love to her more 
N14 109 than anything right then, but that scared him too.<p/>
N14 110 <p_><quote_>"Who are they?"<quote/> she said.<p/>
N14 111 <p_><quote_>"Why stick around to find out? We'll hightail it to 
N14 112 Washington, talk to the lawyer, fight these guys on firmer ground. 
N14 113 You'll like Rory, he's great."<quote/><p/>
N14 114 <p_><quote|>"Washington?" Grace said, apparently flustered. 
N14 115 <quote_>"I can't... I haven't... I mean I can't just go and leave 
N14 116 everything."<quote/><p/>
N14 117 <p_><quote_>"What are you  leaving, Grace? Rose is dead, Colin's 
N14 118 gone, the farm's gone - those assholes are closing in on 
N14 119 us."<quote/><p/>
N14 120 <p_>Tears suddenly welled up in Grace's eyes. Instinctively he put 
N14 121 his arms around her and held her close and she sobbed against his 
N14 122 chest. He had wanted to hold her in his arms for a long while. Even 
N14 123 in these circumstances he took pleasure in the contact.<p/>
N14 124 <p_><quote_>"I can't go. I haven't got my passport or 
N14 125 anything."<quote/><p/>
N14 126 <p_><quote_>"That's taken care of. All we got to do is get out of 
N14 127 here."<quote/><p/>
N14 128 <p_>He had Grace walk out with their baggage, while he rang the 
N14 129 front desk for a five o'clock wake-up call to get an eight a.m. 
N14 130 flight. He hung out the 'do not disturb' sign and slipped away, 
N14 131 himself. He planned on taking a cab to the airport and telling 
N14 132 Hertz to collect the car at the hotel.<p/>
N14 133 <p_>Grace grew increasingly anxious as she waited in her seat on 
N14 134 the plane, thinking maybe she had misunderstood him over the flight 
N14 135 details - despite her ticket being a the reservation desk. Was 
N14 136 this the right thing to do? She didn't want to return to that 
N14 137 hospital. Anything was better than that. Maybe Jak was getting a 
N14 138 different flight. But she was almost certain that wasn't what he 
N14 139 had said. The plane was only a third full, but the passengers 
N14 140 settled ready for departure. This was one occasion when she hoped 
N14 141 there'd be some sort of delay. She glanced at the empty set next to 
N14 142 her as if expecting Jak to miraculously appear, and wondered about 
N14 143 getting off herself. Then again about what she was doing here 
N14 144 anyway? How could she simply go to America? It was madness. Perhaps 
N14 145 she was mad after all. But she knew that staying would mean having 
N14 146 to return to the psychiatric unit and being given more drugs. If 
N14 147 Jak had been detained at the check-in desk it would only be a 
N14 148 matter of time before they came for her. Then she would have to 
N14 149 suffer the indignity of being led off the plane like a criminal. 
N14 150 She had to get off herself. Now. Soon it would be too late; cabin 
N14 151 staff were making their final checks to see if seat belts were 
N14 152 fastened and luggage was properly stowed. Any minute they would 
N14 153 close the door and start the safety procedure prior to take off. 
N14 154 Did that happen before the door was closed?  She couldn't remember. 
N14 155 She tried to get out of her seat as the stewardess came along the 
N14 156 aisle. In panic she struggled against the seat belt.<p/>
N14 157 <p_><quote_>"Can you remain seated, please, we're about to 
N14 158 depart."<quote/><p/>
N14 159 <p_><quote_>"I have to get off."<quote/> She saw the door being 
N14 160 closed. <quote_>"I can't go."<quote/><p/>
N14 161 <p_>Finally she freed the belt and was up out of her seat. The 
N14 162 stewardess took fright at her agitation and as she watched her 
N14 163 hurrying back to speak to the flight attendant, she thought perhaps 
N14 164 they would call the airport security. The flight attendant picked 
N14 165 up the phone by the door. This was it. They talked in urgent 
N14 166 whispers as she approached. The attention of the entire cabin was 
N14 167 on her now. The situation was getting out of control and she could 
N14 168 feel her skin prickle with embarrassment.<p/>
N14 169 <p_><quote_>"If you're quick,"<quote/> she heard the flight 
N14 170 attendant say into the phone, eyeing her uneasily. <quote_>"We have 
N14 171 a passenger disembarking."<quote/> He replaced the phone.<p/>
N14 172 <p_><quote_>"Did you check any baggage, mam?"<quote/><p/>
N14 173 <p_>She didn't manage to answer a s the doors swung open and she 
N14 174 saw Jak running awkwardly along the approach tunnel under the 
N14 175 weight of Safeway bags.<p/>
N14 176 <p_><quote_>"Are you getting off, mam?"<quote/> the flight 
N14 177 attendant said.<p/>
N14 178 <p_>Tears streamed down her face as Jak caught hold of her with one 
N14 179 of his laden arms and steered her along to their seats. She had 
N14 180 never been more pleased to see anyone.<p/>
N14 181 <p_><quote_>"Boy, that was close,"<quote/> he said to a 
N14 182 stewardess.<p/>
N14 183 <p_>The woman smiled tightly and glanced quickly away from 
N14 184 Grace.<p/>
N14 185 <h|><p_>13<p/>
N14 186 <p_>ANTICIPATING EVERY DETAIL ON A deal this far ahead, when any 
N14 187 error could cost him everything, was part of the excitement of 
N14 188 business. It got him up at five o'clock each morning. Nothing was 
N14 189 random or left to chance. Even the Soviet Union getting turned on 
N14 190 its head he could handle, figuring it would be years before their 
N14 191 command economy could be turned into a true market economy. But any 
N14 192 miscalculation could rupture his plan. Such as that Cambridge 
N14 193 professor who had stumbled upon their wheat seed, Prairie Red.<p/>
N14 194 <p_>The farmer who had accidentally planted the seed could also 
N14 195 prove dangerous if he decided the compensation he had received 
N14 196 wasn't sufficient. Caddy was a long way from concluding his wheat 
N14 197 deal, and might not come close unless such problems were taken care 
N14 198 of. He decided to send Shapiro to England to deal with the farmer; 
N14 199 the scientist, being wholly dependent on project funding, would be 
N14 200 less of a problem. Unless he somehow got lucky and made the right 
N14 201 connections.... If he then talked to the wrong people and the 
N14 202 Russians failed to plant the 300,000 tons of seed they'd agreed to 
N14 203 buy... The new contract Hirshorn was negotiating with the Seamen's 
N14 204 Union would be a stone tied to their ankles as they tried to swim 
N14 205 clear... He didn't know what was prompting these doubts. He glanced 
N14 206 at his assistant who was getting more coffee, noticing his suit. It 
N14 207 was immaculate. Clearly Shapiro paid more for his suits than he 
N14 208 ever had done on his government salary.<p/>
N14 209 <p_>Coming back to a comfortable armchair in the office, Shapiro 
N14 210 said, <quote_>"You know we don't need to give the Seamen a thing, 
N14 211 Caddy."<quote/><p/>
N14 212 <p_>It was late. He had returned to work after dinner. He often 
N14 213 did. On those occasions his assistant got a sandwich from the 
N14 214 machine in the cafeteria.<p/>
N14 215 <p_><quote_>"We'll give them close to what they're asking, Pat. But 
N14 216 we'll make it look like a real fight. I don't want the union seeing 
N14 217 what's at stake."<quote/><p/>
N14 218 <p_>Hirshorn owned twenty-eight ocean-going bulk carriers of 
N14 219 over twenty thousand tons, all of which still flew under the 
N14 220 American flag. Patriotism was costly, but the flag waasa a matter 
N14 221 of pride to him. On a given day these ships were hauling Chilean 
N14 222 wine to California to blend with the local higher priced wines, or 
N14 223 Californian soya beans to the Far East, or Greek bauxite into 
N14 224 Houston.
N14 225 
N15   1 <#FLOB:N15\><p_>Perhaps, I think, as I listen to Serafin telling 
N15   2 Summerchild about her father and his death, the question is not 
N15   3 what people see in each other, but what they come to see in 
N15   4 themselves. After all the years of silence, suddenly you're face to 
N15   5 face with someone who had to be told about your life, and, as you 
N15   6 tell it, as your listener listens, as he smiles and nods and 
N15   7 exclaims upon the similarities and differences in his own life, you 
N15   8 begin to hear the story yourself, you begin to glimpse your own 
N15   9 shape and nature.<p/>
N15  10 <p_>Saturday afternoon is visiting-time, of course. I resort to 
N15  11 Serafin's solution and borrow my son's tape-recorder. I put it in 
N15  12 the boot of the car with the tin of tapes. I have some confused 
N15  13 idea that I will slip out of the ward at some point, leaving Joyce 
N15  14 and Timmy with Lynn, and pursue my researches undisturbed for half 
N15  15 an hour in the car park. It occurs to me when we get there that the 
N15  16 car might be stolen while we are away, and all hope of my 
N15  17 investigations with it, so I take the biscuit tin with me. This 
N15  18 means that I have to hold it all the time I'm talking to Lynn, 
N15  19 because I realize that if I put it down on the dayroom table she 
N15  20 will think I have brought it for her. As I tell her brightly about 
N15  21 what Timmy has said and done during the week, and about the amusing 
N15  22 problems with the hot water, and the heartwarming progress of 
N15  23 summer through the garden, so far as I have noticed it, I find the 
N15  24 tin moving bulkily about in the air between us, rattling with each 
N15  25 move. Her eyes follow it with that dull fixity she sometimes 
N15  26 devotes to inanimate objects in the room while some animate subject 
N15  27 is trying to communicate with her. And when my budget of domestic 
N15  28 news is exhausted and the tin has sunk back on to the arm of my 
N15  29 chair, I find I'm gazing at it as well. I suppose Lynn is thinking 
N15  30 about the biscuits inside and their forbidden sweetness (the staff 
N15  31 are now making great efforts to control her weight problem, even if 
N15  32 they can't control anything else). I suppose I'm thinking about the 
N15  33 same. As I sit there, in the depressing cheerfulness of the 
N15  34 dayroom, with nothing left to say to Lynn, and nothing much of Lynn 
N15  35 left to say it to, I am suddenly overwhelmed, as Timmy is, by the 
N15  36 sheer unfairness of things. <tf|>I might have been forgiven, I 
N15  37 think, if I'd found someone else - someone I could talk to from 
N15  38 time to time about some subject apart from Timmy and the boiler and 
N15  39 the aubrietia by the front gate. Someone who would give signs of 
N15  40 hearing what I said. Someone who might look at me as I spoke, 
N15  41 perhaps nod from time to time, even smile - even on occasion 
N15  42 venture some reply. I should not have occasioned too much 
N15  43 disapprobation in the department, I think, if I had furnished each 
N15  44 coming day, each coming week, with some tender friend whom I could 
N15  45 look forward to seeing without this sick dread, this leaden 
N15  46 hopelessness. If I had set up a temporary home in some small 
N15  47 unconsidered corner of my life.<p/>
N15  48 <p_>But I hadn't done it - hadn't even imagined doing it. It was 
N15  49 Summerchild who'd hidden those sweet biscuits in the tin. The man 
N15  50 whose life was complete already. The man with the innocent red hair 
N15  51 and the tactfully manifested mania to vary his tactfully manifested 
N15  52 depression. I'd known from the first what was going to happen. From 
N15  53 the moment I'd set their two faces opposite each other and seen the 
N15  54 way she gazed and smiled, the way he smiled and half turned. I 
N15  55 could have written most of my report then. I'd refused to admit it 
N15  56 to myself, that's all. I hadn't wanted to believe that someone in 
N15  57 the same, yes, <tf|>priesthood as myself had behaved with such dull 
N15  58 dishonour. Walking slowly up the lane in the evening, with his 
N15  59 violin case in his hand - and all the time he was shutting his 
N15  60 inmost self away in an old tin at the back of a cupboard in some 
N15  61 forgotten garret. In <tf|>this tin, that I am balancing on the 
N15  62 flaking bentwood arm of the dayroom chair, that Lynn's gaze and 
N15  63 mine are resting on with such absent intentness.<p/>
N15  64 <p_>I stand up and say I'll send her mother and Timmy in for a bit. 
N15  65 Her eyes follow the tin as it moves tantalizingly away towards the 
N15  66 door, with all the sweetness of the world still shut away inside 
N15  67 it. <quote_>"What?"<quote/> I say, smiling disingenuously, 
N15  68 <quote_>"This? this is just an old tin. Just work."<quote/> She 
N15  69 turns her face away and looks at the wall. We have achieved some 
N15  70 communication, after all. I have held the sweetness of the world in 
N15  71 front of her, then taken it away again, and she has understood.<p/>
N15  72 <p_>As soon as Joyce and Timmy have gone in I hurry back towards 
N15  73 the car with my tin of sickly poison. But I'm stopped in the 
N15  74 corridor by an old woman in her nightgown. She puts her hand on my 
N15  75 arm and gazes blindly into my eyes, shaking and stinking and saying 
N15  76 nothing. I back away and she follows me, clinging on to my arm, 
N15  77 mute and blind and I think lost. I have to edge her towards a ward 
N15  78 and find some member of the staff to take responsibility for her. 
N15  79 So that by the time I'm back in the car park I'm hurrying and 
N15  80 fumbling and I put the tape into the machine with the wrong side 
N15  81 playing. A most extraordinary sound comes out. A voice - but not a 
N15  82 man's voice, not a woman's voice. A high unearthly voice. Speaking, 
N15  83 but not speaking words. Not talking about happiness or its 
N15  84 childhood or the state of its front steps. Keening. Howling. 
N15  85 Jumping thirds and octaves.<p/>
N15  86 <p_>Music. Of course. Horsehair on catgut, speaking with piercing 
N15  87 and slightly wavering poignancy about everything and nothing. A 
N15  88 solo violin, to be precise, being played well but not quite well 
N15  89 enough, struggling with something just a little too difficult. 
N15  90 There is a lot of scrapy double-stopping which is not quite on 
N15  91 either note. One of the Bach partitas, I think.<p/>
N15  92 <p_>So this is the kind of contribution Summerchild is making to 
N15  93 the debate by - I look at the label - May 13th. This is the 
N15  94 department's view of the quality of life. The playing gets worse 
N15  95 and teeters to a stop. There is a hollow knock as the instrument is 
N15  96 put down on a hard surface, followed by what sounds like a sigh.<p/>
N15  97 <p_>What view will Serafin take of this submission? Will she accept 
N15  98 it? Reject it? Redraft it, for piano and woodwind?<p/>
N15  99 <p_>The sigh is followed by various tiny indistinct sounds. I turn 
N15 100 up the volume on Timmy's machine and hold it close to my ear. 
N15 101 Inaudibly, beyond the windscreen, in the car parked in front of 
N15 102 mine, a woman with a hopeful hairstyle and a disappointed face is 
N15 103 explaining something infinitely long and painful to a man sitting 
N15 104 with bowed head. Invisibly, beyond the plastic cover of the 
N15 105 loudspeaker next to my ear, Summerchild is putting the violin back 
N15 106 in its case... closing the lid... sitting down... while Serafin 
N15 107 says nothing.<p/>
N15 108 <p_>The back door of the car is flung open and Timmy clambers in, 
N15 109 shouting rudely at his grandmother and indignantly snatching back 
N15 110 his tape-recorder, which I have put down on the seat beside me with 
N15 111 obscurely guilty haste. My mother-in-law gets in beside him, 
N15 112 apologizing to me for his behaviour. I rebuke Timmy. Timmy shouts 
N15 113 rudely back at me. My mother-in-law apologizes to both of us. 
N15 114 There is another sound, too, as if someone in the car is sawing 
N15 115 wood. Sawing once - in/out - then resting. In/out. Rest... 
N15 116 <quote_>"What?"<quote/> says Timmy, suddenly uneasy, as the other 
N15 117 sounds in the car die away. We all listen. In/out. Rest... There is 
N15 118 something horribly disturbing about it and I suddenly realize what 
N15 119 we are listening to. It is the sound of breath being convulsively 
N15 120 drawn and then at once convulsively released; the sound of a woman 
N15 121 sobbing. I take the tape-recorder out of Timmy's uneasy hands and 
N15 122 remove the tape. <quote_>"Someone at work,"<quote/> I say.<p/>
N15 123 <p_>By the time evening comes and Timmy is out of the way at last, 
N15 124 I find myself moving restlessly through the house with the biscuit 
N15 125 tin in my hands, full of twitching irritations and buzzing 
N15 126 anxieties. How am I going to be able to write my report by Monday 
N15 127 morning if I can't listen to the tapes? I am looking madly for 
N15 128 somewhere to play them in peace. I keep opening cupboards and 
N15 129 pulling down the suitcases on top of wardrobes, difficult though it 
N15 130 is to imagine that I shall find a place for myself in a cupboard or 
N15 131 a suitcase - until at last, under the bed in the spare room, I 
N15 132 find a battered black leather box with a round bulge at one end, 
N15 133 and I realize that this is what I was looking for all the time. I 
N15 134 open it up and there, in its fusty-smelling blue velvet bed, is 
N15 135 the dulled but still eloquent brass gleam. My trombone. I haven't 
N15 136 played it since I left the local schools orchestra.<p/>
N15 137 <p_>I assemble the pieces, and bend my lips into their old 
N15 138 established pout at the mouthpiece. A little shakily at first, the 
N15 139 great grunting brass voice speaks out, mine but not mine, me but 
N15 140 not me, awakening the dead, and strange awkward brass vibrations in 
N15 141 my lips and fingers and brain. I stop and put the mute on, but 
N15 142 before I have played a full scale the door has opened a crack and 
N15 143 Timmy has squeezed through in his pyjamas, gazing unsmilingly at 
N15 144 this strangely transfigured father. I play 'Silent Night' to him, 
N15 145 inappropriately enough, gazing at him no less solemnly over my 
N15 146 unsmiling embouchure, then 'Almighty, Invisible, God Only Wise', 
N15 147 and 'O Worship the King'. Nothing but hymn-tunes comes to mind, for 
N15 148 some reason. I play flat, I miss notes altogether, but the dark 
N15 149 tide of sound rises around us both with increasing strangeness, 
N15 150 until I suddenly realize that Timmy is crying. He is afraid of if, 
N15 151 and afraid of me.<p/>
N15 152 <p_>I'm in a slightly strange state myself, and after I have calmed 
N15 153 Timmy and coaxed him back to bed I don't know where to put myself. 
N15 154 I fetch metal polish and start to clean the trombone. At once the 
N15 155 acreage of dull brass seems to stretch out in front of me for ever 
N15 156 and I abandon the cleaning and start to put the instrument away. 
N15 157 But even the fiddle of taking it to pieces is suddenly more than I 
N15 158 can bear. I leave it in bits on the bed in the spare room and go 
N15 159 back to the living-room with the box of tapes. But of course my 
N15 160 mother-in-law is in there already, jumping up guiltily from in 
N15 161 front of the guiltily whispering television. I apologize - I don't 
N15 162 know what for. <tf|>She apologizes - neither of us knows what for. 
N15 163 I run out of the house.<p/>
N15 164 <p_>What's going on? How can I be walking about the streets in the 
N15 165 warm summer twilight like this, full of strange electric unease, as 
N15 166 if I were seventeen again, poised on the edge of some great abyss? 
N15 167 I should have taken the car and Timmy's tape-recorder, and found 
N15 168 myself a quiet car park to work in... I turn left... right... right 
N15 169 again... Every garden I pass is overflowing with the sweet reek of 
N15 170 summer. Where are my legs walking me to? The streets fall away 
N15 171 behind me. I am emerging on to the great common that crowns the 
N15 172 South London hills here. In the dry warmth of the evening the vast 
N15 173 tableland of mown grass, criss-crossed by sparkling streams of 
N15 174 distant car-lights, seems like a kind of urban high veld.
N15 175 
N15 176 
N16   1 <#FLOB:N16\><p_>With Egdin's advice he conquered an unpleasant 
N16   2 outbreak of a fungus infection which severely affected the 
N16   3 mechanicals, particularly the lift workings.<p/>
N16   4 <p_>After Egdin's death (a rare moment of emotional contact with 
N16   5 the Samalians who seemed genuinely sorry at the necessity of the 
N16   6 old man's demise, and as unable to cope with his continued 
N16   7 suffering as Tegna was), Tegna found himself having to deal with 
N16   8 the inexplicable outbreak off respiratory problems among the 
N16   9 faceworkers on his own.<p/>
N16  10 <p_>He felt at first that it was caused by the particularly powdery 
N16  11 quality of the lode of ore that was being worked, but then he began 
N16  12 to suspect that it was the flow of air within the mine that was the 
N16  13 root of the trouble.<p/>
N16  14 <p_>The mines were like a living being, the air flow being 
N16  15 controlled by the workforce of gates and pumps biologically 
N16  16 engineered by the bird-lords, but it was old. As he went about 
N16  17 his duties on the work floor, busy with the sounds of trundling 
N16  18 wagons and hacking picks, Tegna found himself coming to the 
N16  19 conclusion that whole areas might have been forgotten over the 
N16  20 years and were now being discounted. It was clear to him from 
N16  21 little things that he observed that the Samalians he had dealings 
N16  22 with did not feel that they had important or very high-status 
N16  23 jobs. It seemed possible to him that the present generation of 
N16  24 overlords might be a little inclined to take the efficiency of the 
N16  25 mine for granted, particularly Lord Vartha who was rather more 
N16  26 given to melancholy and self-absorption than positive thought.<p/>
N16  27 <p_>It took great tact and deference to suggest to the Samalians 
N16  28 that they might have overlooked the implications of the direction 
N16  29 the workers were taking with this particular lode, or that 
N16  30 something might be blocked, but he did succeed in getting his point 
N16  31 home.<p/>
N16  32 <p_>The Samalians agreed to his recommendation that the workers be 
N16  33 given finely woven face masks and even admitted that he might be 
N16  34 right about the air flow. There were many old passages in the mine 
N16  35 that were not even used as trackways anymore; it was possible that 
N16  36 one of these had become blocked. Nowadays the Samalians relied on 
N16  37 the interconnected sensitivity of the mechanicals to tell them 
N16  38 about rock falls, but these old tunnels were not webbed into the 
N16  39 system. Anything might have happened there.<p/>
N16  40 <p_>Clutching a roll of ancient illuminated documents which seemed 
N16  41 to be some sort of plans of the mine (and for which Tegna would 
N16  42 willingly have given every tooth in his head), Lord Vartha ushered 
N16  43 a small group of workers through the unmarked entrance that led to 
N16  44 the older parts of the mine.<p/>
N16  45 <p_>The party consisted of three common workers, big and strong, 
N16  46 Tegna and two overseers, Olav and Cravel. Cravel was quite elderly 
N16  47 and knew the mine better than most.<p/>
N16  48 <p_>Lord Vartha was not happy about this mission, which was evident 
N16  49 not only from the tone of his voice but also from the droop of his 
N16  50 shoulders. Cravel, who cared about the mine, was clearly 
N16  51 exasperated at finding the expedition mastered by this particular 
N16  52 Samalian.<p/>
N16  53 <p_>Lord Vartha did not lead. He put Tegna and one of the workers 
N16  54 at the front and stayed in the middle of the group with Cravel; 
N16  55 Olav brought up the rear.<p/>
N16  56 <p_>Tegna suspected that being put at the front was not intended as 
N16  57 a favour somehow.<p/>
N16  58 <p_><quote_>"Watch how you go now son,"<quote/> said Cravel to the 
N16  59 fearful yet fascinated Tegna. It's not just the roof that can cave 
N16  60 in. Watch out for the floor. I never trust these old sump holes - 
N16  61 not a nice place to end up."<quote/><p/>
N16  62 <p_>How kind to warn him! A pity Cravel couldn't extend his concern 
N16  63 to sounding out the way himself!<p/>
N16  64 <p_><quote_>"Where do the sump holes end up?"<quote/> faltered the 
N16  65 worker placed slightly in front of Tegna, also catching on to their 
N16  66 allotted role.<p/>
N16  67 <p_><quote_>"Where do you think? - The Dark River, of 
N16  68 course!"<quote/> hissed Tegna. They exchanged frightened glances - 
N16  69 everyone knew about The Dark River that flowed from Samul. If you 
N16  70 put your toe in it to test the water you didn't get your toe 
N16  71 back.<p/>
N16  72 <p_>The passages were dark and filled with a sandy slippage along 
N16  73 the edges, but if Tegna or the workers were ghoulishly anticipating 
N16  74 the remains of discarded mechanicals they were out of luck. As he 
N16  75 held up his lamp Tegna saw that the frugal old-time Samalians had 
N16  76 even taken out the central raid once it was no longer needed.<p/>
N16  77 <p_>Talking was kept to a minimum. Cravel, who was fairly sure that 
N16  78 the air flow was not as it should be, insisted that chances of 
N16  79 vibration be eliminated wherever possible. When they came to 
N16  80 branches in the tunnel Lord Vartha checked their exact location on 
N16  81 the ancient charts that he carried, sometimes finding it with 
N16  82 difficulty. Tegna tried to take in as much information as he 
N16  83 possibly could on these occasions, peering out of the gloom as 
N16  84 inconspicuously as he was able. They relied on the guttering lamps 
N16  85 to tell them if the airways were free or not. They soldiered 
N16  86 on.....<p/>
N16  87 <p_>It all happened at once, as Tegna had most feared it would. One 
N16  88 minute there was the silent flickering plodding, and the next 
N16  89 roaring chaos. A shaking and rumbling and screaming, Tegna's throat 
N16  90 choked with dust in the darkness as pit props and pebbles collapsed 
N16  91 and scuttered round him and the floor tilted crazily beneath his 
N16  92 feet.<p/>
N16  93 <p_>Then it was still - but for the odd small rock breaking free 
N16  94 and juddering into silence.<p/>
N16  95 <p_>Tegna was wedged against a pit prop and there was a rock wall 
N16  96 at his back. He had a terrible conviction that in front of him 
N16  97 there was nothing very much at all.<p/>
N16  98 <p_>Moving with great care and surprise that he still seemed to be 
N16  99 in one piece, Tegna eased his flint and steel from his soft leather 
N16 100 pouch and set about producing a light.<p/>
N16 101 <p_>Groans came from below and in front of him. he held up the 
N16 102 light. He had been right, a great hole welled below him. He was to 
N16 103 one side of it; over on the other side he could just make out Olav, 
N16 104 his head shattered by one of the last rebounding rocks. Being at 
N16 105 the back hadn't been much of an advantage after all.<p/>
N16 106 <p_>Conscious of the groaning again, Tegna spotted Cravel who 
N16 107 clung, gasping, to a bit of pit prop that jutted into the void like 
N16 108 the uvula at the back of some mighty gaping throat. He could see 
N16 109 that the old miner was too far down the shaft for there to be any 
N16 110 real hope of rescue, even assuming that the niche that he was 
N16 111 huddled in himself was secure, and he was pretty sure it wasn't. 
