Десмонд Бэгли - Running Blind

‘Even supposing I did know this Slade, what proof have you of this? Your word?’

I put my hand to my breast pocket and stopped sharply as his gun came up. ‘Not to worry,’ I said. ‘But do you mind if I dig for a bit of evidence?’ I took the jerk of the gun as assent and extracted Slade’s passport from my pocket and tossed it to him.

He stooped to where it had fallen and picked it up, flicking open the pages with one hand. He studied the photograph intently and then snapped the passport closed. ‘This is a passport made out in the name of Slade. It is no proof of possession of the man. To hold a passport is meaningless; I, myself, possess many passports in many names. In any case, I know of no Slade. The name means nothing to me.’

I laughed. ‘It’s so unlike you to talk to yourself. I know for a fact that not two hours ago you spoke to a nonexistent man at the Hotel Borg in Reykjavik. This is what you said, and this is what he said.’ I recited the telephone conversation verbatim. ‘Of course, I could have been wrong about what Slade said, since he doesn’t exist.’

Kennikin’s face tightened. ‘You have dangerous knowledge.’

‘I have more than that — I have Slade. I had him even as he spoke to you. My gun was in his fat neck.’

‘And where is he now?’

‘For Christ’s sake, Vaslav!’ I said. ‘You’re talking to me, not some muscle-bound, half-witted ape like Ilyich.’

He shrugged. ‘I had to try.’

I grinned. ‘You’ll have to do a bloody sight better than that. I can tell you this, though — if you go looking for him, by the time you find him he’ll be cold meat. Those are my orders.’

Kennikin pulled at his lower lip, thinking deeply. ‘Orders you have received — or orders you have given?’

I leaned forward, preparing to lie heroically. ‘Let’s make no mistake about this, Vaslav. Those are orders I’ve given. If you, or anyone who even smells like you, gets close to Slade, then Slade dies. Those are the orders I have given and they’ll be followed, you may depend upon it.’

At all costs I had to drive out of his mind any suggestion that I had been given orders. The only man who could give me orders was Taggart, and if he had issued such orders then the game was blown as far as Slade was concerned. If Kennikin believed for one minute that Taggart had penetrated Slade’s cover then he’d cut his losses by killing me and Elin, and get the hell back to Russia as fast as he could move.

I buttressed the argument by saying, ‘I may be rapped over the knuckles when the Department catches up with me, but until then those orders stand — Slade will catch a bullet if you go near him.’

Kennikin smiled grimly. ‘And who will pull the trigger? You’ve said you’re working independently of Taggart, and I know you’re alone.’

I said, ‘Don’t sell the Icelanders short, Vaslav. I know them very well and I have a lot of friends here — and so does Elin Ragnarsdottir. They don’t like what you’ve been doing in their country and they don’t like one of their own being put in danger.’

I leaned back in the chair. ‘Look at it this way. This is a biggish country with a small population. Everyone knows everyone else. Damn it, everyone is related to everyone else if you push it back far enough — and the Icelanders do. I’ve never known a people, other than the Scots, who are so genealogically minded. So everyone cares what happens to Elin Ragnarsdottir. This isn’t a mass society where people don’t even know their next-door neighbour. By taking Elin Ragnarsdottir you’ve laid yourself wide open.’

Kennikin looked thoughtful. I hoped I had given him something to chew over for a long time, but I didn’t have the time so I pushed him. ‘I want the girl down here in this room — intact and in one piece. If any harm has come to her then you’ve made a big mistake.’

He regarded me keenly, and said, ‘It’s obvious you haven’t informed the Icelandic authorities. If you had, the police would be here.’

‘You’re so right,’ I said. ‘I haven’t, and for good reasons. Firstly, it would cause an international brouhaha, which would be lamentable. Secondly, and more important, all the authorities could do would be to deport Slade. My friends are tougher-minded — they’ll kill him if necessary.’ I leaned over and jabbed Kennikin in the knee with a hard forefinger. ‘And then they’ll blow you off to the police, and you’ll be up to your neck in uniforms and diplomats.’ I straightened up. ‘I want to see the girl, and I want to see her now.’

‘You talk straight,’ he said. ‘But, then, you always did...’ His voice tailed away, and he whispered, ‘...until you betrayed me.’

‘I don’t see you have any options,’ I said. ‘And just to screw it tighter I’ll tell you something else. There’s a time limit. If my friends don’t get the word from Elin’s own lips within three hours then Slade gets what’s coming to him.’

I could see Kennikin visibly debating it with himself. He had to make a choice and a damned thin one it was. He said, ‘Your Icelandic friends — do they know who Slade is?’

‘You mean that he’s in Russian Intelligence?’ I said. ‘Or in British Intelligence, for that matter?’ I shook my head. ‘All they know is that he’s a hostage for Elin. I didn’t tell them anything else about him. They think you’re a crowd of gangsters and, by God, they’re not far wrong!’

That clinched it. He thought he had me isolated, that only Elin and I knew the truth that Slade was a double agent. Given that premise which, God knows, was true enough since my Icelandic friends were pure invention, then he could do a deal. He was faced with the choice of sacrificing Slade, who had been laboriously built up over many years into a superlative Trojan Horse, for a no-account Icelandic girl. The choice was obvious. He would be no worse off than before he had taken her, and his weasel mind would already be working out ways of double-crossing me.

He sighed. ‘At least you can see the girl.’ He signalled to the man standing behind him who left the room.

I said, ‘You’ve really queered this one, Vaslav. I don’t think Bakayev is going to be too cheerful about it. It’ll be Siberia for sure this time, if not worse — and all because of Slade. It’s funny, isn’t it? You spent four years in Ashkhabad because of Slade, and now what do you have to look forward to?’

There was a look almost of pain in his eyes. ‘Is it true — what you said about Slade and Sweden?’

‘Yes, Vaslav,’ I said. ‘It was Slade who cut the ground from under you there.’

He shook his head irritably. ‘There’s one thing I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘You say you are willing to trade Slade for the girl. Why should a member of your Department do that?’

‘I swear to God you don’t listen to me. I’m not a member of the Department — I quit four years ago.’

He pondered. ‘Even so — where are your loyalties?’

‘My loyalties are my business,’ I said curtly.

‘The world well lost for a woman?’ he asked mockingly. ‘I’ve been cured of that way of thinking — and you were the doctor.’

‘Now, you’re not still harping on that,’ I said. ‘If you hadn’t jumped when you should have fallen flat you’d have been killed decently.’

The door opened and Elin came in under escort. I was about to get up but subsided again as Kennikin lifted his pistol warningly. ‘Hello, Elin; you’ll forgive me if I don’t get up.’

Her face was pale and when she saw me it acquired a bleak look. ‘You, too!’

‘I’m here by choice,’ I said. ‘Are you all right? They didn’t hurt you?’

‘Not more than was necessary,’ she said. ‘Just some arm twisting.’ She put her hand to her wounded shoulder.