The Atlas Murders (11 page)

“I want you back here safe
and sound.”

She stood up and put the
papers back into the envelope. “Now don’t forget these.”

She pulled him to his feet
folding her arms around him. ”It’s an early bed time for us young lovers.”

 Henry kissed her on her forehead.
He could feel her warm softness as she pressed her hips against him. With one
thing on his mind he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom.

Chapter Sixteen

Leaving Vera asleep in bed and
knowing he had a busy day ahead of him, he quickly drank a cup of coffee and
made his way out of the house. The time was just after 7 o’clock.

 It was still quiet at
Vincent’s house when he went to his room to change. He was hoping he wouldn’t
waken him and have to answer a barrage of teasing questions about his night
out. He slipped into the kitchen and was finishing his breakfast when he heard James
pull up in his car.

“Morning James, you notice
that little autumn chill?”

“Yes, but it’s nice to have
it bright and sunny, I’m not too fond of the heat.”

 “Pretty soon now I’ll be
trying to get used to the blistering sun, but I won’t spend too much time
outside. I’m looking forward to a bit of swimming though, in the warm tropical
waters. It’ll be such a contrast to our freezing cold seas.

“Yeah, you sure will, there
should be plenty of opportunities to practice your Johnny Weissmuller crawl!
There will be lots of ports you will be at anchor for a few days and you can swim
over the side. You’ll also get a half day in each port so you can go off and
explore the towns.

“Doesn’t sound too bad. I
suppose it’s a routine you just get used to, and I get to see a bit of the world
as a bonus.” Henry took the envelope out of his pocket. “Here! James is the
information on the crewman to be relieved.”

“Good work Tyler, I’ll pass
this on to the relevant men. You only have a few days left before your flight
to Perth, Western Australia. From there you will be met by our overseas agents
and they will brief you on communications and the way you will work with them
from that point.”

“Things are moving fast now.”

As they parked the car and
walked into Scotland Yard, James stopped and said, “Tyler, you will not be able
to go home to Runcorn - you will need every day now for training and briefing.”

 “But what about clothes for
the trip, I have only a small amount of gear?”

“Good that word for your
clothes, ‘gear’. It’s the right expression, where did you hear it?”

 “From my old naval reserve
days, I suppose.”

 “Great you are beginning to
sound like an old salt! You can give me a list of clothes and sizes and it will
be waiting for you in Perth. Anything you may have overlooked, you can purchase
there. You’re better to travel light on the flight.”

Henry looked at a calendar on
the office wall and pointing his finger to a day he said, “I’ll be in Perth on
that day. Approximately how long does the flight take?”

“About two days. You’ll have
a couple of stopovers. I’ll get the flight details for you. Henry you’re going
to do fine. I hope you don’t take any offence with me calling you Tyler but
it’s very important you get used to that name and forget you were ever called
Carter. You just cannot afford a slip up of any kind. I don’t want to alarm you
but you will be in a small world away from all civilization, with a ruthless
killer - possibly sharing a cabin with him, so there will be no room for
complacency.”

“Don’t worry, the full impact
of the situation is becoming a reality now, so you can be sure I’ll keep my
wits about me.”

“Right Tyler, I must be off
and I think it would be best not to tell any of the people at Carlisle Brent
Shipping of your plans. I know Miss Twist has been very helpful but the less
anyone knows about your movements from now on, the better.”

“Ok James, I’ll just
disappear as from tomorrow until I join the Rangoon.”

“That’s about it Tyler.”

Henry was undecided whether
to phone Vera and tell her he was leaving the next day. He knew he would not
have time to see her before he left and felt she might take umbrage at his
sudden departure and not letting her know where he was going. Eventually, he
decided to bite the bullet and phone her before she went to lunch. He decided
that it wouldn’t be wise not to phone from the Yard, so left the building and
crossed the street to a newly repainted, bright red telephone box.

