"The word is going around that you"re wanted for an offense under the Official Secrets Act. Your photograph"s in all the London evening papers. The captions are very vague."
Leamas was standing very still.
Control had done it. Control had started the hue and cry. There was no other explanation. If Ashe or Kiever had been pulled in, if they had talked--even then, the responsibility for the hue and cry was still Control"s. "A couple of weeks," he"d said; "I expect they"ll take you off somewhere for the interrogation--it may even be abroad. A couple of weeks should see you through, though. After that, the thing should run itself. You"ll have to lie low over here while the chemistry works itself out; but you won"t mind that, I"m sure. I"ve agreed to keep you on operational subsistence until Mundt is eliminated: that seemed the fairest way." - And now this.
This wasn"t part of the bargain; this was different. What the h.e.l.l was he supposed to do? By pulling out now, by refusing to go along with Peters, he was wrecking the operation. It was just possible that Peters was lying, that this was the test--all the more reason that he should agree to go. But if he went, if he agreed to go east, to Poland, Czechoslovakia or G.o.d knows where, there was no good reason why they should ever let him out--there was no good reason (since he was notionally a wanted man in the West) why he should _want_ to be let out.
Control had done it--he was sure. The terms had been too generous, he"d known that all along. They didn"t throw money about like that for nothing--not unless they thought they might lose you. Money like that was a _douceur_ for discomforts and dangers Control would not openly admit to. Money like that was a warning; Leamas had not heeded the warning.
"Now how the devil," he asked quietly, "could they get onto that?" A thought seemed to cross his mind and he said, "Your friend Ashe could have told them, of course, or Kiever. . ."
"It"s possible," Peters replied. "You know as well as I do that such things are always possible. There is no certainty in our job. The fact is," he added with something like impatience, "that by now every country in western Europe will be looking for you."
Leanias might not have heard what Peters was saying. "You"ve got me on the hook now, haven"t you, Peters?" he said. "Your people must be laughing themselves sick. Or did they give the tip-off themselves?"
"You overrate your own importance," Peters said sourly.
"Then why do you have me followed, tell me that? I went for a walk this morning. Two little men in brown suits, one twenty yards behind the other, trailed me along the seafront. When I came back the housekeeper rang you up."
"Let us stick to what we know," Peters suggested. "How your own authorities have got on to you does not at the moment acutely concern us. The fact is, they have."
"Have you brought the London evening papers with you?"
"Of course not. They are not available here. We received a telegram from London."
"That"s a lie. You know perfectly well your apparatus is only allowed to communicate with Centre."
"In this case a direct link between two outstations was permitted," Peters retorted angrily.
"Well, well," said Leamas with a wry smile, "you must be quite a big wheel. Or"--a thought seemed to strike him--"isn"t Centre in on this?"
Peters ignored the question.
"You know the alternative. You let us take care of you, let us arrange your safe pa.s.sage, or you fend for yourself--with the certainty of eventual capture. You"ve no false papers, no money, nothing. Your British pa.s.sport will have expired in ten days."
"There"s a third possibility. Give me a Swiss pa.s.sport and some money and let me run. I can look after myself."
"I am afraid that is not considered desirable."
"You mean you haven"t finished the interrogation. Until you have I am not expendable?"
"That is roughly the position."
"When you have completed the interrogation, what will you do with me?"
Peters shrugged. "What do you suggest?"
"A new ident.i.ty. Scandinavian pa.s.sport perhaps. Money."
"It"s very academic," Peters replied, "but I will suggest it to my superiors. Are you coming with me?"
Leamas hesitated. Then he smiled a little uncertainly and asked, "If I didn"t, what would you do? After all, I"ve quite a story to tell, haven"t I?"
"Stories of that kind are hard to substantiate. I shall be gone tonight. Ashe and Kiever. . ." He shrugged. "What do they add up to?"
Leamas went to the window. A storm was gathering over the gray North Sea. He watched the gulls wheeling against the dark clouds. The girl had gone.
"All right," he said at last, "fix it up."
"There"s no plane east until tomorrow. There"s a flight to Berlin in an hour. We shall take that. It"s going to be very close."
Leamas" pa.s.sive role that evening enabled him once again to admire the unadorned efficiency of Peters" arrangements. The pa.s.sport had been put together long ago--Centre must have thought of that. It was - made out in the name of Alexander Thwaite, travel agent, and filled with visas and frontier stamps--the old, well-fingered pa.s.sport of the professional traveler. The Dutch frontier guard at the airport just nodded and stamped it for form"s sake--Peters was three or four behind him in the queue and took no interest in the formalities.
As they entered the "pa.s.sengers only" enclosure Leamas caught sight of a bookstall. A selection of international newspapers was on show: _Figaro_, _Monde_, _Neue Zurcher Zeitung_, _die Welt_, and half a dozen British dailies and weeklies. As he watched, the girl came around to the front of the kiosk and pushed an _Evening Standard_ into the rack. Leamas hurried across to the bookstall and took the paper from the rack.
