Wrath of the Lion
‘Do you want me to?’
‘Not particularly.’ She started to shake slightly. ‘Suddenly it seems colder.’
He slipped off his reefer jacket and hung it around her shoulders. ‘What you need is a drink. We’ll go back to the hotel. You can use my room while I get you a taxi.’
She nodded down at the bearded man. ‘Will he be all right?’
‘His kind always are.’
He took her arm. They walked to the corner and turned into the street. It started to rain, a thin drizzle that beaded the iron railings like silver. There was a dull, aching pain in her ankle and the old houses floated in the fog, unreal and insubstantial, part of the dark dream from which she had yet to awaken, and the pavement seemed to move beneath her feet.
His arm was instantly around her, strong and reassuring, and she turned and smiled into the strange, pale face, the dark eyes. ‘I’ll be all right. A little dizzy, that’s all.’
The hotel sign swam out of the fog to meet them and they went through the entrance and mounted the rickety stairs. His room was at the end of the corridor and he opened the door, switched on the light and motioned her inside.
‘Make yourself at home. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.’
The room had that strange, rather dead, atmosphere typical of cheap hotels the world over. There was a strip of worn carpet on the floor, an iron bed, a cheap wardrobe and locker. The one touch of luxury was the washbasin in the corner by the window and she hobbled across to it.
Surprisingly, there was plenty of hot water and she washed her face and hands, then examined herself in the mirror that was screwed to the wall above the basin. The scratch on her cheek was only superficial, but her suit was ruined. Otherwise she seemed to have sustained no real damage. She was sitting on the edge of the bed examining her ankle when he returned.
He placed a half-bottle of brandy and two glasses on top of the bedside locker and dropped to one knee beside her. ‘Any damage?’
She shook her head. ‘A nasty graze, that’s all.’
He pulled a battered fibre suitcase from under the bed and took out a heavy fisherman’s sweater which he dropped into her lap. ‘You’d better put that on. You’re wet through.’
When she had pulled it over her head and rolled up the long sleeves, he rested her right foot on his knee and bandaged the damaged ankle expertly with a folded handkerchief. She watched quietly.
He was of medium height, with broad shoulders, and wore the sort of clothes common to sailors. A cheap blue-flannel shirt and heavy working trousers in some dark material, held up by a broad leather belt with a brass buckle. But this was no ordinary man. He had a strange, hard enigmatic face, the face of a man few would care to trifle with. The skin was clear and bloodless; black, crisp hair in a point to the forehead. The eyes were the strangest feature, so dark that all light died in them.
On the wharf he had been terrible in his anger, competent and deadly, and when he looked up suddenly his dark eyes stared through her like glass. For the first time that night genuine fear moved inside her and then his whole face creased into a smile of quite devastating charm, so great, that he seemed to undergo a complete personality change.
‘You look about ten years old in that sweater.’
She smiled warmly and held out her hand. ‘My name is Anne Grant and I’m very grateful to you.’
‘Mallory,’ he said. ‘Neil Mallory.’
He touched her hand briefly, opened the brandy, poured a generous measure into one of the glasses and passed it to her. ‘I got the barman to phone for a taxi. It might be some time before it gets here.’
‘I’d like to know why the driver who brought me didn’t wait,’ she said. ‘I asked him to.’
‘They’re not too keen on hanging around the dock area at night. It’s a rough place and taxi-drivers are obvious targets.’ He grinned. ‘That goes double for good-looking young women, by the way.’
She smiled ruefully. ‘Don’t rub it in. I’d no idea what I was letting myself in for, but I was getting desperate. I’d been waiting in Lulworth for someone for most of the day. When it became obvious that he wasn’t going to show up I decided to come looking for him.’
‘Van Sondergard?’ Mallory said. ‘I heard you ask the barman about him.’
‘Did you know him?’
‘He had a room along the corridor from here. I had a drink with him once when he came in the bar. Nothing more than that. Where did you meet him?’
‘I didn’t,’ she said. ‘The whole thing was arranged through the seamen’s pool. I told them I need someone to take a motor-cruiser across to the Channel Islands for me and captain her for a month or so until my sister-in-law and I were capable of looking after her ourselves. I also told them we’d prefer someone who’d done a little skin-diving. They put me in touch with Sondergard.’ She sighed. ‘He seemed rather keen on the idea. I’d love to know what changed his mind.’