N16 112 Terrified eye met terrified eye in a flickering moment, and then 
N16 113 Cravel with a grunt of resignation was gone. Tegna didn't even hear 
N16 114 him hit the bottom.<p/>
N16 115 <p_>Gulping back the nausea, Tegna tried to steel himself to cope 
N16 116 with the practical reality of his immediate situation. He was 
N16 117 lodged to one side of a great pit, but he made out that it might 
N16 118 just be possible, with great care, to traverse the edge and get on 
N16 119 to firmer ground. In his efforts he dislodged the remnant of the 
N16 120 pit prop that had saved him and he heard it clatter its way down 
N16 121 from wall to wall. There was a screech as yet another of his 
N16 122 erstwhile comrades was dislodged from a vain hold on the side and 
N16 123 crashed down and down and down. How far was it to The Dark 
N16 124 River?<p/>
N16 125 <p_>Tegna sat shaking on the brink, then the groan came again. He 
N16 126 looked gingerly over the edge holding as firmly as he could on to 
N16 127 the rock wall with one hand as he held up the lamp. It was what he 
N16 128 least wanted to see, the glinting many faceted eye of the 
N16 129 Samalian.<p/>
N16 130 <p_><quote_>"Help me Tegna,"<quote/> moaned Lord Vartha. He was 
N16 131 clinging to the rock face, his plumed robe ripped around him, his 
N16 132 long foot and leg gleaming with little scales as he scrabbled to 
N16 133 keep his footing on a tiny disintegrating ledge. One claw gripped 
N16 134 the wall, the other reached out to Tegna, the silver and jewelled 
N16 135 finger stalls slashing against the stones in their vain efforts to 
N16 136 reach him.<p/>
N16 137 <p_><quote_>"Help me!"<quote/> Did the beak move as he spoke? Tegna 
N16 138 couldn't tell. Was there a man in there? Tegna didn't find it 
N16 139 foremost in his mind. This was a fellow living creature and Vartha 
N16 140 had never done him any deliberate hurt. Things had been as 
N16 141 circumstance had decreed. Hatred of Samalians seemed abstract at 
N16 142 that moment. Besides, Lord Vartha, if any one did, would know the 
N16 143 way back to the safe parts of the mine.<p/>
N16 144 <p_>Moving with extreme caution he set the lamp down beside him on 
N16 145 the rock floor and then spread out flat on his stomach. Even if he 
N16 146 could reach Vartha he did no think he was personally heavy enough 
N16 147 to bring him up over the edge, but none the less he reached down 
N16 148 towards the thrashing claw, the rock floor biting achingly into his 
N16 149 chest as he did so.<p/>
N16 150 <p_>His hand gripped the metallic roughness of Vartha's; he felt 
N16 151 the living muscle struggle beneath the silver scaled skin as the 
N16 152 Samalian writhed to get a firmer hold, writhed and lost the 
N16 153 battle.<p/>
N16 154 <p_>With a despairing wail Lord Vartha slid, scrabbled and finally 
N16 155 plummetted down into darkness, rebounding from wall to wall as he 
N16 156 did so.<p/>
N16 157 <p_>Tegna, who found that he had risen to his knees, waited sick 
N16 158 and shivering for the final silence. He was left clutching a single 
N16 159 red jewelled fingerstall.<p/>
N16 160 <p_>He crouched against the rock wall and put his head down between 
N16 161 his knees. He had tried, he had tried to save him. What was it best 
N16 162 to do now? Then gradually through the shaking sickness he began to 
N16 163 realise that he was free. Not out of the mines of course, but free 
N16 164 in the sense that for the first time in his captive life no-one 
N16 165 knew where he was.<p/>
N16 166 <p_>While this condition, of course, included himself, he had a 
N16 167 fair working hypothesis of where he was. If he could get back over 
N16 168 that chasm he would have known exactly where he was since he had 
N16 169 taken care to look over Lord Vartha's shoulder at every junction on 
N16 170 their route. He held the lamp up over the abyss and did not fancy 
N16 171 his chances..... then he saw it.<p/>
N16 172 <p_>The light had caught on the troupe of tiny gold birds along the 
N16 173 top; lying crushed at the shattered side of the passage and half 
N16 174 covered in rock dust was the precious roll of the mine charts. 
N16 175 Tegna's heart stood still.<p/>
N16 176 <p_>The roll was far from easy to reach but without it he knew he 
N16 177 faced the unknown. It was heartbreaking to have to retrace his 
N16 178 earlier climb to safety. He was dripping with sweat by the time he 
N16 179 got it and the moisture trickled icy with terror down the 
N16 180 center<sic!> of his spine as he worked his way back again to the 
N16 181 solid part of the passage. He sat back and looked through the 
N16 182 scrolls, trying to judge his exact position. He was sure now that 
N16 183 there was no turning back - how much further could he go before 
N16 184 the lamp gave out? Was the tunnel still blocked or had the rockfall 
N16 185 tackled that particular problem?<p/>
N16 186 <p_>The air seemed to be flowing freely as it should from the dark 
N16 187 future of the tunnel - he had to take the risk. Consulting the 
N16 188 charts he saw that the nearest entrance to him, if it was still 
N16 189 there, would bring him out near gate Forty Three.<p/>
N16 190 <p_>He had ideas about gate Forty Three; he had been letting them 
N16 191 flit around inside his head ever since he had first had a glimpse 
N16 192 of the charts. He walked as swiftly as he dared through the older 
N16 193 passages. As he grew nearer the living part of the mine he listened 
N16 194 out for alarm calls, had anyone registered the rockfall - surely 
N16 195 it couldn't have gone unheard?<p/>
N16 196 
N17   1 <#FLOB:N17/><h_><p_>Mike Chinn<p/><h/>
N17   2 <p_>DAY OF THE DARK MEN<p/><h/>
N17   3 <p_>Midday found the two men riding down a raised flint road, 
N17   4 constructed for the local landowner to oversee the fields of maize 
N17   5 that seemed to stretch on to infinity in all directions. Pale 
N17   6 houses or workers' huts dotted the waving landscape like 
N17   7 imperfections - each one brooding dead and empty now that the 
N17   8 growing season was over for the year. Unshuttered windows stared 
N17   9 back blindly at the riders like empty sockets.<p/>
N17  10 <p_>The one dressed all in black finished priming his flintlock 
N17  11 pistol and slid it back in its saddle holster. He rubbed at his 
N17  12 dark beard with dusty gloves and pulled a wry face.<p/>
N17  13 <p_><quote_>"There's nothing more depressing than an agricultural 
N17  14 area in winter, friend Garban,"<quote/> he remarked. <quote_>"Even 
N17  15 in South Lativ."<quote/><p/>
N17  16 <p_><quote_>"At least the sun's shining,"<quote/> replied Garban 
N17  17 Quen<*_>e-acute<*/>ed, his gaudy, florid clothing the very opposite 
N17  18 of the other's. He inclined his orange-haired head at the pale 
N17  19 yellow sun that strained bravely through the erratic cloud. His 
N17  20 strange eyes - colourless irises with crimson pupils and orbs - 
N17  21 squinted even in that thin light.<p/>
N17  22 <p_><quote_>"Small comfort,"<quote/> muttered the first.<p/>
N17  23 <p_>Garban regarded his companion - hair and eyes as black as his 
N17  24 clothing - with ill-disguised wariness. It had been nine months 
N17  25 since he had left his alien-landscaped continent home of 
N17  26 Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>a to na<*_>i-trema<*/>vely voyage to the lands 
N17  27 of Aysan and the Laneenovitch Empire - out of pure curiosity. Nine 
N17  28 months of wandering which finally led him to the South Lativic town 
N17  29 of Authen: ruled by the paederastic Graav Ilyich Vandersaan. There 
N17  30 he had found Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>ans were still a novelty to the 
N17  31 decadent Aysans. The orange-haired man had been tossed into the 
N17  32 Graav's gaol, awaiting a home of a more permanent nature: in 
N17  33 Vandersaan's private collection.<p/>
N17  34 <p_>In the cell he had met the enigmatic Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m 
N17  35 Dari<*_>e-acute<*/>esan: a man either insane or possessed of an 
N17  36 awful knowledge. Whichever, they had escaped from the cell - 
N17  37 killing the Graav Ilyich Vandersaan on the way - and rode north, 
N17  38 through the winter-seized lands of South Lativ to this dismal 
N17  39 spot.<p/>
N17  40 <p_>The Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>an frowned. Was it only last night he 
N17  41 had pinned Vandersaan to his chair with a knife through the mouth? 
N17  42 A night's travel with Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m's joking half-hints 
N17  43 seemed an eternity.<p/>
N17  44 <p_>The man in black reined in his horse suddenly and stared 
N17  45 intently to his left across an endless field of old maize.<p/>
N17  46 <p_><quote_>"Now what's that?"<quote/> he mumbled to himself.<p/>
N17  47 <p_><quote|>"Where?" The Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>an slitted his inhuman 
N17  48 eyes and looked over the fields.<p/>
N17  49 <p_><quote|>"There," Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m pointed a gloved hand. 
N17  50 <quote_>"That flashing."<quote/> He pulled a pair of field glasses 
N17  51 out of their case on the saddle of his stolen horse.<p/>
N17  52 <p_>The other saw it then: a rainbow scintillation that was more a 
N17  53 flickering than a flashing of light. It had the look of marsh gas, 
N17  54 a will-o'the-wisp - but no natural phenomena could explain the 
N17  55 unearthly beauty of the sight, nor the bizarre colours that were 
N17  56 stranger by far than those sometimes found in 
N17  57 Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>a.<p/>
N17  58 <p_>Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m urged his nervous horse down the steep 
N17  59 flint slope and into the whispering cornstalks. Not to be left 
N17  60 behind when his curiosity was a dagger in his mind, the 
N17  61 Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>an spurred his own maroon, horned mount down 
N17  62 off the road and followed the silent, black-clothed man into the 
N17  63 eternally moving, whispering sea.<p/>
N17  64 <p_>As he rode deeper, the sounds seemed to form words, invoking 
N17  65 pictures of the past day in his memory.<p/>
N17  66 <p_>- Vandersaan's painted and powdered face, sneering: <quote_>And 
N17  67 you want work, demon, you say?<quote/><p/>
N17  68 <p_>- A black-bearded face revealed in a flash of magical light: 
N17  69 <quote_>Uryell? No, by the Internection- you're a 
N17  70 Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>an!<quote/><p/>
N17  71 <p_>- His own voice, thickly accented: <quote_>Garban 
N17  72 Quen<*_>e-acute<*/>ed is the closest the Lativic tongue can get to 
N17  73 my name. I arrived in Aysan nine months ago: at Marchai, in 
N17  74 Karlmain.<quote/><p/>
N17  75 <p_>- Phrases from Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m: <quote_>No 
N17  76 Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>an came to Aysan until Maylaert IX's reign ... 
N17  77 I can normally tell where I am - but the <tf|>when can be a little 
N17  78 more difficult ...<quote/><p/>
N17  79 <p_>Garban shook his head, scattering the nightmarish sequence. 
N17  80 Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>ans were a practical race, despite being born 
N17  81 of a surreal land - even their religions held less mystery than 
N17  82 most. The unexplained was never welcome.<p/>
N17  83 <p_>But there was certainly something weird in the air. Garban 
N17  84 could feel it, as could Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m's mare: she whinnied 
N17  85 and shied constantly - eager to turn and leave the green forest. 
N17  86 The Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>an horse, however, from birth subjected to 
N17  87 the peculiar world of the second continent, accepted events calmly 
N17  88 - though his nostrils flared at the scent of something unknown.<p/>
N17  89 <p_>Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m himself was silent - checking his horse's 
N17  90 wayward lurches with practised tugs on the reins or a quick dig 
N17  91 with spurs - but never once spoke, not even reassuring whispers. 
N17  92 Garban had the feeling that the dark man knew what caused the 
N17  93 coruscating light - or was almost certain - but would not say until 
N17  94 they had arrived at the scene. The Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>an guessed 
N17  95 that, despite the other's usual cool and sardonic manner, there was 
N17  96 something happening that Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m could have no 
N17  97 control over - something that made the man in black afraid.<p/>
N17  98 <p_>For the first time, Garban wished he were free of his strange 
N17  99 companion - or had never met him. But his curiosity would not let 
N17 100 him go now - not until an answer to Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m 
N17 101 Dari<*_>e-acute<*/>esan was found.<p/>
N17 102 <p_>They emerged into an area where the maize was roughly trampled 
N17 103 and shredded - and the dancing light hung over them blindingly. It 
N17 104 cast a moving illumination on them, making everything leap and 
N17 105 dance. Garban could not see clearly with the dazzling borealis 
N17 106 writing across the sky in soundless agony, not even through 
N17 107 shielded eyes, for his colourless pupils were less adaptable to 
N17 108 extremes of light than most. But he heard Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m's 
N17 109 gasp of wonder - and the utter silence all around them was crushing 
N17 110 in its totality.<p/>
N17 111 <p_><quote_>"That's it!"<quote/> cried the other suddenly, and 
N17 112 Garban squinted at the spot he indicated, shading his eyes as well 
N17 113 as he could. A huge and alien form lay crushed and obviously dead 
N17 114 amidst the pulped ruins of maize stalks. Oily sap glinted on the 
N17 115 strange iridescent hide, and papery leaves stuck to it like 
N17 116 grotesque parodies of feathers - further emphasising the thing's 
N17 117 odd nature.<p/>
N17 118 <p_>They urged their horses forward - but even Garban's horned 
N17 119 mount refused to go any closer to the dead form. Instead they 
N17 120 dismounted, <p/>
N17 121 <p_>Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m's black rapier and Garban's blood red 
N17 122 sword drawn. They advanced on the corpse; fearing less the body 
N17 123 than whatever could have killed so huge and powerful a creature.<p/>
N17 124 <p_>It was almost the height of Garban, and broad. Its skin seemed 
N17 125 scaley and, although losing its lustre in death, strongly 
N17 126 suggestive of the tortured rainbow that writhed over it. It had 
N17 127 four upper limbs that could not accurately be described as arms, 
N17 128 and two powerful legs that looked reptilian. Its hammer-shaped head 
N17 129 seemed to have no mouth; and two blind, faceted eyes flashed like 
N17 130 huge rubies at either side. The Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>an stared at 
N17 131 the dead creature in morbid fascination: somehow, it felt 
N17 132 chillingly familiar.<p/>
N17 133 <p_><quote|>"Qromme," said Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m somberly.<p/>
N17 134 <p_><quote|>"What?" said Garban, startled by the sudden voice after 
N17 135 so much quiet.<p/>
N17 136 <p_><quote_>"Qromme: one of the two sorcerers who quarrelled with 
N17 137 those who became the Seven Wizards of Trolsaus - rulers of that 
N17 138 tiny island kingdom."<quote/> The Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>an stared at 
N17 139 the inhuman thing incredulously. <quote_>"<tf|>That was a 
N17 140 sorcerer?"<quote/> he whispered.<p/>
N17 141 <p_><quote_>"Once he was as human in shape as you or I - but 
N17 142 gradually his nature moulded his appearance."<quote/> 
N17 143 Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m walked closer and tapped the scaley thing 
N17 144 with the tip of his boot. <quote_>"Q<*_e-acute<*/>saqoch would not 
N17 145 be unlike him, I imagine. And what of the Seven themselves, I 
N17 146 wonder? How human are they after all these centuries ...?"<quote/> 
N17 147 His voice trailed off into silent speculation. Garban looked at him 
N17 148 curiously.<p/>
N17 149 <p_><quote_>"Yet if this was equal to the notorious Seven of 
N17 150 Trolsaus - what could have killed it?"<quote/><p/>
N17 151 <p_>The other rubbed his beard thoughtfully. <quote_>"They thought 
N17 152 themselves immortal: Gr<*_>e-acute<*/>na'r, Aryoq, Qromme, 
N17 153 Sh<*_>e-acute<*/>tt<*_>a-circ<*/>n, Aury<*_>a-circ<*/>n, 
N17 154 Q<*_>e-acute<*/>saqoch, Tsanienn, Thull<*_>e-trema<*/> and 
N17 155 J'mt<*_>a-grave<*/>g'r. And so they were, to all practical 
N17 156 purposes. Not gods, perhaps - but much more than men."<quote/> His 
N17 157 fists clenched spasmodically. <quote_>"Something that holds no 
N17 158 regard for even the gods did this!"<quote/><p/>
N17 159 <p_>He bent over the thing's neck - or where the neck would have 
N17 160 been - and he hissed angrily. Garban peered over his shoulder and 
N17 161 saw the thick, squat neck had been thoroughly crushed. The rest of 
N17 162 the body also bore signs of terrible mangling.<p/>
N17 163 <p_><quote_>"As I thought: the shells around the Internection have 
N17 164 been broken,"<quote/> Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m was saying. He stood 
N17 165 up, his peat-black eyes sombre. <quote_>"It has to be. And Qromme 
N17 166 and Q<*_>e-acute<*/>saqoch somehow made it happen! The colossal 
N17 167 <tf|>idiots!"<quote/><p/>
N17 168 <p_>He turned to glare at Garban, his expression pleading an 
N17 169 understanding the Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>an was unable to give.<p/>
N17 170 <p_><quote_>"They've disturbed whatever lies beyond this cosy nest 
N17 171 of worlds - and something has come through to be rid of the 
N17 172 irritation!"<quote/> He laughed queerly - his voice strained and 
N17 173 harsh.<p/>
N17 174 <p_><quote|>"Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m," asked Garban softly, fearing 
N17 175 the answer, <quote_>"what has happened here?"<quote/><p/>
N17 176 <p_><quote_>"The Dark Man!"<quote/> replied the other. His black 
N17 177 eyes burned into the Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>an's with a feverish 
N17 178 intensity. <quote_>"Or Fatecaster - he has a million names. But the 
N17 179 childish meddlings of Qromme and Q<*_>e-acute<*/>saqoch have 
N17 180 finally brought him to the Internection. The reach of the Dark Gods 
N17 181 has been lengthened!"<quote/><p/>
N17 182 <p_>Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m halted the tirade abruptly, and he took a 
N17 183 deep, shuddering breath before continuing.<p/>
N17 184 <p_><quote_>"I'm sorry, friend Garban - but if you only appreciate 
N17 185 what this means! It's the end of something far older than the 
N17 186 decaying Empire - older even than Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>a. The world 
N17 187 <tf|>must change now - it has no other choice."<quote/><p/>
N17 188 <p_><quote_>"And this Fatecaster - or Dark Man - or whatever his 
N17 189 name is?"<quote/><p/>
N17 190 <p_>The man in black pointed at the crushed neck and rent 
N17 191 scales.<p/>
N17 192 <p_><quote|>"That," he said with a certain degree of his old 
N17 193 sardonicism, <quote_>"is the work of the hand named Fatecaster. 
N17 194 <tf|>Now do you understand my fears?"<quote/><p/>
N17 195 <p_>Garban gazed long at the wounds, and considered the strength 
N17 196 that must have been needed to tear and crush Qromme's huge body. He 
N17 197 found himself nodding.<p/>
N17 198 <p_><quote_>"I can understand a little, Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m 
N17 199 Dari<*_>e-acute<*/>esan!"<quote/><p/>
N17 200 <p_>His blood-red sword snaked up at blinding speed and snatched 
N17 201 Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m's ebony rapier from his hand - catching the 
N17 202 blade between its twin points. Before the other could react to the 
N17 203 sudden action, Garban held his sword's tips at 
N17 204 Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m's throat, pale face grim and 
N17 205 uncompromising.<p/>
N17 206 <p_><quote_>"What the hell!"<quote/> Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m managed 
N17 207 to gasp out.<p/>
N17 208 <p_><quote_>"You have set me to thinking this past day,"<quote/> 
N17 209 said the Vanqu<*_>e-acute<*/>an. <quote_>"I couldn't make up my 
N17 210 mind whether you were mad or not; but things said have pricked my 
N17 211 interest. And now I want answers."<quote/><p/>
N17 212 <p_>Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m did not answer for a while, he just 
N17 213 stared bemused at the other.<p/>
N17 214 <p_><quote_>"Might I ask what prompted this?"<quote/> he asked 
N17 215 finally.<p/>
N17 216 <p_><quote_>"You called me Uryell when you first glimpsed me in 
N17 217 Vandersaan's cell,"<quote/> began Garban. <quote_>"I recalled the 
N17 218 name later - from an ancient legend of how the Kthalniir were 
N17 219 driven from Aysan by the silver-handed Uryell: a hero with dark 
N17 220 green eyes and pale red hair. Not unlike my own first appearance in 
N17 221 the shadows, I'll wager."<quote/> He stared challengingly at 
N17 222 Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m, but his expression remained unreadable.<p/>
N17 223 <p_><quote_>"Secondly, amongst the smoky haunts in Lativ there's a 
N17 224 common tale about a man who will come when the Empire ends - a man 
N17 225 with a sword, yet he can neither kill nor die; with Fate in his 
N17 226 right hand. He's usually referred to as Fatecaster. The old fools 
N17 227 who tell the tale for a drink show much the fear as 
N17 228 yourself."<quote/> Garban broke off there, and looked again at the 
N17 229 crushed corpse of the inhuman sorcerer.<p/>
N17 230 <p_>Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m sighed. <quote_>"Well - what do you want 
N17 231 answered?"<quote/><p/>
N17 232 <p_><quote_>"This Internection you mention so glibly: what is it? 
N17 233 And from where comes your peculiar knowledge of the past and future 
N17 234 of the Empire?"<quote/><p/>
N17 235 <p_>His face lit weirdly by the aurora flickering over them, 
N17 236 Aundr<*_>e-acute<*/>m sighed again, and smiled crookedly.<p/>
N17 237 <p_><quote_>"Other places - dimensions, universes, call them what 
N17 238 you will - all crowding upon each other; passing through and 
N17 239 around, circling in an eternal chaos. That's the Internection, my 
N17 240 friend: dimensions so like this as to be identical; or as different 
N17 241 as heaven and hell.
N17 242 
N18   1 <#FLOB:N18\><h_><p_>Kim Newman<p/>
N18   2 <p_>MOTHER HEN<p/><h/>
N18   3 <p_>When the client came, Sally was scraping her scruples off the 
N18   4 door. She had left RHODES CONFIDENTIAL INVESTIGATIONS, but the NO 
N18   5 DIVORCE WORK footnote was going. She had lived with the Raymond 
N18   6 Chandler Code of Chivalry for three years. And no thanks to an 
N18   7 irregular procession of worried spinsters, she had never yet earned 
N18   8 enough to make her accountant's elaborate tax avoidance schemes 
N18   9 worth the effort.<p/>
N18  10 <p_>The spinsters were uniformly faded. They had lost pets, or 
N18  11 imagined prowlers, or wanted to trace long-ago school 
N18  12 sweethearts. Recently, Sally had protected a tycoon's eminently 
N18  13 kidnappable daughter during a weekend party. The girl had vomited 
N18  14 <tf|>liebfraumilch-flavoured porridge on her only decent dress, 
N18  15 and Daddy still hadn't settled the expenses claim.<p/>
N18  16 <p_>She would have been able to coast through the quarter; but she 
N18  17 had run her Cortina through a red light and into a parked Porsche. 
N18  18 The repairs, the insurance, and the fine had vacuum-cleaned both 
N18  19 her bank accounts. At this stage in her career, Sally would welcome 
N18  20 a nice, messy, protracted divorce commission.<p/>
N18  21 <p_>The client, who had come unannounced and without an 
N18  22 appointment, was a pot-bellied skeleton. He had a well-dressed, 
N18  23 briefcase-carrying shadow with him.<p/>
N18  24 <p_><quote_>"Ms Rhodes?"<quote/> asked the client.<p/>
N18  25 <p_><quote_>"It's miss,"<quote/> she said, silently biting off her 
N18  26 instinctual <quote_>"and proud of it, creepo!"<quote/> What she 
N18  27 said was: <quote_>"Please go inside and get comfortable. I'll be 
N18  28 with you in a sec."<quote/><p/>
N18  29 <p_>The two men passed into her office. She brushed some gold dust 
N18  30 off her skirt, and wrapped the gilt flakes in yesterday's 
N18  31 <tf|>Guardian. The sign read ORCE WORK, but she'd fix that later. 
N18  32 Inside, she basketed the newspaper and sat in the wonky swivel 
N18  33 chair. The room was tidy through inaction rather than 
N18  34 inclination.<p/>
N18  35 <p_>She had recently given up smoking for economic reasons, so she 
N18  36 picked up a biro with which to gesture. <quote_>"Gentlemen, how can 
N18  37 I help?"<quote/><p/>
N18  38 <p_>The opening question had been carefully calculated by the 
N18  39 Murchison Agency, her former employer, to have the maximum 
N18  40 tongue-loosening effect on the sort of people who needed confidential 
N18  41 investigations. That is, people in trouble. The client wasn't 
N18  42 having any of it. He remained as smooth and confident as anyone who 
N18  43 looks as if he has been lying dead in a bath for three weeks 
N18  44 possibly can.<p/>
N18  45 <p_><quote_>"I'm Nigel Karabatsos,"<quote/> he said. <quote_>"I am 
N18  46 rich."<quote/><p/>
N18  47 <p_><quote|>"Congratulations."<p/>
N18  48 <p_><quote_>"I mention the fact in order to establish a basis for 
N18  49 our relationship, not out of any undue pride. I am rich through 
N18  50 inheritance, and can thus claim no honour from my wealth. My 
N18  51 great-grandfather invented the sticking plaster."<quote/><p/>
N18  52 <p_><quote_>"I've always wondered who'd done that."<quote/><p/>
N18  53 <p_>Karabatsos twitched a smile. He cradled his waistcoated stomach 
N18  54 like a pregnancy. Aside from that swelling, there was scarcely a 
N18  55 pocket of flesh on him. It took no morbid turn of the imagination 
N18  56 to see the skull beneath his skin.<p/>
N18  57 <p_>Sally realised the shadow was looking at her legs, and sat up 
N18  58 straight. She had already pegged Karabatsos a fruitcake, but knew 
N18  59 she would have to bear with him. There weren't all that many people 
N18  60 willing to entrust their affairs to a private detective who looked 
N18  61 more like Connie Francis than Alan Ladd.<p/>
N18  62 <p_><quote_>"I want you to see something. Mr Derewicz."<quote/> The 
N18  63 shadow gave Karabatsos an expensive black case. With fingers like 
N18  64 refrigerated sausages, Karabatsos opened the case and took out a 
N18  65 cloth-wrapped bundle which he gave to Sally. <quote_>"It's a 
N18  66 statuette. Please examine it."<quote/><p/>
N18  67 <p_>She unwound the faintly scented cloth, and held the cool dark 
N18  68 marble thing in her bare hands. It was a black bird, with human 
N18  69 legs, hair and breasts. It had ruby eyes and diamond talons. A 
N18  70 golden shaft, slightly bent, pierced its torso, wedged immovably in 
N18  71 the stone.<p/>
N18  72 <p_><quote_>"Very pretty,"<quote/> she said, trying not to sound 
N18  73 impressed. Actually, she felt an extraordinary desire to possess 
N18  74 the statuette. As a child, she used to disconcert her parents 
N18  75 whenever she saw a toy or sweet that took her fancy by shouting 
N18  76 <quote_>"I <tf|>want it!"<quote/><p/>
N18  77 <p_><quote|>"Yes," purred Karabatsos. <quote_>"Of course, it's 
N18  78 quite priceless. Nobody knows who made it, or when, where and why. 
N18  79 The subject is classical, but there is something Germanic about the 
N18  80 execution. Not exactly Gothic, but a chilly touch of the 
N18  81 monasteries nevertheless..."<quote/><p/>
N18  82 <p_><quote_>"What is it? An angel? A harpy? Foghorn Leghorn's 
N18  83 sister?"<quote/><p/>
N18  84 <p_><quote_>"There's a problem there. It first became known to 
N18  85 history in 1520, when it was listed as one of the treasures of the 
N18  86 Vatican. It is named as 'Mythwrhn', which sounds slightly Welsh. 
N18  87 Don't try to pronounce it. The best you'll be able to do is 'Mother 
N18  88 Hen'."<quote/><p/>
N18  89 <p_><quote_>"Mother Hen?"<quote/><p/>
N18  90 <p_><quote_>"That's it. Its passage around Europe becomes obscure 
N18  91 until 1839, when an English adventurer named Fleetwood stole it 
N18  92 from a minor Russian princeling. He was colourfully flogged to 
N18  93 death by Cossacks, but the booty was smuggled into this country and 
N18  94 came into the possession of his family. At about the turn of the 
N18  95 century, it became a <tf|>kitsch object much prized by certain 
N18  96 mystic-minded crackpots. Edwin Arthur Waite swears in a memoir 
N18  97 that the sight of the Mythwrhn sent him into a three-day fugue. 
N18  98 W.B. Yeats, the poet, is believed to have written 'Leda and the 
N18  99 Swan' in an attempt to exorcise the nightmares he suffered after 
N18 100 examining the statuette..."<quote/><p/>
N18 101 <p_>Sally resented being told who W.B. Yeats was. <quote_>"There 
N18 102 are a lot of crazies about,"<quote/> she interjected.<p/>
N18 103 <p_><quote_>"As you say. Roger Fleetwood died recently. He had 
N18 104 wanted to go into the church like his father, but eventually 
N18 105 decided instead to become a heroin addict. As Fleetwood's closest 
N18 106 friend, I am executor of what remains of the estate. The Mythwrhn 
N18 107 is a special bequest. It is to go to Roger's cousin, Joel 
N18 108 Silliphant. Maybe you have heard of him. He once had some 
N18 109 inexplicable success as a popular musician. I would like to see you 
N18 110 deliver the statuette into his hands."<quote/><p/>
N18 111 <p_>Sally stroked the marble feathers. The hole in the story was 
N18 112 obvious. <quote_>"I don't want to talk myself out of a commission, 
N18 113 but wouldn't it be a lot simper for you to give Silliphant his 
N18 114 heirloom yourself?"<quote/><p/>
N18 115 <p_><quote_>"There are problems,"<quote/> sighed Karabatsos. 