Luckily, the box was empty,
so he counted out his change to make sure he had enough for a decent length
conversation. He was relieved when she picked up the phone herself and he
hadn’t had to go through the receptionist. “Vera, I must apologize for leaving
so early this morning. I didn’t want to wake you as you were like sleeping
beauty.”

“Henry you are a charmer. I
enjoyed our night so much; we mustn’t leave it so long again, especially as you
will be leaving pretty soon.”

 “That’s what I want to talk
to you about. I just got word about an hour ago that I have to travel
tomorrow.”

“Where to Henry?”

 “I have to meet for some
last minute briefings and then I will be flying off to Australia.”

“So Henry, this is goodbye,” she
murmured, her voice cracking with emotion.

“Vera, I hope it’s not
goodbye but ‘Bon Voyage’, and as you said, I might be back sooner than later.”

 “Henry, I’m going to miss
you a lot more than I ever realized, but I’ll write and wait expectantly for
your letters.”

“I’ll write you when I join
the Rangoon and tell you all.”

“Henry dearest, good luck. All
my love goes with you. I will have to go I have someone just come into the
office.”

“Thank you for everything
Vera. And all my love goes to you.”

 Back at the office James
gave Henry the latest information. “You’ll be flying out from Heathrow Airport
tomorrow evening. So you can see it’s a tight schedule. Our men want to have a
quick briefing with you in the Yard at eleven in the morning.”

“My word things are moving
fast.”

“Yes. They believe the
Rangoon might arrive at Albany a little ahead of her E.T.A. I’m sorry Henry,
but as I’d indicated, you can’t have time to visit your sister. I hope she has
improved, and if there’s anything I can do for you while you’re away just let
me know.”

“Thanks James, I might ask
you to go see them if you are in the area. You’d learn more than they’d say in
a letter - they might try to put a brave face on things.”

“You can depend on me. I’ll
certainly do that and I’ll write you and let you know exactly how I find her
state of mind.”

“Thank you so much. I’ve been
lucky to meet such a decent lot of mates at the Yard. I know I couldn’t have
done this without you, and Tom and Vincent’s support has also been first class.”

“Tom will have a profile of
what the murderer might be inclined to say or do in moments of casual talk,
especially when the conversation is about young girls. Now, as he’ll tell you
it‘s not going to be infallible, but you just might get a hint or lead from a
word or gesture made in context with a remark to his ego. You can take this
written paper with you and study it on the plane, but make sure you destroy it
before you join the ship.”

“I’ll remember that James.
There’s another thing. A few days in the hot weather will be welcome. After
all, I should have a good suntan befitting a sailor who has been in the tropics
for months.”

“Yes, that’s one we never
thought of, and by the way, it’s not referred to as a suntan on board ship,
it’s called getting the bronzy.”

 Later that day after a delicious
dinner of steak and sautéed potatoes, cooked to perfection by no other than
Vincent. Henry went to make some phone calls. His call to Katherine and Denis
seemed ordinary and he couldn’t detect any deterioration from talking to
Katherine. Denis seemed more restrained and parried some of his questions, but
because Katherine was sitting alongside him, this was to be expected.

 Next day his meeting at
Scotland Yard was with Vincent, Tom, James and a chief superintendent whom he
had never met, but who had been directing operations all along.

“You will know me only as
Todd, and every aspect of your investigation will come to me. I will pass on
any orders through one of your team here. As of today James is finished with
his part and I must say, he is more than happy with your progress.”

Tom leaned over and handed
Henry a large brown envelope. “Here Tyler is a profile of a man similar to your
killer. You might find something useful here but destroy before you join the
ship.”

“Thanks Tom, will do.”

Vincent opened a drawer and
handed him a small sheet of paper with names written on it. “This Tyler, is the
name of your contacts in Perth, and a small description of the man who’ll meet
you at the airport and a code word to introduce yourself. Memorize this and
give it to James before you board the plane.”

“Thanks Vincent, will also do.”

Todd asked Tom to lay out all
the documentation on the table. “Right,” he said as he listed everything in
order and then handed the papers to Henry, “All present and correct.”

“Thank you sir.”

