Microbes of Power (Wallace of the Secret Service Series) (21 page)

Shannon chuckled softly. Hill had conveyed one item of information neatly.

‘I am glad things are progressing so well with you, Herr Kirche. Am I to congratulate you yet?’

‘My friend, you must think I am a monster devouring without thought. When a dish of such exquisite daintiness is before one, it is necessary to approach it with reverence and care. In spite of your words, I am very nervous, and fear it may elude me. I am here in
the wonderful shop of Messieurs Lalére et Cie, purchasing a little present for the divine Thalia.’

Thus Hill conveyed the information that he was ringing up from Tempest’s office, which again proved his wisdom. Steps may have been taken to listen in to any telephone calls he put through from his flat, and it was essential that the conspirators should not become interested in Shannon.

‘You are a man of sense, Herr Kirche,’ approved the stalwart Secret Service agent. ‘There are no perfumes more delicately fragrant and, therefore, more fitting for Thalia than those of Lalére. Please convey my compliments to the manager, who has often supplied me with various requisites.’

‘I certainly will. It will please you to know that the little matter is all arranged, that we spoke of. I have prepared the gift for our friend with the long name. It will please him very much, I think, for it will enable him to have a rest from his labours. It only remains now to choose the time for the surprise.’

Shannon expressed his gratification in similar terms, and Hill rang off. It is quite certain that, if anybody in the hotel had been listening to the conversation, he would have received an entirely erroneous idea concerning its purport. Shannon decided to give himself a night off. He dined at the Hotel de la Minerve then went on to the opera. He caught sight, soon after he entered, of Thalia and Hill sitting in a box. Thereafter he often glanced in their direction to find always that they were more absorbed in each other than in
Il
Trovatore
, despite the fact that the singing was, as it ever is in Rome, glorious. Thalia looked marvellous, and Shannon thought, as he looked round him, that, though there were many beautiful women present, there was not one to compare with her. Raymond Hill was, he decided, the most fortunate of men.

Several days went by, and the opportunity did not come for which Shannon and Hill were waiting. It almost seemed as though, expecting some attack to be made on Kyprianos, his companions were guarding him. Always one or more seemed to be with him. Hill pointed out that it was more likely that they were so distrustful of the Cypriot that they were keeping a watch on him. Shannon was disposed to agree. When listening to the conference they had held, he had sensed that the rest were more or less frightened of Kyprianos. His refusal to tell them what he hoped to gain from their operations, and the sinister manner in which he had assured them that they would immediately grant whatever he asked had been somehow deadly significant. The Englishman thought that, whilst they might be aspiring to dictatorial powers in their respective countries, he was possibly anticipating hovering in the background, and becoming dictator over all.

Every morning, as arranged, Shannon spoke to headquarters in London; was commended for not taking risks. After the first day, Sir Leonard did not speak to him personally, but Major Brien apparently approved rather than disapproved of the inaction. Sir Leonard seemed to be quite content with the waiting game that was being played. Shannon himself was chafing against the delay. His whole nature rebelled against idling away his time as he was doing. He spent hours in his bedroom, sometimes with Hill, planning and scheming. They were even prepared to kidnap Kyprianos when he went out, but unfortunately, on the rare occasions when he emerged from the seclusion of his flat, he was always accompanied by one, at least, of his friends. Thalia began to show concern. Twice she met Shannon on the terrace of the Pincio, and the second time enquired anxiously when she was to be permitted to communicate with her government. He succeeded in soothing her, not without a certain
amount of difficulty. She explained that she was very eager to be finished with the affair, and he understood that her impatience was due chiefly to her association with Hill. They spent a considerable amount of time in each other’s company, and their demeanour was now wholly that of lovers, though Raymond, brave to the point of recklessness otherwise, could not succeed in getting up sufficient courage to propose.

Five days after Shannon’s adventure in the chimney, his telephone rang, and he took off the receiver, eagerly expecting and hoping that his caller was Hill with the announcement, at last, that Kyprianos was alone. He was disappointed and a trifle perturbed when he heard Thalia’s voice. She declared urgently that she must see him; asked if she could come to the hotel, and straight to his room, assuring him that she was quite certain she was unobserved. She was telephoning from the post office. Rather reluctantly he agreed. Ten minutes later he opened the door to her knock. She entered hurriedly and, when it was closed, crossed to the armchair, and sat down. She looked upset; accepted the cigarette he gave to her with a little nod of thanks.