N18 116 <quote_>"I am afraid that Silliphant and I are not on civil terms. 
N18 117 A dispute remains unsettled. The prospect of being in his company 
N18 118 disgusts and appals<sic!> me. At our last meeting, he attempted to 
N18 119 bite off my lower lip..."<quote/><p/>
N18 120 <p_><quote_>"He's a scratcher, Miss Rhodes,"<quote/> said Derewicz, 
N18 121 touching white scars on his cheek. He had a Halifax accent.<p/>
N18 122 <p_><quote_>"Do not be alarmed. Silliphant is not violent at 
N18 123 random. He simply feels he has cause not to love Mr Derewicz and 
N18 124 myself. You should be in no danger. Besides, someone in your 
N18 125 profession must surely expect to run some risks. You are, I trust, 
N18 126 competent in the arts of dirty fighting?"<quote/><p/>
N18 127 <p_><quote_>"Oh yes, in California these hands would have to be 
N18 128 licensed as deadly weapons. But potential violence costs 
N18 129 extra."<quote/><p/>
N18 130 <p_><quote_>"Would five hundred pounds cover your 
N18 131 requirements?"<quote/><p/>
N18 132 <p_><quote_>"Unless this Silliphant lives in Honolulu."<quote/><p/>
N18 133 <p_><quote_>"As a matter of fact, he can be found in Camden. Mr 
N18 134 Derewicz has all the details."<quote/><p/>
N18 135 <p_>Sally was given a slim white envelope.<p/>
N18 136 <p_><quote_>"There is a cheque inside,"<quote/> said Karabatsos. 
N18 137 <quote_>"Will you take the job?"<quote/><p/>
N18 138 <p_>She was going to regret it, but...<p/>
N18 139 <p_><quote_>"I don't see why not. I have a couple of other ongoing 
N18 140 investigations, but nothing that can't wait. I should be able to 
N18 141 deal with Mother Hen this evening."<quote/><p/>
N18 142 <p_><quote_>"Excellent. Incidentally, I'd advise you against 
N18 143 telephoning Silliphant to tell him you're coming. That would give 
N18 144 him time to work up an irrational rage. There will be no need to 
N18 145 inform me once you have discharged your duties. Good 
N18 146 day."<quote/><p/>
N18 147 <p_>Karabatsos stood up, steadied his wobbling stomach, and left. 
N18 148 Before shutting the door behind him, Derewicz said <quote_>"You 
N18 149 know you look just like that girl who sang <tf_>Where the Boys 
N18 150 Are<tf/>."<quote/><p/>
N18 151 <p_>Sally gave him her zero degree smile. She shuddered as if her 
N18 152 grave had been spat on. With an unnerving spasm of strength, she 
N18 153 snapped the biro in two.<p/>
N18 154 <p_>She could have sworn, for a moment, that Mother Hen had 
N18 155 blinked.<p/><p/>
N18 156 <p_><h|>2<p/>
N18 157 <p_><p_>Sally knew from experience and <tf_>The Rockford Files<tf/> 
N18 158 that nothing was as simple as the commission she had accepted. She 
N18 159 was being followed.<p/>
N18 160 <p_>Although most of her backstreet scuffles had been with prodigal 
N18 161 pussies, she was not unprepared for the occasional dangerous game 
N18 162 of midnight hide-and-seek.<p/>
N18 163 <p_>One of the imaginary plague of peeping toms in Highgate had 
N18 164 turned out to be real. A borderline psychotic with a greasy quiff 
N18 165 and a pair of boltcutters had found her watching him watching women 
N18 166 in a garage toilet. He had dragged her into a petrol-stinking 
N18 167 workshop, used the shears as a bludgeon, and tried to rape her. She 
N18 168 had used the tool for a purposed related to that which it was 
N18 169 intended for and neatly snipped off one of her assailant's nuts. He 
N18 170 had got a sociology degree in Pentonville, and she had been bound 
N18 171 over to keep the peace.<p/>
N18 172 <p_>There was an anonymous car tailing the 134 down the Archway 
N18 173 road. The bus stopped frequently, but the driver ignored all the 
N18 174 opportunities to overtake it. Aside from the conductor, Sally 
N18 175 shared the bus only with a pair of gibbering pensioners. The tail 
N18 176 had to be on her.<p/>
N18 177 <p_>The little Astra she sometimes carried for effect was locked up 
N18 178 in a desk drawer back in Muswell Hill. Anyway, it didn't have a 
N18 179 firing pin. If it came to physical violence, she thought she could 
N18 180 hand out a fairly punitive whack with Mother Hen. Holding tightly 
N18 181 the cloth-wrapped statuette, she got off a couple of stops early 
N18 182 and dodged into a crowded kebab place.<p/>
N18 183 <p_>The windows were misted over, but she discerned the blobby 
N18 184 shape of the car as it drove by. She couldn't name the make but 
N18 185 knew it was one of the common ones. Red tangles of dead cow turned 
N18 186 over a weakly infernal light behind the counter. A loiterer with 
N18 187 gorilla forearms and a 'Feed the World' T-shirt tried 
N18 188 accidentally to touch her bottom. She deliberately stamped on his 
N18 189 sandals, and stepped cautiously onto the crud-covered 
N18 190 pavement.<p/>
N18 191 <p_>Over the road, a giant chicken with a red and green chef's hat 
N18 192 clucked out special prices for its barbequed<sic!> brothers in a 
N18 193 Tennessee Williams accent.<p/>
N18 194 <p_>The roar of a civil aircraft drowned the beating of Mother 
N18 195 Hen's wings. Drops of red fell hundreds of feet to splash in the 
N18 196 streets.<p/>
N18 197 <p_>The anonymous address in Camden turned out to be a club,  
N18 198 Fly-By-Nite's. The pursuit car was cruising around looking for an 
N18 199 inconspicuous but convenient parking space. Karabatsos's northern 
N18 200 polack was driving. He had on leather gloves and an SAS balaclava. 
N18 201 Shit, thought Sally.<p/>
N18 202 <p_>To get into Fly-by-Nite's, Sally had to squeeze through a 
N18 203 dingy corridor beside a licensed sex shop, negotiate a rat-eaten 
N18 204 bead curtain, and descend a creaky spiral staircase. The strains of 
N18 205 that perennially popular heavy punk standard 'I Wanna Fuck a Pig' 
N18 206 could be heard over the amp feedback. There was a heady whiff of 
N18 207 drugs in the air.<p/>
N18 208 <p_>She found herself in an overpoweringly loud environment, an 
N18 209 economy-size cavern with wall-to-wall beefcake.The near-naked  
N18 210 Conan clone on the door pointed to a sign: NO UNACCOMPANIED 
N18 211 WOMEN. He had SUPER STEVE written on one of his pectorals. He 
N18 212 mouthed a discreet <quote_>"Naff off."<quote/><p/>
N18 213 <p_>She stuffed a five pound note into his leather codpiece, not 
N18 214 expecting any change. With a ball pentel, she wrote on her hand: 
N18 215 I'M A MAN IN DRAG. Super Steve wasn't satisfied, and put on an 
N18 216 impressive display of brow-flexing. She smeared her palm clean on 
N18 217 his oiled shoulder, and shouted <quote_>"Where's 
N18 218 Silliphant?"<quote/><p/>
N18 219 <p_>Super Steve changed his attitude as promplty as a foreign 
N18 220 waiter confronted with a television-advertised credit card. He 
N18 221 signalled, and an understudy, smartly dressed as Robin the Boy 
N18 222 Wonder, took his place as he led Sally through the flesh-jammed 
N18 223 dance floor to a quieter room. Unsurprisingly, no one tried to 
N18 224 touch her up.<p/>
N18 225 <p_><quote_>"Would you mind waiting here?"<quote/> asked Super 
N18 226 Steve in a reassuringly Balham-shaded voice. <quote_>"I'll fetch 
N18 227 Joel."<quote/><p/>
N18 228 <quote_>"Thank you,"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"By the way, a 
N18 229 friend of mine will be coming in soon.
N18 230 
N19   1 <#FLOB:N19\><h_><p_>Adrian Cole<p/>
N19   2 <p_>ONLY HUMAN<p/><h/>
N19   3 <p_>Swarbang burst through the doors and into the stone chamber as 
N19   4 though all the demons in Hell were hot on his tail. Which was an 
N19   5 exaggeration, as most of them ignored his passing, as usual. He was 
N19   6 not a particularly bright or violent demon himself, but he was 
N19   7 nonetheless an ugly brute, capable of chewing the head off a lesser 
N19   8 creature of the pantheon if he had to.<p/>
N19   9 <p_>A company of his fellows was gathered in the chamber, and as 
N19  10 one, they turned their glaring eyes upon the sweating Swarbang, 
N19  11 whose scarlet flesh looked as though it had been roasted over a 
N19  12 slow fire.<p/>
N19  13 <p_><quote_>"It's just as we feared!"<quote/> he gasped, his long, 
N19  14 fat tail slapping the flagstones like an irritated dragon's. 
N19  15 <quote_>"They've got Snagubal. Trapped him!"<quote/><p/>
N19  16 <p_>The demon conclave - there were a dozen of them - hissed and 
N19  17 snarled and generally swore crudely and inventively as only demons 
N19  18 can.<p/>
N19  19 <p_>Murkrack, largest of them, puffed out his already bloated belly 
N19  20 and spat dramatically. <quote_>"This is insufferable! How <tf|>dare 
N19  21 they treat one of us, <tf|>us, Brothers of the Eleventh Grotto, in 
N19  22 this way. Intolerable!"<quote/><p/>
N19  23 <p_><quote_>"It's all very well grumbling and spitting and 
N19  24 threatening to beat up on the slag imps, Murkrack,"<quote/> snorted 
N19  25 the towering Grossbile. <quote_>"But what in Hell are we going to 
N19  26 <tf|>do about it?"<quote/><p/>
N19  27 <p_><quote|>"Do?" snapped Murkrack. <quote_>"Do? We'll go out there 
N19  28 and get him back, that's what!"<quote/><p/>
N19  29 <p_><quote_>"Yes, yes,"<quote/> said Grossbile, looming 
N19  30 impatiently. <quote_>"We know the penalties for not protecting one 
N19  31 of our number from sorcery. I'm talking about action. But you 
N19  32 haven't properly considered our dilemma. How, precisely, are we 
N19  33 supposed to 'go out there' and rescue the hapless 
N19  34 Snagubal?"<quote/><p/>
N19  35 <p_>Murkrack screwed his face up into a hideous mask that made even 
N19  36 the demons shudder. <quote_>"Uh, well... we... we..."<quote/><p/>
N19  37 <p_><quote_>"We can't follow Snagubal,"<quote/> said Grossbile. 
N19  38 <quote_>"He was summoned. By a human sorcerer. Drawn out of our 
N19  39 realm to the human world, no doubt to perform some nauseating task 
N19  40 to satisfy the whim of the said sorcerer. Unless we are summoned, 
N19  41 we can't follow."<quote/><p/>
N19  42 <p_><quote_>"And I've checked carefully,"<quote/> said Swarbang. 
N19  43 <quote_>"The sorcerer who's trapped Snagubal has him in a 
N19  44 pentacle."<quote/><p/>
N19  45 <p_><quote_>"Doesn't the idiot know the code for breaking 
N19  46 pentacles?"<quote/> growled Flutterpaddle, a skeletal, 
N19  47 green-skinned being with the voice of a constipated frog.<p/>
N19  48 <p_><quote_>"Oh, yes,"<quote/> nodded Swarbang. <quote_>"But this 
N19  49 is a master mage. Snagubal can't move, only to go on 
N19  50 errands."<quote/><p/>
N19  51 <p_><quote_>"Which are?"<quote/><p/>
N19  52 <p_><quote_>"Systematically eating certain other sorcerers. 
N19  53 Snagubal doesn't mind the odd one or two - who wouldn't? - but 
N19  54 too many are bad for the digestion."<quote/><p/>
N19  55 <p_><quote|>"So," snorted Grossbile, <quote_>"we can't get Snagubal 
N19  56 back. Not unless we invoke Under-Devil Zarb, and he'll be so 
N19  57 annoyed at Snagubal's incompetence that he'll say the sorcerer is 
N19  58 welcome to him!"<quote/><p/>
N19  59 <p_><quote_>"You mean,"<quote/> gulped Swarbang, <quote_>"that 
N19  60 we've lost Snagubal for good? But he's my friend."<quote/><p/>
N19  61 <p_>Grossbile thought quietly while his companions made more 
N19  62 snorting noises. Eventually he hissed for silence. <quote_>"Ahem! 
N19  63 There is a possible solution. We must fight fire with fire. Rather 
N19  64 apt, for demons. <tf|>We can't break this pentacle and free 
N19  65 Snagubal. Only a human can do that. Very well. We must elicit the 
N19  66 aid of a human."<quote/><p/>
N19  67 <p_><quote_>"Won't that be seeing a precedent?"<quote/> grumbled 
N19  68 Murkrack.<p/>
N19  69 <p_><quote_>"I guess so,"<quote/> Grossbile nodded. <quote_>"But we 
N19  70 could draw a pentacle of our own. Humans draw them in their world 
N19  71 and summon demons. So why shouldn't we draw one and summon a human? 
N19  72 To serve <tf|>us."<quote/><p/>
N19  73 <p_>The demons gaped, but gradually began to chuckle, then laugh, 
N19  74 then roar with mirth, as though they had already accomplished their 
N19  75 outrageous plan.<p/>
N19  76 <p_>It took considerably longer than they expected, but they 
N19  77 finally got their crude pentacle organised. Grossbile had very 
N19  78 definite ideas on the shape and most of the sigils, but each of the 
N19  79 demons added his won cabalistic marking. They scoured the 
N19  80 corridors, holes and burrows of their demonic terrain and assembled 
N19  81 a weird assortment of bones, mostly human, a slightly damaged 
N19  82 skull, some hanks of hair, and Swarbang's proud contribution, a 
N19  83 shrivelled tongue, albeit that of a bovine quadruped.<p/>
N19  84 <p_>Scattering these unsavoury items about their pentacle, which 
N19  85 they drew in their own blood, they stood outside it in wavering 
N19  86 torchlight, waiting to see who would suggest the next move.<p/>
N19  87 <p_><quote_>"Some sort of chant?"<quote/> said Flutterpaddle.<p/>
N19  88 <p_><quote_>"I can't be sure of the words,"<quote/> said Grossbile. 
N19  89 <quote_>"But they should be fairly basic. Let's all hold claws and 
N19  90 concentrate."<quote/><p/>
N19  91 <p_>They did this with some reluctance, not being by nature 
N19  92 affectionate creatures, but once Grossbile began his sombre, though 
N19  93 fairly convincing chant, they focussed their energy in a combined 
N19  94 groaning designed to invoke their human, though Swarbang did wonder 
N19  95 if their frightful concatenations would raise the dead.<p/>
N19  96 <p_>Around and around the pentacle they shuffled, eyes and teeth 
N19  97 gleaming in the torchlight and the air quivered expectantly.<p/>
N19  98 <p_>Oliver Firmly was also engaged in a familiar and not dissimilar 
N19  99 ritual at this very time, though he was an entire dimension away. 
N19 100 He, too, was singing. At least, his attempts at impersonating 
N19 101 Pavarotti as he luxuriated in his shower roughly approximated to 
N19 102 the equivalent of the bizarre chant in the demons' stone chamber. 
N19 103 It may have been his vocal extemporisation on a theme which somehow 
N19 104 breached the void, linking him to the utterings of the hideous 
N19 105 gathering.<p/>
N19 106 <p_>At any rate, he suddenly found himself standing not in his 
N19 107 shower, but elsewhere. The soothing hot jet of water had gone. So 
N19 108 had most of the lighting. Assuming this to be a power failure, he 
N19 109 turned to the glass door of the cubicle, but it was also gone. Only 
N19 110 the steam had not completely dissipated, although it had somehow... 
N19 111 changed. It was more like smoke.<p/>
N19 112 <p_>In the absence of the hiss of hot water, Firmly noticed the 
N19 113 chanting, or more precisely, croaking, as if a plague of frogs had 
N19 114 got loose in the drains. But it couldn't be frogs, it was too 
N19 115 harmonious. No, he decided, that wasn't the word. It was 
N19 116 horrible.<p/>
N19 117 <p_><quote_>"I see something!"<quote/> someone cried, again in 
N19 118 batrachian tones.<p/>
N19 119 <p_>The smoke cleared a little. Firmly gaped, fingers clutching 
N19 120 helplessly at his loofa. H was surrounded by the most horrendous 
N19 121 collection of... of... what in <tf|>hell were they? They looked 
N19 122 like escapees from the set of a Cronenberg movie. Jeeze, the 
N19 123 <tf|>realism.<p/>
N19 124 <p_><quote|>"Success!" gurgled another voice. Baleful eyes gleamed. 
N19 125 Automatically Firmly swung his loofa to cover the tenderest part of 
N19 126 his anatomy.<p/>
N19 127 <p_><quote_>"What in God's name are you doing in my 
N19 128 bathroom?"<quote/><p/>
N19 129 <p_><quote_>"Mind your language!"<quote/> hissed tha tallest of the 
N19 130 freaks, his chins wobbling, his vast belly bouncing up and down in 
N19 131 the smoke. Somehting appeared to be keeping both him and his 
N19 132 disgusting pink-skinned companions from waddling too close.<p/>
N19 133 <p_><quote_>"A human,"<quote/> another said.<p/>
N19 134 <p_><quote_>"Look, will you get the hell out of my goddam 
N19 135 bathroom!"<quote/> shouted Firmly, feeling more than a little 
N19 136 ridiculous.<p/>
N19 137 <p_><quote_>"This is not your world, you repulsive monster,"<quote/> 
N19 138 snapped Grossbile, flexing his claws suggestively. "<quote/>It's 
N19 139 <tf|>ours. And if you want to see your world again, you'd better do 
N19 140 exactly as you're told. We can easily discard you and summon 
N19 141 another one, now that we've mastered the technique."<quote/><p/>
N19 142 <p_>Firmly shook his head, baffled. But he was in no position to 
N19 143 argue. <quote_>"Look, you guys, will someone tell me what this is 
N19 144 all about? I have to be in my office in less than an 
N19 145 hour."<quote/><p/>
N19 146 <p_>Grossbile scratched his chin with an elongated dirk of a 
N19 147 fingernail. <quote_>"Role reversal. We demons have conjured us a 
N19 148 human. That is, you."<quote/><p/>
N19 149 <p_>Firmly nodded slowly. Who were these lunatics?<p/>
N19 150 <p_><quote_>"One of our colleagues, Snagubla, has been summoned to 
N19 151 your world by a partucularly ambitious sorcerer, name of 
N19 152 Wenceslodin. Snagubal has become an unwilling slave. He can't get 
N19 153 back."<quote/><p/>
N19 154 <p_><quote_>"It's not fair,"<quote/> whined Swarbang. <quote_>"He's 
N19 155 done what the pact called for, enough maiming and mutilating. But 
N19 156 Wenceslodin won't release him."<quote/><p/>
N19 157 <p_><quote_>"You must know this Wenceslodin?"<quote/> prompted 
N19 158 Grossbile.<p/>
N19 159 <p_>Firmly swallowed. <quote_>"Uh - is he some kind of stage 
N19 160 magician?"<quote/><p/>
N19 161 <p_><quote_>"Magician, yes. So you do know him?"<quote/><p/>
N19 162 <p_><quote_>"No, not exactly. Who's he with?"<quote/><p/>
N19 163 <p_><quote_>"He is supposed to serve King Urtrabrutes. But he 
N19 164 intends to rule your world for himself. He is using Snagubal to 
N19 165 eradicate his rivals."<quote/><p/>
N19 166 <p_>Firmly struggled to keep his composure. They must be fantasy 
N19 167 wargamers. That was it King who? Was there a convention in town?<p/>
N19 168 <p_><quote_>"The only way we can help Snagubal,"<quote/> Grossbile 
N19 169 went in, <quote_>"is by getting a human to break the pentacle that 
N19 170 is his prison. We will gladly send you back to your world. But when 
N19 171 you are there, you must free Snagubal."<quote/><p/>
N19 172 <p_><quote_>"How do I do that?"<quote/><p/>
N19 173 <p_><quote_>"Simply break the pentacle. Only a human can do 
N19 174 that."<quote/><p/>
N19 175 <p_>Something clicked in Firmly's mind. He'd never been a great fan 
N19 176 of weird fiction, but he seemed to remember a movie once where some 
N19 177 ind of demon broke free of its pentacle and <tf|>ate the sap who'd 
N19 178 summoned it.<p/>
N19 179 <p_><quote_>"Hold on, pal. If I break this pentacle, what happens 
N19 180 to me? This Snagubal is going to eat me, right?"<quote/> He shook 
N19 181 his head. What am I saying? I'm getting as dumb as these guys! Eat 
N19 182 me? Am I kidding?<p/>
N19 183 <p_>Swarbang giggled, unable to control himself. <quote_>"We hadn't 
N19 184 thought of that, but he's right."<quote/><p/>
N19 185 <p_><quote_>"We'll just have to make sure Snagubal understands he's 
N19 186 being rescued,"<quote/> said Grossbile. <quote_>"He's 
N19 187 reasonably sensible, and should realise. And of course, he's already 
N19 188 engorged himself on a dozen or so petty sorcerers. I can't believe 
N19 189 he'll still be hungry, pig that he is."<quote/><p/>
N19 190 <p_><quote_>"So all I have to do,"<quote/> said Firmly, <quote_>"is 
N19 191 release your pal, and then I'll be able to get on with my 
N19 192 life?"<quote/><p/>
N19 193 <p_><quote|>"Exactly," said Grossible.<quote_>"Under such an 
N19 194 arrangement there's no need for the usual torture, torment, 
N19 195 Hellfire and all that stuff."<quote/><p/>
N19 196 <p_><quote_>"One question."<quote/><p/>
N19 197 <p_><quote|>"Yes?"<p/>
N19 198 <p_><quote_>"Can I have some clothes?"<quote/><p/>
N19 199 <p_>The demons screwed up their faces and Firmly gasped in amusement 
N19 200 - boy , what they couldn't do with foam latex these days. Really 
N19 201 gross stuff.<p/>
N19 202 <p_><quote|>"Clothes," muttered Grossbile. <quote_>"I never 
N19 203 understood why you humans had to have second skins. We don't 
N19 204 bother. Mind you, we do generate a lot more body heat, I 
N19 205 suppose."<quote/><p/>
N19 206 <p_><quote_>"We can get him some skins from the flaying 
N19 207 caverns,"<quote/> someone suggested.<p/>
N19 208 <p_><quote_>"I think he want somthing more sophisticated,"<quote/> 
N19 209 said Grosssbile. <quote_>"Look, you'll have to steal something when 
N19 210 you get back. There'll be plenty of clothes in the Tower of 
N19 211 Screamlng Skulls."<quote/><p/>
N19 212 <p_><quote_>"Excuse me,"<quote/> said Firmly. <quote_>"Did I hear 
N19 213 that right? Skulls?"<quote/><p/>
N19 214 <p_><quote_>"Wenceslodin's retreat. You can pick up some clothes 
N19 215 when you get there."<quote/><p/>
N19 216 <p_><quote_>"Can't I just go back to my apartment - "<quote/><p/>
N19 217 <p_><quote_>"No time, no time! Just break the pentacle, that's all. 
N19 218 Or do we get ourselves another human?"<quote/> said 
N19 219 Grossbile impatiently, waving his horrendous claws. They, at least, 
N19 220 were all too real.<p/>
N19 221 <p_><quote_>"Okay, okay, let's go for it,"<quote/> groaned Firmly, 
N19 222 with as much enthusiasm as a cat about to enter a dog pound.<p/>
N19 223 <p_>This time the transition was even more sudden. Like someone had 
N19 224 flipped a light switch off. Darkness. Then on again. Poor light, a 
N19 225 sort of torchlight. <tf|>Torchlight?<p/>
N19 226 <p_>Firmly shivered. He really did need clothes. And wherever the 
N19 227 hell he was, he needed more than a goddam loofa to defend himself. 
N19 228 But curiously enough, the corridor in which he now found himself 
N19 229 was lined with shields, undercrossed with swords that gleamed. He 
N19 230 had no time to wonder how he had been brought here, though he 
N19 231 assumed he'd been drugged in his shower - that smoke beat the heck 
N19 232 out of any incense. So now what?<p/>
N19 233 <p_>He slipped one of the shields from the wall, but it was far too 
N19 234 heavy. He had better luck with the sword. Even so, it was 
N19 235 unwieldy.<p/>
N19 236 <p_>As he crept down the passage, he wondered how much had been 
N19 237 spent on this place. A fortune. This was real stonework. Daylight 
N19 238 slatted through a narrow window and he craned his neck to see out. 
