Читаем A Perfect Spy полностью

Our mutual friend Jack tells me excellent things about you and I would greatly like the opportunity to get to know you, as there are important matters of mutual interest that you might help us out with. Unfortunately I have a full programme at the moment, and shall be abroad by the time you receive this letter. I wonder therefore whether as an interim measure you would care to have a conversation with a colleague of mine who will be down your way on Monday of next week. If you are willing, why not take the bus to Burford and be in the saloon bar of the Monmouth Arms a little before midday? For ease of recognition he will be carrying a copy of Rider Haggard’s Allan Quatermain, and I suggest you provide yourself with a Financial Times, which has a distinctive pink. His name is Michael and, like Jack, he had a valuable war. I have no doubt the two of you will hit it off famously.

With all good wishes,

Yours sincerely,

R. Gaunt

(Lt. Col., R.A., ret.)

For the next five days Pym abandoned work. He paced the back streets of the city, turning in his tracks to see who was following him. He bought a sheath knife and practised throwing it at trees until the blade broke. He wrote a Will and sent it to Belinda. When he entered his rooms he did so with circumspection, never descending or climbing his staircase without first listening for unfamiliar sounds. Where should he hide the secret letters? They were far too precious to throw away. Remembering something he had read, he gouged out the centre of his brand-new copy of Kluge’s Etymological Dictionary to make a nest for them. From then on, his eviscerated Kluge became the first thing his eye fell upon when he returned from his sorties. To buy his copy of the Financial Times without attracting notice, he walked all the way to Littlemore but the village post office had never heard of it. By the time he returned to Oxford everything was shut. After a sleepless night he made a dawn raid on the Junior Common Room before anyone was up, and stole a back number from the racks.

Two buses went to Burford on weekday mornings but the second left him only twenty minutes to find the Monmouth Arms, so he took the first and got there at nine-forty, only to discover that the bus dropped him at the door. In his overalert condition the inn sign with its bold lettering struck him as a breach of national security and he strode past it with averted eyes. The rest of the morning crawled by on feet of lead. By eleven o’clock his notebook was already crammed with the number of every parked car in Burford, as well as copious notes on suspicious passers-by. By two minutes to twelve, duly seated in the saloon bar of the Monmouth Arms, he was seized by panic. Was he in the Monmouth Arms or the Golden Pheasant? Had Colonel Gaunt said the Horn of Plenty? In the furnace of Pym’s mind these possibilities fused themselves into a brilliant and appalling alloy. He stepped into the forecourt and covertly reread the inn sign before hastening to the outdoor gentlemen’s to throw cold water in his face. Standing at a stall he heard the sound of wind breaking and divined a bulky figure in a navy-blue mackintosh standing at his side. The body was tilted backwards and sideways, the eyes were cast upward in agony. For a frightful moment Pym feared the man was shot, until he realised that these contortions were caused by the difficulties of retaining a thick volume wedged under his armpit. Unable to perform, Pym buttoned himself, hurried back to the saloon and, laying Financial Times on the bar, ordered himself a bitter.

“Make that two, will you, sport?” a breezy voice told the barman. “Uncle’s in the chair today. How are you? What about over there in the corner? Don’t forget your paper.”

Перейти на страницу:

Похожие книги

1. Щит и меч. Книга первая
1. Щит и меч. Книга первая

В канун Отечественной войны советский разведчик Александр Белов пересекает не только географическую границу между двумя странами, но и тот незримый рубеж, который отделял мир социализма от фашистской Третьей империи. Советский человек должен был стать немцем Иоганном Вайсом. И не простым немцем. По долгу службы Белову пришлось принять облик врага своей родины, и образ жизни его и образ его мыслей внешне ничем уже не должны были отличаться от образа жизни и от морали мелких и крупных хищников гитлеровского рейха. Это было тяжким испытанием для Александра Белова, но с испытанием этим он сумел справиться, и в своем продвижении к источникам информации, имеющим важное значение для его родины, Вайс-Белов сумел пройти через все слои нацистского общества.«Щит и меч» — своеобразное произведение. Это и социальный роман и роман психологический, построенный на остром сюжете, на глубоко драматичных коллизиях, которые определяются острейшими противоречиями двух антагонистических миров.

Вадим Кожевников , Вадим Михайлович Кожевников

Детективы / Исторический детектив / Шпионский детектив / Проза / Проза о войне
Антология советского детектива 12. Компиляция. Книги 1-13
Антология советского детектива 12. Компиляция. Книги 1-13

Настоящий том содержит в себе произведения разных авторов посвящённые работе органов госбезопасности, разведки и милиции СССР в разное время исторической действительности.Содержание:1. Александр Остапович Авдеенко: Над Тиссой 2. Александр Остапович Авдеенко: Горная весна 3. Александр Остапович Авдеенко: Дунайские ночи 4. Тихон Данилович Астафьев: Гильзы в золе (сборник) 5. Сергей Михайлович Бетев: Без права на поражение (сборник) 6. Валерий Борисович Гусев: Шпагу князю Оболенскому! (сборник) 7. Иван Георгиевич Лазутин: Черные лебеди 8. Юрий Федорович Перов: Косвенные улики (сборник) 9. Вениамин Семенович Рудов: Вишневая трубка 10. Борис Михайлович Сударушкин: По заданию губчека 11. Залман Михайлович Танхимович: Опасное задание. Конец атамана 12. Виктор Григорьевич Чехов: Разведчики 13. Иван Михайлович Шевцов: Грабеж                                                                        

Александр Остапович Авдеенко , Вениамин Семенович Рудов , Виктор Григорьевич Чехов , Иван Георгиевич Лазутин , Сергей Михайлович Бетёв

Детективы / Советский детектив / Шпионский детектив / Шпионские детективы