Desmond Bagley - The Tightrope Men

He drew on the cigarette and expelled smoke without inhaling. ‘It’s nothing to do with you, Ian. You just soldier on and don’t worry your head about policy.’

‘I don’t even know what it’s all about,’ said Armstrong with a smile.

‘You’re better off that way.’ Carey stood up and stared out of the window. ‘Did you notice anything odd about that conversation?’

Armstrong thought back. ‘I can’t say that I did.’

‘I did. Thornton got so mad at me that he slipped.’ Carey drew on the cigarette and blew a plume of smoke. ‘How did he know about Denison? You tell me that, my son, and you’ll win a big cigar.’ He held out the cigarette and looked at it distastefully, then stubbed it out in an ashtray with unnecessary violence. He said curtly, ‘Let me know when Denison and McCready arrive.’

Denison lay in the old-fashioned bath with steaming water up to his ears. He lay passively letting the hot water untie all the knots. His shoulders still ached abominably because of the paddling in the marsh of Sompio. He opened his eyes and stared at the elaborately moulded ceiling and then looked at the ceramic stove in the corner, a massive contraption big enough to heat a ballroom let alone a bathroom. He deduced from that that winters in Finland could be chilly.

When the water turned tepid he got out of the bath, dried himself and put on his — or Meyrick’s — bath robe. He looked down at it and fingered the fabric. From what Carey had said in the few brief remarks he had offered his days of high living were over. That suited Denison. In the past few days there had been less chance of high living than of low dying.

He left the bathroom and walked along the panelled corridor towards the bedroom he had been given. It seemed that British Intelligence were not averse to a spot of high life; this country house reminded him of those oldfashioned detective plays in which the earl was found dead in the study and, in the last act, it was the butler what done it. Playwrights in those days seemed to think that everybody but butlers had butlers.

He was about to go into his room when the door opposite opened and he saw Lyn. ‘Giles, do you have a moment?’

‘Of course.’ She held the door open in invitation and he went into her bedroom. ‘How is Harding?’

‘He’s quite a man,’ she said. ‘He took out the bullet and set the arm himself. He said it wasn’t as bad as taking out his own appendix, as some doctors have had to do. Diana and I helped to bandage him.’

‘I don’t think he’ll encounter any more bullets,’ said Denison. ‘From what I gathered from Carey this job is just about over. He said something about us flying back to England tomorrow.’

‘So it was successful — he got what he wanted?’

‘Apparently so. There was a scientist here who checked the stuff. Diana and Ian Armstrong went back with him to England.’

She sat on the bed. ‘So it’s all over. What will you do now?’

‘Go back into films, I suppose.’ He rubbed his jaw and felt the unshaven stubble. ‘Carey said he wanted to talk to me about that because it might not be too easy, not with someone else’s face.’ He waved his arm largely. ‘All this Scandinavian stuff is supposed to be kept secret, so I can’t very well go back to Fortescue as I am. He’d ask too many questions which I can’t answer. The trouble is that the film world is small and if it isn’t Fortescue asking awkward questions it will be someone else.’

‘So what’s the answer?’

‘A man called Iredale, I suppose,’ he said morosely. ‘He’s a plastic surgeon. I can’t say I fancy the idea; I’ve always had a horror of hospitals.’

‘Do it, Giles,’ she said. ‘Please do it. I can’t...’

He waited for her to go on but she was silent, her head averted. He sat next to her and took her hand. ‘I’m sorry, Lyn. I’d have given anything for this not to have happened. I didn’t like the deception I played on you, and I told Carey so. I was about to insist that it be put to an end when you... you found out. I wish to hell we could have met under different circumstances.’

She still said nothing and he bit his lip. ‘What will you do?’

‘You know what I’ll do. I’ve got a not very good degree so I’ll teach — as I told my father.’ Her voice was bitter.

‘When will you start?’

‘I don’t know. There’s a lot to be straightened out about Daddy’s death. Carey said he’ll pull strings and make it easy from the legal angle, but there’ll still be a lot to do — his will and things like that. There’s a lot of money involved — shares in his companies — and there’s his house. He once told me that the house would be mine if he died. That was just like him, you know — he said “if” instead of “when”.’

Arrogant bastard, thought Denison. He said, ‘So you won’t start teaching for a long time.’

‘Those different circumstances,’ said Lyn. ‘Perhaps they could be arranged.’

‘Would you like that?’

‘Oh, yes; to start again.’

‘To start again,’ mused Denison. ‘I suppose it’s a wish we all have from time to time. Usually it’s impossible.’

‘Not for us,’ she said. ‘After you’ve had the operation you’ll be convalescent for a while. Come to the house and stay with me for that time.’ Her hand tightened on his. ‘If I could see Giles Denison’s face in my father’s house perhaps we could start again.’

‘A sort of exorcism. It might work.’

‘We can try.’ She brought her hand up to his face and touched the scar on his cheek. ‘Who did this to you, Giles? And who kidnapped my father to let him drown in the sea?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Denison. ‘And I don’t think Carey knows, either.’

In the room directly below McCready was giving his report to Carey. He had nearly finished. ‘It was a right shambles,’ he said. ‘The Czechs were shooting up everything in sight.’ He stopped and considered. ‘Except us.’

‘Who were the opposition?’

‘I don’t know. They were armed with pistols, nothing bigger. We only saw them once in the marsh when Denison tickled them up with that overgrown shotgun. Remarkable man, Denison.’

‘I agree,’ said Carey.

‘He keeps his cool in an emergency and he’s a good tactician. It was his idea that we cross the marsh. It was a good idea because we didn’t run into the Czechs at all. When the punt sank he led us out.’ McCready grinned. ‘He had us all lined up on a thirty-foot length of string. And his estimation of speed was accurate; we hit the main road just seven hours after leaving the hut.’

‘Did you have any trouble in Vuotso?’

McCready shook his head. ‘We nipped in quietly, got into the cars, and drove out. Not far from Rovaniemi we changed into decent clothing to make ourselves presentable for the flight south.’ He grinned. ‘There’s a Dr Mannermaa in Vuotso — a bird watcher. He’s going to be a bit peeved about losing his punt and his gun.’

‘I’ll straighten that out,’ said Carey. ‘You said the Czechs were also at Kevo.’

‘Czechs, Americans — and a crowd of Germans hovering on the outskirts. I didn’t tell the others about them because they never really came into the game.’

‘East Germans or West Germans?’ asked Carey sharply.

‘I don’t know,’ said McCready. ‘They all speak the same lingo.’

‘And then there was the chap who knocked Denison on the head and took the original map.’

‘I never spotted him from start to finish,’ said McCready. ‘I think he was a singleton — working on his own.’

‘Four groups,’ said Carey thoughtfully. ‘And we can’t identify any Russians for certain.’