N19 239 And gaped in disbelief. The landscape of bogs, stunted trees and 
N19 240 drifting fog looked like bayou country. If this was some kind of 
N19 241 amusement park it was hidden in a part of the city he never heard 
N19 242 of.But through a break in the sliding fog he caught a glimpse of 
N19 243 distant horizon. The truth hit him at last.<p/><p_>This may be his 
N19 244 world, but it sure as heck wasn't his <tf|>time.<p/>
N19 245 
N20   1 <#FLOB:N20\><h_><p_>Garry Kilworth<p/>
N20   2 <p_>ISLAND WITH THE STINK OF GHOSTS<p/><h/>
N20   3 <p_>The Chinese jetty clans, who ruled the waterfronts along 
N20   4 Penang's Georgetown harbour, fostered the myth that their hawkers 
N20   5 had been responsible for its formation. It was said that chicken 
N20   6 fat, glutinous rice, fishheads, <tf|>hokkien noodles, prawn shells, 
N20   7 and other waste matter, had gathered together in a stretch of still 
N20   8 water between the currents and had formed the foundations of the 
N20   9 floating island. Sargasso had rooted itself in the rich oils and 
N20  10 savoury spices, on top of which gathered soil from the mainland. A 
N20  11 rainforest had grown from its earth.<p/>
N20  12 <p_>The island was about three miles off the Malaysian coast and 
N20  13 was held precariously in place by the fronds of seaweed rooted in 
N20  14 the ocean floor. No one, not even the ancient Wan Hooi, who ran a 
N20  15 clan <tf_>curry mee<tf/> stall on the Larong Salamat, could 
N20  16 remember the time when the island had not been there. Wan Hooi was 
N20  17 the oldest hawker on Penang, but it was pointed out that he had 
N20  18 only been around for a hundred years. The clans had been using the 
N20  19 harbour as a waste bin for more than a thousand.<p/>
N20  20 <p_>Whenever there was an onshore breeze, a sickly, perfumed odour 
N20  21 wafted over from the island. This smell, according to both Malays 
N20  22 and Chinese, was the stink of ghosts rotting - or to be more 
N20  23 accurate, the odour of decaying souls. The body, when it 
N20  24 decomposes, has a foul smell. Therefore, it seemed logical that a 
N20  25 putrefying soul should have a sweet, cloying scent. The island was 
N20  26 the burial ground for malefactors and murderers, whose punishment 
N20  27 after death was for the corrupt soul to remain with the body, and 
N20  28 rot within it.<p/>
N20  29 <p_>These beliefs had little to do with religion, but came from a 
N20  30 deeply-rooted local superstition, such as is found in any region: 
N20  31 a myth from earlier, darker minds, when reason and evidence were 
N20  32 less important than fear.<p/>
N20  33 <p_>Fishermen gave the island a wide berth, and only the old 
N20  34 gravedigger, Lo Lim Hok, set foot upon the place.<p/>
N20  35 <p_>Ralph Leeman, an Englishman in his late twenties, was one of 
N20  36 those who witnessed the event on a hot, sultry June evening, when 
N20  37 the island broke loose from its natural mooring. Not that there was 
N20  38 any drama, for there was no sound and little fuss. The island 
N20  39 simply detached itself from its anchoring reeds and began drifting 
N20  40 down the Malacca Straits, which runs between Indonesia and 
N20  41 Malaysia. Possibly heavy rains in Thailand, to the north, had been 
N20  42 responsible for a strong swell. This had resulted in a momentary 
N20  43 change in the direction of the main current, the East Monsoon 
N20  44 Drift, which put pressure on the island. That was Leeman's 
N20  45 theory.<p/>
N20  46 <p_>Leeman was on secondment to the Malaysian Harbour Authority 
N20  47 from the British Coastal Service. Alone in the observation tower, 
N20  48 he had been studying the erratic behavior<sic!> of a large motor 
N20  49 launch, when he was suddenly aware that the island was moving. He 
N20  50 watched it for a few moments, as it passed a distant marker 
N20  51 buoy.<p/>
N20  52 <p_><quote_>"Good God! Stinker's on the move."<quote/><p/>
N20  53 <p_>He immediately made a call to his superior.<p/>
N20  54 <p_>Sumi Pulau, the harbourmaster, arrived at the tower thirty 
N20  55 minutes later, having fought his way through the Georgetown 
N20  56 traffic. He studied the island through binoculars and expressed his 
N20  57 amazement and concern. His English, like that of many educated 
N20  58 Malays, was extremely good.<p/>
N20  59 <p_><quote_>"Directly in the shipping lane. We'll have to do 
N20  60 something about it immediately. It'll be dark soon. Got any 
N20  61 suggestions?"<quote/><p/>
N20  62 <p_>Leeman had already been considering the problem and gave his 
N20  63 opinion.<p/>
N20  64 <p_><quote_>"We could attach tugboats to it and tow it to the 
N20  65 mainland - but given the nature of the island - the fact that 
N20  66 it's a graveyard, I'm not sure the coastal villages would want it 
N20  67 on their doorstep."<quote/><p/>
N20  68 <p_>Pulau nodded.<p/>
N20  69 <p_><quote_>"Yes, and in any case, <tf|>I'm not sure tugs would do 
N20  70 it. Might take something bigger. That's a pretty sizeable piece of 
N20  71 land out there."<quote/><p/>
N20  72 <p_><quote_>"My second thought was that we could blow it out of the 
N20  73 water with high explosives - but I'm worried about the jetties and 
N20  74 stilt-houses. And explosion might create a floodwave."<quote/><p/>
N20  75 <p_><quote_>"Not to mention the fact that we would have corpses 
N20  76 washing up on the tourist beaches..."<quote/><p/>
N20  77 <p_><quote|>"So," continued Leeman, eager to impress, <quote_>"I 
N20  78 suggest we just let it float down the straits. We put a boat in 
N20  79 front and behind, to warn other craft of the shipping hazard. I've 
N20  80 been judging its speed, using the marker buoys and by my reckoning 
N20  81 the island should reach Singapore in thirteen days. Then it can be 
N20  82 towed into open water and disposed of..."<quote/><p/>
N20  83 <p_>The harbourmaster looked thoughtful.<p/>
N20  84 <p_><quote_>"...and I have a final suggestion,"<quote/> said 
N20  85 Leeman.<p/>
N20  86 <p_><quote_>"Which is?"<quote/><p/>
N20  87 <p_><quote_>"That we put a caretaker on the island, to place and 
N20  88 maintain lights, for and aft. This man could keep in radio contact 
N20  89 with the accompanying boats and inform them of any problems. The 
N20  90 sort of thing I envisage is the island running aground on a 
N20  91 sandbank - which might solve all our worries - or breaking up in 
N20  92 a storm. That sort of thing."<quote/><p/>
N20  93 <p_>Pulau scratched his head thoughtfully.<p/>
N20  94 <p_><quote_>"I like it all except the caretaker. I'm not sure it's 
N20  95 necessary to have someone actually <tf|>on the island. It would 
N20  96 have to be you, you know. I wouldn't get any of my men near the 
N20  97 place. <tf_>The island with the stink of ghosts<tf/> - they would 
N20  98 die of fright."<quote/><p/>
N20  99 <p_><quote_>"I realize that. Of course, I would volunteer. It would 
N20 100 be an additional safety factor."<quote/><p/>
N20 101 <p_>The harbourmaster smiled at Leeman.<p/>
N20 102 <p_><quote_>"You're not afraid of ghosts, I take it?"<quote/><p/>
N20 103 <p_><quote_>"Not in the least."<quote/> Which was not entirely 
N20 104 true. The thought of spending thirteen nights in a graveyard was 
N20 105 mildly discomforting, but only that. The physical dangers? Well, 
N20 106 that part if it might be rewarding.<p/>
N20 107 <p_><quote|>"Right," said Pulau, suddenly becoming decisive, 
N20 108 <quote_>"that's how we'll play it. I'll call the Minister. You get 
N20 109 back to your lodgings and pack what you think you'll need and I'll 
N20 110 arrange it. Then and provisions?"<quote/><p/>
N20 111 <p_><quote_>"And gaslights."<quote/><p/>
N20 112 <p_><quote_>"Of course... You really aren't concerned about the 
N20 113 supernatural side of it?"<quote/><p/>
N20 114 <p_><quote|>"No."<p/>
N20 115 <p_>Leeman looked at the dark mass, moving slowly through the water 
N20 116 in the distance. Despite his disbelief, it looked eerie and 
N20 117 forbidding. A fishing canoe, one of those traditional craft with 
N20 118 modern outboard engines thrusting it obscenely across the water, 
N20 119 cut away sharply from the island's path.<p/>
N20 120 <p_><quote_>"What did they do - most of them? Those murderers 
N20 121 buried on the island? It seems a harsh judgement on the 
N20 122 dead,"<quote/> he murmured.<p/>
N20 123 <p_><quote_>"Drug runners,"<quote/> replied Pulau. <quote_>"You 
N20 124 know how we feel about them, here in Malaysia."<quote/><p/>
N20 125 <p_>A shadow crossed Leeman's mind, painfully. He remembered that 
N20 126 drug trafficking carried a mandatory death sentence in Malaysia, 
N20 127 for those convicted of the crime. It was, perhaps, one of the 
N20 128 reasons why he had chosen to do his secondment in this part of the 
N20 129 world.<p/>
N20 130 <p_><quote_>"I see,"<quote/> he said, quietly.<p/>
N20 131 <p_>Pulau regarded him with a quizzical expression.<p/>
N20 132 <p_><quote_>"Does it make any difference? To you, I 
N20 133 mean."<quote/><p/>
N20 134 <p_>Leeman thought about his younger brother, Pete. Of course it 
N20 135 made a difference. The cycle of thoughts which he continually had 
N20 136 to fight, to break out of, began whirling in his head <tf_>Not 
N20 137 again<tf/>, he thought. <tf_>Please. Why are there so many 
N20 138 reminders? Why can't I be left alone?<tf/><p/>
N20 139 <p_>It made a hell of a difference.<p/>
N20 140 <p_><quote|>"No," he said. <quote_>"I just wondered, that was 
N20 141 all."<quote/><p/>
N20 142 <p_>On the way to the boarding house, in Lebuh Campbell, he told 
N20 143 himself how much he liked it on Penang, in the Far East. He enjoyed 
N20 144 the expatriate life, with its accompanying indulgence in a 
N20 145 completely different culture. He was an advocate of an older way of 
N20 146 life, with values he felt the modern world had wrongly placed 
N20 147 aside. In the Far East, you could get closer to such values. They 
N20 148 gave one a sense of historical continuity: a connection with the 
N20 149 past. He could enjoy it more, if only... if only he could throw off 
N20 150 the mistakes of the <tf|>immediate past. But they clung to his mind 
N20 151 like leeches, sucking it dry... He had said <tf|>sorry many, many 
N20 152 times, but there were no ears to hear, no one to listen... He had 
N20 153 run to the Far East in order to get away form the leeches, but that 
N20 154 had not been far enough. Here he was, running again, to a small, 
N20 155 floating island that had detached itself from the world. At first 
N20 156 he was too busy to allow the sweet fragrance of the island to 
N20 157 disturb him. He had to place the calor gas lamps, at either end of 
N20 158 the rain forest, involving a mile walk along the shore. Then there 
N20 159 was the business of setting up camp (something Pete would have 
N20 160 enjoyed): erecting the tent, unpacking provisions, starting a fire 
N20 161 and, finally, using the radio transceiver. He reported to the 
N20 162 accompanying craft that all was well and he was preparing to bed 
N20 163 down for the night.<p/>
N20 164 <p_>Once these duties had been accomplished, he had more time to 
N20 165 consider his environment. <p/>
N20 166 <p_>There were the usual jungle noises, that he had often heard on 
N20 167 Penang. There were cicadas which gave out sounds like factory 
N20 168 whistles; frogs that bellowed like megaphones; and birds that ran 
N20 169 up and down scales as if they were taking some from of musical 
N20 170 training.<p/>
N20 171 <p_>There were also other sounds: the breeze in the palms and the 
N20 172 rippling of water through the thick weed on which the island was 
N20 173 based.<p/>
N20 174 <p_>Then there was that <tf|>smell.<p/>
N20 175 <p_>It was by no means a disagreeable perfume and reminded him of 
N20 176 incense, but it seemed so dense as to stain the air with its 
N20 177 presence. Perhaps the cause lay in some unusual plant? Then again, 
N20 178 it might have come from the thick sargasso which supported the soil 
N20 179 and rainforest? That explanation seemed much more likely.<p/>
N20 180 <p_>He took a torch and went to the end of the island, to peer down 
N20 181 into the shallows. There was no beach. Instead, a soil bank dropped 
N20 182 sharply into the sea, beneath the surface of which he could see the 
N20 183 myriad vines of sargassum, knotted together to form a mass of 
N20 184 spongy weed. It was alive with sea creatures, mostly eels.<p/>
N20 185 <p_>Leeman backed away, a little disconcerted. He was revolted, not 
N20 186 by the creatures themselves, but by their numbers. It almost seemed 
N20 187 as if the island were a live thing, crawling with tentacles. This, 
N20 188 coupled with the thought that there was a great depth of ocean 
N20 189 beneath him - a strange sensation until he managed to convince 
N20 190 himself that the island was only a raft: a craft fashioned by 
N20 191 nature instead of man-made him tread lightly for a while. Once 
N20 192 he had got used to the idea that it was in effect nothing more than 
N20 193 a platform of weed, a natural Kon Tiki, carried along by the 
N20 194 current, he managed to keep his imagination under control<p/>
N20 195 <p_>He slept very little that first night, the smell overpowering 
N20 196 his desire for rest. He rose, once or twice, to watch the lights 
N20 197 drift by on the mainland, and gained some comfort from those of the 
N20 198 accompanying craft.<p/>
N20 199 <p_>When morning came, sweltering but happily blessed with bright 
N20 200 sunlight, he was able to explore his surroundings without the 
N20 201 intrusion of irrational fears, of rotting souls. The rainforest, 
N20 202 half-a-mile wide, was much like any other he had seen on 
N20 203 Penang. It was dense, its undergrowth and canopy formed of a 
N20 204 thousand different plants of which he knew few by name. He 
N20 205 recognised the frangipani trees of course, regarded by the Chinese 
N20 206 as unlucky, and tamarind, and various types of palm. He knew there 
N20 207 would be snakes amongst the vines, and large spiders quivering on 
N20 208 the underside of waxy leaves, but these did not bother him 
N20 209 overmuch. He had sprayed the area around the tent with paraffin, 
N20 210 which would keep any wildlife away. Pete would have been terrified 
N20 211 of them, of course, but then Pete was not with him.<p/>
N20 212 <p_>He managed to busy himself with small tasks that occupied his 
N20 213 mind to a degree, but there was no ignoring the smell.
N20 214 
N20 215 
N21   1 <#FLOB:N21\><h_>Julie Akhurst<p/>
N21   2 <p_>Small pieces of Alice<p/><h/>
N21   3 <p_>Emilia took off her spectacles and rubbed the thin skin of her 
N21   4 eyelids and across the bridge of her nose. Then she replaced her 
N21   5 spectacles, blinked sharply and shook back her hair. She was 
N21   6 beginning to see the dead animals again.<p/>
N21   7 <p_>Of course they weren't there when she swallowed down her fear 
N21   8 and walked up to them. The splayed, broken form of a rabbit was one 
N21   9 of those small weighted sacks used inexplicably wherever men were 
N21  10 working on the road; or she was staring at a flapping piece of 
N21  11 newspaper when she had seen a dying gull beating its wings 
N21  12 senselessly against a lamppost. She always did ask herself what 
N21  13 such a proliferation of carelessly squandered wildlife would be 
N21  14 doing in W2, but it was a question without the conviction that it 
N21  15 had any right to be asked, used in the face of blind panic like a 
N21  16 parasol against the mugger's knife.<p/>
N21  17 <p_>She put her chin down now and walked firmly up to the dead 
N21  18 collie whose blood-stained fur was twitching in the breeze; and it 
N21  19 happily resolved itself into an oddly-coloured corner of the shop 
N21  20 wall, the tattered remnant of a handkerchief. Slowly she let out a 
N21  21 shuddering sigh, pretending even to herself that nothing had 
N21  22 unnerved her. She had already walked on, her small, firm footsteps 
N21  23 ringing up the hard pavement of the Bayswater Road.<p/>
N21  24 <p_>Last night she had seen Nell in silhouette in her darkened 
N21  25 office, the huge outline of her stomach standing out against the 
N21  26 little light that filtered through the window blind. Her head was 
N21  27 thrown back so that the fall of her hair slid over the desk and 
N21  28 just touched the ground. She should have been a Madonna with that 
N21  29 expression on her face. There was a quattrocento serenity in the 
N21  30 curve of her lip, the downcast eyelid, that would have spoken of a 
N21  31 secret and holy communion with the child within her if it had been 
N21  32 found on any bas-relief - or on anybody but Nell. Emilia's stomach 
N21  33 turned as she followed once more in her mind the shadowy arch that 
N21  34 began with Nell's hair, rode the swell of her belly and ended in 
N21  35 Clive, kneeling with reverent silence, his tongue worshipping at 
N21  36 Nell's generous cunt.<p/>
N21  37 <p_>When the crack of light from the open door had fallen across 
N21  38 them, Emilia had stood stony for one long minute on the threshold, 
N21  39 then clicked the door shut with a customary neatness, before 
N21  40 gathering her gloves, her coat, from the foyer and making towards 
N21  41 Bayswater. As she passed that side of the building she couldn't 
N21  42 help herself glancing up Nell's office, but everything was still in 
N21  43 darkness.<p/>
N21  44 <p_>All night the image had returned to her, and now, as she 
N21  45 glanced down at the immaculate package in her gloved hand, it 
N21  46 superimposed itself on silver ribbon and paper scored to fold at 
N21  47 right angles.<p/>
N21  48 <p_>When she had first heard, on the office grapevine, that Nell 
N21  49 was pregnant, Emilia's joy had been unbounded. And when Clive had 
N21  50 asked her, between meetings, <quote_>"Any gossip, then?"<quote/> 
N21  51 she had inclined her head slightly with that preparatory pause and 
N21  52 told him about it with a proprietary pleasure, made sincere through 
N21  53 layers and layers of practice over the years of being a personal 
N21  54 assistant. Clive left his half-drunk coffee on the edge of her 
N21  55 desk, lifting the office cat out of his path before bouncing off to 
N21  56 meet with the printer.<p/>
N21  57 <p_><quote_>"There'll be a collection, of course?"<quote/> She 
N21  58 nodded slightly.<p/>
N21  59 <p_><quote_>"Here. Take this fiver to start it off."<quote/><p/>
N21  60 <p_>She bent and slid a fresh buff envelope out of her stationery 
N21  61 drawer, and held it beneath her downturned palms, feeling through 
N21  62 the thin paper all the new paths, new possibilities that were 
N21  63 already opening up. Slowly she slid in the five-pound note and 
N21  64 added one to match it, shining with barely suppressed hope.<p/>
N21  65 <p_>It had been much too early really, but doing it had made it all 
N21  66 seem more real. She had gone down to Regent Street and spent a 
N21  67 fruitless lunch hour sweeping the mother-and-baby departments, 
N21  68 sorting briskly through possibilities and as briskly discarding 
N21  69 them. She thought of the usual gifts - of what she might give to a 
N21  70 friend, or to her several godchildren - and imagined the superior 
N21  71 half-smile, the amused catch in the voice, if Nell were to unwrap a 
N21  72 silver rattle, a tiny bracelet, or, God forbid, a Peter Rabbit 
N21  73 breakfast set.<p/>
N21  74 <p_>There seemed to be no room in the girl for sentimental 
N21  75 considerations: the romance of motherhood apparently meant little 
N21  76 or nothing to her. There were ways of behaving, and Nell fitted no 
N21  77 known pattern. When Emilia had asked politely about her home 
N21  78 arrangements, and whether she was getting on well with a nursery, 
N21  79 there had again been that barely-concealed smile, then the 
N21  80 emotionless recital of fact, as though she were communicating with 
N21  81 a moron. Nell didn't feel it necessary to make a 'nest' for her 
N21  82 child (the inverted commas hovered in the air between them, borne 
N21  83 up by sarcasm) - she was just going to bed it down in her room in 
N21  84 an old cot her aunt had passed on. When she herself had been a 
N21  85 baby, her mother hadn't even found she needed that, but had used a 
N21  86 drawer...<p/>
N21  87 <p_>Not for one second did Emilia believe her. It was just another 
N21  88 example of the inverted oneupmanship that Emilia had despised in 
N21  89 Nell since the day she had interviewed her in Clive's office one 
N21  90 lunchtime.<p/>
N21  91 <p_>They were looking for a secretary to help some of the editors 
N21  92 deal with their letters, perhaps to do a little proofreading if 
N21  93 bright enough, and Nell, with her Oxbridge degree and her state 
N21  94 education seemed useful, if not quite the right face for the job. 
N21  95 Looking at Nell's endless CV, Emilia had tried to crack the ice: 
N21  96 <quote_>"Well, you seem to be quite a bright girl, don't 
N21  97 you?"<quote/><p/>
N21  98 <p_>She had seen the younger woman's face harden ever so slightly, 
N21  99 and realized with a certain sudden pleasure that she was feeling 
N21 100 patronized. But Nell had kept her temper, and <quote_>"I think we 
N21 101 may be able to offer you the job,"<quote/> said Emilia, while at 
N21 102 the same time her stomach was lifting and billowing with nerves. 
N21 103 There seemed a sort of dark purpose in Nell - if Emilia had been 
N21 104 fanciful, she might have called it the organized threads of evil - 
N21 105 that filled Emilia with a sense of brooding chaos. To compensate, 
N21 106 she had taken a deep breath, gained a little time, leant back in 
N21 107 Clive's swivel chair and spun on the shiny surface of the desk his 
N21 108 letter opener that was shaped like a miniature brass sword, so that 
N21 109 it pointed first at Nell, then at herself, on and on. And while it 
N21 110 spun, she talked about her years of publishing experience, until 
N21 111 she could see she had cowed Nell into abandoning the hint of 
N21 112 righteous rebellion that <}_><-|>her<+|>had<}/> been stirring in 
N21 113 her eye. Nell was unsure of Emilia's status or power - probably 
N21 114 thought she was an editor. It wasn't until beginning work the 
N21 115 following week that Nell discovered Emilia was the managing 
N21 116 editor's secretary. But by then she was well and truly under her 
N21 117 thumb.<p/>
N21 118 <p_>Liberty had yielded an exotic shawl in a soft fabric of twisted 
N21 119 reds and yellows, edged in silver thread, and Emilia finally 
N21 120 settled on it as being the sort of thing the office would want her 
N21 121 to spend their money on. It was a gift that would have them 
N21 122 imagining a nursing Nell who wore it while she cuddled her baby in 
N21 123 a high-backed chair. But Emilia found it almost impossible to 
N21 124 assemble the idea of Nell in maternal mode - although she could 
N21 125 quite see that those hips would have no problem whatsoever in 
N21 126 squeezing a little new life into the world.<p/>
N21 127 <p_>God, by the look of her, the girl was born to be fecund! But it 
N21 128 had taken her long enough.<p/>
N21 129 <p_>At first she had worked for Emilia: typing, photocopying, 
N21 130 rushing to meet the needs of Emilia's periodic panics in the rush 
N21 131 to keep Clive happy. For much of the week he was absent, and then 
N21 132 he was back, demanding action and accomplishment. Emilia knew she 
N21 133 was not really as terribly efficient as she seemed. When he was 
N21 134 away she fell into a lassitude where she was constantly active and 
N21 135 achieved next to nothing. As soon as Clive breezed in, she needed 
N21 136 someone to help her make up lost ground. Nell would eye her 
N21 137 knowingly, as she flitted purposelessly round her office, leaning 
N21 138 insolently against the doorframe, her long hair swinging around 
N21 139 her.<p/>
N21 140 <p_><quote_>"I'll come back later, when you've got something you 
N21 141 want me to do."<quote/><p/>
N21 142 <p_>The following week, she would lift some huge pile of 
N21 143 photocopying out of Emilia's arms and do it quickly, without 
N21 144 complaint, in half the time it would have taken Emilia.<p/>
N21 145 <p_>Emilia's colleagues - the women with gold braid on their shoes, 
N21 146 with whom she habitually shopped at lunchtime - watched with envy. 
N21 147 <quote_>"You're lucky to have her,"<quote/> they said, but Emilia 
N21 148 kept her counsel.<p/>
N21 149 <p_><quote_>"You'll lose her yet, though. That one's got 
N21 150 ambition."<quote/><p/>
N21 151 <p_>It filled her with a quiet desperation that they should miss 
N21 152 the just-hidden scorn that was directed at her.<p/>
N21 153 <p_>More and more often, she found herself pausing: in the small, 
N21 154 steamy bathroom of her Bayswater mansion flat, between drinks at a 
N21 155 supper party with a few old friends; as the lights went down for 
N21 156 the first act of some play. The image of Nell, laughing, cloaked in 
N21 157 her own hair, would skate across her mind and leave her with a 
N21 158 small bitterness whose after-effects the evening would never quite 
N21 159 obliterate, although she often forgot the cause. Arriving at work 
N21 160 began to seem a triumph over some minor ordeal; going home at the 
N21 161 end of the day was more than pleasure.<p/>
N21 162 <p_>Emilia found that she was counting on Nell's ambition to remove 
N21 163 her altogether. Frequently she found her leafing surreptitiously 
N21 164 through the <tf|>Guardian jobs pages on a Monday, the paper spread 
N21 165 haphazardly across her desk, half-hidden by the waterfall of her 
N21 166 hair and the office cat. Even the cat seemed to love Nell, along 
N21 167 with the rest of the office. Emilia wished it good riddance. She 
N21 168 knew that <tf|>she would never wear black velour to work when by 
N21 169 six o'clock it was so thoroughly coated in the tiny white-rooted, 
N21 170 ginger hairs. And the cat had always filled her with a sense of 
N21 171 discomfort - a thrill of fear that she new had something to do with 
N21 172 the possibility that at any moment it could drop down dead. She 
N21 173 ignored the <tf|>Guardian reading and resolved that anything was 
N21 174 worth it to have the girl finally gone.<p/>
N21 175 <p_>One day, shortly after Nell had been moved full time into the 
N21 176 copy-editing room by a perceptive personnel manager, Emilia came 
N21 177 out of her office to find Nell sympathizing matily with her 
N21 178 replacement over some procedural anomaly. The new secretary had 
N21 179 been smiling up at her, while Nell's hair hung over the desk, 
N21 180 hemming the two of them in like a cloud. <quote_>"The most dreadful 
N21 181 system,"<quote/> Nell had been saying.<p/>
N21 182 <p_>Emilia watched the two of them together, and there was a turn 
N21 183 to Nell's head that said how <tf|>egalitarian, how <tf|>classless, 
N21 184 how <tf|>mature she was. Instantly she was fired with a red and 
N21 185 boiling rage that stunned her with its violence. Nell looked up, 
N21 186 caught Emilia's eye and paused in mid-stream, then smiled.<p/>
N21 187 <p_><quote_>"Just <tf|>which dreadful system?"<quote/> Emilia had 
N21 188 demanded, struggling, and failing, she immediately realized, to 
N21 189 keep the anger out of her voice. <quote_>"And what gives <tf|>you 
N21 190 the right to pontificate on it?"<quote/> It was the smile that had 
N21 191 driven her to it.<p/>
N21 192 <p_>For a second, a slightly wounded expression crossed Nell's 
N21 193 face, and then the insolence had returned to it, along with the 
N21 194 smile. In the following days she had become even more distant from 
N21 195 Emilia, even more outwardly polite, even more ambitious, and Emilia 
N21 196 struggled not to enjoy the small ways in which she could make the 
N21 197 other woman's life difficult.
N21 198 
N22   1 <#FLOB:N22\><h_><p_>BrianHowell<p/>
N22   2 <p_>The vanishing point<p/><h/>
N22   3 <p_>Dance could not recall exactly when the feeling of <tf_>being 
N22   4 elsewhere<tf/> descended on him for the first time, except it 
N22   5 somehow coincided with a series of odd incidents that would not 
N22   6 normally cause him the slightest tinge of worry. He could not be 
N22   7 quite sure whether the job he did was finally getting to him 
N22   8 because of its unremitting routine or because he realized there 
N22   9 were actually some aspects of it he did with relish but which he 
N22  10 knew would ultimately lead nowhere.<p/>
N22  11 <p_>These thoughts occupied him as the lift, that was to take him 
N22  12 to the mail<?_>-<?/>order department on the fourth floor above the 
N22  13 bookshop where he worked, stalled obstinately on the ground floor. 
N22  14 The lift, it seemed to him, was a metaphor for what he was doing in 
N22  15 this building, day in, day out - a metal cage going nowhere which 
N22  16 would one day stall in the sweltering well of the building, only 
N22  17 finally to spew him out into a limbo, shrivelled, desiccated, used 
N22  18 up, yet unused. As the lift ascended, he tried to imagine it 
N22  19 descending. It was a mental game he had started playing recently. 