‘It was very simple really. He was sitting in the bar half drunk, feeling rather sorry for himself, when one of his old captains walked in, due out on the morning tide for Suez and short of a quartermaster. Three drinks was all it took for Sondergard to pack his duffel and go off with him. Sailors have a habit of doing things like that.’
He swallowed his brandy, took out an old leather cigarette case and offered her one. ‘Are you a sailor, Mr Mallory,’ she asked as he struck a match and held it forward in cupped hands.
He shrugged. ‘Amongst other things. Why?’
‘I wasn’t sure. If I’d been asked I’d have said you were a soldier.’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘I think you could say I know the breed. My father was one and so was my husband. He was killed in Korea.’
There didn’t seem anything to say and Mallory lit a cigarette and walked to the window. He peered outside, then turned.
‘The motor-cruiser you mentioned, what kind is it?’
‘A thirty-footer by Akerboon. Twin screw, steel hull.’
‘Only the best?’ He looked suitably impressed. ‘How’s she powered?’
‘Penta petrol engine. She’ll do about twenty-two knots at full stretch.’
‘Depth-sounder, automatic steering, every latest refinement?’ He grinned. ‘I’d say she must have cost you all of seven thousand pounds.’
‘Not me,’ she said. ‘My father-in-law. All I did was obey orders. He told me exactly what he wanted.’
‘Sounds like a man who’s used to getting his own way.’
She smiled. ‘A habit he finds hard to break. He’s a major-general.’
‘Grant?’ Mallory frowned. ‘Are you talking about Iron Grant? The Western Desert man?’
She nodded. ‘That’s right. He’s been living in the Channel Islands since he left the army. I keep house for him.’
‘What does the old boy do with himself these days?’
‘He’s almost blind now,’ she said, ‘but he’s still amazingly active and he’s made quite a reputation for himself as a war historian. He uses a tape-recorder and his daughter Fiona and I type up his notes for him.’
‘You said you wanted Sondergard to have had some experience as a skin-diver? Why was that?’
‘It wasn’t essential, but he could have been useful. In the fifteenth century a small fishing village and fortress on Ile de Roc were inundated. The ruins are now about eight fathoms down a few hundred yards off-shore. We’re making a survey. Fiona and I have been doing most of the diving so far.’
‘Sounds interesting,’ he said. ‘You shouldn’t find any difficulty in getting another man from the pool to take on a job like that.’
As he looked out of the window and down into the yellow fog she said quietly, ‘I was wondering whether you might be interested?’
He turned slowly, a slight frown on his face. ‘You don’t know anything about me.’
‘What is there to know? You told me yourself you were a sailor.’
‘From necessity,’ he said. ‘Not choice.’
‘You couldn’t handle Foxhunter, you mean?’
‘Is that her name? Oh, yes, I’ve handled boats like that before. I’ve even done a little skin-diving.’
‘Eighty pounds a month and all found,’ she said. ‘Does that tempt you?’
He grinned reluctantly. ‘It does indeed, Mrs Grant.’
She held out her hand in a strangely boyish gesture. ‘I’m glad.’
He held it for a moment, looking into her eyes gravely. Her smile faded, and again she was conscious of that vague irrational fear. Something must have shown on her face. Mallory’s hand tightened on hers and he smiled gently. In that single moment her fear disappeared and an inexplicable tenderness flooded through her. A horn sounded outside in the street and he helped her to her feet.
‘Time to go. Where are you staying?’
‘An hotel in the town centre.’
‘You should cause quite a sensation going through the foyer,’ he told her as he took her arm and helped her across to the door.
The fog was clearing a little as he handed her into the taxi. She wound down the window and leaned out to him. ‘I’ve several things to attend to tomorrow, so I can’t get down to Lulworth again until the evening. I’ll see you down there.’
He nodded. ‘You could do with a morning in bed.’
She smiled wanly in the pale light, but before she could reply the taxi moved away. Mallory stood looking into the fog, listening to the sound of the engine die into the distance, then turned and went up the steps.
When he entered the bar the barman was still reading his newspaper. ‘Where are they?’ Mallory asked.
The man lifted the flap and jerked his thumb at the rear door. ‘In there.’
