Latymer was continuing, “I hear from various roundabout routes that she’s in Spain, and she’s been seen near Gibraltar — around La Linea way — and I don’t like it.”
Shaw said, “Nor me, sir — as a matter of general policy! But what’s she up to?”
“She’s after a man called Ackroyd.” There was a pause, and then Latymer added, “I don’t suppose you’ve heard of Project Sinker, have you?”
“No, sir.”
“I thought not. Now just bear with me while I give you what’s, for me, rather a long yam.” He drew on his cigarette. “Very few people have heard of Project Sinker, Shaw. I dare say a lot of intelligent guesses may have been made by the people on the spot — but be that as it may, there’s a very heavy security umbrella over this — in fact, the heaviest I’ve known for years — and we’re pretty confident that nothing’s leaked out. So far.” His gaze held Shaw. “Now then. Project Sinker — and I don’t need to remind you that this is Top Secret — is the code name for a scheme to make Gibraltar into the first link in a world-embracing chain of bases for atom-powered submarines, which will be armed with homing torpedoes until the super — Dreadnoughts capable of mounting the new American nuclear missile are ready. The idea is to have them well dispersed out of the home ports, so that any war can be carried on if England goes under in an H-bomb attack — as she could very easily do. As a matter of fact, Shaw, between you and me, the experts’ view is that the country would be right out of the battle within a week of the first H-bomb being dropped.” He waved a large sinewy hand. “London, the ports, naval and commercial, the military bases and the airfields, all power and industrial production capacity… the lot.”
Slowly Shaw nodded. “Sounds only too logical, sir.”
“It not only sounds it, it is so logical that it’s what the overall defence system’s going to be based on in future. The general plan involves a gradual dispersal out of England — high mobility of the forces and so on — with the centre of government shifting when war seems imminent to some part of the Commonwealth so that the fight can be carried on. And,” Latymer added, “if I sound melodramatic, just remember what Hiroshima was like, and then multiply by ten thousand or so — and also remember that an atomic war is very much more likely than a conventional one, and it can come so fast that a bit of ahead planning is the only thing that’ll stop us being caught with our pants round our ankles. Right! Now then. You’ll realize that submarine bases can’t be built at the last minute, so the Project Sinker part of the general plan is going right ahead now. Gib’s going to be one of the most important, and certainly the most attack-proof, since the base there will be under the Rock itself— the entry channel being cut through the seaward caverns on the east face. It’s also the only one that’s been started yet. Now, one of the essentials in this scheme is to have a nuclear fuel-production unit on the spot — no good relying on a supply from home if England’s knocked out in round one, that’s obvious, and even America’s going to have troubles enough of her own when the inter-continental ballistic missiles start hitting her, and her own power’s likely to fail.”
Shaw nodded, intent.
“Well, now, something brand-new has been devised in that line,” went on Latymer carefully. “A machine, a power-production unit with a heavy security screen round it, which produces an absolutely virgin fuel — it’s called AGL Six, and basically it’s a new product named algalesium. Well, this fuel can be produced more cheaply and efficiently and very much more easily than anything that’s yet been thought up — for one thing, it doesn’t need a unit as big as a power-station — and it’s for use in a special type of boil-ing-water reactor developed by the Admiralty for use in atom-powered submarines. And there’s something else.”
“Yes, sir?”
Latymer tapped the desk-top. “It’s perhaps the most important and revolutionary point. This fuel unit needs no outside power-supply to keep it running once it’s started up. It can keep it up almost indefinitely — thanks to the Americans.”
“Oh?”
“You may have read in the papers some time ago — the States have developed a ‘Buy-your-own-H-bomb’ racket. It’s a power unit, just about the equivalent of an H-bomb… it costs a hell of a lot of money, they started off at about £350,000 each, but they’re a damn’ sight more now because they’re bigger, and it’s devilish efficient. Well, they’ve given us a supply of these H-bomb power units, and our backroom boys have got to work on them and carried out some modifications so that they can be used in this fuel-production machine thing. In effect, it’s powered, by the built-in equivalent of a very large H-bomb, so it needs nothing from outside. And if all sources of power-supply fail in an attack this unit not only keeps going but could also supply power to the whole of Gibraltar if necessary.”
Shaw said, “It’s a sort of… perpetual motion?”
“The nearest we’re likely to see. And there’s only the one man who really understands it, Shaw, and that’s its inventor and developer — this fellow Ackroyd I spoke of. He thought the whole thing up, and the unit’s been built in Dockyard Tunnel from prefabricated parts, under his personal supervision. He’s an Admiralty civilian, and he’s working with a team of technicians who are no more than just that — technicians. Ackroyd is the only physicist on the job at present. This machine’s still in its hit-or-miss stage, I gather — it’s not perfected yet.” Latymer leaned forward again in that bull-like posture, emphatic, earnest. “If anything happens to Ackroyd the chances are that the whole scheme’ll be bitched right up.” He stubbed out his cigarette, hard. “And as I’ve said, Karina’s after our Mr Ackroyd. She’s got orders to contact and remove him.”
“Remove him, sir?”
Latymer shrugged. “Snuff him out, I suppose, if necessary — because, as I told you, the end of Ackroyd may well mean the end of Project Sinker, at least for a long time. But, all things being equal, I’d say she’ll try to get him behind the Iron Curtain… Mind you, he’s a bit of an oddity, not the kind of person you’d expect to find at his level, perhaps. Very ordinary Yorkshire background — father was a miner at one time. But he’s a brainy bird — obviously — and stuffed full of vital information. He could be extremely useful to them — and a nightmare to us if ever he reached a Communist country. Of course, there’s no special security about atomic subs as such, but we don’t want too much to get out about the overseas bases yet, and this fuel unit’s hot. So’s Ackroyd.”
Shaw asked, “This’d be a kidnap job — I mean, his personal loyalty’s not in doubt?”
“Oh, good heavens, no! He’s a first-rate man, and his security record’s absolutely clear. Wouldn’t be on that particular job otherwise. Every one’s hand-picked — there’s none of the usual Spanish labour on this job, either.”
Shaw said, “He’ll be pretty carefully watched in Gib, surely? It sounds rather a tough job for one woman.”
“Not for Karina,” observed Latymer smoothly, “as you should know. Don’t forget she’s damned attractive as well as clever — that counts. She’s worked for us, so she knows something of our methods, and of Admiralty routines. She’s got plenty of friends in high places, and she doesn’t work singlehanded.”