Samuel Edwards - Neptune

Blackman and the Deacon went into other rooms to start making necessary arrangements by telephone, and Porter was alone with Adrienne.

He wanted to kiss her, but realized it would be inappropriate when he would be going off to live with another girl.

‘You won’t have much time to double-check my okays of the crew,’ she said.

‘I’ll have none, but you won’t need me for that, will you?’

‘I think not. The FBI is doing backgrounds on all the men we hire. Most of them are ex-servicemen with names like Rusty and Fats, and they’re clearing easily.’

‘I’ll stop at the yard whenever I have the chance. Tell Richards I haven’t deserted him. And make certain his wife is kept under watch.’

‘I’m coming to know Marie, and I’m sure she’s clean,’ Adrienne said.

‘I’ve been around too long to be sure of anyone, including myself.’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘you’ve given yourself an assignment that every male in the Corporation will envy. I can’t say I feel sorry for you.’

‘It’s all part of the job,’ Porter said, ‘and I’ve never yet had a simple, straightforward assignment. The worst of this lunacy is that the success or failure of the most important, most expensive project in the entire history of the Corporation now depends on the whims and weaknesses of a high-class hooker.’

Microphones we re planted in a Corporation convertible, and Porter drove it back to the house in Oakland. He and Nancy Wing had nothing to occupy them until he was informed of the outcome of the Hong Kong investigation, so they spent the better part of the next twenty-four hours in bed. Her sexual appetites were still prodigious, and hewas relieved, the following noon, when he received a telephone call summoning him to San Francisco.

He returned several hours later, carrying a briefcase. ‘You came through,’ he said. ‘Congratulations. The British picked up two men in a Kowloon flat overlooking the harbour, and there’s enough evidence to send them to prison for years. Short-wave radio transmitter, lists of British, American, and Australian warships entering and leaving Hong Kong. They’ll make a full confession.’ He refrained from saying that Davidson had told him the two Russian agents who had been apprehended were small fry. ‘So, my dear, this is for you.’

Nancy opened the briefcase and, her eyes shining, counted out 250 bills, each of $100 denomination. ‘You’re an angel,’ she said, hugging him.

‘No, but I always keep my word. Get dressed, and we’ll be on our way.’

She removed the flimsy robe she had been wearing since he had departed in the morning, and began rummaging in her luggage. ‘Where are we going?’

‘Why, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, of course. That’s where you wanted to go. I’ve rented us a little house for a few weeks, and we’ll start the drive up there as soon as you’re ready.’

‘I want to buy some clothes!’

‘We’ll go to Seattle one day. Or up to Victoria. This area still isn’t healthy, and I want us out of it. I do think we ought to stop at an Oakland bank so you can either open an account or put your money in a safety deposit box. You don’t want to carry that much cash.’

She agreed, and changing quickly, soon was dressed in a traditional Chinese cheongsam, a sheath with high, stiff collar and slits at the sides of the skirt. ‘How do I look?’

‘Gorgeous,’ Porter said, Taut you’ll wear your jeans and that shirt with the missing buttons. ‘We’ll be on the road for several days driving through northern California, Oregon and Washington, and if the KGB lads are looking for you there’s no point in advertising your presence, is there?’

‘You’re quite right. I was so excited I forgot.’

He had no way of knowing whether she was telling the truth or making a lame excuse. If she was still in the employ of the Russians she had nothing to fear from them.

‘My big case is ready, darling. Why don’t you put it in the car with your luggage, and I’ll join you shortly,’

Porter went downstairs, wrote a note to Tom Lee thanking him for his hospitality and packed the baggage in the car. He was just finishing when Nancy joined him, and he blinked at her.

She was dressed as he had suggested, but a dark blonde wig and westernized make-up totally transformed her appearance, and she looked like the thousands of Caucasian girls he had seen on the streets of San Francisco and Oakland. Well, not quite like them; her figure was still breathtaking.

They drove to a bank, where Porter parked and waited while Nancy made her deposit, and when she returned she told him she had kept out $1,000 in cash for a buying spree. ‘You’ve been wonderful, darling,’ she said, ‘and I hope I can return the compliment.’

He expected repayment, but not the kind she had in mind.

As they started out on the long drive Porter told the girl he had another surprise for her: he had hired a woman who would do the cooking and cleaning at their holiday retreat. He did not explain that the servant was an experienced Corporation agent being flown from the East Coast for the assignment.

‘My boss is so pleased with the results of your information that my holiday is being extended,’ he said. ‘I’ll have to check in by telephone a couple of times every day, and if they give me any little errand I’ll rent myself a jeep so you can use this car for shopping.’ The jeep was already awaiting him.

Nancy sat closer to him as he drove, a hand across his lap. ‘You think of everything,’ she murmured.

In this situation, Porter thought, I must. I can’t afford to leave any loopholes.:

The two-storey house was located on a small inlet, and boasted a tiny, isolated beach of its own, prompting Nancy to announce that she would sunbathe and swim in the nude, which she did. The house itself was plainly but comfortably furnished, Black-man had put in a substantial supply of liquor and wines, and the ‘cook’ was as competent in the kitchen as she was in other areas.

For several days the couple on holiday lazed around the house, dividing their time between beach and bed. Every morning and again in the afternoon Porter went off in the jeep to the Corporation command post that had been established in a house only a mile away, but during his absences Nancy neither went out in the convertible nor used the telephone.

If his assessment was mistaken he was wasting time and energies needed elsewhere, so he set a trap for her on their third morning, returning to the house with an attache case, which he left in their bedroom. Two very thin, almost invisible threads had been attached to the interior, and would snap if the case was opened more than a few inches, and he had lightly dusted talcum powder on the top layer of harmless papers in the case.

That afternoon he left the attache case behind when he went off in the jeep, and it was in the same place, at the foot of the bed, when he returned.

Not until early evening, when Nancy went off for a bath, did Porter have the opportunity to inspect his handiwork. The threads were broken and the powder had disappeared, offering positive proof that Nancy had opened the case and examined the contents. This act didn’t necessarily indicate that she was an agent in the employ of a foreign power, however, and he realized it might be nothing more than a testimony to her feminine curiosity. He would have to prepare a more rigorous test.

Meanwhile there were other problems on his mind. The following morning, by prearrangement, he met Franklin Richards at the command post, and learned there was a malfunction in the hydroelectric generator that was scheduled to be installed on board the Neptune within the week.

‘What’s the significance?’