When Mallory opened the door he found the Irishman sitting at a wooden table beside a coal fire, a basin of hot water in front of him. His clothes were plastered with mud and he was wiping blood from a gash that ran from his ear to the point of his chin. The man with the black beard lay on an old horse-hair sofa, clutching his right arm and moaning softly.
The Irishman lurched to his feet, his eyes wild. ‘You bastard. What were you trying to do, kill us?’
‘I told you to frighten the girl a little, that’s all, but you tried to be clever. Anything you got, you asked for.’ Mallory took several banknotes from his wallet and tossed them on to the table. ‘That should settle the account.’
‘Ten quid!’ the Irishman cried. ‘Ten lousy quid!’ What about Freddy? You’ve broken his arm.’
‘No skin off my nose,’ Mallory said calmly. ‘Tell him to try the Health Service.’
He walked out and the Irishman slumped into his chair again, head swimming. The barman came in and stood looking at him. ‘How do you feel?’
‘Bloody awful. Who is that bastard?’
‘Mallory?’ The barman shrugged. ‘I know one thing. He’s the coldest fish I’ve ever met and I’ve known a few.’ He looked down at the bearded man and shook his head. ‘Freddy doesn’t look too good. Maybe I should phone for an ambulance?’
‘You can do what the hell you like,’ the Irishman said violently.
The barman moved to the door, shaking his head. ‘You know what they say. When you sup with the devil you need a long spoon. I reckon you and Freddy got a little too close.’
He sighed heavily and disappeared into the bar.
3
London Confidential
The room was half in shadow, the only light the shaded lamp on the desk. The man who sat sideways in the swivel chair, gazing out through the broad window at the glittering lights of London, was small, the parchment face strangely ageless. It was the face of an extraordinary human being, a man who had known pain and who had succeeded in moving beyond it.
The green intercom on his desk buzzed once and he swung round in the chair and flicked a switch. ‘Yes?’
‘Mr Ashford is here, Sir Charles.’
‘Send him in.’
The door opened soundlessly and Ashford advanced across the thick carpet, a tall, greying man in his forties with the worried face of the professional civil servant who had spent too much of his life close to the seats of power.
He sat down in the chair opposite, opened his briefcase and produced a file which he placed carefully on the desk. Sir Charles pushed a silver cigarette box across to him.
‘What’s the verdict?’
‘Oh, the P.M. agrees with you entirely. The whole thing must be investigated. But we don’t want the newspapers getting on to it. You’ll have to be damn’ careful.’
‘We usually are,’ Sir Charles said frostily.
‘There’s just one thing the P.M. isn’t too happy about.’ Ashford opened the file on the desk. This fellow Mallory. Is he really the best man for the job?’
‘More than that,’ Sir Charles said. ‘He’s the best man I’ve got and he’s worked with the Deuxième Bureau before with some success. In fact, they’ve asked for him twice. His mother was French, of course. They like that.’
‘It’s this shocking affair in Perak in 1954 that the P.M. isn’t happy about. Dammit all, the man was lucky to escape prison.’
Sir Charles pulled the file across the desk and turned it round. ‘This is the record of a quite exceptional officer.’ He put on a pair of rimless spectacles and started to read aloud, selecting items at random. ‘“Special Air Service during the war … dropped into France three times … betrayed to the Gestapo … survived six months at Sachsenhausen … paratroop captain in Palestine … major in Korea … two years in a Chinese prison camp in Manchuria … released 1953 … posted to Malaya, January 1954, on special service.”’ He closed the file and looked up. ‘A lieutenant-colonel at thirty. Probably the youngest in the army at that time.’
‘And kicked-out at thirty-one,’ Ashford countered.
Sir Charles shrugged. ‘He was told to clear the last Communist guerrilla out of Perak and he did it. A little ruthlessly perhaps, but he did it. His superiors then heaved a sigh of relief and threw him to the wolves.’
‘And you were waiting to catch him, I suppose?’
Sir Charles shook his head. ‘I let him drift for a year. Bombay, Alexandria, Algiers. I knew where he was. When I was satisfied that the iron was finally in his soul I pulled him in. He’s worked for me ever since.’
Ashford sighed and got to his feet. ‘Have it your own way, but if anything goes wrong …’
Sir Charles smiled softly. ‘I know, I end up like Neil Mallory. Out on my ear.’