"How much?" he asked. Thrusting his hand into his trouser pocket he suddenly realized that he had no Dutch currency.
"Thirty cents," the girl replied. She was rather pretty; dark and jolly.
"I"ve only got two English shillings. That"s a guilder. Will you take them?"
"Yes, please," she replied, and Leamas gave her the florin. He looked back. Peters was still at the pa.s.sport desk, his back turned. Without hesitation Leamas made straight for the men"s lavatory. There he glanced rapidly but thoroughly at each page, then shoved the paper in the litter basket and re-emerged. It was true: there was his photograph with the vague little pa.s.sage underneath. He wondered if Liz had seen it. He made his way thoughtfully to the pa.s.sengers" lounge. Ten minutes later they boarded the plane for Hamburg and Berlin. For the first time since it all began. Leamas was frightened.
* * 11 * Friends of Alec
The men called on Liz the same evening. Liz Gold"s room was at the northern end of Bayswater. It had a sofa-bed in it, and a gas fire--rather a pretty one in charcoal gray, which made a modem hiss instead of an old-fashioned bubble. She used to gaze into it sometimes when Leamas was there, when the gas fire shed the only light in the room. He would lie on the sofa, and she would sit beside him and kiss him, or watch the gas fire with her face pressed against his. She was afraid to think of him too much now because she had forgot what he looked like, so she let her mind think of him for brief moments like running her eyes across a faint horizon, and then she would remember some small thing he had said or done, some way he had looked at her, or more often, ignored her. That was the terrible thing, when her mind dwelled on it: she had nothing to remember him by--no photograph, no souvenir, nothing. Not even a mutual friend--only Miss Crail in the library, whose hatred of him had been vindicated by his spectacular departure. Liz had been around to his room once and seen the landlord. She didn"t know why she did it quite, but she plucked up courage and went. The landlord was very kind about Alec; Mr. Leamas had paid his rent like a gentleman, right till the end, then there"d been a week or two owing and a chum of Mr. Leamas" had dropped in and paid up handsome, no queries or nothing. He"d always said it of Mr. Leamas, always would, he was a gent. Not public school, mind, nothing arsy-tarsy but a real gent. He liked to scowl a bit occasionally, and of course he drank a drop more than was good for him, though he never acted tight when he came home. But this little bloke who come round, funny little shy chap with specs, _he_ said Mr. Leamas had particularly requested, quite particularly, that the rent owing should be settled up. And if _that_ wasn"t gentlemanly, the landlord was d.a.m.ned if he knew what was. Where he got the money from heaven knows, but that Mr. Leamas was a deep one and no mistake. He only did to Ford the grocer what a good many had been wanting to do ever since the war. The room? Yes, the room had been taken--a gentleman from Korea, two days after they took Mr. Leamas away.
That was probably why she went on working at the library--because there, at least, he still existed; the ladders, shelves, the books, the card index, were things he had known and touched, and one day he might come back to them. He had said he would never come back, but she didn"t believe it. It was like saying you would never get better to believe a thing like that. Miss Crail thought he would come back: she had discovered she owed him some money--wages underpaid--and it infuriated her that her monster had been so unmonstrous as not to collect it. After Leamas had gone, Liz had never given up asking herself the same question; why had he hit Mr. Ford? She knew he had a terrible temper, but that was different. He had intended to do it right from the start as soon as he had got rid of his fever. Why else had he said good-bye to her the night before? He knew that he would hit Mr. Ford on the following day. She refused to accept the only other possible interpretation: that he had grown tired of her and said good-bye, and the next day, still under the emotional strain of their parting, had lost his temper with Mr. Ford and struck him. She knew, she had always known, that there was something Alec had got to do. He"d even told her that himself. What it was she could only guess.
First, she thought he had a quarrel with Mr. Ford, some deep-rooted hatred going back for years. Something to do with a girl, or Alec"s family perhaps. But you only had to look at Mr. Ford and it seemed ridiculous. He was the archetypal _pet.i.t-bourgeois_, cautious, complacent, mean. And anyway, if Alec had a vendetta on with Mr. Ford, why did he go for him in the shop on a Sat.u.r.day, in the middle of the weekend shopping rush, when everyone could see?
They"d talked about it in the meeting of her Party branch. George Hanby, the branch treasurer, had actually been pa.s.sing Ford the grocer"s as it happened, he hadn"t seen much because of the crowd but he"d talked to a bloke who"d seen the whole thing. Hanby had been so impressed that he"d rung the _Worker_, and they"d sent a man to the trial--that was why the _Worker_ had given it a middle-page spread, as a matter of fact. It was just a straight case of protest--of sudden social awareness and hatred against the boss cla.s.s, as the _Worker_ said. This bloke that Hanby spoke to (he was just a little, ordinary chap with specs, white-collar type) said it had been so sudden--spontaneous was what he meant--and it just proved to Hanby once again how incendiary was the fabric of the capitalist system. Liz had kept very quiet while Hanby talked: none of them knew, of course, about her and Leamas. She realized then that she hated George Hanby; he was a pompous, dirty-minded little man, always leering at her and trying to touch her.
