Eric Ambler - Journey Into Fear

“I’m afraid not.”

“It is very interesting. Apart from detective stories, Krafft-Ebing and Stekel are my favourite reading. I have my own theory about men such as Banat. I believe that they are perverts with an idée fixe about the father whom they identify not with a virile god”-he held up a cautionary finger-“but with their own impotence. When they kill, they are thus killing their own weakness. There is no doubt of it, I think.”

“Very interesting, I feel sure. But can’t you arrest this man?”

Colonel Haki cocked one gleaming boot over the arm of his chair, and pursed his lips. “That raises an awkward problem, Mr. Graham. In the first place, we have to find him. He will certainly be travelling with a false passport and under a false name. I can and, of course, will circulate his description to the frontier posts so that we shall know if he leaves the country, but as for arresting him … You see, Mr. Graham, the so-called democratic forms of government have serious drawbacks for a man in my position. It is impossible to arrest and detain people without absurd legal formalities.” He threw up his hands-a patriot bemoaning his country’s decadence. “On what charge can we arrest him? We have no evidence against him. We could, no doubt, invent a charge and then apologise, but what good will it do? No! I regret it, but we can do nothing about Banat. I do not think it matters a great deal. What we must think of now is the future. We must consider how to get you home safely.”

“I have, as I have already told you, a sleeping berth on the eleven o’clock train. I fail to see why I shouldn’t use it. It seems to me that the sooner I leave here the better.”

Colonel Haki frowned. “Let me tell you, Mr. Graham, that if you were to take that or any other train, you would be dead before you reached Belgrade. Don’t imagine for one moment that the presence of other travellers would deter them. You must not underrate the enemy, Mr. Graham. It is a fatal mistake. In a train you would be caught like a rat in a trap. Picture it for yourself! There are innumerable stops between the Turkish and French frontiers. Your assassin might get on the train at any of them. Imagine yourself sitting there for hour after hour after hour trying to stay awake lest you should be knifed while you slept; not daring to leave the compartment for fear of being shot down in the corridor; living in terror of everyone-from the man sitting opposite to you in the restaurant car to the Customs officials. Picture it, Mr. Graham, and then reflect that a transcontinental train is the safest place in the world in which to kill a man. Consider the position! These people do not wish you to reach England. So they decide, very wisely and logically, to kill you. They have tried twice and failed. They will wait now to see what you will do. They will not try again in this country. They will know that you will now be too well protected. They will wait until you come out in the open. No! I am afraid that you cannot travel by train.”

“Then I don’t see.…”

“If,” continued the Colonel, “the air line services had not been suspended we could send you by aeroplane to Brindisi. But they are suspended-the earthquake, you understand. Everything is disorganized. The planes are being used for relief work. But we can do without them. It will be best if you go by sea.”

“But surely …”

“There is an Italian shipping line which runs a weekly service of small cargo boats between here and Genoa. Sometimes, when there is a cargo, they go up as far as Constanza, but usually they run only as far as here, calling at the Piræus on the way. They carry a few passengers, fifteen at the most, and we can make sure that every one of them is harmless before the boat is given its clearance papers. When you get to Genoa, you will have only the short train journey between Genoa and the French frontier to put you out of reach of German agents.”

“But as you yourself pointed out, time is an important factor. To-day is the second. I am due back on the eighth. If I have to wait for boats I shall be days late. Besides, the journey itself will take at least a week.”

“There will be no delay, Mr. Graham,” sighed the Colonel. “I am not stupid. I telephoned the port police before you arrived. There is a boat leaving in two days’ time for Marseilles. It would have been better if you could have travelled on that even though it does not ordinarily take passengers. But the Italian boat leaves to-day at four-thirty in the afternoon. You will be able to stretch your legs in Athens to-morrow afternoon. You will dock in Genoa early Saturday morning. You can, if you wish and if your visas are in order, be in London by Monday morning. As I have told you, a marked man has advantages over his enemies: he can run away-disappear. In the middle of the Mediterranean, you will be as safe as you are in this office.”

Graham hesitated. He glanced at Kopeikin; but the Russian was staring at his finger nails.

“Well, I don’t know, Colonel. This is all very good of you, but I can’t help thinking that, in view of the circumstances which you have explained to me, I ought to get in touch with the British Consul here, or with the British Embassy, before deciding anything.”

Colonel Haki lit a cigarette. “And what do you expect the Consul or the Ambassador to do? Send you home in a cruiser?” He laughed unpleasantly. “My dear Mr. Graham, I am not asking you to decide anything. I am telling you what you must do. You are, I must again remind you, of great value to my country in your present state of health. You must allow me to protect my country’s interests in my own way. I think that you are probably tired now and a little upset. I do not wish to harass you, but I must explain that, if you do not agree to follow my instructions, I shall have no alternative but to arrest you, have an order issued for your deportation and put you on board the Sestri Levante under guard. I hope that I make myself clear.”

Graham felt himself reddening. “Quite clear. Would you like to handcuff me now? It will save a lot of trouble. You need …”

“I think,” put in Kopeikin hastily, “that I should do as the Colonel suggests, my dear fellow. It is the best thing.”

“I prefer to be my own judge of that, Kopeikin.” He looked from one to the other of them angrily. He felt confused and wretched. Things had been moving too quickly for him. Colonel Haki he disliked intensely. Kopeikin seemed to be no longer capable of thinking for himself. He felt that they were making decisions with the glib irresponsibility of schoolboys planning a game of Red Indians. And yet the devil of it was that those conclusions were inescapably logical. His life was threatened. All they were asking him to do was to go home by another and safer route. It was a reasonable request but.… Then he shrugged his shoulders. “All right. I seem to have no choice.”

“Exactly, Mr. Graham.” The Colonel smoothed out his tunic with the air of one who has reasoned wisely with a child. “Now we can make our arrangements. As soon as the shipping company’s offices are open Mr. Kopeikin can arrange for your passage and obtain a refund for your railway ticket. I will see that the names and particulars of the other passengers are submitted to me for approval before the ship sails. You need have no fears, Mr. Graham, of your fellow travellers. But I am afraid that you will not find them very chic or the boat very comfortable. This line is actually the cheapest route to and from Istanbul if you live in the west. But you will not, I am sure, mind a little discomfort if you have peace of mind to compensate for it.”

“As long as I get back to England by the eighth, I don’t care how I travel.”