Jack Higgins - Thunder Point

“You can’t prove that, you can’t prove any of it.”

“True, just as I can’t prove exactly what happened to Jack Lane, but I’ll make an educated guess. Those were computer printouts I found in his desk. That means he was doing a computer sweep on your family affairs. I presume one of your staff noticed. Normally, you wouldn’t have been concerned, it happens to Crown Ministers all the time, but in the light of recent events, you panicked, feared the worst, and phoned Santiago, who took care of it for you.” Ferguson sighed. “I often think the direct dialing system a curse. In the old days it would have taken the international operator at least four hours to connect you to a place like the Virgins. These days all you do is punch a rather long series of numbers.”

Pamer took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. “As regards my family’s business interests, that was my father’s affair, not mine. I’ll plead ignorance if you persist with this thing. I know the law, Ferguson, and you seem to have forgotten that I was a working barrister for a short while.”

“Actually I had,” Ferguson said.

“Santiago being dead, the only thing you have left is my father’s inclusion in the Blue Book. Hardly my fault.” He seemed to have recovered his nerve. “You can’t prove a thing. I’ll tough it out, Ferguson.”

Ferguson turned and looked at the river. “As I said, I could understand your panic, an ancient name tarnished, your political career threatened, but the attacks on that girl, the death of that old man, the cold-blooded murder of Inspector Lane – on those charges you are every bit as culpable as the men who carried them out.”

“Prove it,” Pamer said, clutching his umbrella in both hands.

“Goodbye, Sir Francis,” Charles Ferguson said and turned and walked away.

Pamer was trembling, and he’d totally forgotten about the Volka in his pocket. Too late now for any wild ideas like relieving Ferguson of the briefcase at gunpoint. He took a deep breath and coughed as the fog bit at the back of his throat. He fumbled for his cigarette case, got one to his mouth and tried to find his lighter.

There was the softest of footfalls and Dillon’s Zippo flared. “There you go.”

Pamer’s eyes widened in fear. “Dillon, what do you want?”

“A word only.” Dillon put his right arm around Pamer’s shoulders under the umbrella and drew him against the stern rail. “The first time I met you and Simon Carter on the Terrace at the House of Commons I made a joke about security and the river and you said you couldn’t swim. Is that true?”

“Well, yes.” Pamer’s eyes widened as he understood. He pulled the Volka from his raincoat pocket, but Dillon, in close, swept the arm wide. The weapon gave a muted cough, the bullet thudded into the bulkhead.

The Irishman grabbed for the right wrist, slamming it on the rail so that Pamer cried out and dropped the pistol in the river.

“Thanks, old son,” Dillon said. “You’ve just made it easier for me.”

He swung Pamer round and pushed hard between the shoulder blades so that he sagged across the stern rail, reached down, grabbed him by the ankles and heaved him over. The umbrella floated upside down, Pamer surfaced, raised an arm. There was a strangled cry as he went under again and the fog swirled across the surface of the Thames, covering everything.

Five minutes later the Queen of Denmark pulled in at Westminster Pier next to the bridge. Ferguson was first down the gangway and waited under a tree for Dillon to join him. “Taken care of?”

“I think you could say that,” Dillon told him.

“Good. I’ve got my appointment at Downing Street now. I can walk there from here. I’ll see you at my flat in Cavendish Square, let you know what happened.”

Dillon watched him go, then moved away himself in the opposite direction, fading into the fog and rain.

Ferguson was admitted to Downing Street some fifteen minutes early for his appointment. Someone took his coat and umbrella and one of the Prime Minister’s aides came down the stairs at that moment. “Ah, there you are, Brigadier.”

“A trifle early, I fear.”

“No problem. The Prime Minister would welcome the opportunity to consider the material in question himself. Is that it?”

“Yes.” Ferguson handed him the briefcase.

“Please make yourself comfortable. I’m sure he won’t keep you long.”

Ferguson took a seat in the hall, feeling rather cold. He shivered and the porter by the door said, “No central heating, Brigadier. The workmen moved in today to install the new security systems.”

“Ah, so they’ve finally started?”

“Yes, but it’s bleeding cold of an evening. We had to light a fire in the Prime Minister’s study. First time in years.”

“Is that so?”

A few moments later there was a knock at the door, the porter opened it and admitted Carter. “Brigadier,” Carter said formally.

The porter took his coat and umbrella and at that moment, the aide reappeared. “Please come this way, gentlemen.”

The Prime Minister sat at his desk, the briefcase open at one side. He was reading through the Blue Book and glanced up briefly. “Sit down, gentlemen, I’ll be with you directly.”

The fire burned brightly in the grate of the Victorian fireplace. It was very quiet, only sudden flurries of rain hammering against the window.

Finally, the Prime Minister sat back and looked at them. “Some of the names on this Blue Book list are really quite incredible. Sir Joseph Pamer, for example, on page eighteen. I presume this is why you didn’t ask Sir Francis to join us, Brigadier?”

“I felt his presence would be inappropriate in the circumstances, Prime Minister, and Sir Francis agreed.”

Carter turned and glanced at him sharply. The Prime Minister said, “You have informed him of his father’s presence in the Blue Book then?”

“Yes, sir, I have.”

“I appreciate Sir Francis’s delicacy in the matter. On the other hand, the fact that his father was a Fascist all those years ago is hardly his fault. We don’t visit the sins of the fathers on the children.” The Prime Minister glanced at the Blue Book again, then looked up. “Unless you have anything else to tell me, Brigadier?” There was a strange set look on his face, as if he was somehow challenging Ferguson.

Carter glanced at Ferguson puzzled, his face pale, and Ferguson said firmly, “No, Prime Minister.”

“Good. Now we come to the Windsor Protocol.” The Prime Minister unfolded it. “Do you gentlemen consider this to be genuine?”

“One can’t be certain,” Carter said. “The Nazis did produce some remarkable forgeries during the War, there is no doubt about that.”

“It is a known fact that the Duke hoped for a speedy end to the War,” Ferguson said. “This is in no way to suggest that he was disloyal, but he deeply regretted the loss of life on both sides and wanted it to end.”

“Be that as it may, the tabloid press would have a field day with this and the effect on the Royal Family would be catastrophic, and I wouldn’t want that,” the Prime Minister said. “You’ve brought me the original of Korvettenkapitän Friemel’s diary as I asked and the translation. Are these all the copies?”

“Everything,” Ferguson assured him.

“Good.” The Prime Minister piled the documents together, got up and went to the fire. He put the Windsor Protocol on top of the blazing coals first. “An old story, gentlemen, a long time ago.”

The Protocol flared, curled into ash. He followed it with the Hitler Order, the bank lists, the Blue Book and finally Paul Friemel’s diary.

He turned. “It never happened, gentlemen, not any of it.”