‘What’s the trouble, Thalia?’ he asked, taking up his usual perch on the bed.

‘I wish to ask you first, Hugh,’ she declared, blowing a cloud of smoke into the air, ‘whether it is true that you have been in this affair almost since the beginning and, if it is so, to warn you that you are in great danger.’

He started.

‘Tell me why you ask this question?’ he demanded.

‘This morning there arrived from Cyrpus two men – one is a Greek called Padakis, and the other is a Cypriot by name of Baltazzi. Ah! I see you know them!’ His involuntary exclamation,
though suppressed almost at birth, had not escaped her. ‘You perhaps also know that they are spies of Plasiras. They were in London, and there tried to do something which was found out. They had to run away and, from Paris, they communicated with Plasiras who was then in Cyprus. That is why, I think, we all left in a hurry. It is a British island, and it was feared the British authorities knew too much. Baltazzi and Padakis were told to go quickly to Cyprus, and watch with another spy, a woman called Malampos. As soon as they arrived, they discovered that Madame Malampos and several others had been killed in a terrible fight. These people had tried to capture and murder an English girl, who was thought to be a British espionage agent, and a man of giant stature, who was with her, and also suspected. The two spies received that information from one of the survivors. There were only two – two from nine men and a woman! Three had got away, but one had since died. The Englishman’s name was Shannon. It was said that he had enormous strength, and had fought like six men. Only you could do that, Hugh. The Mr Shannon and the Captain Shannon I know are the same person, are they not?’

‘Yes, Thalia, they are,’ he admitted. It would have been useless to have attempted to deny it.

‘Oh, Hugh,’ she cried passionately, ‘why could you not confide in me, and trust me? Have I not shown that I am worthy of your trust now?’

‘You have,’ he replied promptly, ‘but please try and realise, Thalia, that I am not my own master. When I am told to do a thing, I have to do it without confiding in anyone. I was sent to Cyprus to investigate. Miss Havelock and I were trapped through the wiles of that woman Malampos.’ A tinge of sadness entered his voice as he
added: ‘Miss Havelock was killed – even with all my strength I was unable to prevent that.’

‘I heard, too, that she was dead. Poor girl! I am so sorry.’

‘I traced your party to Rome, and that is practically all there is to tell.’

‘Then it was not to help me you have done so much.’ She spoke in sorrowful tones. ‘I was so happy, Hugh, because I thought that your eagerness to assist me showed that you believed in me. But it was done not for me, but for your own country.’

‘It was done for both,’ he insisted earnestly.

She shook her head.

‘I know now,’ she declared, ‘that you must have had greater distrust of me than ever I imagined. I thought I was telling you what you did not know, when I confided in you, but you already knew everything, and finding me with these people—’ she shrugged her dainty shoulders. ‘What else could you think, but that I was one of them?’

‘I did believe that,’ he confessed. ‘I admit it, and I thought you were attempting to trap me. When I first saw you, I guessed that you would recognise me, and I took care to avoid you, while I kept watch on you. When you passed my table in the restaurant, and looked at me, I was very much perturbed. I thought you would be certain to tell your companions who I was. I continued to distrust you a little after you had come to me. But you soon destroyed all suspicion, which after all was not personal suspicion so much as suspicion engendered by my profession. Now I can honestly say that I am proud to be associated with you, and your friendship is very precious to me.’

‘Do you mean that – really mean it from your heart?’ she asked eagerly.

‘From my soul, Thalia.’

‘Then I am not sad any more. I understand it all and do not blame you. But listen, Hugh, you are in danger. One of those men – Baltazzi I think – saw you in London. He again saw you this morning near the British embassy. He tried to follow you, but fortunately for you, he missed you in a crowd of people. They will be looking for you everywhere.’

‘Dash it! That’s a nuisance,’ exclaimed Shannon, more in annoyance than concern. ‘I wonder when the fellow saw me in London.’