N22  20 The only thing to which it was akin in his experience was a 
N22  21 realization he had once had as a child that it was impossible to 
N22  22 fantasize everyday scenes in his head - where everything was based 
N22  23 around vertical lines, as in a film - if he were in a horizontal 
N22  24 position and still conscious of it. People had to be upright.<p/>
N22  25 <p_>As he walked into the office, it might as well have been a 
N22  26 desert, such was the sense of emptiness that suddenly came over 
N22  27 him. Most of the time it seemed that he could only get through the 
N22  28 day by dividing it artificially into twenty-minute or half-hour 
N22  29 sections, with usually a coffee, tea, personal phone call, or trip 
N22  30 to the toilet to separate the yawning expanses in between. There 
N22  31 were, admittedly, some interesting aspects to the work, such as 
N22  32 scanning the daily avalanche of mail from all corners of the 
N22  33 country and globe. Strangely, the correspondence from the more 
N22  34 eccentric customers gave him the most pleasure, as they at least 
N22  35 appreciated his searching for some probably invented title or 
N22  36 provided them with a list of books on famous deceased cats.<p/>
N22  37 <p_>The morning frustrated Dance even more than usual, though he 
N22  38 didn't trust himself to give too much thought to what 'usual' 
N22  39 exactly was: a telephone order from an irate diplomat, who wanted 
N22  40 the only existing English translation of de Sade's <tf|>Justine - a 
N22  41 trashy American one, Dance almost pointed out, but he didn't want 
N22  42 to get drawn into a discussion on this topic in the office - before 
N22  43 the diplomat left for Prague; an author of a famed and much reviled 
N22  44 tome on blood sports rang to request that his book be sent to his 
N22  45 grandchild for his eleventh birthday; and another outraged 
N22  46 customer, from Wimbledon, wrote to reprimand him for having the 
N22  47 audacity to address her by her first name - Daphne, in this 
N22  48 case.<p/>
N22  49 <p_>After running around the art department like a headless chicken 
N22  50 for a good twenty minutes for an American calling from New York, 
N22  51 Dance was suddenly taken by the urge to spend his whole lunch hour 
N22  52 in the peace of the National Gallery, only a blessed five minutes 
N22  53 away. He was glad he was allowed to take his lunch hour at the 
N22  54 earliest possible moment, usually twelve o'clock. He had been 
N22  55 reminded momentarily of the last time he'd felt like going to such 
N22  56 trouble, when he had looked for a book on Dutch painting of which 
N22  57 nobody in the department had heard. He had found it and sent it to 
N22  58 a profusely grateful Miss Groenehaven in Amsterdam, his favourite 
N22  59 customer. He could no longer remember the title.<p/>
N22  60 <p_>As ever, Dance strolled through the Italian Renaissance rooms, 
N22  61 almost oblivious to the fact that he was in the Gallery (only the 
N22  62 Titians raised a glimmer of interest), until he reached the Early 
N22  63 Northern rooms where, as ever, he stopped in front of Holbein's 
N22  64 <tf_>The Ambassadors<tf/>. Though the trick that Holbein was 
N22  65 playing with an object in the foreground of the picture - a skull 
N22  66 that could only be recognized if the viewer crouched down in the 
N22  67 extreme lower left-hand corner, which otherwise looked like a 
N22  68 shapeless blotch in front of the two illustrious Frenchmen - had 
N22  69 long since lost its original fascination for Dance, he nevertheless 
N22  70 always stopped to look at it - from the correct angle, on 
N22  71 principle.<p/>
N22  72 <p_>Finally, he reached the first of a series of rooms that 
N22  73 contained for him all that he could wish for to keep him occupied, 
N22  74 especially as an escape from a sour mood. He started off in the 
N22  75 smallest room that contained the Dutch genre painters. The warden 
N22  76 by the doorway smiled briefly in recognition of yet another visit 
N22  77 by this young gangly man with the pale skin. Dance smiled back, 
N22  78 then went on to circle the room, stopping for a while at a painting 
N22  79 that depicted the remains of the municipal arsenal that had 
N22  80 exploded in Delft in 1654 causing fires and deaths, including that 
N22  81 of Carel Fabritius, a painter who had experimented with optical 
N22  82 effects, as in his wide-angle <tf_>View in Delft<tf/> in another 
N22  83 room. As Dance passed into the next room, he became aware of a 
N22  84 high-pitched squeaking, an almost dog-like sound coming from 
N22  85 somewhere outside the room he was in, which, if there had existed 
N22  86 such an expression, he would have referred to as 
N22  87 <tf|>d<*_>e-acute<*/>j<*_>a-grave<*/> entendu. He knew he had heard 
N22  88 this sound before, but had forgotten about it until now. Would he 
N22  89 forget this time too? Going back into the previous room he realized 
N22  90 he could hear the sound there as well. Was he getting tinnitus? A 
N22  91 friend had described the illness. Dance scolded himself for being 
N22  92 paranoid; he was oversensitive about his eyesight and hearing, 
N22  93 forever afraid of losing the one or the other.<p/>
N22  94 <p_>After pondering awhile over the sublime Hendrickje Stoffels, 
N22  95 Rembrandt's companion and common-law wife till his dying days, 
N22  96 Dance reached his favourite room that contained Vermeer, de Hooch, 
N22  97 Metsu, Ter Borch, Fabritius, and many others. Dance was forever 
N22  98 trying to work out what was going on in these scenarios, so often 
N22  99 implying illicit liaisons and assignations. Reluctantly, Dance 
N22 100 looked at his watch, knowing that he would have to dash back. What 
N22 101 he saw at first filled him with a sense of relief, only to be 
N22 102 almost immediately supplanted by one of terror. It was only 12.07, 
N22 103 the exact time he had arrived at the Gallery almost an hour ago. 
N22 104 Either his watch had stopped the moment he had arrived in the 
N22 105 Gallery or he had left for lunch an hour early (surely he would 
N22 106 have been given a few odd looks, going out with his satchel and 
N22 107 jacket?).<p/>
N22 108 <p_>He had stopped at a painting he had not seen before. The 
N22 109 painter was anonymous, but the scene both totally familiar and yet 
N22 110 intriguing. A young man and woman are seated either side of a table 
N22 111 covered by an Ottoman carpet on which lies a book of sheet music. 
N22 112 He is playing a theorbo and she a lute. Standing behind them is the 
N22 113 music teacher, a gentleman of noble appearance in his early 
N22 114 fifties. On the table are a flask and three glasses of wine. As the 
N22 115 man turns the page, an unmistakable look passes between him and the 
N22 116 woman, to which the teacher is oblivious, so much is he 
N22 117 concentrating on the woman's playing. The three figures occupy the 
N22 118 centre of the painting, whilst a tapestry is hung over the back 
N22 119 wall. A dog sits by the edge of the tapestry next to the door. The 
N22 120 foreground is dominated by a grid of floor tiles which obviously 
N22 121 extend beyond the plane of the picture.<p/>
N22 122 <p_>The way Dance viewed the painting, the closer the tiles came, 
N22 123 the more distorted they seemed, as if shot through a wide-angle 
N22 124 lens. This effect was heightened by the two bays of windows to the 
N22 125 left of the room, whose receding lines contributed to the 
N22 126 claustrophobia of the painting's background. Almost unconsciously, 
N22 127 Dance fell into his usual habit of positioning himself as near to 
N22 128 the artist's original position as possible. He had read that in 
N22 129 certain cases, where the artist had used a <tf_>camera obscura<tf/> 
N22 130 - a dark room with a peep-hole and lens - it was possible to 
N22 131 calculate the exact position of the artist's eye. The image, it 
N22 132 seemed, would be thrown through the hole, inverted, onto the back 
N22 133 wall of the dark room, where the artist would trace over it. Dance 
N22 134 decided to return to the Gallery at the next possible opportunity, 
N22 135 but it couldn't be tonight as he'd arranged to play tennis with 
N22 136 Matthew.<p/>
N22 137 <p_>Back at work, after a few disapproving looks from his 
N22 138 colleagues at his tardiness (mercifully, Banks, the supervisor, was 
N22 139 out of the office, so he couldn't know how late Dance had been), 
N22 140 Dance remembered his watch. He barely took in the fact that it said 
N22 141 1.13. How could it be? Was his watch having its own lunch break 
N22 142 nowadays, resuming work only when its master decided to? He must 
N22 143 have had a temporary lapse. He'd imagined it was 12.07 when it was 
N22 144 1.07. It was true he was prone to temporary lapses of perception or 
N22 145 interpretation, but this had never been a serious problem, more a 
N22 146 source of amusement for his friends. He laughed inwardly when he 
N22 147 remembered how a few days earlier, whilst crossing the zebra to go 
N22 148 into Sloane Square Underground station, he had prematurely drawn 
N22 149 out his travel pass and waved it at the car waiting for him to go 
N22 150 across. Fortunately, the driver had either not noticed this bizarre 
N22 151 action or was too dumbfounded to react.<p/>
N22 152 <p_>Dance's mind was soon ambushed by the usual spate of 
N22 153 after-lunch telephone queries. The first was indeed a shock. It was 
N22 154 Kim. Where had he been? Hadn't they arranged to meet at lunchtime? 
N22 155 It was true. Dance had completely forgotten. He made a series of 
N22 156 feeble excuses, only for her to hang up on him. The explanation 
N22 157 would just have to wait until later tonight.<p/>
N22 158 <p_>Dance's resulting bad mood was only relieved when Miss 
N22 159 Groenehaven rang from Amsterdam. After the niceties were over he 
N22 160 told her about his most recent discovery in the Gallery. He knew 
N22 161 Miss Groenehaven liked to be kept informed about any recent 
N22 162 developments, as she came regularly to London. Dance knew nothing 
N22 163 about her, except that she specialised in translating from English 
N22 164 into Dutch, mainly art books, and that her father had recently 
N22 165 died. She must be about thirty-five, he guessed from her voice, a 
N22 166 deep voice that had a husky flavour to it so pleasurable that Dance 
N22 167 invariably found himself not concentrating on what order he was 
N22 168 writing down for her, so that he always had to ask her to repeat 
N22 169 it. Dance harboured the desire one day to meet Miss Groenehaven, 
N22 170 but could not as yet think of a way of indicating this without 
N22 171 embarrassment. It was true he could not know for sure what she was 
N22 172 like as a person, whether she was attractive in the flesh, but he 
N22 173 was forever fascinated by the possibility that a certain 
N22 174 compatibility between people who found each other attractive could 
N22 175 be intuited, even across a distance such as this. To Dance it was a 
N22 176 question of alignment, the formation of a regular pattern through a 
N22 177 seemingly arbitrary agglomeration of components.<p/>
N22 178 <p_>Miraculously, at mention of this new enigmatic picture in the 
N22 179 Gallery, Miss Groenehaven informed Dance that she was coming to 
N22 180 London for the weekend on Friday, in two days' time, and would make 
N22 181 a point of searching it out. Would she like him to set the books 
N22 182 aside so that she could call in and pick them up? Dance felt his 
N22 183 heart leap when she acquiesced to his offer.<p/>
N22 184 <p_>Now he had no need to make a clumsy invitation to her on the 
N22 185 phone to go to the Gallery with him.
N22 186 
N23   1 <#FLOB:N23\><h_><p_>Clive's Dog<p/><h/>
N23   2 <p_>I ate my sandwiches. Fat Clive practised his throw in the shade 
N23   3 of the stacks. I didn't watch but listened to the light tappings of 
N23   4 the darts, the bounce of the board as he pulled them out three to a 
N23   5 fist. I worked my teeth into ham and cress, mustard which fired the 
N23   6 passages of the nose and made my eyes water. Clive swore as a dart 
N23   7 hit the wire. If you pushed him he called himself a 
N23   8 semi-professional. I knew from one of the drivers that over the 
N23   9 weekend he'd won a hundred quid and a picnic hamper.<p/>
N23  10 <p_>Fat Clive and I worked through the summer in the scaffolding 
N23  11 yard behind the dogs' home. We took turns with the forklift when 
N23  12 the long lorries from the sites backed through the gates. We freed 
N23  13 rusted clips with a hammer blow and stacked the poles and cradles, 
N23  14 the powdered lifts. A pole of the right length rang with a musical 
N23  15 tone when you dropped its end onto the concrete. The dogs next door 
N23  16 would be quiet for a while and then for no reason the noise would 
N23  17 start with croons and whinings and build to a panicked howl. If you 
N23  18 climbed the stacks in the angle of the yard you could see them in 
N23  19 the wire runs outside their kennels - mostly small or medium sized 
N23  20 dogs, ordinary and a bit measly-looking, like the people who get 
N23  21 into those sorts of situations. Sometimes there'd be smoke from the 
N23  22 tall stack of the crematorium and a smell like burnt dinner in the 
N23  23 air.<p/>
N23  24 <p_>When Clive finished playing he removed the flights of the darts 
N23  25 and folded them carefully into a special wallet. Without them the 
N23  26 silver bodies looked helpless on his fat palm. He put them away in 
N23  27 their case and then unscrewed the top of his thermos to let out the 
N23  28 steam of stewed tea.<p/>
N23  29 <p_><quote_>"Any wins lately?"<quote/> I asked.<p/>
N23  30 <p_>He looked away from me into a corner of the stacks. The dogs 
N23  31 were yapping and creating. <quote_>"Nothing 
N23  32 outstanding."<quote/><p/>
N23  33 <p_>He didn't like to talk about the game. Maybe he thought it was 
N23  34 unlucky or that it took the edge off his relish for it. And he was 
N23  35 a private kind of person despite occupying all that space.<p/>
N23  36 <p_><quote_>"Anything lined up?"<quote/> I persisted against the 
N23  37 background of dog.<p/>
N23  38 <p_><quote_>"Coupla friendlies,"<quote/> he admitted.<p/>
N23  39 <p_>I separated a half of my last sandwich and offered it to him. A 
N23  40 piece of cress fell from the edge onto his knee. He flicked it away 
N23  41 with his thumb and shook his head.<p/>
N23  42 <p_><quote_>"Still on the diet?"<quote/><p/>
N23  43 <p_><quote_>"Trying to lose a few stone,"<quote/> he said.<p/>
N23  44 <p_><quote_>"Thought you blokes needed it for 
N23  45 stability."<quote/><p/>
N23  46 <p_>He put his head to one side, thinking about this. <quote_>"Only 
N23  47 up to a point. After that it starts taking over ...<p/>
N23  48 <p_><quote_>"Talking back to you,"<quote/> I suggested.<p/>
N23  49 <p_>He stared over to the shadows in the stacks. <quote_>"Yeah, 
N23  50 that's it: it's like you've got somebody in there with 
N23  51 you."<quote/><p/>
N23  52 <p_>The dogs had calmed down but now they started clamouring again. 
N23  53 Clive bent over his tea, his hands clasped around the plastic mug, 
N23  54 hiding it with those pork-sausage fingers.<p/>
N23  55 <p_>Clive rented a low ground-floor room with an iron-framed bed in 
N23  56 one corner and a sink and cooker in the other. He rolled his own 
N23  57 and used fast-food containers as ashtrays so that there was always 
N23  58 a faint smell of take-away. French windows stopped with wadded 
N23  59 newspaper and insulating tape opened on rare days of the years onto 
N23  60 a sunken yard and the dustbins of the neighbours. There was the 
N23  61 slope of a defunct rockery and then a grey-green froth of garden 
N23  62 stretching at eye level to the chain-link fence of the railway. The 
N23  63 garden was terminally untended, its plantations of thistle and 
N23  64 ragwort rooted in packed earth with glass and broken crockery. Tom 
N23  65 cats spat and fought among the dry stalks. Clive's place was a few 
N23  66 streets from mine and I'd stop off with a couple of cans now and 
N23  67 again. One night he started to talk about the past and told me that 
N23  68 he'd killed someone.<p/>
N23  69 <p_><quote|>"Who?" I asked.<p/>
N23  70 <p_>He pulled a face as if that wasn't a fair question. 
N23  71 <quote_>"Just some bloke. I didn't want to but he had to 
N23  72 go."<quote/> Then he looked placid an thoughtful. He sat in the 
N23  73 easy-chair and stared at his bare feet on the imitation sheepskin 
N23  74 rug.<p/>
N23  75 <p_><quote_>"Wasn't he missed?"<quote/><p/>
N23  76 <p_><quote_>"No one would miss that bastard."<quote/><p/>
N23  77 <p_><quote_>"What about his family?"<quote/><p/>
N23  78 <p_><quote_>"Especially not them."<quote/><p/>
N23  79 <p_>I sipped from my lager and looked towards the french windows. I 
N23  80 suppose I felt lumbered, as if he'd given me something useless and 
N23  81 too big for the bin. What can you do with information like that?<p/>
N23  82 <p_><quote_>"I thought it was all over but I've been thinking about 
N23  83 it lately,"<quote/> Clive said. <quote_>"You could say I'm carrying 
N23  84 it around with me."<quote/> He smiled to show me it was his little 
N23  85 joke and then rolled up the front of his T-shirt to expose his 
N23  86 belly.<p/>
N23  87 <p_><quote|>"<tf|>Look," he said.<p/>
N23  88 <p_>I played the innocent. <quote_>"What's that?"<quote/><p/>
N23  89 <p_><quote|>"<tf|>Look," he ordered.<p/>
N23  90 <p_>I thought about pregnancy and then tried not to. Clive's belly 
N23  91 sagged over the waistband of his trousers almost into his lap, 
N23  92 distorted by its own weight as if it held a dense liquid. The flesh 
N23  93 was taut and had a slight shine to it, a sheen. The compressed 
N23  94 navel was like a closed eye.<p/>
N23  95 <p_>I didn't mention the murder again. I thought it was a private 
N23  96 matter, personal to him. A couple of times he seemed on the verge 
N23  97 of saying more but then his face would set and he'd change the 
N23  98 subject. He moved wearily among the stacks, grunting and wheezing, 
N23  99 sweating more than was natural. He was exhausted by the end of the 
N23 100 long days and I could see that the flab was taking its toll.<p/>
N23 101 <p_>In the stickiest part of the summer, he acquired a dog - a 
N23 102 black labrador cross but already old and dragging a hind-leg 
N23 103 through rheumatism or some accident. It was greying at the muzzle 
N23 104 and along the back and the angles of its rear-end were as sharp as 
N23 105 a blade. The disk of a cataract gave its left eye a milky stare, a 
N23 106 ghost look. Clive led it limping into the yard on a length of 
N23 107 plastic clothes-line.<p/>
N23 108 <p_><quote_>"Won it in a game yesterday,"<quote/> he said.<p/>
N23 109 <p_><quote_>"That was the <tf|>prize?"<quote/><p/>
N23 110 <p_><quote_>"A side-bet. Won a colour TV as well. A 
N23 111 portable."<quote/><p/>
N23 112 <p_>He led the dog to the shade of the stacks and squatted down to 
N23 113 stroke the side of its head. The dog leaned into the fat of his 
N23 114 palm. The yapping started up in the kennels beyond the chain-link, 
N23 115 and it pushed up its nose to sample the panic on the air. The 
N23 116 milk-eye swivelled with the other but gazed into itself, the sight 
N23 117 striking back from the blank of the cataract.<p/>
N23 118 <p_><quote_>"It's <tf|>old,"<quote/> I told him.<p/>
N23 119 <p_><quote|>"So?"<p/>
N23 120 <p_><quote_>"They get things wrong with them at that age. They get 
N23 121 all kinds of diseases."<quote/><p/>
N23 122 <p_><quote_>"The thing's better off alive than dead,"<quote/> Clive 
N23 123 said.<p/>
N23 124 <p_>He went into the offices and cadged a plastic washing-up bowl. 
N23 125 He filled it at the tap and the dog lapped the water as if it was 
N23 126 parched to the bone. In the hot afternoon it dozed on a strip of 
N23 127 matting in the shade of the sheds, lying with its blind eye 
N23 128 covered. The good eye watched over Clive as he worked or practised. 
N23 129 The big lorries backed in from the sites and the drivers fed the 
N23 130 dog scraps of their lunches through the afternoon.<p/>
N23 131 <p_>In Clive's room the dog lay on the imitation sheepskin and 
N23 132 farted without a sound into the close air. He made another roll-up 
N23 133 of strong Dutch tobacco and told me it had internal problems. His 
N23 134 game was going well and he was talking about turning fully pro but 
N23 135 first he needed to lose that couple of stone. The dog had already 
N23 136 laid an inch of unstable fat over its bones.<p/>
N23 137 <p_>He called for me once of twice on his way to matches. The dog 
N23 138 flopped full-length onto the carpet as if the half-mile walk had 
N23 139 exhausted it. Clive told me he needed moral support, said he was 
N23 140 too much the dark horse, always the fat-bastard outsider, that he'd 
N23 141 never attracted a loyal crowd.<p/>
N23 142 <p_><quote_>"People don't appreciate the effort I make,"<quote/> he 
N23 143 complained. <quote_>"They think it's the flab that does the 
N23 144 throwing; they don't know the hours I put in, refining my 
N23 145 technique."<quote/><p/>
N23 146 <p_>The pub was in the shadow of the new cold-store. A big local 
N23 147 presence was cheering for the other guy who looked an agile fifteen 
N23 148 stone and wore a red cowboy shirt with fringes. Sandwiches and 
N23 149 bite-sized sausage-rolls circulated on 
N23 150 tin-<}_><-|>tays<+|>trays<}/> with doilies and there was a 
N23 151 half-hundred in the pot with something over that in side-bets. I 
N23 152 took charge of the dog and squeezed near the bar for an 
N23 153 unrestricted view over the cold-snacks counter. The animal was 
N23 154 nervous and twitchy, because of the occasion or because it sensed 
N23 155 the proximity of all that frozen meat. Clive leaned what seemed too 
N23 156 far forward and the darts were slivers of silver between his finger 
N23 157 and thumb. He waited for silence with his chin lifted. His face 
N23 158 shone with concentration. The clatter and noise dropped for a 
N23 159 second and he threw with hardly a movement as if the dart had 
N23 160 strained for the board and he'd just needed to open his hand.<p/>
N23 161 <p_>He did well in a few more tournaments and was in line for the 
N23 162 big money. He had his greasy hair trimmed and styled and a small 
N23 163 symbol of crossed darts below a skull tattooed onto his left 
N23 164 shoulder. It was the heyday of the dog and he led it to work on a 
N23 165 short chain leash attached to a studded collar. Its limp had almost 
N23 166 disappeared and now it began to develop territorial ambitions, 
N23 167 lifting up its leg to squirt at corners. When the wailing and 
N23 168 yapping started from the lost dogs it answered with throaty barks 
N23 169 which hung on the air.<p/>
N23 170 <p_>I paid them a call one night. The french windows were open onto 
N23 171 the bins and greenery and I saw the dog's greying arse among a 
N23 172 clump of thistles. There was a snapping and commotion as it went 
N23 173 for a scent. Clive was shaving in the mirror above the sink, 
N23 174 angling the razor carefully in his big finger. His spotted back 
N23 175 looked already straighter, the weight more concentrated in the 
N23 176 shoulders. When he turned around I saw that he was loosing that 
N23 177 look of stalled pregnancy. He pulled one of his fancy new shirts 
N23 178 from the back of a chair.<p/>
N23 179 <p_><quote_>"Dog's happy,"<quote/> I said.<p/>
N23 180 <p_>He looked proud. He buttoned the shirt, smiling back at himself 
N23 181 in the mirror. <quote_>"Yeah: thing'll be baying the moon 
N23 182 next."<quote/><p/>
N23 183 <p_>I had some money saved by then. I thought about quitting the 
N23 184 job and going abroad. I was one of the aimless and rootless. Clive 
N23 185 won a tournament sponsored by the local paper and the dog died. I 
N23 186 think in that order. He phoned me early one night and said come 
N23 187 around and bring the van. The dog was ill and in pain and he 
N23 188 thought it might have swallowed rat-poison or broken glass.<p/>
N23 189 <p_>When I arrived it was stretched out on the rug and breathing 
N23 190 shallowly and quietly as if it was asleep. The gas fire was on and 
N23 191 the room felt too hot and smelt of dog and take-away. When I went 
N23 192 close I saw that its blind eye was open and staring backwards as if 
N23 193 it was looking for something coming up from behind. Suddenly it 
N23 194 pushed its legs out stiffly and hollowed its back, crooning to 
N23 195 itself.<p/>
N23 196 <p_>Clive was sitting on the bed still in his work clothes, half 
N23 197 rolling cigarettes and then forgetting about them, letting the 
N23 198 strands of tobacco spill onto his lap. I looked up the numbers of a 
N23 199 couple of vets and rang around. I could feel him looking at me and 
N23 200 when I turned he asked, <quote_>"Do you think there's an after-life 
N23 201 for animals?"<quote/><p/>
N23 202 
N24   1 <#FLOB:N24\><h_><p_>THE FIFE ADVENTURERS<p/>
N24   2 <p_>Helen Cook tells the story of the 'Gentilmen adventuraris' and 
N24   3 their followers who were sent to Lewis by James VI to bring law and 
N24   4 order to this 'most barbourous Isle'.<p/><h/>
N24   5 <p_>THE 'sturt and strife' the lawlessness of the Highlands and 
N24   6 Islands - had long been a matter of great concern to James VI, as 
N24   7 indeed it had been also to the earlier Stuart kings. A number of 
N24   8 circumstances focused James VI's attention on Lewis in particular. 
N24   9 It was at this time owned by a branch of the powerful Clan Macleod, 
N24  10 and in the last years of the old Chief Ruari or Rory Macleod, who 
N24  11 died c. 1595, Lewis was torn by ferocious family feuding over who 
N24  12 was to succeed him on his death. There were a number of claimants, 
N24  13 for the old man had been married three times, and had fathered a 
N24  14 brood of illegitimate sons besides the legitimate offspring from 
N24  15 his lawful marriages.<p/>
N24  16 <p_>In the last decades of the 16th century Lewis had acquired the 
N24  17 reputation of possessing great undeveloped agricultural and fishing 
N24  18 wealth. The rich herring fishing could have been developed by 
N24  19 Scottish and Dutch fishermen and so brought the impecunious James 
N24  20 VI some highly desirable revenue, but the Lewismen guarded their 
N24  21 waters too jealously.<p/>
N24  22 <p_>To pave the way for bringing law and order to the Highlands and 
N24  23 Islands, an Act of December 1597 decreed that all those who owned 
N24  24 land and fisheries in the latter must present their title to such 
N24  25 possessions in person before the Lords of the Exchequer in 
N24  26 Edinburgh not later than May 1598. The owners were also ordered to 
N24  27 provide security for their future good behaviour. Failure to comply 
N24  28 with the Act would result in lands and fisheries being confiscated 
N24  29 by the Crown.<p/>
N24  30 <p_>Torquil Dubh (Black Torquil) the late Chief of the Macleods of 
N24  31 Lewis, and son of and successor to old Ruari Macleod - had been in 
N24  32 his day declared a rebel, and the title deeds to Lewis had been 
N24  33 carried off by Torquil Conanach, Torquil Dubh's murderer and rival 
N24  34 for the Chieftainship of Lewis. They had been entrusted to the 
N24  35 safekeeping of the powerful Mackenize of Kintail, and were not 
N24  36 available to be presented in Edinburgh. Because of this, the Crown 
N24  37 wasted no time in taking possession of Lewis.<p/>
N24  38 <p_>Events moved quickly after the island became Crown Land, and 
N24  39 the 28th June 1598 saw a contract signed and sealed between James 
N24  40 VI and a group of 'gentilmen aventuraris' which included Patrick, 
N24  41 Commendator of Lindores in North Fife, James Learmonth of Balcomie 
N24  42 Castle near Crail, Sir James Anstruther the Younger of that Ilk, 
N24  43 James Spens of Wormiston, Sir William Stewart, Commendator of 
N24  44 Pittenweem, Sir James Sandilands of Slamanno, Captain William 
N24  45 Murray, John Forret of Fingask, Sir, George Home of Wedderburn, 
N24  46 David Home, younger of Wedderburn, and the King's cousin, Ludovic, 
N24  47 Duke of Lennox and Darnley. They quickly earned the nickname the 
N24  48 'Fife Adventurers', most of them having a connection with Fife.<p/>
N24  49 <p_>The group was authorised by James VI <quote_>"to plant policy 
N24  50 and civilisation in the hitherto most barbourous Isle of Lewis, 
N24  51 with Rona-Lewis, and Trotternish, and to develop the 
N24  52 extraordinarily rich resources of the same for the public good, and 
N24  53 the King's profit"<quote/>. The Lowland settlers of Lewis were to 
N24  54 do this <quote_>"at their own costs and charges"<quote/>, but 
N24  55 undoubtedly they had high hopes of making a handsome personal 
N24  56 profit.<p/>
N24  57 <p_>As part of the contract they were to build four parish kirks in 
N24  58 Lewis and Rona, two in Trotternish, and establish burghs of barony. 
