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“I still don’t like it,” snapped Endean.
“What’s the matter?” Sha
“No,”
“So cool it. All you have to lose is a bit of money.”
Endean was on the verge of telling Sha
They talked finance for another hour. Sha
“Also,” he added, “I want the second half of my salary.”
“Why now?” asked Endean.
“Because the risks of arrest start next Monday, and I shall not be returning to London after that. If the ship is loaded without fuss, she sails for Brindisi while I arrange the pick-up of the Yugoslav arms. After that, Valencia and the Spanish ammunition. Then we head for the target. If I’m ahead of schedule, I’d prefer to kill the extra time on the high seas rather than wait in a port. From the moment that ship has hardware on board, I want her in port as little as possible.”
Endean digested the argument. “I’ll put it to my associates,” he said.
“I want the stuff in my Swiss account before the weekend,” countered Sha
They worked out that, with Sha
“From now on I need a wad of big-denomination travelers’ checks in United States dollars on me all the time. If anything goes wrong from now, it can only be of a nature where a fat bribe on the spot might sort out the problem. I want to tidy up all the remaining traces, so that, if we all get the chop, there are no clues left. Also, I may need to make cash bonuses on the spot to the ship’s crewmen to persuade them to go ahead when they find out what the job really is, as they must when we are at sea. With the last half-payment for the Yugoslav arms still to come, I could need up to twenty thousand.”
Endean agreed to report all this to “his associates” and let Sha
The following day he rang back to say that both transfers of the money had been authorized and the letter instructing the Swiss bank had been sent.
Sha
He spent that night with Julie, and Thursday as well, and Thursday night. Then he packed his bags, mailed the flat keys with an explanatory letter to the agents, and left. Julie drove him to the airport in her red MGB.
“When are you coming back?” she asked him as they stood outside the “Departing Passengers Only” entrance to the customs area of Number Two Building.
“I won’t be coming back,” he said and gave her a kiss.
“Then let me come with you.”
“No.”
“You will come back. I haven’t asked where you are going, but I know it has to be dangerous. It’s not just business, not ordinary business. But you will come back. You must.”
“I won’t be coming back,” he said quietly. “Go find someone else, Julie.”
She began to sniffle. “I don’t want anybody else. I love you. You don’t love me. That’s why you’re saying you won’t see me again. You’ve got another woman, that’s what it is. You’re going to see another woman—”
“There’s no other woman,” he said, stroking her hair. An airport policeman looked discreetly away. Tears in the departure lounge are not uncommon anywhere. There would be, Sha
Thirty minutes later the Sabena jet made its last turn over South London and headed for its home in Brussels. Below the starboard wing, the country of Kent was spread out in the sunshine. Weatherwise, it had been a beautiful month of May. From the portholes one could see the acres of blossom where the apple, pear, and cherry orchards covered the land in pink and white.
Along the lanes that trickle through the heart of the Weald, the Maythorn would be out, the horse-chestnut trees glowing with green and white, the pigeons clattering among the oaks. He knew the country well from the time years ago when he had been stationed at Chatham and had bought an old motorcycle to explore the ancient country pubs between Lamberhurst and Smarden. Good country, good country to settle down in, if you were the settling type.
Ten minutes later, one of the passengers farther back summoned the stewardess to complain that someone up front was whistling a monotonous little tune.
It took Cat Sha
He spent that night in Brussels and flew the next morning to Paris and Marseilles.
A taxi from the airport brought him to the small hotel in the outskirts where Langarotti had once lived under the name of Lavallon, and where Ja
On Sunday the shipping agent’s office was not open, but it did not matter. The rendezvous spot was the pavement in front of it, and here Sha
At Sha
There was nothing more to do that day, so they went in Sha
Sha
The waiting was always the worst, he reflected as he settled the bill and called his three colleagues to the car.