Tom stood up and proffered
his hand to Henry. “Good luck.”

“Thanks Tom for everything.”

Vincent leaned over and shook
his hand. “I’ll keep you posted Henry, good luck.”

 “Thank you men. I think we
are about finished here. Do you mind if I have Tyler to myself for a moment?”

Everyone left the room except
Todd. He was a tall imposing man, about fifty but looking much younger, and
remarkably fit. “I have something personal to say and I hope you will
understand that while your preparation was on-going we also had an investigation
behind the scenes. It was mostly to do with the shipping company and the people
that know about this operation. It’s known that you have some kind of personal
relationship with Miss Twist. She is a very loyal company director and the
second largest shareholder in this company. We would wish any information
passed on to you from her be made known to us. Also, and I must stress this, do
not under any circumstances divulge anything of your investigation to her. We
are putting huge resources into this operation on a worldwide scale and it’s paramount
we catch this murderer. We want to minimize any risks that might jeopardize
your safety. If things are pointing in the direction of Lord Percy’s son Oswyn,
it will have to be kept very secret. They will have enough wealth and
connections to scuttle our investigation.”

“Right sir, I will remember
that.”

“Good luck and I wish you
every success.”

Henry left the room and as he
closed the door behind him he heard a loud shout from Todd.

“TYLER!”

He stopped, turned back and
opened the door.

The big man stood with his
hands tucked into his pockets. He was beaming the broadest of smiles.

”Yes, what is it sir?”

 “Nothing… just checking that
you know who you are!”  

James took Henry in tow and
after a decent lunch and a bit of shopping, he decided it was time to head to
the airport - Henry admitted he had never flown before.

“Well if it makes you feel
any better, neither have I.”

Airports were completely
foreign to both of them, but after a few inquiries they found the check in
desk.

“Now Tyler, give me the paper
with the names of your contacts.”

Henry fished it out of his
pocket and handed it to James.

“You happy you know this?”

 “Yes quite certain.”

James tore it into tiny
little pieces and threw it in a waste paper bin.

 “You know your itinerary,
it’s on the ticket.”

“Yes, I have it here, first
stop Rome, then New Delhi, onto Singapore, and finally Perth.

This is where we part company.
I want to wish you the very best. It’s been a pleasure knowing you Henry Tyler
and I hope we meet again soon.”

“Thank you again James. Hopefully,
I can justify all the hard work put in by all concerned.”

When Henry reached the
departure area he had a good view of the airfield, sitting on the tarmac was a
beautiful new Lockheed Super Constellation. Good grief, he thought, is that our
aircraft? A middle-aged man sitting near him saw him staring at the huge
aircraft. He spoke with a pronounced Australian accent. “Beaut isn’t she; she’s
called the Southern Zephyr. I came here three weeks ago on her, absolutely
wonderful flight. You know she has one of them new black box flight recorder
fitted - not much good if we crash but it shows our modern Australian
technology. It was developed in Melbourne.”

 “She looks so big it’s hard
to imagine how she actually gets off the ground.”

“She lifts like a bird. Come
on, I think that’s our calling to board.”

Henry was shown to his seat
and soon the large cabin was full with people and excited chatter. He thought
to himself, it’s getting to know you time as a middle-aged lady seated herself
next to him. She introduced herself as Georgina Hale. She also had a pronounced
Australian accent. A hush descended as the light to fasten seatbelts flashed
on, Henry felt elated trepidation, laced with euphoria as the huge bird began
to roll down the runway. It seemed like she would race on and on then the
mighty engines gave a tremendous loud roar and the cabin tilted upwards. He put
his head to the window and saw the ground recede away and his world changed
like he could never have imagined. He saw the English Channel in the clear
evening light and the toy ships like a scene from Lilliput. His traveling
companion informed him they would be having an hour stopover in Rome. He hadn’t
in his haste looked at any of the times of stopovers, but as his lady companion
said she would liked to have had a day to visit the Vatican and see some of the
wonderful sights, especially that famous fountain.