Samuel Edwards - Neptune

A pretty, expensively-dressed girl sat two seats away, eating a toasted muffin and drinking coffee.

Blackman took the seat between them.

Nancy ordered a Danish pastry and tea.

Blackman was startled when he realized that the young woman on his left was Marie Richards. He signalled to one of his colleagues, who followed Mrs Richards when she left the snack shop. His report indicated that she went to the bookstore, where she bought two volumes of fiction and three of nonfiction. Charging them, she went straight to her motor car, a 2-door Jaguar sedan, and drove straight to her home.

Nancy ate about one-third of her pastry, but took her time drinking her tea. In all, she spent twenty-seven minutes in the establishment, leaving a tip of 25c and paying her bill of $1.12 with the exact change.

She passed nothing to the cashier, Blackman’s report stated, and he emphasized there had been no contact of any kind between her and Mrs Richards.

Leaving the snack bar, she returned to the convertible without pausing anywhere, and drove straight back to the rented house.

Before Nancy had left the house, Mrs Stevens had looked in her shoulderbag and had seen the tape and a roll of film. Examining the bag again when the girl went down to the beach after her return, Mrs Stevens found that both the film and the tape were gone.

That afternoon, at the command post, Porter confronted the four agents who had participated in the operation. He allowed them to sit in silence while he read their reports, and then he stared for a moment at each in turn, his eyes cold. Blackman, who knew him well, realized he was seething.

‘Gentlemen, one fact emerges from your exercise in futility.’ Porter’s English accent was pronounced, as it always was in moments of stress. ‘Miss Wing had the tape and film in her possession when she left for the shopping centre. They were no longer in her possession when she returned from the shopping centre. So, in some way unperceived by you, she passed the material to an accomplice.’

‘I don’t see how that’s possible,’ Blackman said. ‘I was thrown when I saw Mrs Richards, and I still think there may have been some connection between those two chicks. But nothing was passed by Wing to Richards, I’ll stake my job on it.’

‘You may have to,’ Porter said. ‘I’ve just spoken to Washington and requested headquarters to bear down its investigation of Marie Richards. But Adrienne swears she’s clean, and I’m inclined to agree it was only a coincidence that she happened to be in the same eating place at the same time.’

‘A damn long shot coincidence,’ Blackman said.

‘Granted.’ Porter jabbed a finger at one of the others. ‘Where were you during all this?’

‘Sitting across the counter, sir, and Blackman is right. Mrs Richards picked up absolutely nothing from the Wing girl. Nothing!’

‘And where were you two?’

‘Outside the snack bar, Mr Porter. I was near the door, watching everyone who was entering or leaving, and Freddie stood near the plate glass window so he could see everything going on inside.’

Porter picked up the telephone beside him. ‘Get hold of Adrienne Howard at the shipyard,’ he said. ‘Tell her to drop whatever she may be doing and to hurry over here. As fast as possible.’ Replacing the instrument in its cradle, he took his time rolling a cigarette.

The others looked at each other, aware that he was fighting a losing battle in an attempt to control his temper.

‘Blackman,’ he said, his voice barely audible, ‘you’ve been with the Corporation almost as long as I have, and you must have a half-dozen commendations on your record. Including that superb round-up of KGB people in the Baltic a few years ago. The rest of you, between you, must have twenty years of creditable service.’ A vein in his temple began to throb visibly, and his voice rose to a shout. ‘You bloody lunatics! You’ve been taken in by one of the most elementary tricks in the game!’

They glanced at each other in bewilderment.

‘Four of you had the girl in the snack shop under observation. One other agent, according to these reports, stood outside the kitchen door, while two others stationed themselves at points some feet down the street. Who in hell was keeping watch on the car Miss Wing was driving?’

Blackman clasped his forehead. ‘Oh, my God!’

‘Precisely.’ Porter’s fury became cold. ‘Miss Wing left the tape and film in the car. All of you, without exception, followed her in a happy phalanx around the shopping centre, noting such matters of vital importance as the exact sum she spent for cosmetics and tea. And while all this was happening, her accomplice quietly removed the film and tape from the unguarded car. You’ve muffed what may have been our only chance to trace this conspiracy to its source.’

Blackman buried his face in his hands, and the others were shaken, too.

‘I can’t even begin to estimate how badly you may have placed Project Neptune in jeopardy.’ Porter waved them out of the room. ‘Go away. I need time to think.’

They filed out the room, the stricken Blackman in the lead.

When Adrienne arrived Porter was chain-smoking as he paced the room.

He stopped short when he saw her. ‘We’re up a gum tree,’ he said.

‘Blackman just filled me in.’

‘I spent days setting up a perfect trap, and those bungling morons—’

Adrienne put a hand on his arm to silence him. ‘It isn’t hopeless.’

‘Nothing is ever hopeless, but we’ve come close.’ Porter sank into a chair. ‘There’s only one thing we can do now.’

‘Take her into custody and interrogate her?’

He nodded. ‘It’s dicey. Nancy is a tough chick, and she won’t be broken easily or quickly. If she gives us false leads that need time to be checked, the Lord in His wisdom only knows the damage that can be done to Project Neptune!’

‘The Deacon is a persuasive interrogator,’ Adrienne said, ‘What he didn’t already know he learned in the year he spent in Lubyanka.’

‘This operation,’ Porter said, ‘requires finesse as well as firmness. First, I want you to take charge of the interrogation.’

‘Thank you,’ Adrienne said.

He knew she would waste no sympathy on the girl who had interrupted their affair and become his mistress. ‘No broken bones, mind you, and no permanently disfiguring marks. If Nancy’s pride is destroyed she’ll have no reason to co-operate voluntarily with us.’

‘You think she’ll do that?’

‘Here’s the scenario,’ Porter said. ‘I’ll give you eight hours to work on her—’

‘That’s all?’ Adrienne was dismayed. ‘I’ve never yet seen an experienced agent who can be broken down in that short a time!’

‘I don’t expect you to break her down. Put the fear of God into her. I want her filled with terror.’

‘My pleasure,’ Adrienne said, and smiled. ‘She’s living with a man in whom I have an interest. You might even call it a proprietary interest. I’ll enjoy making certain she isn’t fit to live with anybody for a long time to come.’

‘That’s bitchy.’

‘I plead guilty, your honour.’

Porter covered her hand with his. ‘You know how I feel.’

‘I hope so.’

‘Then start listening to me, which you haven’t been doing. The Deacon can carve her like a roast, but a dozen butchers you and I know can do that. I want one of his really subtle jobs.’

‘Meaning?’

‘No visible marks on her. No physical damage. No mutilation. Her body is her pride, her only asset, her only weapon. Scar or mark it, and we destroy her. I want her to be able to walk out under her own power. Without strain.’

Adrienne stared at him. ‘Are you quite certain she means nothing to you, darling?’