Алистер Маклин - Santorini

‘Perfectly straightforward. Exactly what you have done. No one is to be informed except two people and those two people are to be informed that the President has suspended them indefinitely from duty, pending the investigation of allegations and statements that have been laid against them.’

‘Well, damn your eyes, Sir John.’ The President spoke without heat. ‘Instead of sleeping all the time I spent a couple of hours wrestling with my conscience to arrive at the same conclusion.’

‘It was inevitable, sir. You had no option. And I would point out that it’s easy enough for us to arrive at decisions. You, and only you, can give the executive order.’

‘I will not insult your intelligence by asking if you are aware what this executive order means.’

‘I am perfectly aware of what it means. Now that my opinion is no longer called for I have no hesitation in saying that I would have done exactly the same thing. It is a death sentence and it can be no consolation at all that you will not be called upon to carry out, or to order to be carried out, the execution of that death sentence.’

‘Manhattan Project?’ Admiral Hawkins said. ‘What on earth does she mean by “Manhattan Project”?’

‘I don’t know, sir,’ Denholm said. ‘Eugenia doesn’t know either. She just caught the words as she walked into the wardroom. Only Andropulos, Alexander and Aristotle were there. The phrase was repeated twice and she thought it odd enough – I think it’s very odd, too – to pass it on to me. When they became aware of her presence the subject was switched. She said that whatever the nature of the subject was they seemed to find it rather amusing.’

Talbot said: ‘Even Alexander was amused?’

‘Humour, sir, is not Alexander’s forte. Nobody’s seen him smile since he came aboard the Ariadne, I would doubt if anyone has ever seen him smile. Besides, it was Alexander who was discussing the subject. Maybe he doesn’t laugh at his own jokes.’

‘I know you know something about those things, Denholm,’ Hawkins said. ‘Doesn’t it suggest anything to you?’

‘Zero, sir. The immediate and obvious – far too obvious – connection is the atom bomb. The Manhattan Project, of course, was that immensely long, immensely complicated and immensely expensive project that led to the invention of the atom bomb. “Manhattan” was only a code word. The actual research was carried out in New Mexico and Nevada or thereabouts. I’m sorry, sir, but the significance, the relevance of the phrase in our present situation, quite escapes me.’

‘At least I’ve got company,’ Hawkins said. He picked up two slips of paper from his table in the admiral’s cabin. ‘Those two messages have come in since last we saw you. In this case, I don’t think their significance will escape you.’

‘Ah! This one from the White House itself. “Two of your philanthropist’s beneficiaries are no longer with us. Beneficiary A has been involved in a fatal automobile accident.”’ Denholm looked up from the paper. ‘Has he now? For Beneficiary A I take it we can read either Admiral X or General Y. Did he fall, did he jump or was he pushed?’ He looked at the paper again. ‘And I see that Beneficiary B has just disappeared. Again I assume that Beneficiary B was either X or Y. How very inconvenient for them, how very convenient for us.’ Denholm looked from Hawkins to Talbot. ‘From the very restrained wording I take it that this news is not to be broadcast from the house-tops.’

‘I shouldn’t have thought so,’ Hawkins said. ‘We have already arranged for the coded original to be destroyed.’

‘I take it then, sir, that speculation about their abrupt departure is pointless.’

‘Indeed. Not only pointless but needless. They have fallen upon their swords. One does not wish to sound cynical nor stand in condemnation but it’s probably the only faintly honourable thing they have done for a long time. The second signal, Denholm?’

‘The one from Heraklion. Interesting, sir. It seems that the Taormina ’s last port of call was Tobruk. Furthermore, although it’s registered in Panama, it appears to be permanently based in Tobruk. It’s more than interesting, it’s intriguing, especially considering that that well-known philanthropist sitting in our wardroom seems to have considerable business interests in Tripoli. It’s most damnably frustrating, sir.’

‘What is?’

‘That we haven’t a single shred of evidence to adduce against him, far less proof.’

‘I have this feeling,’ Talbot said, ‘that neither evidence nor proof will ever be required. Andropulos will never come to trial.’

Hawkins looked at him for a few thoughtful moments. ‘That’s the second time you’ve said that, Captain. You have access to some information that we lack?’

‘Not at all, sir. Maybe I’ve just got blind faith in this blindfolded goddess of justice. You know, the lady who holds the scales in her hands.’ Talbot smiled. ‘Or maybe, as Van Gelder keeps on hinting, I have some traces of Highland blood in me. Says I’m fey, the second sight or some nonsense like that. Ah, the man himself.’

‘A radio message from Greek Intelligence,’ Van Gelder said. He proffered the paper he held in hand.

‘Just tell me,’ Hawkins said. ‘Gently. I’m becoming allergic to bad news.’

‘Not all that bad, sir. Not for us, at any rate. Says that someone attached to the department for Middle East and North African affairs – they carefully don’t give his name, I suppose he’s a minister of some sort, I suppose we could find out easily enough but it seems unimportant – took off by government plane on a routine visit to Canea, the town close by the Souda Bay air base. Never got there. But at exactly the time he should have got there a patrolling Greek Mirage spotted a plane very like the one he was flying in – too much of a coincidence for it not to have been the same plane – passing directly over Heraklion.’

‘So, of course,’ Talbot said, ‘you consulted the chart and arrived at the conclusion that he was heading for some place. What place?’

‘Tobruk.’

‘And you also arrived at the conclusion that he wouldn’t be coming back from there?’

‘Allowing for the vagaries of human nature, sir, I would not have thought so. Greek Intelligence have also established the fact that the vanishing minister, if minister he was, held an account at the same Athens bank that Philip Trypanis honours with his custom. It would appear, to coin a phrase, that they are now hot on the trail of Mr Trypanis. Whether they nab Mr Trypanis or not hardly seems a matter of concern for us.’

‘I would think,’ Hawkins said, ‘if our philanthropist friend in the wardroom knew of the fate of his pal in government here and those of A and B – or X and Y – in Washington his humour might be in marked abeyance by now. And if he knew that we knew of the Taormina and that its home base was Tobruk, he would be downright thoughtful. Was that all, Van Gelder?’

‘On that subject, sir, yes. Captain Montgomery, Professor Wotherspoon and I have been discussing the weather.’

‘You have?’ Hawkins looked at him suspiciously. ‘Don’t tell me that Cassandra has you in her clutches again?’

‘Certainly not, sir. The Euros has died away. Completely. We suspect it will only be a matter of time before the weather returns to normal. A very short time. Latest met. reports confirm that. The Angelina, at the present moment, is lying between our ship and the Kilcharran, facing north-west. If the Meltemi starts up – also from the north-west, of course – we won’t be able to sail her out of her present position. It might be wise to tow her alongside us now.’