Ashford flushed, turned and crossed the room quickly. The door closed behind him and Sir Charles sat there thinking about it all. After a while he flicked a switch on the intercom.
‘Send in Mallory.’
He lit a cigarette and stood by the window, gazing out over the city, still the greatest in the world, whatever anyone tried to say. When he opened the window he could smell the river and the sound from a ship’s hooter drifted faintly on the quiet air as it moved down from the Pool.
He was tired and there was a slight ache somewhere behind his right eye. Something he should really see his doctor about. On the other hand, perhaps it was better not to know? He wondered whether Mallory would survive long enough to ever take his place behind the desk in this quiet room. It would have been a comforting thought, but he knew it was rather unlikely.
The door clicked open behind him and closed again. When he turned Mallory was standing beside the desk. An easy-fitting suit of dark worsted outlined his broad shoulders and in the diffused white light his aquiline face gave an impression of strength and breeding, not out of place anywhere.
Sir Charles moved back to his chair and sat down. ‘How are you, Neil?’
‘Pretty fit, sir. I’ve just had six weeks on the island.’
‘I know. How’s your shoulder?’
‘No more trouble. They’ve done a good job.’
Sir Charles nodded. ‘You’ll have to be a little more careful next time, won’t you?’ He opened a file, took out a typewritten document and pushed it across. ‘Have a look at that.’
He occupied himself with some other papers and Mallory skimmed through the three closely typed sheets of foolscap. When he had finished he handed them back, face expressionless.
‘Where’s the Kontoro now?’
‘The destroyer which found her took her straight into Brest. For the time being the French are holding the lid down tight. Complete security and so on. They can’t keep it quiet for more than three or four days. These things always leak out sooner or later.’
‘What are they trying to do about it?’
‘The usual round-up of anyone who’s even remotely suspected of being connected with the O.A.S. or C.N R. On top of that, the Deuxième Bureau and the Brigade Criminelle, backed by every available military security agent, have been given one order. Find that submarine.’
‘I shouldn’t have thought that would be too difficult.’
‘I’m not so sure,’ Sir Charles said. ‘For one thing this is no ordinary submarine. She’s quite small. A thing the Germans were working on at the end of the war.’
‘What’s her radius?’
‘Not much over a thousand.’
‘Which means she could be based in Spain or even Portugal?’
‘The French are working along those lines right now, but they’ve got to be careful. On top of that, they’re combing the entire Biscay coast, every creek, every island.’ He sighed heavily. ‘I’ve a horrible feeling that they’re completely wasting their time.’
‘I wondered when you were coming to that,’ Mallory said.
Sir Charles grinned impishly like a schoolboy, opened a drawer and took out a map which he unfolded across the desk. It was a large-scale Admiralty chart of the Channel Islands and the Golfe de St Malo.
‘Ever hear of Philippe de Beaumont?’
‘The paratroop colonel? The one who helped bring de Gaulle back to power?’
‘That’s right. He was one of the leaders of the military coup of May 1958 and a member of the original Committee of Public Safety. Philippe, Comte de Beaumont. Last survivor of one of the greatest of the French military families.’
‘And he’s living in the Channel Islands?’
‘He was the great advocate of a French Algeria. When de Gaulle came down on the side of independence he resigned his commission and left France.’ Sir Charles drew a circle on the chart about thirty miles south-west of Guernsey. ‘There’s an island called Ile de Roc owned by old Hamish Grant.’
‘You mean Iron Grant, the Western Desert general?’
‘That’s right. Been living there for five years with his daughter Fiona, writing up the war. His daughter-in-law Mrs Anne Grant seems to run things. Her husband was killed in Korea. About a mile west of Ile de Roc there’s a smaller island called St Pierre.’
‘And de Beaumont’s living there?’
‘He bought it from Grant two years ago. There’s a sort of castle up on top of the rock, one of those mock-Gothic jobs some crank built during the nineteenth century.’
‘And you think he’s up to no good?’
‘Let’s put it this way. The French have checked on him for two years now and can’t find even the hint of a connection with either the O.A.S. or C.N.R., although he’s known to be sympathetic to their aims. Frankly, even their Foreign Office think he’s simply a grand seigneur who won’t come home because he’s annoyed with the General.’
‘And you don’t agree?’
‘I might have done until yesterday evening.’