N24  59 James VI was to receive from the new settlers a yearly rent in the 
N24  60 form of bere barley - the first payment being made with the crop of 
N24  61 1600.<p/>
N24  62 <p_>In November 1598, the Fife Adventurers set sail from Leith. On 
N24  63 board with the 'gentilmen aventuraris' were tradesmen, between 500 
N24  64 and 600 mercenary soldiers, Robert Durie, and Anstruther minister 
N24  65 and a few other interested parties. The whole expedition was under 
N24  66 the command of the Duke of Lennox, who was appointed Lieutenant of 
N24  67 Lewis.<p/>
N24  68 <p_>James VI endeavoured to ensure a safe voyage and landing for 
N24  69 the settlers by ordering that all the Isles' birlins - boats with 
N24  70 12 to 18 oars - and the even larger single-sailed galleys of the 
N24  71 Western Isles, should be destroyed by those in authority in the 
N24  72 area.<p/>
N24  73 <p_>The settlers landed in a sullen and hostile Lewis ruled by 
N24  74 Murdoch and Neil Macleod, bastard sons of old Ruari Macleod. The 
N24  75 island had been left <quote_>"spoyled ... voyd and bare"<quote/> by 
N24  76 recent inter-clan fighting. As to be expected, the Adventurers 
N24  77 encountered resistance and there was some fighting, but Stornoway 
N24  78 Castle fell to the settlers in December 1598. Murdoch Macleod flew 
N24  79 Lewis to fight another day, but Neil, a hardy and indefatigable 
N24  80 fighter, stayed on to harass the settlers at every opportunity.<p/>
N24  81 <p_>During the first winter the Fifers found not only the islanders 
N24  82 hostile, but also Lewis itself. The cold dampness rusted steel 
N24  83 weapons and armour in a matter of three weeks. The winter of 
N24  84 1598-99 was a daunting and traumatic experience for the Lowland 
N24  85 settlers as there had been no time to construct permanent buildings 
N24  86 to provide proper shelter. Dysentery broke out, and supplies of 
N24  87 food and necessities became dangerously low as the Lewismen 
N24  88 practised a policy of non-co-operation with the settlers.<p/>
N24  89 <p_>Learmonth of Balcomie sailed from Lewis to bring back supplies 
N24  90 to see the Adventurers through the winter. His mission was never 
N24  91 completed for his ship was attacked and captured by Murdoch 
N24  92 Macleod. Learmonth, and the few others of his company left alive, 
N24  93 were taken prisoner and held for ransom in the Summer Isles. The 
N24  94 worldly and sophisticated Laird of Balcomie Castle never saw Fife 
N24  95 again, for after he was freed from his incarceration on the Summer 
N24  96 Isles he died weakened and ill in Orkney.<p/>
N24  97 <p_>When news of Learmonth's capture reached Lewis, Colonel 
N24  98 Stewart, and Spens of Wormiston set out to complete Learmonth's 
N24  99 mission. In their absence Neil Macleod attacked the settlers with 
N24 100 fire and sword. Twenty of them were killed, valuable property was 
N24 101 burned, and domestic animals stolen. The raid left the settlers in 
N24 102 dire straits, and James VI furious.<p/>
N24 103 <p_>In July 1599, Lennox and the Marquie of Huntly were appointed 
N24 104 by the King as Lieutenants and Justices in the Highlands and 
N24 105 Islands. James VI authorised them to <quote_>"prosequite with fyre, 
N24 106 sword, and all kind of hostilitie"<quote/> all those who opposed 
N24 107 the Fife Adventurers in Lewis, for he was determined that they 
N24 108 would <quote_>"plant policy and civilization"<quote/> on the 
N24 109 island.<p/>
N24 110 <p_>Bitter dissension between Murdoch and Neil Macleod led to a 
N24 111 most unlikely entente between Neil and the Adventurers, who wanted 
N24 112 revenge on Murdoch for the death of Learmonth. They told Neil that 
N24 113 if he delivered his brother into their hands, they would obtain a 
N24 114 free pardon for him, and give him a grant of land in Lewis.<p/>
N24 115 <p_>Murdoch Macleod and 12 of his men fell into Neil's hands and 
N24 116 the 12 were beheaded, the heads being conveyed in a sack to 
N24 117 Edinburgh to be displayed above the city's gates. As for Murdoch, 
N24 118 he was imprisoned in Balcomie Castle, and tried in St Andrews. He 
N24 119 was found guilty of the crimes of which he was accused, and was 
N24 120 hanged, drawn, and quartered, and his head spiked on Edinburgh's 
N24 121 Netherbow, all as directed by James VI. It was a grisly warning to 
N24 122 all who opposed the settlement plan.<p/>
N24 123 <p_>Neil Macleod received a free pardon from James VI, and returned 
N24 124 to continue his somewhat uneasy and fragile co-operation with the 
N24 125 settlers.<p/>
N24 126 <p_>By now, too, the Fife Adventurers were well aware that the 
N24 127 powerful and subtle Mackenzie of Kintail with his friends in high 
N24 128 places was not and never had been their friend.<p/>
N24 129 <p_>The year 1600 saw the confirmation by parliament of the legal 
N24 130 rights of the 'Fife Adventurers' in Lewisand their other lands. 
N24 131 James VI smiled on the settling of Lewis, and empowered the company 
N24 132 of settlers amongst other things to build harbours and havens, and 
N24 133 to keep harbour 'petty dues'. However, the settlers had to render 
N24 134 to the king all the 'great customs' on all other imports and 
N24 135 exports, including fish.<p/>
N24 136 <p_>A busy time lay ahead for the settlers for at the beginning of 
N24 137 October 1600, in St Andrews, they further confirmed and pledged 
N24 138 themselves to plan and build a town in Lewis. After completion, the 
N24 139 remaining land was to be equally divided among themselves.<p/>
N24 140 <p_>James VI also suggested that the settlers should open inns, so 
N24 141 that travellers visiting could find suitable lodgings, for 16th 
N24 142 century Lewismen had the reputation of presenting an unwelcoming 
N24 143 face to strangers. The Fifers were also empowered to build an 
N24 144 increased number of churches, and a school.<p/>
N24 145 <p_>At this time, friendly relations still existed between Neil 
N24 146 Macleod and the settlers, but disaster struck when Macleod 
N24 147 quarrelled bitterly with Spens of Wormiston. This quarrel was to 
N24 148 seal the fate of the Lowland colony. At the beginning of December 
N24 149 1601, under the cover of darkness, a party of settlers led by Spens 
N24 150 of Wormiston set out to capture the militant and troublesome Neil 
N24 151 Macleod, who had begun to harry the settlement once more. Neil 
N24 152 turned the tables on his would-be captors, ambushed the settlers 
N24 153 led by Spens, and killed almost 60 of them.<p/>
N24 154 <p_>Mackenzie of Kintail, watching events from the mainland, now 
N24 155 released Tormod Macleod, the brother of Torquil Dubh, former chief 
N24 156 of the Macleods of Lewis, and sent him to Lewis. As Kintail 
N24 157 expected, Neil and the Lewismen rallied round the brother of their 
N24 158 old Chief, and Lewis led by Tormod Macleod rose in revolt against 
N24 159 the Fife Adventurers.<p/>
N24 160 <p_>Events moved quickly. Tormod and his supporters attacked and 
N24 161 burned the settlement, the 'prettie toun' of stone and timber 
N24 162 beside the old Castle of Stornoway, and the settlers' fort. The 
N24 163 latter resisted stubbornly and many were killed, those left being 
N24 164 forced to surrender unconditionally. Tormod agreed to free the 
N24 165 settlers if they made over to him all their rights in Lewis, and 
N24 166 obtained for him and his followers a free royal pardon. However, 
N24 167 the settlers were to leave Spens of Wormiston and his son-in-law 
N24 168 Thomas Monypenny of Kinkell, by St Andrews, in Lewis as hostages, 
N24 169 until Tormod's conditions were carried out. In time they were, and 
N24 170 Tormod, an honourable and generous man within the context of his 
N24 171 times, was left in possession of Lewis, as chief of the Macleods, 
N24 172 with Neil Macleod as his right-hand man.<p/>
N24 173 <p_>So ended the first attempt by the Fife Adventurers to plant 
N24 174 policy and civilisation in Lewis.<p/>
N24 175 <p_>Undoubtedly the attempt to settle had been a loss-making 
N24 176 enterprise for the settlers, but the bringing of the King's law to 
N24 177 the Western Isles and the settling of Lewis with its 
N24 178 <quote_>"incredible fertility of corns and plenty of 
N24 179 fishes"<quote/>, had become almost an obsession with James VI, and 
N24 180 still fired his imagination. In June 1602, he had asked Parliament 
N24 181 for money to send an army to conquer Lewis, a request which was 
N24 182 refused.<p/>
N24 183 <p_>However, March 1603 saw the company of 'gentilmen aventuraris' 
N24 184 in spite of financial difficulties, decreeing that each should by 
N24 185 July 1604, provide 30 well-armed soldiers, and supplies, and that 
N24 186 the company of settlers should again sail to Lewis, and stay there 
N24 187 for one year under the penalty of pounds1,000. Each settler was to 
N24 188 build himself a substantial dwelling of stone capable of defence. 
N24 189 The King, however, agreed that their pact would be null and void 
N24 190 <quote_>"if the King by his own forces possessed them not in Lewis 
N24 191 by midsummer next ..."<quote/> The settlers were to pay James VI 
N24 192 rent in silver and fishes for Lewis.<p/>
N24 193 <p_>In the event it wasn't until August 1605, that the settlers 
N24 194 sailed once more for Lewis which was still ruled by the young Chief 
N24 195 Tormod Macleod. The Union of the Crowns in 1603, and the departure 
N24 196 of James VI for London, had acted like a punctuation mark in the 
N24 197 whole affair.<p/>
N24 198 <p_>The settlers in 1605 were accompanied, besides their own 
N24 199 soldiers, by a large military force of men raised by the King from 
N24 200 the North and West. James VI was determined that would be settled 
N24 201 by Lowlanders, and the Macleods of Lewis, <quote_>"an infamous byke 
N24 202 of lawless limmers"<quote/> and others like them, were to be rooted 
N24 203 out.<p/>
N24 204 
N25   1 <#FLOB:N25\><h_><p_>BRUCE'S SECRET WEAPON<p/>
N25   2 <p_>Archie McKerracher<p/><h/>
N25   3 <p_>BANNOCKBURN is acknowledged as one of the most remarkable 
N25   4 victories in the history of warfare. It is still almost 
N25   5 unbelievable how Robert the Bruce's army of common folk, 
N25   6 outnumbered three to one, took on the greatest war machine in 
N25   7 medieval Europe and destroyed it so completely.<p/>
N25   8 <p_>But there are many puzzling aspects to the traditional story of 
N25   9 Bannockburn. Firstly, Bruce's small army of around 6000 was 
N25  10 composed mainly of foot soldiers. There were highly trained and 
N25  11 highly disciplined at a time when infantry was usually poorly led 
N25  12 and disorganised, and took a secondary role in battles. In fact, 
N25  13 the Scottish troops were of a calibre never found again in any 
N25  14 battle between Scots and English. The four battalions of spearmen, 
N25  15 each formed into a 1000-strong schiltrom, moved and fought as 
N25  16 one. Each man would place his left arm upon the shoulder of the man 
N25  17 in front until the schiltrom formed a homogenous mass through which 
N25  18 no armoured cavalry charge could penetrate.<p/>
N25  19 <p_>The small troop of light cavalry commanded by Keith carried out 
N25  20 their orders to the letter, no more, no less. They cleverly 
N25  21 anticipated the tactics of the Welsh archers who tried to pour 
N25  22 arrows on the Scots' flank, as they had done at the Battle of 
N25  23 Falkirk 16 years before, and quickly put them to flight. It as 
N25  24 though someone had fought on the English side at Falkirk was now 
N25  25 directing the Scots' strategy at Bannockburn.<p/>
N25  26 <p_>It is curious that the Scottish soldiers were so well equipped. 
N25  27 Each man possessed several items: a leather headpiece and steel 
N25  28 helmet; a thick padded leather coat; a pair of protective and 
N25  29 flexible steel gloves for holding the shaft of his iron-tipped, 
N25  30 12-foot spear; and knives, axes, and swords as personal weapons. 
N25  31 Where did all this equipment come from and how was it paid for? 
N25  32 Swords, weapons, and spear shafts were usually imported from the 
N25  33 Continent and cost a great deal of money. Even at Culloden in 1746 
N25  34 many of the Highlanders were armed only with scythe blades attached 
N25  35 to poles.<p/>
N25  36 <p_>Scotland in 1314 was a land wracked by 20 years of war. Its 
N25  37 economy and its agriculture were laid waste. Many of the wealthy 
N25  38 lowland nobility were fighting on the English side. How then did 
N25  39 the Scottish army receive such extensive and expensive equipment 
N25  40 when the English fleet controlled both the Irish and North Seas, 
N25  41 and how was the equipment paid for when our treasury was empty? 
N25  42 How, too, did Bruce devise the brilliant tactics of this set-piece 
N25  43 battle when nothing in his previous record suggests he was 
N25  44 anything more than a competent guerilla<&|sic!> commander?<p/>
N25  45 <p_>It will be remembered that by mid-day on 24th June 1314, the 
N25  46 6000 Scots were utterly exhausted after fighting non-stop for 
N25  47 eight hours in the summer heat. However, very few English had been 
N25  48 killed by that time and only a small percentage of their 
N25  49 20,000strong army had actually come into contact with the Scots. 
N25  50 The steady pressure of the massed schiltroms simply pushed back the 
N25  51 English armoured knights before they could move, penning the rest 
N25  52 of their army behind them between the tidal Pelstream and Bannock 
N25  53 Burns. Then came the renowned appearance of the Scots camp 
N25  54 followers which caused the English ranks first to waver and then to 
N25  55 break in panic.<p/>
N25  56 <p_>It was really fear that destroyed Edward's army, but fear of 
N25  57 what? Contrary to tradition, the so-called camp followers did not 
N25  58 tie towels and blankets to poles and come running down Gillies 
N25  59 Hill, and neither were they simply servants and cooks. The name of 
N25  60 the hill and the story itself are 18th century inventions. 
N25  61 Barbour's <tf|>Bruce says they were yeomen with spears plus some 
N25  62 lesser people who were stationed in the valley between Gillies Hill 
N25  63 and Coxethill, through which the M9 motorway now runs. This then 
N25  64 was part of the wooded New Park and so these 1000 men, mainly from 
N25  65 Argyll, would not be visible until they reached the escarpment at 
N25  66 St Ninians leading down to the carse. Further, they were not 
N25  67 running, but marching in military order behind captains, and the 
N25  68 move was not impromptu, but apparently anticipated by the Scots. 
N25  69 Yet these newcomers alone would not have inspired such fear for 
N25  70 their numbers and quality would have been identifiable at such 
N25  71 short range.<p/>
N25  72 <p_>I suggest that what broke Edward's army was the sight of the 
N25  73 men who led them, perhaps no more than 50 or 60 in number; men who 
N25  74 wore their hair close-cropped and their beards long; who wore 
N25  75 chain mail, and over it a white smock emblazoned with a splayed red 
N25  76 cross, the famous <tf_>cross patte<tf/>. They marched beneath their 
N25  77 black and white banner called The Beauseant, and were instantly 
N25  78 recognisable to the front rank of the English as Poor Knights of 
N25  79 the Temple of Solomon, or Knights Templar, the Warrior Monks. They 
N25  80 were renowned as the most battle-hardened, highly-trained and 
N25  81 ferocious fighters in the realms of chivalry, yet strangely, their 
N25  82 Christian Order had recently been condemned to Hell by the Pope and 
N25  83 excommunicated in every country in Christendom - except 
N25  84 Scotland.<p/>
N25  85 <p_>The Order of Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon 
N25  86 was founded in Jerusalem in 1118 by nine Crusaders. Its specific 
N25  87 purpose was to keep the highways safe for pilgrims in the Holy 
N25  88 Land, and in recognition of this worthy cause the King of 
N25  89 Jerusalem, Baudouin I, gave them a wing of the royal palace. This 
N25  90 was reputedly built on the foundations of Solomon's Temple and from 
N25  91 this the new Order took its name. The Order of Solomon's Temple 
N25  92 grew in size and the sons of European nobility flocked to join. New 
N25  93 knights took an oath of poverty, chastity, and obedience and were 
N25  94 highly trained in all aspects of warfare. They were forbidden to 
N25  95 shave and wore white surcoats with the distinctive spayed red 
N25  96 cross. They were obliged to fight to the death and never retreat. 
N25  97 They combined religious mysticism with a reputation as ferocious 
N25  98 fighters and became famed as the Warrior Monks, or Knights 
N25  99 Templar.<p/>
N25 100 <p_>Pope Innocent II in 1139 issued a Bull stating the Templars 
N25 101 were responsible only to the Pope, and not subject to secular or 
N25 102 church authority in any country. Gifts of land and money were 
N25 103 showered upon the Order which soon developed into an international 
N25 104 empire headed by a Grand Master. Money could be deposited with a 
N25 105 Templar bank in Jerusalem and withdrawn in London on presentation 
N25 106 of a chit and secret gestures. In fact, the Order is credited with 
N25 107 inventing the cheque. The Templars had their own fleet which 
N25 108 initially transported pilgrims and, later, all manner of goods. 
N25 109 They also had their own armourers, architects, stonemasons, 
N25 110 hospitals, surveyors etc.<p/>
N25 111 <p_>In Scotland the Templars held vast lands, more <}_><-|>
N25 112 that<+|>than<}/> 500 properties in country and towns. David I had 
N25 113 invited the Order to his kingdom in 1128 and kept a number of 
N25 114 knights around his person, <quote_>"retaining beside him the most 
N25 115 noble brethren of the distinguished military order of The Temple of 
N25 116 Jerusalem, he made them by day and night the custodians of his 
N25 117 morals"<quote/>, according to a contemporary writer. They were 
N25 118 also, no doubt, the custodians of his person.<p/>
N25 119 <p_>All parts of Scotland, except the West Highlands, contributed 
N25 120 heritable property to the Order. The principal preceptory and 
N25 121 Scottish headquarters was at Balantrodoch, now Temple, in 
N25 122 Midlothian. The other preceptories included Temple Liston, or Kirk 
N25 123 Liston, near Edinburgh Airport; Temple in north-west Glasgow; 
N25 124 Temple Denny near Falkirk; Thankerton in Lanarkshire; and 
N25 125 Maryculter in Aberdeenshire. The latter name derives form the 
N25 126 Chapel of St Mary, founded by the Templars in 1187 after William 
N25 127 the Lion granted them 8500 acres there. Templars' Park at 
N25 128 Maryculter is now the name of a Boy Scout camping and training 
N25 129 ground.<p/>
N25 130 <p_>Brian de Jay, Master of the Templars in Scotland in 1298, 
N25 131 brought north the large body of Welsh archers who fought in Edward 
N25 132 I's army against William Wallace. The Welsh troops stayed first at 
N25 133 Balantrodoch, the principal Templar base, before marching on to 
N25 134 join the English army at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298. During 
N25 135 the battle it was Templars who directed the devasting arrow power 
N25 136 that broke the Scottish spear schiltroms, and it was Templar 
N25 137 Knights who led the final cavalry charge that destroyed Wallace's 
N25 138 army. Templars in the British Isles came under the jurisdiction of 
N25 139 the Master of the London Temple.<p/>
N25 140 <p_>In 1291 the Holy Land finally fell to the Saracens with the 
N25 141 capture of the fortress of Acre. The Templars defended the castle 
N25 142 to the death after placing the women and children on the last 
N25 143 galleys. The headquarters of the Order then moved to Cyprus, but 
N25 144 with the loss of the Holy Land the Templars were obliged to find 
N25 145 another reason for their existence. The Order was now unbelievably 
N25 146 wealthy, dealing in commerce on a grand scale and lending vast sums 
N25 147 of money to governments and kings. The headquarters in Britain were 
N25 148 at The Temple in London where their typical circular church still 
N25 149 survives. Here were kept the English crown jewels, pawned to the 
N25 150 Templars in 1260 by Henry III to raise funds for his frequent 
N25 151 warring expeditions.<p/>
N25 152 <p_>However, as time went on the Templars became arrogant and 
N25 153 dissolute and <quote_>"to drink like a Templar"<quote/> became a 
N25 154 catchphrase. Strange rumours began to surround the Order. It was 
N25 155 said the Knights repudiated the crucifixion, spat upon the Cross 
N25 156 and held all manner of obscene rituals. They had certainly absorbed 
N25 157 both Judaic and Islamic beliefs, and esoteric knowledge, through 
N25 158 their long connection with the Middle East and had adopted much 
N25 159 that was alien to orthodox Christianity.<p/>
N25 160 <p_>Their downfall came in 1306 when Philippe IV of France took 
N25 161 refuge form a mob in the Paris Temple and was stunned by the wealth 
N25 162 he saw. He was also aggrieved at being refused admittance to the 
N25 163 Order and alarmed that the Templars intended forming an independent 
N25 164 kingdom in southern France. In October 1307, he ordered the arrest 
N25 165 of all Templars in France. Many were hideously tortured, although 
N25 166 the Preceptor of France is said to have fled along with 18 of the 
N25 167 Order's galleys and much of the Paris Temple's wealth. Pope Clement 
N25 168 V was persuaded to excommunicate all Templars for heresy and 
N25 169 ordered their arrest in every kingdom in Christendom.<p/>
N25 170 <p_>In 1312 the Order was officially dissolved by the Pope, and in 
N25 171 March, 1314, Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Order of Poor 
N25 172 Knights of Christ and the Temple, was roasted to death over a slow 
N25 173 fire on the Ile de Seine in Paris. The order was finished.<p/>
N25 174 <p_>In January 1309, Edward II of England ordered Sir John de 
N25 175 Segrave, his appointed Guardian of Scotland, to arrest all Templars 
N25 176 still at large in the country and report them to the Inquisitor's 
N25 177 Deputy. This latter official was Bishop William Lamberton of St 
N25 178 Andrews who had been released form Winchester Castle the year 
N25 179 before, after taking a new oath of allegiance to Edward II, and had 
N25 180 gone directly from there to Rome to visit the Pope.<p/>
N25 181 <p_>Back home, the wily Lamberton paid lip service to the Pope's 
N25 182 edicts and the English king's instructions, but remained totally 
N25 183 committed to the cause of the excommunicated Robert the Bruce and 
N25 184 Scottish independence. It is not difficult to imagine the bargain 
N25 185 Lamberton made with the two important Templars he interrogated at 
N25 186 Holyrood in December 1309. Far from questioning them on heresy, it 
N25 187 is more than likely he made them an offer: <quote_>"Supply us with 
N25 188 arms, money and expertise and we will give the Templars sanctuary 
N25 189 in the only land where the Pope's writ does not run."<quote/> 
N25 190 Because of conditions in Scotland the papal Bulls were never 
N25 191 proclaimed here and legally the Templars were never dissolved.<p/>
N25 192 <p_>From that time on the fortunes of Robert the Bruce took a 
N25 193 dramatic turn for the better. War material began arriving in 
N25 194 Scotland from Ireland in considerable quantity. This so alarmed the 
N25 195 English authorities that Edward II issued an edict in 1310 to his 
N25 196 officials in Ireland <quote_>"prohibiting under the highest 
N25 197 penalties all the exportation of provisions, horses, armour, and 
N25 198 other supplies from ports where any vessel touches... to the 
N25 199 insurgent Scots which he hears is carried on by merchants in 
N25 200 Ireland"<quote/>.<p/>
N25 201 
N26   1 <#FLOB:N26\><h_><p_>WHAT WILL TOMORROW BRING?<p/>
N26   2 <p_>War-time France was no place for a young couple to make plans 
N26   3 for the future - not when the rest of the world was living for the 
N26   4 moment!<p/><h/>
N26   5 <p_>IT was just another Monday. A dull, winter's day when black 
N26   6 clouds scudded across a grey sky.<p/>
N26   7 <p_>I was sipping coffee and browsing through the morning paper 
N26   8 when the doorbell rang. Humming to myself, I went into the hall and 
N26   9 opened the door.<p/>
N26  10 <p_>A tall man stood on the step. He had thick, grey hair, a tanned 
N26  11 face and incredible blue eyes beneath well-etched brows.<p/>
N26  12 <p_>My face froze and the floor beneath my feet suddenly seemed 
N26  13 frighteningly uneven.<p/>
N26  14 <p_>Grasping the door frame for support, my eyes searched the face 
N26  15 that had danced beneath the surface of my consciousness for years; 
N26  16 the face I had never, ever thought I would see again.<p/>
N26  17 <p_><quote_>"Hello, Genevieve,"<quote/> he said, and the voice was 
N26  18 exactly as I remembered it; silken, rich as dark chocolate.<p/>
N26  19 <p_>Genevieve, he called me resurrecting a past that had lived on 
N26  20 in my heart, bringing alive again the girl I used to be. No-one 
N26  21 had called me that for years and years. I had been Jenny for so 
N26  22 very long!<p/>
N26  23 <p_>And yet... well, I had never forgotten Genevieve, my other 
N26  24 self, that other life and that magical time long ago, any more than 
N26  25 I had ceased to wonder what might have been.<p/>
N26  26 <p_><quote|>"Raul?" I whispered in disbelief. <quote|>"Raul?"<p/>
N26  27 <p_>He nodded, his hands reaching for mine, grasping them tightly 
N26  28 to his chest, bridging the years and erasing the pain of 
N26  29 separation.<p/>
N26  30 <p_>And then came the tears.<p/>
N26  31 <p_><*_>four-stars<*/><p/>
N26  32 <h_><p_>JUANS les PINS, 1944. <p/><h/>
N26  33 <p_>It began and ended in November - a few short days of quiet 
N26  34 contentment and blissful happiness.<p/>
N26  35 <p_>It was a time of stolen hours, of Raul's arms holding me 
N26  36 tightly, and of his blue, blue eyes looking lovingly into mine.<p/>
N26  37 <p_>It was hard to believe there was a war on.<p/>
N26  38 <p_>The house that had been lent to us was small and shabbily 
N26  39 elegant. It was a pink stucco confection with an ornate iron 
N26  40 balustrade. Inside, it had been thoughtfully furnished with early 
N26  41 French pieces.<p/>
N26  42 <p_>We found the key, as directed, under a plantpot on the 
N26  43 terrace.<p/>
N26  44 <p_>I remember my happiness... and my sadness, too. And as if 
N26  45 sensing both, Raul turned to me and said gently, <quote_>"It wasn't 
N26  46 meant to be like this, Genevieve."<quote/><p/>
N26  47 <p_><quote_>"I know."<quote/> I laid my head on his chest. <p/>
N26  48 <p_><quote_>"Are you sure?"<quote/> His hand cupped my chin, his 
N26  49 eyes searched my face anxiously.<p/>
N26  50 <p_><quote_>"How long have we got?"<quote/> I asked by way of 
N26  51 reply.<p/>
N26  52 <p_><quote_>"Four days,"<quote/> he said, drawing me to him. Yet it 
N26  53 all sped by so quickly in a welter of laughter and teasing and 
N26  54 love...<p/>
N26  55 <p_>On that last night together, Raul turned to me to say sadly, 
N26  56 <quote_>"When all this madness is over, we'll come back here, 
N26  57 Genevieve. We'll buy this house, get married. Our children will 
N26  58 play free in the gardens."<quote/><p/>
N26  59 <p_>I couldn't for the life of me reply.<p/>
N26  60 <p_>Instead I thrust back the tears and my searching had found 
N26  61 his.<p/>
N26  62 <p_>It was just a dream, that's all. Who knew what tomorrow would 
N26  63 bring? So many people were lost to us, my own parents included, in 
N26  64 circumstances I cannot to this day bear to think about.<p/>
N26  65 <p_>I was 17 in years and 70 in experience. All I had left to hold 
N26  66 on to and love was Raul... and there were times when he was forced 
N26  67 to leave me for days on end. Days and nights when I could scarcely 
N26  68 eat or sleep for fear of what was happening.<p/>
N26  69 <p_>He never said where he went, what he did, and I never asked. It 
N26  70 wasn't safe to know. That was the world we lived in.<p/>
N26  71 <p_>I had vowed not to sleep that night. I wanted to hold every 
N26  72 precious second, store it to memory. But weariness eventually won 
N26  73 and sleep claimed me.<p/>
N26  74 <p_>It must have been a sixth sense that woke me. Raul was standing 
N26  75 by the bed, looking down at me.<p/>
N26  76 <p_>The moon that lit the room shone full on his face. his eyes 
N26  77 held a message for me. Unfathomable, in the language I couldn't 
N26  78 understand.<p/>
N26  79 <p_><quote_>"What is it?"<quote/> I sat upright in bed. 
N26  80 <quote_>"What's the matter?"<quote/><p/>
N26  81 <p_><quote_>"It's all right."<quote/> He leaned over and kissed my 
N26  82 cheek. <quote_>"Go back to sleep."<quote/><p/>
N26  83 <p_><quote_>"You're... you're leaving,"<quote/> I said dully.<p/>
N26  84 <p_><quote_>"Please, Genevieve."<quote/> He closed his eyes. 
N26  85 <quote_>"Don't ask questions. Just listen. Don't go home again. 
N26  86 Stay here and wait. Someone will come for you. A friend. Go with 
N26  87 him. He'll take you to a safe house. Do exactly as he says. I want 
N26  88 you to promise."<quote/><p/>
N26  89 <p_><quote_>"Oh, Raul,"<quote/> I buried my face in my hands.<p/>
N26  90 <p_>He held me close and whispered sadly, <quote_>"I love you, 
N26  91 Genevieve - always remember that."<quote/><p/>
N26  92 <p_><quote_>"Don't leave me!"<quote/> I clung to him, weeping. 
N26  93 <quote_>"Don't leave me!"<quote/><p/>
N26  94 <p_><quote_>"You'll be safe."<quote/> He stroked my hair. 
N26  95 <quote_>"And I'll find you again. I promise."<quote/><p/>
N26  96 <p_>And then he was gone.<p/>
N26  97 <p_>Alone and afraid, I waited. I don't know how much time passed 
N26  98 before I became aware of a noise on the kitchen. I crept 
N26  99 downstaris, heart hammering, then stopped short in the kitchen 
N26 100 doorway, the breath leaving my body.<p/>
N26 101 <p_>A strange man sat at the kitchen table, drinking coffee 
N26 102 substitute. At my entrance, he grimaced and, indicating the cup 
N26 103 commented, <quote_>"Filthy stuff!"<quote/><p/>
N26 104 <p_><quote|>"Who..." I swallowed and pulled my wrap tighter... who 
N26 105 are you?"<quote/><p/>
N26 106 <p_><quote_>"Don't be alarmed, Miss Derain. I'm a friend,"<quote/> 
N26 107 he replied evasively.<p/>
N26 108 <p_><quote_>"Where's... where's Raul?"<quote/> The question burst 
N26 109 out of me.<p/>
N26 110 <p_>His eyes shifted as he said, <quote_>"I'm afraid I can't answer 
N26 111 that question either. But I would like you to get dressed, please. 
