Десмонд Бэгли - Bahama Crisis

He sat down and laid his cap and swagger stick by the chair. ‘Some people think because I’m a black Bahamian that I exist on a liquid diet of rum, but I prefer scotch.’

I went to the poolside bar and held up a bottle of Glenlivet. ‘This do?’

He grinned. ‘That will do very well.’

I poured two drinks and put a bottle of iced water at his elbow. I said, ‘Billy Cunningham rang me this morning. He says he’s growing a streak of white hair where that bullet grazed him. He thinks it makes him look distinguished.’

‘Did he really lose that pistol in the water?’ asked Perigord curiously.

‘I’ll answer that by asking you a question,’ I said. ‘Would Deane really have framed the crew of Capistrano by planting cocaine?’

Perigord smiled. ‘I see.’ He ignored the water and sipped the scotch. ‘Very good,’ he observed.

‘Now, tell me — who was Robinson?’

‘We sent his fingerprints to the States and the Americans told us, but we could have found out ourselves once we began to dig. He was an Anglo-Cuban, educated in England. His name was Rojas and he was Perez’s brother-in-law.’

I contemplated that information which did not mean much to me. ‘So what happens now? Do we live in a permanent state of siege?’

‘I don’t think so,’ said Perigord. ‘An attempt was made — a covert attack on the Bahamas — and it failed. We have investigated every unusual occurrence since Rojas was killed and have found nothing to indicate that the attack is continuing. In my opinion, an opinion now shared by Commissioner Deane and the Government, the whole idea was conceived, planned and executed by Perez and Rojas. Probably Castro knew nothing about it.’

‘You think not?’

‘I think it was rather like Henry II and Becket. You know the story?’

‘Henry said, “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?” and the four knights went and slaughtered Becket in the cathedral.’

‘Henry did penance for it afterwards,’ said Perigord. ‘I know Fidel Castro is no saint, but I don’t think he’d stoop to what that pair did. He’s too vulnerable himself. No, there’s been bad blood between Cuba and the Bahamas ever since their jet planes shot up our fishery patrol vessel and killed four men, and matters haven’t become any easier since. I think Castro wondered aloud how to solve the Bahamian question, and Perez and Rojas decided to take action.’

‘So you now think we can live like reasonable human beings.’

‘I would say so.’ He smiled. ‘But didn’t someone say that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. It has taught us a lesson from which we have benefited. At a cost.’

‘I’m not going to relax the security measures in the hotels,’ I said.

‘Very wise. We also have instituted security measures; they are unobtrusive but they are there.’ He held up his hand. ‘Don’t ask me what they are.’

I grinned at him. ‘I wouldn’t dream of it.’ We sat in silence for a while and Perigord savoured his whisky. I said, ‘You know the funniest thing in the whole damn business?’

‘What?’

‘When you threw that swagger stick. You looked so damned silly, but it worked.’

‘Ah, the swagger stick. Do you know the history of this?’

‘No.’

‘It’s the lineal descendant of the ash plant carried by the Roman centurion over two thousand years ago. He used it to discipline his men, but then it became a staff of office. The line split quite early; one way led to the field marshal’s baton, the other to the officer’s cane. Catch!’ He suddenly tossed it to me.

I grabbed it out of the air and nearly dropped it because it was unexpectedly heavy. I had thought it to be merely a cane encased in leather, but this one was loaded with lead at both ends. Perigord said suavely, ‘Not only a staff of office but a weapon against crime. It has saved my life twice.’

I returned the weapon against crime, and he said, ‘Amy confided in me this afternoon that your wife is expecting a baby. Is that so?’

‘Yes — in about six months.’

‘I’m glad she wasn’t permanently harmed by what happened in Texas. In view of what I know about your family history may I offer the hope that it will be a boy?’

And six months later Karen had a brother.