Quiller's Run

He looked up at me and I felt he was expecting a question. I already had a lot so I gave him one.

'What field?'

'Not this one, of course. This is yours.'

'What director?'

'Ferris.'

Oh you bastard.

We could offer you rather good ones, he'd said in London, meaning terms, your sole discretion, for instance, as to back-ups, shield, signals, liaison, contacts and so on. And he'd have asked me to choose my director in the field and you know the man I'd have chosen, don't you? Right – Ferris. And I'd have got him.

'So where's their field?' Nothing in my eyes, nothing in my voice to give him joy.

'It's very flexible.' He turned away and began walking, like a.bloody wind-up toy. But I was listening; I was listening very hard. This was major briefing. 'A consignment of one hundred Slingshot missiles complete with warheads has gone adrift somewhere in the Near East. Our second unit is at present trying to locate it, seize it and escort it to Thailand, its intended destination.'

I watched him. A hundred. A hundred Slingshots. Enough to control the whole of the air traffic across Indo-China, military and otherwise.

'But Christ,' I said 'what d'you mean by gone adrift?'

Tilted his head. 'A euphemism. We believe that the Shoda organisation has in fact diverted the consignment to a secret destination. As far as we can find out, it's due to reach the Shoda organisation's forces at some time tomorrow; hence the deadline of three days I mentioned to you is now reduced to twelve hours, perhaps less. The significance of this is of course obvious to you.'

I'm sure I don't need to emphasise, Mr Jordan, the devastation this weapon could cause, in the wrong hands. Prince Kityakara, when we'd seen the Slingshot in action. It means that any armed revolution could proceed with its enterprise in the certainty that it was completely safe from the air. It means that if the Shoda organisation acquired this weapon, it could set Indo-China aflame within a week. And that) of course, is its intention.

'We await hourly," Loman said, 'news from our second unit that the consignment has been found and seized.' He stopped pacing and stood directly in front of me. 'So you see that your own mission is perhaps even more vital than you might have believed. Whether or not we can keep the Slingshot out of her hands, Shoda must be destroyed. With the missile she can devastate Southeast Asia, but without it she will continue to present a dangerous element in the area, ready at all times to provoke havoc. We have, of course, something like a trump card. Even if she acquires the Slingshot consignment, I am virtually certain she won't feel able to deploy it while you remain alive.' He turned away, turned back. 'There is therefore no element so crucial, so pivotal or so potentially decisive as your personal threat to Shoda – and hers to you. I am convinced, in short, that over and above the question of the Slingshot consignment, the outcome of both these missions can only be decided by a personal and conclusive confrontation between yourself and Mariko Shoda.'

29 Treble Think

She came in quietly, soon after Loman had finished his main briefing. I didn't see her until she was quite near us, because I'd had my back to the doors, talking with Pepperidge.

'Good morning.'

Loman turned. Pepperidge got off the couch. She slung a leather bag from her shoulder; it looked like a diplomatic pouch, probably was.

'The tapes,' she said, and gave the bag to Loman.

'All of them?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Would you care for some coffee?'

'Please.'

Then she looked at me for the first time, just a little swing of her head as if she'd had to make an effort; but the blue-grey eyes were quite steady.

Flood had come in earlier with the message, the 'glad tidings' as Pepperidge had called it, going on with the charade for the sake of appearances, because no one could now admit the truth.

'She phoned her office,' he'd said, 'at the High Commission. Her aunt was taken ill yesterday morning, appendicitis, that's why she rushed off without telling anyone where she was going.' Loman hadn't been watching him as he'd told us; he'd turned away to do a little pacing. 'She stayed at the hospital till her aunt was out of danger.' Rueful smile. 'All that tra-la for nothing.'

Not to embarrass him, I'd said I was relieved.

Facing me now she said very quietly, 'Hello.'

'How's your aunt?'

'She'll be all right.' With a swing of her fair hair, 'I – hope you weren't worried about me.'

'No.'

She looked down, swallowing. 'Then I'm glad.'

'I knew there wasn't any need.'

She looked up quickly, then glanced across to where Loman and Pepperidge were sorting out the tapes, then back to me. 'Oh.' Puffing out a little laugh, shrugging. 'I think I've lost the score.'

'It doesn't matter. The game's over now. I'll go and plug in the thing, you like it white, don't you?'

'Yes. Your hand's all right?'

'Everything's fine.'

I went over to the percolator and plugged it in. There were lines under her eyes and she looked as if she hadn't slept too well, which probably meant that she'd been briefed about my blowing the safe-house, and why. Otherwise she might have gone along to the clinic and walked right into the surveillance team, and I didn't want to think about that.

The thing started singing and I called out to Flood, asking him for another cup. Loman was slotting a tape into the stereo recorder. Katie sat down at one end of the couch, slim in her khaki shirt and slacks, the heavy gold chain at her throat.

It had been treble-think, and Loman and I had worked together like partners in a tennis double, each leaving the ball for the other when that was the next move. He'd been certain I'd want to stay with the mission but couldn't do that, now I knew the Bureau had conned me into it after I'd resigned, so he gave me a way of saving my face and told me that Katie was missing. It was a lie and I knew that, and he knew I knew, but I went through the motions of believing it, and agreed to the deal and stayed with the mission. Treble-think, and in case you've forgotten, that's the trade we're in.

'We've boiled them down,' Loman said now, 'to the bare essence.'

The Shoda tapes.

I went over to him. The recorder was on the floor and we sat around it while Katie poured some more coffee.

'These are all translations from the Thai or Cambodian except the one where she's speaking English, presumably to someone whose only language it is. If you want to put questions I'll stop the recorder.

He pressed for play.

I want to stress that we are not mounting a series of isolated revolutionary actions designed to bring in the rabble with us. These are planned as military actions and they will be launched simultaneously as soon as the consignment has been received, evaluated, deployed in the field and readied for use, 'These transmissions,' Loman said, 'have been put onto a single tape. There's no continuity – they are separate recordings made at different times.'

I will repeat that this agent must be located and dealt with before we can launch our operations. It would be fatal if we ignored his influence and allowed him to infiltrate our intelligence and jeopardise our plans. There can be no action in any theatre until he is removed.

'I need hardly tell you' – Loman – 'that we for our part are using every endeavour to monitor and harass the various units now searching for you. In point of fact, by midnight last night, London had called in sleepers and local contacts from Hong Kong, Saigon, Hanoi and Bangkok, and they are now working in the field, liaising with Mr Croder personally through the British High Commission here in Singapore. There is a great deal going on in your support, Quiller, a great deal.'

Translated: You should never have left the Bureau: look at the resources we have.