‘What happened to change your mind?’
‘I’ve had a man keeping an eye on de Beaumont for a year now, just as a precaution. There’s a small hotel on Ile de Roc. He was working there as barman. He went missing Tuesday. Yesterday evening he drifted in on the evening tide. The police went over from Guernsey and picked up the body. Needless to say there isn’t even a hint of foul play.’
‘You think he may have seen something?’
Sir Charles shrugged. ‘I don’t see why not. L’Alouette left Brest on a routine training patrol two days ago. She could have called at St Pierre and our man could have seen her. It’s pretty obvious that he came across something, and the Deuxième agree with me. They’re sending a man across to work with you on this thing.’
‘I wondered when we were coming to that,’ Mallory said.
Sir Charles pushed a file across. ‘Raoul Guyon, aged twenty-nine. He was a captain in a colonial parachute regiment. Went straight to Indo-China from St Cyr in 1952.’
Mallory looked down at the photograph. It showed a young man, slim-hipped and wiry, the sleeves of his camouflaged jacket rolled up to expose sunburnt arms. The calm, sun-blackened face, dark eyes, were shaded by a peaked cap that somehow gave him a strangely sinister, forbidding appearance.
‘Why did he leave the army?’
‘God knows,’ Sir Charles said. ‘I should imagine six years in Algeria was enough for any man. He asked to be placed on unpaid leave and Legrande of the Deuxième offered him a job.’
‘When do I meet him?’
‘You don’t, for the moment. Apparently, he’s quite a talented painter. He’s using that as a cover. Should book in at the hotel on Ile de Roc sometime tomorrow.’
‘What about me?’
‘A little more complicated, I’m afraid. If de Beaumont is up to no good, then he’ll be expecting company. We need to make your background convincing enough to fool him for at least a day or two, and I might as well tell you now that’s all the time we can allow.’
‘What do I do?’ Mallory asked.
Sir Charles opened another file and passed a photo across. The girl who stared out at Mallory was somewhere in her twenties, dark hair close-cropped like a young boy’s, almond-shaped eyes slanting across high cheekbones. She was not beautiful in any conventional sense and yet in a crowd she would have stood out.
‘Anne Grant?’ he said instinctively.
Sir Charles nodded. ‘She came over this morning to finalise the purchase of a thirty-foot motor-cruiser called Foxhunter. It’s moored at Lulworth now. Apparently, she hired a seaman through the pool to skipper the thing for a couple of months till she and her sister-in-law get used to it for themselves. A big boat for a couple of girls.’
Mallory nodded. ‘I ran one in and out of Tangiers for a while back in ’59. Remember?’
‘Think you could handle one again?’
Mallory grinned. ‘I don’t see why not.’
Sir Charles nodded in satisfaction. ‘First you’ll have to get rid of this seaman. After that all you have to do is make sure you get his job.’
‘That shouldn’t prove too difficult.’ Mallory hesitated and went on: ‘Couldn’t we work something out with General Grant? Let him know what we’re after? He’d be certain to co-operate.’
Sir Charles shook his head. ‘Before you knew where you were he’d be running the whole damned show. In any case, I’m never happy about bringing amateurs into these things if it can be avoided. They give the game away too easily. Use him by all means, but only in an extreme situation where there’s no other way.’ He got to his feet abruptly. ‘I want results on this one, Neil, and I want them fast. Cut any corners you have to. I’ll back you all the way.’
One corner of Mallory’s mouth twitched ironically. ‘I seem to remember someone saying that to me once before.’
Sir Charles’s face was grave and dispassionate, the eyes calm, and Mallory knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if necessary the old man would not have the slightest compunction in throwing him to the wolves.
‘I’m sorry, Neil,’ he said.
‘At least I know where I stand with you.’ Mallory shrugged. ‘That’s something.’
Sir Charles took an old gold watch from his pocket and checked it quickly. ‘You’ll have to get moving. I’ve arranged for you to be fully briefed by G3 at eight o’clock. They’ll give you everything. Money, seaman’s papers and a special transmitter. Report your arrival. After that, radio silence till you have some news. I’ve arranged for three M.T.B.s to proceed to Jersey, ostensibly for shallow-water exercises. The moment we get anything positive from you they’ll move in so fast de Beaumont won’t know what’s hit him.