N26 112 Dark clothes and strong walking shoes. I have to go out for a while 
N26 113 but I'll be back soon. Just be ready... in case."<quote/><p/>
N26 114 <p_><quote_>"In case of what?"<quote/> My voice rose.<p/>
N26 115 <p_><quote_>"Just be ready."<quote/> He smiled and was gone.<p/>
N26 116 <p_>Shivering with fear, I dressed and then sat and waited. It 
N26 117 seemed an age before he returned. I sat bolt upright, my heart 
N26 118 crying, <tf_>Oh, Raul, where are you? What's happening?<tf/><p/>
N26 119 <p_>The first streaks of dawn were piercing the darkness when he 
N26 120 returned. His face was pale as he said abruptly, <quote_>"You're 
N26 121 ready - good. Come on, we have to get out of here."<quote/><p/>
N26 122 <p_><quote_>"I don't understand!"<quote/> I cried. <quote_>"You're 
N26 123 going too fast for me! Where's Raul? What's happening? I won't 
N26 124 leave until you tell me."<quote/><p/>
N26 125 <p_>He seemed to hesitate and then with urgency said, <quote_>"Last 
N26 126 night a munitions train on the way to Antibes was sabotaged by the 
N26 127 partisans. It all went dreadfully wrong. There have been... 
N26 128 reprisals."<quote/><p/>
N26 129 <p_>I had always known, deep in my heart, the reasons for Raul's 
N26 130 absences, for the men who came in the still of the night and spoke 
N26 131 in furtive whispers before creeping away again. There were 
N26 132 questions I had never dared ask, answers that lay unspoken between 
N26 133 us.<p/>
N26 134 <p_>But now it as all staring me in the face and I could no longer 
N26 135 play a game of make-believe.<p/>
N26 136 <p_>Slow tears fell from my eyes and rolled down my face.<p/>
N26 137 <p_><quote_>"All hell's broken loose,"<quote/> the stranger was 
N26 138 saying. <quote_>"I had hoped we could hide out here and leave after 
N26 139 curfew under the cover of darkness, but now..."<quote/><p/>
N26 140 <p_>His voice tailed away and then he urged, <quote_>"Come on, we 
N26 141 have to get out of here! It's not safe any more."<quote/><p/>
N26 142 <p_><quote_>"Who are you?"<quote/> My eyes met his and he shrugged 
N26 143 and replied, <quote_>"I don't suppose it matters now. You might as 
N26 144 well know because it won't make any difference if we're caught. I'm 
N26 145 Major Charles Anderson."<quote/><p/>
N26 146 <p_><quote_>"You're English!"<quote/> I stared at him. <quote_>"But 
N26 147 - but your French is faultless!"<quote/><p/>
N26 148 <p_>He smiled ruefully and said, <quote_>"That's why I'm 
N26 149 here."<quote/><p/>
N26 150 <p_><*_>four-stars<*/><p/>
N26 151 <p_>To my last breath, I will remember the faces of those good 
N26 152 people who risked their lives to help us on our way.<p/>
N26 153 <p_>The kindness, the courage, the sheer unselfishness we 
N26 154 encountered lives on in my heart. Because if war brings out the 
N26 155 worst in people, then it also brings out the best.<p/>
N26 156 <p_>I didn't think we'd survive. There were times when I didn't 
N26 157 even want to survive. Fear is a terrible companion.<p/>
N26 158 <p_>I vividly recall our last 'guide,' the one who took us over the 
N26 159 mountains into Spain. He was just a boy, 14 perhaps, 15 at the 
N26 160 most.<p/>
N26 161 <p_>I can still see his face and often wonder what became of him. I 
N26 162 like to think he lived on, married, had children and a wife who 
N26 163 loved him dearly.<p/>
N26 164 <p_>Three months later, Charles and I landed in England.<p/>
N26 165 <p_>IT began slowly, a step-by-step process. Friendship and 
N26 166 need blossomed into something stronger. Charles was a good man, a 
N26 167 true friend to me. We had shared that terrible journey to safety, 
N26 168 the weeks of hiding. I knew then that he had grown to love me. But 
N26 169 he never spoke of his feelings.<p/>
N26 170 <p_>He waited until after the war and then spent a long futile year 
N26 171 desperately trying to find out what had happened to Raul.<p/>
N26 172 <p_>But Europe was in chaos, a sea of human flotsam on the move. He 
N26 173 found no trace and in the end, I begged him to stop.<p/>
N26 174 <p_><quote_>"I'm sorry, Jenny."<quote/> He took my hands in his and 
N26 175 I smiled and said, <quote_>"You tried, Charles, and I thank you for 
N26 176 that."<quote/><p/>
N26 177 <p_>His eyes swept over my face and then, taking a deep breath, he 
N26 178 asked gently, <quote_>"Will you marry me, Jenny?"<quote/><p/>
N26 179 <p_>I looked into his dear face and for a brief moment I remembered 
N26 180 those few short nights I'd shared with Raul, when passion and 
N26 181 happiness were mine.<p/>
N26 182 <p_>But it was time to stop living in the past. Raul was lost and 
N26 183 gone forever. Through Charles, I had learned just to be glad to be 
N26 184 alive.<p/>
N26 185 <p_>Married to him, my mind would be calm again, my heart at 
N26 186 peace.<p/>
N26 187 <p_>And if my love for him wasn't the same love I had experience 
N26 188 for Raul, then it was love for all that.<p/>
N26 189 <p_><quote|>"Yes,'" I breathed, going to him. <quote_>"Oh, 
N26 190 yes!"<quote/><p/>
N26 191 <p_>So we were married and we were happy together.<p/>
N26 192 <p_>We shared 42 years and then Charles became ill. After that, we 
N26 193 drew even closer together, savouring the brief time left to us.<p/>
N26 194 <p_><quote_>"No regrets?"<quote/> he once asked me, very near the 
N26 195 end.<p/>
N26 196 <p_><quote_>"How could I regret loving you?"<quote/> I replied 
N26 197 emotionally. <quote_>"You've been everything to me!"<quote/><p/>
N26 198 <p_>It was the first and only time in our lives together I was ever 
N26 199 to see him cry.<p/>
N26 200 <p_>I was lost without him, totally bereft.<p/>
N26 201 <p_>Charles had been a gentle man, yet a brave one.<p/>
N26 202 <p_>Now I had lost him. And my heart was truly broken.<p/>
N26 203 <p_><*_>four-stars<*/><p/>
N26 204 <p_><h_>Exeter, 1991<h/><p/>
N26 205 <p_><quote_>"I told you."<quote/> I faced my son calmly. 
N26 206 <quote_>"He's an old friend, from way back. I'd like you to meet 
N26 207 him, for my sake."<quote/><p/>
N26 208 <p_>I could almost smell his disapproval and, as if reading my 
N26 209 mind, he thrust his fingers through his hair and said brusquely, 
N26 210 <quote_>"This - this stranger comes here, completely out of the 
N26 211 blue and the next thing you're telling me is that you're going to 
N26 212 France with him! I can't believe it, Mum."<quote/><p/>
N26 213 <p_><quote_>"It's only for a weekend, dear,"<quote/> I explained 
N26 214 gently.<p/>
N26 215 <p_><quote_>"Have you thought what people will say?"<quote/> he 
N26 216 demanded.<p/>
N26 217 <p_><quote_>"To be perfectly frank, I don't care what people 
N26 218 say."<quote/> I stiffened and met his stare. <quote_>"It's my life. 
N26 219 I have no intentions of living it to suit other people. I want to 
N26 220 live for myself."<quote/><p/>
N26 221 <p_><quote_>"Swanning off with this French fellow? Is that what you 
N26 222 call living for yourself?"<quote/> He was aghast.<p/>
N26 223 <p_><quote_>"I tell you I can't believe it. It's - it's not right. 
N26 224 It looks as though you've, well, that you've forgotten 
N26 225 Dad."<quote/><p/>
N26 226 <p_><quote_>"Don't you dare bring your father into this!"<quote/> 
N26 227 Tears pricked my eyes. <quote_>"I don't owe you any kind of 
N26 228 explanation even if you think I do, but I will say this.<p/>
N26 229 <p_>"I was a good and loyal wife to your father. I was everything 
N26 230 he wanted me to be and... and I loved him.<p/>
N26 231 <p_>"We were so happy together. I don't think you can even begin to 
N26 232 imagine how lonely I am without him - I miss him so."<quote/><p/>
N26 233 
N27   1 <#FLOB:N27\>Amphetamine induces a euphoric state which can affect 
N27   2 mental concentration."<quote/><p/>
N27   3 <p_><quote_>"I know. My background is police work. We know about 
N27   4 drug abuse. You just <tf|>prescribed the thing for him? Didn't you 
N27   5 read his record? He's receiving mission medication from Major Dyson 
N27   6 at the hospital. <tf|>All the pilots are."<quote/><p/>
N27   7 <p_>Rosen shook her head. <quote_>"It's not on his record. He has 
N27   8 no medical record at Mondrum. They're here on a temporary posting, 
N27   9 aren't they? Their main records won't have been 
N27  10 transferred."<quote/><p/>
N27  11 <p_><quote_>"But - didn't you think to check the 
N27  12 hospital?"<quote/><p/>
N27  13 <p_><quote_>"Of course I checked!"<quote/> Rosen pushed herself 
N27  14 upright again. She slapped the top of the computer monitor on her 
N27  15 desk, <quote_>"What do you think this thing is for? We're on-line 
N27  16 to personnel and to the hospital. There are no medical records 
N27  17 transferred to Mondrum, and no medical records being kept on the 
N27  18 pilots at Arlington Hospital!"<quote/><p/>
N27  19 <p_>Eileen shook her head. <quote_>"But Dyson can't prescribe 
N27  20 mission medication without keeping a record. It's in the 
N27  21 regulations!"<quote/><p/>
N27  22 <p_><quote_>"Of course he'll be keeping a record! He'll have a 
N27  23 record card. Do you think he'd go through the hassle of opening a 
N27  24 computer file, cross-referencing it, instituting a full medical 
N27  25 record repository address at personnel - just for people on a 
N27  26 temporary posting? He's a busy man! Can't you grasp that? If he was 
N27  27 doing mission medication for those people - people like Talley - 
N27  28 he'd know he could trust them not to abuse the stuff. I mean, 
N27  29 they're top pilots, aren't they? You can <tf|>trust them to 
N27  30 exercise self-control."<quote/><p/>
N27  31 <p_>You could trust them. 
N27  32 <p_>Eileen stared at Rosen, and Rosen stared back. You could trust 
N27  33 them. Talley lied to Rosen in order to obtain drugs. But you could 
N27  34 trust him. Eileen had watched Talley leave the briefing room in 
N27  35 order to dispose the surplus tablets Dyson sent over. She'd watched 
N27  36 him do it every single mission. Not once had she checked on 
N27  37 <tf|>how he disposed of them. Because you could trust him. A top-rated 
N27  38 and highly motivated pilot like Major Clyde Lincoln Talley 
N27  39 just didn't do that kind of thing.<p/>
N27  40 <p_>Slowly, Eileen dispelled the image of Talley leaving the 
N27  41 briefing room, drugs in his hand - ready to disappear into his 
N27  42 pocket, or his locker. So he kept it from her, from his fellow 
N27  43 pilots and his CO, probably from his wife, certainly from medical 
N27  44 officers Dyson and Rosen? Someone sliding into drug abuse develops 
N27  45 a repertoire of little tricks and stories and subterfuges. He even 
N27  46 fools himself. Until a visible physical and behavioural decline 
N27  47 sets in, an addict keeps his secret.<p/>
N27  48 <p_><quote_>"A record,"<quote/> Eileen said. <quote_>"Do you have a 
N27  49 prescribing record?"<quote/><p/>
N27  50 <p_><quote|>"Yes." Rosen picked up her keys and stooped to unlock 
N27  51 one of the drawers in her desk. <quote_>"I started a record card. 
N27  52 I've given him two prescriptions so far - just over a week ago, 
N27  53 and yesterday."<quote/><p/>
N27  54 <p_><quote|>"Yesterday?" Eileen could see Talley in her driving 
N27  55 mirror again. She gave him a ride from Special Team, let him out on 
N27  56 Enoly Gay - and he crossed towards the medical centre.<p/>
N27  57 <p_><quote_>"Yesterday. He was here at midday surgery."<quote/> 
N27  58 Rosen produced the record card and held it out towards Eileen. 
N27  59 <quote_>"See? Two prescriptions for quinalbarbitone sodium and two 
N27  60 for dexamphetamine sulphate."<quote/><p/>
N27  61 <p_>Eileen took the card. She could read Talley's name, she could 
N27  62 just about recognise the descriptions of the drugs. Every doctor in 
N27  63 the world writes with the same vaguely undulating line. 
N27  64 <quote_>"I'd better keep this. I don't see any way around 
N27  65 confronting Talley. Before I do anything, though, I think I'd 
N27  66 better talk with Dyson. Do you know if he's likely to be 
N27  67 home?"<quote/><p/>
N27  68 <p_><quote_>"I doubt it. He and his wife are culture lovers. They 
N27  69 go off base for the evening almost every weekend. I believe there's 
N27  70 a Mahler symphony somewhere in Manchester tonight. Mahler's long, 
N27  71 and Manchester's quite a way from here. They probably won't be back 
N27  72 until the early hours."<quote/><p/>
N27  73 <p_>Eileen nodded. Culture freaks. Dyson had time for the finer 
N27  74 things in life, but he sent tablets over for the pilots at Special 
N27  75 Team without ever checking their state of health. Once again, 
N27  76 because you knew you could trust people like Talley. She put the 
N27  77 card in the breast pocket of her blouse and buttoned it closed. 
N27  78 <quote_>"Guess I'll wait until tomorrow. It's only fair to warn him 
N27  79 first. At least there's no danger they'll be flying any more 
N27  80 missions."<quote/><p/>
N27  81 <p_><quote_>"That's what Roy said this afternoon. He's sure the 
N27  82 arrest means the operation is over. Is it rue, by the way, that 
N27  83 they're looking for a Russian stealth aircraft?"<quote/><p/>
N27  84 <p_><quote|>"What?" A sieve. Special Team was as watertight as the 
N27  85 <tf|>Titanic. <quote_>"Did Sellert tell you that?"<quote/><p/>
N27  86 <p_><quote_>"No. It's the rumour going the rounds."<quote/><p/>
N27  87 <p_><quote_>"Is it?"<quote/> Well it wasn't her worry any more. 
N27  88 Lutwidge had kicked her off the team, and thank God for that at 
N27  89 last. <quote_>"Talking of Sellert, didn't he tell you that Talley 
N27  90 was a pilot?"<quote/><p/>
N27  91 <p_><quote_>"I never mentioned Talley to him. It's known as medical 
N27  92 confidentiality."<quote/><p/>
N27  93 <p_><quote_>"Sure. Well, keep <tf|>this confidential. Until I've 
N27  94 talked with Dyson, that is. We don't know yet what kind of a mess 
N27  95 Talley is in, nor if there's going to be a criminal charge. Unless 
N27  96 there's a charge, we can't go branding him as a drug abuser. Think 
N27  97 what that would do to his career."<quote/><p/>
N27  98 <p_>Rosen nodded. <quote_>"Talking of - consequences. What about 
N27  99 me? And Major Dyson?"<quote/><p/>
N27 100 <p_>And me, Eileen thought. And me.<p/>
N27 101 <p_>Eileen went home. She fixed herself a TV dinner and tried to 
N27 102 put her brain into neutral. It didn't work, the new mess with 
N27 103 Talley kept frothing up into the focus of her attention. The only 
N27 104 consolation was the way she'd be sharing the blame with a trio of 
N27 105 people whose responsibilities put them way ahead of her in the 
N27 106 queue for trouble - Rosen, Dyson, and above all Lutwidge. He'd 
N27 107 hate her for this, too.<p/>
N27 108 <p_>At nine thirty she tried Dyson's home number. No answer. So she 
N27 109 checked with the gate. Dyson and his wife had left at seven forty-five, 
N27 110 Dyson in a tuxedo and his wife all dressed up with earrings 
N27 111 and necklace. They left in a hurry, not only to judge from the way 
N27 112 the car zoomed up to the barrier and then revved away into England, 
N27 113 but because Dyson still had his name badge pinned to his tux. He 
N27 114 must have been called back to the hospital for some kind of 
N27 115 problem, and that would have made him late setting about. Most 
N27 116 Saturdays the Dysons left earlier in the evening. <p/>
N27 117 <p_>So Eileen sat around, isolated in the company of new knowledge 
N27 118 she didn't want but couldn't yet share. It was the uncertainty of 
N27 119 having to decide where to jump, and then having to wait to see if 
N27 120 you'd landed safely - like the business with Bellman. She couldn't 
N27 121 cope with the emotional upset of this kind of thing. Should have 
N27 122 taken mom and dad's advice and gone into the housewife and mother 
N27 123 profession in downtown Detroit.<p/>
N27 124 <p_>At ten thirty she called the gate. Dyson wasn't back, of 
N27 125 course. Slowly she decided to do something just the same. If she 
N27 126 went along to the officers' club, she was sure to get into 
N27 127 conversation with someone for a while. With a little luck she might 
N27 128 even run into one of the people from Special Team who were still 
N27 129 speaking to her - Thorndike, maybe - and get a chance to ask some 
N27 130 more about Talley. She wondered about changing out of her field 
N27 131 security dress and maybe putting on civilian clothes, but then 
N27 132 decided what the hell, and pulled on her boots instead. All kinds 
N27 133 of uniforms turned up at the club. She went out to her car at a 
N27 134 quarter of eleven.<p/>
N27 135 <p_>It was chilly, with drizzle. The wipers calmly swept the way 
N27 136 clear for her as she cruised towards the center of the base. She 
N27 137 went down Sabre, along a piece of Nagasaki, and turned into the 
N27 138 north end of Enola Gay. The new thing with Talley wasn't like 
N27 139 Bellman. She got to Bellman when she realised he lied, and she 
N27 140 found <tf|>that out because the entire business lay outside her own 
N27 141 field of expertise. Unlike the flying specialists, she hadn't known 
N27 142 where it wasn't supposed to be necessary to ask questions and check 
N27 143 answers. Sometimes a little ignorance - and no fixation on ghostly 
N27 144 stealth aircraft - goes a long way. Bellman had in fact been out 
N27 145 of position behind Romulus. Well then, the simplest hypothesis was 
N27 146 that Romulus had seen Bellman. Bellman fired a missile at 
N27 147 something, Romulus disappeared, and Pinkett had seen a fireball 
N27 148 ahead of where the radar showed Bellman to be. Again, the simplest 
N27 149 hypothesis was that Bellman hit Romulus. With Talley it was 
N27 150 entirely different, because her military policework past told her 
N27 151 exactly what to look for, but her awareness of <*_>e-acute<*/>lite
N27 152 status fooled her into paying no attention...<p/>
N27 153 <p_><tf_>What was Talley shooting at?<tf/><p/>
N27 154 <p_>The Sierra rolled to a halt all by itself. She'd taken her foot 
N27 155 off the gas. She reacted in time to avoid stalling the motor. She 
N27 156 sat there in the middle of Mondrum's main street, well south of 
N27 157 Yokohama and right in the heart of the deserted shopping zone.<p/>
N27 158 <p_>Bellman did the sabotage. No doubt of that - the Kirtland 
N27 159 evidence had nailed him in a box. It made sense that he spooked 
N27 160 Romulus by sneaking up on the aircraft's tail. And he fired a 
N27 161 missile at something - conceivably a real Red Wraith, if a Russian 
N27 162 stealth had in fact been there. He couldn't hide it, because he 
N27 163 came back with one missile missing and had reported firing at a 
N27 164 target minutes after Romulus went down. Same with Talley, except in 
N27 165 Talley's case it was shells. Talley shot at something.<p/>
N27 166 <p_>The radar plot had cleared to show Pinkett rolling out at the 
N27 167 top of his turn, and Talley veering sharply away after what that 
N27 168 chalk board diagram indicated as a gun attack. No evidence of a 
N27 169 kill, or any kind of a hit. But it was right then that Pinkett was 
N27 170 looking down towards Talley's position - and saw a flash as 
N27 171 something exploded. Talley <tf|>must have seen it, too. Why didn't 
N27 172 he report it?<p/>
N27 173 <p_>If Pinkett saw Romulus go, then Talley was shooting at a target 
N27 174 right at that instant. <tf|>What target?<p/>
N27 175 <p_>If a Red Wraith - or Bellman - shot down Romulus, what did 
N27 176 Pinkett see explode at the same instant Talley was firing shells at 
N27 177 something? If he saw a Red Wraith explode as Talley hit it, 
N27 178 <tf_>why didn't Talley report the kill?<tf/><p/>
N27 179 <p_>Headlights flared in her mirrors. A car surged past and blew 
N27 180 its horn. In the illumination of streetlights and shop fronts, she 
N27 181 could see the driver wave a fist at her as the car entered the 
N27 182 first curve of the dog's leg. The vehicle left shadow-gleam tire 
N27 183 tracks on the wet road surface, a fading trail like the one that 
N27 184 took Bellman through the snow on his way to Special Team, like 
N27 185 dying tracer pointing at something no longer there...<p/>
N27 186 <p_>Talley himself had said a dive by Romulus would be a plausible 
N27 187 evasive manoeuvre: if that was the case, he couldn't say otherwise 
N27 188 without arousing suspicion. Thorndike had said it was exactly what 
N27 189 she would do, if a missile didn't get her first. Thorndike was an 
N27 190 Aggressor squadron instructor, an air combat specialist. If Beamish 
N27 191 had been good enough to put his aircraft into a dive, Romulus could 
N27 192 have gotten exactly as far as where Talley ran into something...<p/>
N27 193 <p_>And then disintegrated in time not to appear on the radar 
N27 194 plot.<p/>
N27 195 <p_>Eileen shifted the car into gear. She looked behind to check 
N27 196 the street was clear, then she wrenched the Sierra around in a 
N27 197 tight turn and headed back the way she'd come. It was late, just on 
N27 198 ten of eleven. But it was time to talk with Talley.<p/>
N27 199 <h_><p_>33<p/>
N27 200 <p_>March 4th, 2250-2305<p/><h/>
N27 201 <p_>This time the bait was a Badger, a Tupolev Tu-16. It rode the 
N27 202 night on long, swept-back wings. All of its lights were burning 
N27 203 to make sure it looked friendly. It was a Badger-D, a maritime 
N27 204 reconnaissance variant, with a bulbous radome under its nose.
N27 205 
N28   1 <#FLOB:N28\><h_><p_>Happy Endings<p/><h/>
N28   2 <p_>Patsy's mother had never talked about her time in the French 
N28   3 Resistance - it was too long ago, she said, and best forgotten. 