‘That I do not know.’

‘How did you hear all this?’

‘I was out with Herr Kirche, but returned earlier than I had expected. He spends very much time in his flat – I think he is making notes about Rome in order to write a book or something of that sort.’ The idea of Hill writing a book made Shannon feel inclined to smile, but he refrained. ‘When I entered, voices came to me very loudly from the sitting room – it was because they were so noisy that I was not heard I think. Plasiras and Bikelas were there with the two men and the secretary. I listened. Madame had gone with Signora Bruno to the Vatican, and it was known that I was out. They, therefore, thought they were quite safe. When I had heard all I have told you, I crept out again like a mouse, and shut the front door with the key in order that there would not be a sound. For a little while I walked, looking back many times to make sure I had not been heard and followed. Then I took a taxicab to the Pantheon and, from there, another to the Piazza Colonna. After that, I walked to the post office, and telephoned you.’

‘I am very grateful to you, Thalia. It is certain that, without the aid you have given me, I should have failed altogether in this
business. Now that Baltazzi and Padakis are in Rome, I suppose they will be delegated to search for me.’

‘Without doubt. Plasiras and Bikelas are very much disconcerted. The presence here of the man who was in Cyprus will have caused them great concern. I could not stop to hear more than I have told you, for I would have been discovered, if I had. Then perhaps I would have died of heart disease, and you would have known nothing.’ Her lips curved in a smile, but the expression in her eyes was very grave. ‘I do not wish to die, Hugh – not now.’

He rose; stood towering over her.

‘Please don’t talk like that,’ he begged. ‘God! How I hate you to be in that flat. I shall hate it more than ever now, for they will be on the alert so much more. You can’t manufacture some excuse for leaving?’

She shook her head.

‘I cannot leave until my work is done,’ she reminded him quietly. ‘I think you must allow me to send in my report to Athens.’

‘Wait just a day or two longer. I promise that within forty-eight hours you can do it. It is essential now that I act at once.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I don’t know yet. I shall have to think.’

‘You mean,’ she flashed, rising to her feet, ‘that you yet do not trust me.’

‘I mean nothing of the sort,’ he returned promptly, and with emphasis. ‘I do trust you, and it is quite true that I don’t know what I am going to do. I will tell you this much: it is essential that, before any steps are taken officially against the conspirators, I must make certain that Kyprianos cannot perform some dreadful revengeful act with those cultures of his. How to do that is a problem, but it must be done.’

‘Of course – I did not think of that before. Forgive me, my friend, because I was hasty. Tell me what I can do to help.’

‘Nothing – absolutely nothing,’ he declared emphatically. ‘Already one girl, in association with me, has met her death. I do not intend to allow you to come to any harm.’

She smiled; took his hand with a caressing gesture, and raised it to her cheek. A hot flush surged to his face. At that moment all her glamour, fascination, and magnetism seemed to hold him in thrall.

‘My big Hugh,’ she murmured softly, ‘you are very charming to me – like a great, loving brother. But, because we are working together, I must do my share. It is my duty, and my country expects it. Besides, my friend, I do not intend any more to let you face all the danger by yourself.’

He strove to persuade her to allow him to work alone, but she was gently insistent. He succeeded, however, in getting her to be content with the promise that he would ask her assistance, when he had made his plans and was ready to act. Secretly he vowed that her aid would consist in going somewhere where she was out of danger. He discovered, on questioning her, that she had had no communication with the Greek embassy in Rome, and advised her to prepare her report; address it to the ambassador with instructions that it was to be telegraphed to Athens as soon as she gave the word. That pleased her; it meant that the step she was anxious to take would be well on the way towards accomplishment. She declared she would return to the flat, and write it at once, whereupon he pointed out the unwisdom of such an act. She could hardly choose more dangerous surroundings.

‘Is it to be sent in code?’ he asked.

‘Yes; but the code I know by heart.’

‘Excellent. Then, why not write it here? I will descend to the lounge while you are engaged. As soon as you are finished, you
can destroy the original and all paper you use in translating it into cipher. Lock the door, and I will return in about three-quarters of an hour. Will that be enough?’