N28   4 But it was Patsy's job to uncover what others wanted to hide...<p/>
N28   5 <p_>SHE stood in the churchyard looking at the headstone. It still 
N28   6 looked new despite the fact that it had been there five years. it 
N28   7 didn't seem real. Real gravestones had patches of lichen and you 
N28   8 could only just read the words. But this one showed a rather bland 
N28   9 face to the world and the words were as legible as when it came 
N28  10 from the mason's yard. It said, quite simply - <quote_>"Jessica 
N28  11 Mansell - 1917-1975 - much loved mother of Patricia."<quote/> 
N28  12 She was Patricia. At the mason's yard they had shown her a list of 
N28  13 additional lines that she could choose. They ranged from 
N28  14 <quote_>"Requiescat in Pace"<quote/> to <quote_>"Safe in Jesus' 
N28  15 arms"<quote/>. And she'd hated herself for mentally querying where 
N28  16 the apostrophe should go on Jesus'. She refused them all. Not just 
N28  17 because they were so trite but because they were meaningless. If 
N28  18 you're what they call a photojournalist you've seen enough dead 
N28  19 bodies to now that it takes more than a few words on a gravestone 
N28  20 to sum up what that life had been.<p/>
N28  21 <p_>As she walked away she was sad that even those words - 
N28  22 <quote_>"much loved mother"<quote/> - were not entirely true. She 
N28  23 had been fond of her mother but she hadn't loved her. Not because 
N28  24 of any defect in her mother but because her mother didn't want to 
N28  25 be loved. It was as if she feared being loved, wrapping a cloak of 
N28  26 scorn for sentiment and outward affection around herself as if it 
N28  27 might protect her from those payments that love required.<p/>
N28  28 <p_>She was a good woman, her mother, efficient organiser, seldom 
N28  29 critical and always ready with good advice and solutions to 
N28  30 problems. But she had no close friend. Plenty of acquaintances but 
N28  31 that was as far as it went. Dependent on nobody right to the end of 
N28  32 her life. She could remember journalists phoning or calling at the 
N28  33 house wanting to do pieces about her mother's time in Special 
N28  34 Operations Executive during the war, heroine of the Resistance and 
N28  35 all that. Her mother had sent them packing, one and all, on their 
N28  36 way. She said it was all too long ago and was best forgotten. But 
N28  37 now it was her turn. She'd been commissioned to write up the story 
N28  38 of what had happened to her mother's Resistance group.<p/>
N28  39 <p_>She wondered sometimes if her mother's attitude to life was 
N28  40 caused by what Jessica had told her on her fifteenth birthday. The 
N28  41 present of the camera that Patsy had wanted so desperately and then 
N28  42 the talk, sitting together at the kitchen table, her mother 
N28  43 obviously disturbed.<p/>
N28  44 <p_>She worked in the darkroom that night until 2 am on the prints 
N28  45 she had done to go with her long interview with a well-known 
N28  46 woman novelist.<p/>
N28  47 <p_>She had phoned her researcher as soon as she got back from her 
N28  48 agent and she was tempted to phone him again, but after midnight 
N28  49 was not a popular time for business calls. She hadn't been able to 
N28  50 give him much to work on, her mother's name and date of birth and a 
N28  51 vague memory that her mother had said that the network was code-named
N28  52 'Monarch'. Then, thinking about it triggered something in her 
N28  53 memory. She walked into her own bedroom and checked through the 
N28  54 drawers in the mahogany chest and found the chocolate box.<p/>
N28  55 <p_>Sitting on the side of the bed she opened it carefully and took 
N28  56 out the contents. There was an officially phrased letter in French 
N28  57 from the French Embassy informing her mother that she had been 
N28  58 nominated for the award of a Croix de Guerre. Could she please 
N28  59 confirm that she would accept the award? There was a copy of the 
N28  60 polite reply from her mother, declining. There were four picture 
N28  61 postcards of the same place, a restaurant with a bridge in the 
N28  62 background. The first card had a brief message in French in an 
N28  63 awkward sort of script. It said, simply, <quote_>"<foreign_>Je 
N28  64 t'aime ju'squa bout de ma vie<foreign/>."<quote/> The postmark was 
N28  65 Perigord and the date stamp was July, 1952. The illustration was an 
N28  66 old-fashioned sepia photograph. The other cards were of the same 
N28  67 place but with no message and no postmark. There was one card that 
N28  68 looked more modern and was in colour. The address on the first card 
N28  69 was a flat that she and her mother had lived in at one time in 
N28  70 Chiswick.<p/>
N28  71 <p_>As she undressed for bed she realised that that talk in the 
N28  72 kitchen with her mother all those years ago was going to be a 
N28  73 problem.<p/>
N28  74 <p_>When she got up the next morning there was a message on the 
N28  75 answering-machine from her researcher for her to ring him.<p/>
N28  76 <p_>WHEN she called him he had got three addresses for her, a man 
N28  77 and a woman in England and a woman in France. When she asked him 
N28  78 how he had traced them so quickly he had laughed and told her not 
N28  79 to press the point.<p/>
N28  80 <p_>The first house was in one of the few surviving Chelsea 
N28  81 squares. She walked up the six stone steps and pressed the bell 
N28  82 beside the impressive oak door and waited. A few moments later the 
N28  83 door was opened by a young woman. <quote_>"Can I help 
N28  84 you?"<quote/><p/>
N28  85 <p_><quote_>"I'd like to speak to Mary Parsons if it's 
N28  86 convenient."<quote/><p/>
N28  87 <p_>The young woman frowned. <quote_>"There's no Mary Parsons lives 
N28  88 here, you must have the wrong address."<quote/><p/>
N28  89 <p_>As Patsy tried to speak she saw a figure behind the young 
N28  90 woman. It was a much older woman who said, <quote_>"Did you say 
N28  91 Mary Parsons?"<quote/><p/>
N28  92 <p_><quote|>"Yes."<p/>
N28  93 <p_>The older woman said, <quote_>"It's all right Julie. I'll deal 
N28  94 with it."<quote/><p/>
N28  95 <p_>As the young woman walked away Patsy realised that she was a 
N28  96 maid.<p/>
N28  97 <p_><quote_>"I think you must be looking for me. I'm Mary 
N28  98 Renshaw."<quote/> She smiled. <quote_>"But long, long ago I was 
N28  99 Mary Parsons. How can I help you?"<quote/><p/>
N28 100 <p_><quote_>"My name's Patricia Mansell and I'm writing a book 
N28 101 about one of the SOE networks. I was given your name as somebody 
N28 102 who could help me."<quote/><p/>
N28 103 <p_><quote_>"Good heavens. Surely people are tired of reading about 
N28 104 the Second World War."<quote/><p/>
N28 105 <p_>Patsy smiled. <quote_>"My publishers don't seem to think 
N28 106 so."<quote/><p/>
N28 107 <p_><quote_>"Are you a specialist on these things?"<quote/><p/>
N28 108 <p_>I'm a journalist but my mother was in SOE during the 
N28 109 war."<quote/><p/>
N28 110 <p_><quote_>"Really. What was her name?"<quote/><p/>
N28 111 <p_><quote_>"Jessica Mansell."<quote/><p/>
N28 112 <p_>The woman's hand went to her mouth. <quote_>"Not 
N28 113 Jessie."<quote/> She paused. <quote_>"You must come in and have a 
N28 114 cup of tea while we chat."<quote/><p/>
N28 115 <p_>She was led through a tiled hall into a small room and when 
N28 116 they were seated, and the maid had brought them tea, Mary Renshaw 
N28 117 said, <quote_>"And how is Jessica these days?"<quote/><p/>
N28 118 <p_><quote_>"She died just over five years ago. She had a fall and 
N28 119 it led to pneumonia."<quote/><p/>
N28 120 <p_><quote_>"I'm so sorry. We met quite by accident about ten years 
N28 121 ago at the Special Forces Club. It was some sort of reunion for SOE 
N28 122 people who'd served in France. She was such a treasure, and so 
N28 123 deceptive. So quiet and unassuming but time and again she took 
N28 124 risks to make sure some operation was successful."<quote/> She 
N28 125 smiled. <quote_>"Very feminine but as bold as any of the 
N28 126 men."<quote/> She paused. <quote_>"So what can I do to help 
N28 127 you?"<quote/><p/>
N28 128 <p_>Patsy laughed softly and shrugged her shoulders. <quote_>"Tell 
N28 129 me how you got into SOE and what you had to do."<quote/><p/>
N28 130 <p_><quote_>"I had an interview at the St Ermin's Hotel. They knew 
N28 131 that I was brought up in France. They said they wanted people for 
N28 132 the Resistance in France. Was I willing to go? I said yes and then 
N28 133 they sent me for training."<quote/><p/>
N28 134 <p_><quote_>"What sort of training?"<quote/><p/>
N28 135 <p_><quote_>"They sent me to Beaulieu, a big estate in Hampshire. I 
N28 136 learned about explosive, weapons, how to use a radio, map-reading,  
N28 137 how to do surveillance. I did a parachute course at 
N28 138 Ringway, which is Manchester airport now. I had lectures on the 
N28 139 German Intelligence Services. All sorts of things."<quote/><p/>
N28 140 <p_><quote_>"How long did it take?"<quote/><p/>
N28 141 <p_><quote_>"Almost six months."<quote/><p/>
N28 142 <p_><quote_>"Was Mama with you at Beaulieu?"<quote/><p/>
N28 143 <p_><quote_>"Yes. We joined the same day."<quote/><p/>
N28 144 <p_><quote_>"Then what?"<quote/><p/>
N28 145 <p_><quote_>"We were told that we'd be parachuted into the Dordogne 
N28 146 to join the Monarch network. We were dropped about a month later 
N28 147 with false names and false papers."<quote/><p/>
N28 148 <p_><quote_>"Were you scared?"<quote/><p/>
N28 149 <p_>She laughed. <quote_>"Not so much scared as 
N28 150 annoyed."<quote/><p/>
N28 151 <p_><quote_>"Why annoyed?"<quote/><p/>
N28 152 <p_><quote_>"Because it seemed bad enough to be dropped into enemy 
N28 153 occupied territory without having to go on and make a nuisance of 
N28 154 ourselves with the Germans"<quote/> She laughed. <quote_>"And we 
N28 155 both resented the fact that the aircrew would go back to bacon and 
N28 156 eggs and a warm bed with us stuck in some cold, wet field in the 
N28 157 middle of the night."<quote/><p/>
N28 158 <p_><quote_>"What was the network's job?"<quote/><p/>
N28 159 <p_><quote_>"Well, I was a radio operator so I didn't take part in 
N28 160 actual operations. But they had two main tasks - sabotage and 
N28 161 training the resistance fighters."<quote/><p/>
N28 162 <p_><quote_>"What did my mother do?"<quote/><p/>
N28 163 <p_><quote_>"She was a sabotage expert showing people how to use 
N28 164 plastic explosives to wreck locomotives, blow up trains and 
N28 165 buildings and bridges. They were blowing up a bridge when the 
N28 166 Germans surrounded us."<quote/><p/>
N28 167 <p_><quote_>"What did the Germans do?"<quote/><p/>
N28 168 <p_><quote_>"I don't know about the others, we were all split up. I 
N28 169 was in prison in Paris. I was interrogated and I was liberated when 
N28 170 de Gaulle took Paris."<quote/> She smiled. <quote_>"More 
N28 171 interrogation and then I was sent back to London and demobilised 
N28 172 with a small gratuity."<quote/><p/>
N28 173 <p_><quote_>"Did you meet any of the others after the 
N28 174 war?"<quote/><p/>
N28 175 <p_><quote_>"Just your mother and Percy Spencer. Tom Willis the CO 
N28 176 went missing believed killed. Of course most of the network were 
N28 177 French."<quote/><p/>
N28 178 <p_><quote_>"What sort of man was Percy Spencer?"<quote/><p/>
N28 179 <p_>She smiled. <quote_>"He's still around. Lives in Sussex. I'll 
N28 180 give you his address and you can meet him and form your own 
N28 181 opinion. Very military, didn't think much of the French but loved 
N28 182 France."<quote/><p/>
N28 183 <p_><quote_>"And Tom Willis, what was he like?"<quote/><p/>
N28 184 <p_>Patsy held her breath as Mary Renshaw hesitated before 
N28 185 replying. <quote_>"If I say he was very English it would be stupid 
N28 186 because he was a Scot. Cool and calm, never panicked."<quote/><p/>
N28 187 <p_><quote_>"I was given the name of Anne-Marie Simon. Do you 
N28 188 remember her?"<quote/><p/>
N28 189 <p_><quote_>"Yes. Very pretty. She was a courier. She married one 
N28 190 of the Frenchmen after the war."<quote/><p/>
N28 191 <p_><quote_>"I was told she lives in Paris."<quote/><p/>
N28 192 <p_><quote_>"ACTUALLY I've no idea but she was originally from the 
N28 193 network's area in the Dordogne. She came from Perigueux. Nice girl. 
N28 194 Tougher than she looks."<quote/> She laughed. <quote_>"I talk as if 
N28 195 we are all still young girls. She must be a grandmother by 
N28 196 now."<quote/><p/>
N28 197 <p_><quote_>"What did you do after the war?"<quote/><p/>
N28 198 <p_><quote_>"I was hoping you wouldn't ask me that."<quote/><p/>
N28 199 <p_><quote|>"Why?"<p/>
N28 200 <p_><quote_>"I made a bit of a mess of things. I tried to settle 
N28 201 down but I couldn't I suppose I ought to be ashamed to say it but I 
N28 202 missed the excitement. I married but it didn't work out. I got a 
N28 203 job on a cruise boat to see the world. I taught parachuting. I 
N28 204 taught riding. Horse-riding. Then mercifully I met my 
N28 205 husband."<quote/> She smiled and shrugged. <quote_>"And thanks to 
N28 206 him I lived happily ever after."<quote/><p/>
N28 207 <p_><quote_>"Could I take a few photographs of you while the 
N28 208 light's still so good."<quote/><p/>
N28 209 <p_><quote_>"Yes. If you want."<quote/><p/>
N28 210 <p_>When the photographs were taken Patsy had a thought. 
N28 211 <quote_>"Do you have any photographs of you when you were in 
N28 212 SOE?"<quote/><p/>
N28 213 <p_><quote_>"I've got one of a bunch of us at Beaulieu."<quote/><p/>
N28 214 <p_><quote_>"May I see it?"<quote/><p/>
N28 215 <p_><quote_>"Of course."<quote/><p/>
N28 216 <p_>When she came back with the postcard-size photograph Patsy 
N28 217 felt a pang as she saw her mother, smiling and pretty in her FANY 
N28 218 uniform. She and Mary Parsons looked about eighteen but they must 
N28 219 have been in their early twenties.<p/>
N28 220 <p_><quote_>"Could I borrow it?"<quote/><p/>
N28 221 <p_><quote_>"You can keep it, I've got another."<quote/><p/>
N28 222 <p_>As they walked together to the door Mary Parsons put her hand 
N28 223 on Patsy's arm and said quietly, <quote_>"She was a good women your 
N28 224 mother.
N28 225 
N29   1 <#FLOB:N29\><quote_>"<tf_>Just one of the ifs, one of the marker 
N29   2 buoys.... If I had children I would teach them, 'Beware of 
N29   3 unswerving loyalty.'"<quote/><p/>
N29   4 <p_><quote_>"Swerving loyalty doesn't seem to have been an 
N29   5 unqualified success otherwise you wouldn't be going back to England 
N29   6 to see if you did the right thing...."<quote/><p/>
N29   7 <p_>It doesn't look as though I will be going back<tf/>,"<quote/> 
N29   8 Hanson pulled in his line. One of the hooks had gone. He began to 
N29   9 thread another with nylon.<p/>
N29  10 <p_><tf_><quote_>"Has it occurred to you that Perfidious Albion 
N29  11 might be conspiring against you? Why don't you pay a visit to the 
N29  12 British Embassy where 'there's some corner of a foreign field that 
N29  13 is for ever England'?<tf/>"<quote/><p/>
N29  14 <p_>The stranger disappeared but the moon remained captured in the 
N29  15 black orb. Hanson fed his line back into the water. It tugged 
N29  16 immediately. He hauled it in and a fish leaped and slithered in the 
N29  17 glow of the brazier. He gazed at it for a moment, tomorrow's lunch. 
N29  18 Then he removed the hook from its mouth and dropped it into the 
N29  19 water.<p/>
N29  20 <p_>Lena said: <quote_>"Where are you going?"<quote/><p/>
N29  21 <p_>She stood at the front door of the apartment like a wife seeing 
N29  22 her husband off to work, familiar dressing-gown over her sensible 
N29  23 night-dress.<p/>
N29  24 <p_><quote_>"You don't usually ask."<quote/><p/>
N29  25 <p_><quote_>"You're leaving earlier than usual."<quote/><p/>
N29  26 <p_><quote_>"I'm going to the British Embassy. Catch them before 
N29  27 they've put their protocol on."<quote/><p/>
N29  28 <p_><quote_>"About your visit to England?"<quote/><p/>
N29  29 <p_><quote_>"Someone's trying to stop me. Why not the 
N29  30 British?"<quote/><p/>
N29  31 <p_><quote_>"Why would they do that?"<quote/><p/>
N29  32 <p_><quote_>"Because anyone who servers their allegiance to the 
N29  33 Queen is a traitor whether they've escaped with State secrets or a 
N29  34 packet of Kleenex. Because although I'm a Soviet citizen I'm a 
N29  35 mongrel, Slavic-British, and can't be classified. Because I could 
N29  36 cause a modicum of trouble by not turning up for my return flight 
N29  37 to Moscow. But most importantly because I just don't 
N29  38 matter."<quote/><p/>
N29  39 <p_><quote_>"You matter,"<quote/> Lena said.<p/>
N29  40 <p_><quote_>"Ah, but to whom?"<quote/><p/>
N29  41 <p_><quote_>"To yourself. In the end that's all that 
N29  42 counts."<quote/><p/>
N29  43 <p_>He kissed her and let himself out of the apartment. On the 
N29  44 floor below the tortoise-head of Frolov, the historian, emerged. 
N29  45 <quote_>"
N29  46 <p_>So early, Comrade Hanson?"<quote/><p/>
N29  47 <p_><quote_>"A business appointment."<quote/><p/>
N29  48 <p_><quote_>"Lucky to have business these hard days. What is there 
N29  49 left to buy and sell?"<quote/> Frolov, having finally acquitted 
N29  50 Hanson of espionage, assumed he was a black marketeer.<p/>
N29  51 <p_><quote_>"How's the Revolution going?"<quote/><p/>
N29  52 <p_><quote_>"I write the truth.... But these days it is difficult 
N29  53 to reach conclusions - they change every day."<quote/><p/>
N29  54 <p_>Frolov's head withdrew into his apartment. Hanson ran down the 
N29  55 last flight of stairs, navigated two cats, opened the double-doors 
N29  56 and, observed by a single eye peering from between heavy 
N29  57 curtains, made his way to his car.<p/>
N29  58 <p_>The British Embassy stood on a coveted site across the river 
N29  59 from the Kremlin. It had been built by a sugar baron in the 
N29  60 nineteenth century for his mistress and was baronial in a cosy sort 
N29  61 of way. Here successions of diplomats had pussy-footed with the 
N29  62 Kremlin leaders across the water, stoically endured predictable 
N29  63 snubs, and eaten strawberries on the Queen's birthday with hostile 
N29  64 emissaries including almost everyone except the Russians who, 
N29  65 isolated from the forums of international debate, were most 
N29  66 friendly. A militiaman at the gate demanded identification papers 
N29  67 and regarded him speculatively as he perused them.<p/>
N29  68 <p_><quote_>"They're expecting me,"<quote/> Hanson told him. 
N29  69 <quote_>"I telephoned yesterday - I need permission to do some 
N29  70 filming here."<quote/><p/>
N29  71 <p_>The militiaman made a call and, with a jerk of his head, let 
N29  72 him go.<p/>
N29  73 <p_>A receptionist, retired army NCO by the look of him, said a Mr 
N29  74 Jarvis was expecting him and, tightening his lips, withdrew from 
N29  75 his contaminating presence.<p/>
N29  76 <p_>Jarvis, young with clipped woolly hair and big, eavesdropping 
N29  77 ears, led Hanson to a small office proportionate to his lowly rank. 
N29  78 He sat behind a modest desk and said: <quote_>"So we're making a 
N29  79 movie, are we."<quote/><p/>
N29  80 <p_><quote_>"Why don't you relax,"<quote/> Hanson said, settling 
N29  81 himself on the other side of the desk. <quote_>"I haven't come here 
N29  82 to subvert you."<quote/><p/>
N29  83 <p_><quote_>"You'd have a hard job."<quote/> He pulled uneasily at 
N29  84 his lower lip that had been cracked by the cold.<p/>
N29  85 <p_><quote_>"I'm sure I would."<quote/><p/>
N29  86 <p_><quote_>"So let's get to the point, shall we,"<quote/> his 
N29  87 voice searching for an authoritative pitch. <quote_>"What do you 
N29  88 want to film and why?"<quote/><p/>
N29  89 <p_><quote_>"The white ballroom?"<quote/><p/>
N29  90 <p_><quote|>"Impossible," Jarvis said with satisfaction.<p/>
N29  91 <p_><quote_>"The landing where a young officer once blew out his 
N29  92 brains because his girlfriend had found another lover?"<quote/><p/>
N29  93 <p_><quote_>"Out of the question."<quote/> Jarvis glanced at a 
N29  94 photograph of a girl who looked like an aristocratic milkmaid as 
N29  95 though he half expected a nod and a wink.<p/>
N29  96 <p_><quote_>"Exterior shots?"<quote/><p/>
N29  97 <p_><quote_>"A possibility. But, really, you must let me know what 
N29  98 this film is all about. HE is adamant that the Embassy mustn't be 
N29  99 compromised."<quote/><p/>
N29 100 <p_><quote_>"I should have thought HE had more important things on 
N29 101 his mind - there is a civil war raging in Azerbaijan."<quote/><p/>
N29 102 <p_><quote_>"I don't think the ambassador's priorities need concern 
N29 103 us,"<quote/> Jarvis said. He picked up a small puzzle and began to 
N29 104 coax silver balls into cups hollowed in black plastic. 
N29 105 <quote_>"What sort of a thriller? A whodunnit?"<quote/><p/>
N29 106 <p_><quote_>"Sort of. We are only interested in the embassy because 
N29 107 of its juxtaposition with the Kremlin. An ironic commentary on 
N29 108 international hostilities."<quote/><p/>
N29 109 <p_><quote_>"Who's we?"<quote/><p/>
N29 110 <p_><quote_>"Members of the foreign community in 
N29 111 Moscow."<quote/><p/>
N29 112 <p_><quote_>"Which members would those be?"<quote/><p/>
N29 113 <p_><quote_>"You know perfectly well which members."<quote/><p/>
N29 114 <p_><quote_>"Ah, those members...."<quote/> Jarvis, gaining 
N29 115 assurance, tuttutted at an errant silver ball.<p/>
N29 116 <p_><quote_>"So will that be all right, exterior shots I 
N29 117 mean?"<quote/><p/>
N29 118 <p_><quote_>"We'll consider your application."<quote/> He smiled, 
N29 119 drawing the girl in the photograph into the decision-making, and 
N29 120 his ears moved infinitesimally. <quote_>"Now if you'll excuse 
N29 121 me...."<quote/><p/>
N29 122 <p_><quote_>"There is one more thing."<quote/><p/>
N29 123 <p_><quote|>"Really?" Jarvis consulted a schedule on his desk. 
N29 124 <quote_>"I don't think -"<quote/><p/>
N29 125 <p_><quote_>"I want to see Gordon. And don't say Gordon who. I want 
N29 126 to see Alistair Gordon, Flash as I believe he's known."<quote/><p/>
N29 127 <p_><quote_>"<tf|>Mister Gordon is in Chancery."<quote/><p/>
N29 128 <p_><quote_>"I don't care whether he's in the potting 
N29 129 shed,"<quote/> Hanson said, <quote_>"I want to see him."<quote/><p/>
N29 130 <p_><quote_>"I'm afraid that's impossible."<quote/><p/>
N29 131 <p_><quote_>"Why don't you pick up the phone and ask 
N29 132 Flash?"<quote/><p/>
N29 133 <p_><quote_>"As you rightly pointed out there are more important 
N29 134 things to hand."<quote/> He stood up. <quote_>"I'll see you 
N29 135 out."<quote/><p/>
N29 136 <p_><quote_>"I'm staying put."<quote/><p/>
N29 137 <p_>Jarvis pulled at his lip, blood oozed from the crack. He licked 
N29 138 it. <quote_>"I can have you thrown out."<quote/><p/>
N29 139 <p_><quote_>"A scene? I don't think HE would like that. Violence 
N29 140 and originality are a diplomat's cardinal crimes."<quote/><p/>
N29 141 <p_>Jarvis sat down. <quote_>"Why do you want to see Fl - Mr 
N29 142 Gordon?"<quote/><p/>
N29 143 <p_><quote_>"Why don't you just pick up that phone?"<quote/><p/>
N29 144 <p_>Jarvis glanced at the girl in the photograph. She must have 
N29 145 nodded because he picked up the phone. <quote_>"Alistair? Brian 
N29 146 Jarvis here. There's a chap called Hanson in my office who wants to 
N29 147 see you. No HANSON... yes, that Hanson... no, I don't know what he 
N29 148 wants... you will?"<quote/> He replaced the receiver. <quote_>"Mr 
N29 149 Gordon is coming to see you,"<quote/> he said incredulously.<p/>
N29 150 <p_>He can't afford not to, Hanson thought. Gordon was a Second 
N29 151 Secretary whose brief included surveillance of defectors in case 
N29 152 any intelligence came their way. It almost never did but Gordon 
N29 153 couldn't take any risks. Supposing I had wind of another Philby?<p/>
N29 154 <p_>The door opened and Gordon came in. He reminded Hanson of a 
N29 155 Swedish tennis-player whose Wimbledon hopes had been impaired by 
N29 156 a predilection for intrigue. He was blond and boyish and his  
N29 157 pin-striped suit was decently crumpled.<p/>
N29 158 <p_>He said to Jarvis: <quote_>"Could you leave us together for a 
N29 159 few minutes, Brian. See you at the Don-Under tonight?"<quote/> 
N29 160 reminding Hanson that the beery club under the Australian Embassy 
N29 161 was one of the many outposts of the West where he and his ilk were 
N29 162 not welcome.<p/>
N29 163 <p_><quote_>"Right you are, Alistair."<quote/> Jarvis took a last 
N29 164 glance at the photograph of the girl and exited gratefully.<p/>
N29 165 <p_><quote_>"Hallo, Bob,"<quote/> Gordon said with a familiarity 
N29 166 scarcely merited by their one previous meeting. <quote_>"What can I 
N29 167 do for you?"<quote/> He sat in Jarvis's chair.<p/>
N29 168 <p_><quote_>"I want to know why you've put the block on my return 
N29 169 to England."<quote/><p/>
N29 170 <p_><quote_>"Do you now. To tell you the truth, Bob, I had no idea 
N29 171 you wanted to go back. I thought you were more than happy in the 
N29 172 country of your adoption."<quote/><p/>
N29 173 <p_><quote_>"Spare me the bullshit, <tf|>Alistair. You knew as soon 
N29 174 as my application came before the consul."<quote/><p/>
N29 175 <p_><quote_>"Did I? Perhaps. It probably didn't seem all that 
N29 176 important at the time."<quote/><p/>
N29 177 <p_><quote_>"The KGB have put a block on it, too."<quote/><p/>
N29 178 <p_><quote_>"Then why bother to come to me, old son?"<quote/><p/>
N29 179 <p_><quote_>"If I'm right one of my people -"<quote/><p/>
N29 180 <p_><quote_>"Your people?"<quote/><p/>
N29 181 <p_><quote_>"Those you choose to call the Twilight 
N29 182 Brigade?"<quote/><p/>
N29 183 <p_><quote_>"Really? I hadn't heard that. But where the cap fits, 
N29 184 eh?"<quote/><p/>
N29 185 <p_><quote_>"One of my people who was, possibly still is, an 
N29 186 officer in the KGB has been in touch with his superiors and they 
N29 187 have instructed OVIR not to give me an exit visa."<quote/><p/>
N29 188 <p_><quote_>"You chose to be a Russian, old son."<quote/><p/>
N29 189 <p_><quote_>"Now why would he do that?"<quote/><p/>
N29 190 <p_><quote_>"Search me."<quote/> Gordon put his feet on the desk 
N29 191 and leaned back audaciously in the chair. <quote_>"Nothing 
N29 192 sinister, I shouldn't think. You only came across with 
N29 193 ideals."<quote/><p/>
N29 194 <p_><quote_>"Sorry about those,"<quote/> Hanson said.<p/>
N29 195 <p_><quote_>"So what do you want me to do? We haven't put a block 
N29 196 on you, as you put it. No need. Our friends are doing that for 
N29 197 us."<quote/><p/>
N29 198 <p_><quote_>"But if they did give me an exit visa you would -
N29 199 "<quote/><p/>
N29 200 <p_><quote_>"Put a block on it? That eventuality hasn't arisen. 
N29 201 Probably never will. You see in cases like this we work together, a 
N29 202 sort of old boys' network, if you follow me."<quote/> He toyed with 
N29 203 the tip of his tie, silver crown on navy blue, Vincent's, 
N29 204 Oxford.<p/>
N29 205 <p_><quote_>"So if one gives permission the other follows 
N29 206 suit?"<quote/><p/>
N29 207 <p_><quote_>"Something like that."<quote/> Gordon transferred his 
N29 208 attentions from his tie to his carefully dishevelled hair.<p/>
N29 209 <p_><quote_>"So if you gave me the okay they might do the 
N29 210 same?"<quote/><p/>
N29 211 <p_><quote_>"They might,"<quote/> Gordon conceded. <quote_>"But why 
N29 212 should we give you the okay? I can see no good reason, can 
N29 213 you?"<quote/><p/>
N29 214 <p_><quote_>"Humanitarian grounds?"<quote/><p/>
N29 215 <p_><quote_>"Spare me your aged mother. She disowned you a quarter 
N29 216 of a bloody century ago."<quote/><p/>
N29 217 <p_><quote_>"How about a poor old sod who just wants to see England 
N29 218 once more before he falls off the perch?"<quote/><p/>
N29 219 <p_><quote_>"You're not that old,"<quote/> said Gordon. 
N29 220 <quote_>"Anyway, what have you got to offer?"<quote/><p/>
N29 221 <p_><quote_>"Offer? How can I have anything to offer? I came here 
N29 222 with nothing and I've got even less now."<quote/><p/>
N29 223 <p_><quote_>"You say you may have a KGB officer in your midst. His 
N29 224 name would be marginally interesting."<quote/><p/>
N29 225 <p_><quote_>"Then why don't you ask your friends."<quote/><p/>
N29 226 <p_><quote_>"They are,"<quote/> Gordon said, <quote_>"remarkably 
N29 227 reticent about certain matters."<quote/><p/>
N29 228 <p_><quote_>"I thought the espionage game was over."<quote/><p/>
N29 229 <p_><quote_>"That's what our friends would like you to think. What 
N29 230 would happen to the unemployment figures if they disbanded the 
N29 231 KGB?"<quote/><p/>
N29 232 <p_><quote_>"How can the identity of some has-been KGB officer 
N29 233 among the defectors possibly interest you?"<quote/><p/>
N29 234 <p_><quote_>"Always a few ends to be tied up,"<quote/> Gordon said. 
N29 235 <quote_>"It's not that important, of course, but we do like to know 
N29 236 who stole the family silver."<quote/><p/>
N29 237 <p_><quote_>"Someone who was more important than he appeared to 
N29 238 be?"<quote/><p/>
N29 239 <p_><quote_>"Put out a few feelers, old son. And don't forget the 
N29 240 female of the species. Cambridge, weren't you?"<quote/><p/>
N29 241 <p_><quote_>"I don't betray people,"<quote/> Hanson said.<p/>
N29 242 <p_><quote_>"No question of betrayal."<quote/> Gordon crossed his 
N29 243 legs which were in disrespectful proximity to the milkmaid. 
N29 244 <quote_>"What's past is past. And I don't mean only Brits - 
N29 245 Americans, Europeans... any nationality. Why, incidentally, do you 
N29 246 think any of them would want to stop you going back?"<quote/><p/>
N29 247 <p_><quote_>"Because they think I'm betraying them?"<quote/><p/>
N29 248 <p_><quote_>"You seem to be obsessed with betrayal."<quote/><p/>
N29 249 <p_><quote_>"Telling the truth about their lives 
N29 250 here...."<quote/><p/>
N29 251 <p_><quote_>"But isn't this the fount of your beliefs? Isn't this 
N29 252 your rationale, your <foreign_>raison d'<*_>e-circ<*/>tre>foreign/>? 
N29 253 I thought you all fairly wallowed in 
N29 254 equality."<quote/><p/>
N29 255 <p_><quote_>"You wouldn't understand,"<quote/> Hanson said.
N29 256 <p_><quote_>"Oh I understand all right. Lack of initiative, lack of 
N29 257 identity.... Join the Party and we'll bury your character defects 
N29 258 in dogma. Why not be a star? A defector? A spy even. Fulfilment, 
N29 259 meaning... until your mentors cross the street when you try and 
N29 260 shake them by the hand."<quote/><p/>
N29 261 <p_><quote_>"I hope for your sake,"<quote/> Hanson said, 
N29 262 <quote_>"that this room is isn't bugged."<quote/><p/>
N29 263 