Then the men called.
She thought they were a little too smart for policemen: they came in a small black car with an aerial on it. One was short and rather plump. He had gla.s.ses and wore odd, expensive clothes; he was a kindly, worried little man and Liz trusted him somehow without knowing why. The other was smoother, but not glossy--rather a boyish figure, although she guessed he wasn"t less than forty. They said they came from Special Branch, and they had printed cards with photographs in cellophane cases. The plump one did most of the talking.
"I believe you were friendly with Alec Leamas," he began. She was prepared to be angry, but the plump man was so earnest that it seemed silly.
"Yes," Liz answered. "How did you know?"
"We found out quite by chance the other day. When you go to. . . prison, you have to give next of kin. Leamas said he hadn"t any. That was a lie, as a matter of fact. They asked him whom they should inform if anything happened to him in prison. He said you."
"I see."
"Does anyone else know you were friendly with him?"
"No."
"Did you go to the trial?"
"No."
"No press men called, creditors, no one at all?"
"No, I"ve told you. No one else knew. Not even my parents, no one. We worked together in the library, of course--the Psychical Research Library--but only Miss Crail, the librarian, would know that. I don"t think it occurred to her that there was anything between us. She"s queer," Liz added simply.
The little man peered very seriously at her for a moment, then he asked: "Did it surprise you when Leamas beat up Mr. Ford?"
"Yes, of course."
"Why do you think he did it?"
"I don"t know. Because Ford wouldn"t give him credit, I suppose. But I think he always meant to." She wondered if she was saying too much, but she longed to talk to somebody about it, she was so alone and there didn"t seem any harm.
"But that night, the night before it happened, we talked together. We had supper, a sort of special one; Alec said we should and I knew that it was our last night. He"d got a bottle of red wine from somewhere; I didn"t like it much, Alec drank most of it. And then I asked him, "Is this good-bye"--whether it was all over."
"What did he say?"
"He said there was a job he"d got to do. Someone to pay off for something they"d done to a friend of his. I didn"t really understand it all, not really."
There was a very long silence and the little man looked more worried than ever. Finally he asked her: "Do you believe that?"
"I don"t know." She was suddenly terrified for Alec, and she didn"t know why.
The man asked: "Leamas has got two children by his marriage, did he tell you?" Liz said nothing. "In spite of that he gave your name as next of kin. Why do you think he did that?" The little man seemed embarra.s.sed by his own question. He was looking at his hands, which were pudgy and clasped together on his lap. Liz blushed.
"I was in love with him," she replied.
"Was he in love with you?"
"Perhaps. I don"t know."
"Are you still in love with him?"
"Yes."
"Did he ever say he would come back?" asked the younger man.
"No."
"But he did say good-bye to you?" the other asked quickly.
"Did he say good-bye to you?" The little man repeated his question slowly, kindly. "Nothing more can happen to him, I promise you. But we want to help him, and if you have any idea of why he hit Ford, if you have the slightest notion from something he said, perhaps casually, ,or something he did, then tell us for Alec"s sake."
Liz shook her head.
"Please go," she said, "please don"t ask any more questions. Please go now."
As he got to the door, the elder man hesitated, then took a card from his wallet and put it on the table gingerly, as if it might make a noise. Liz thought he was a very shy little man.
"If you ever want any help--if anything happens about Leamas or--ring me up," he said. "Do you understand?"
"Who are you?"
"I"m a friend of Alec Leamas." He hesitated. "Another thing," he added, "one last question. Did Alec know you were. . . Did Alec know about the Party?"
"Yes," she replied hopelessly. "I told him."
"Does the Party know about you and Alec?"
"I"ve told you. No one knew." Then, white-faced, she cried out suddenly, "Where is he? Tell me where he is. Why won"t you tell me where he is? I can help him, don"t you see; I"ll look after him. . . even if he"s gone mad, I don"t care, I swear I don"t. . . . I wrote to him in prison; I shouldn"t have done that, I know. I just said he could come back any time, I"d wait for him always. . . ." She couldn"t speak any more, just sobbed and sobbed, standing there in the middle of the room, her broken face buried in her hands; the little man watching her.
"He"s gone abroad," he said gently. "We don"t quite know where he is. He isn"t mad, but he shouldn"t have said all that to you. It was a pity."
The younger man said, "We"ll see you"re looked after. For money and that kind of thing."
"Who are you?" Liz asked again.
"Friends of Alec," the young man repeated; "good friends."
She heard them go quietly down the stairs and into the street. From her window she watched them get into a small black car and drive away in the- direction of the park.
Then she remembered the card. Going to the table she picked it up and held it to the light. It was expensively done, more than a policeman could afford, she thought. Engraved. No rank in front of the name, no police station or anything. Just the name with "Mister"--and whoever heard of a policeman living in Chelsea?
MR. GEORGE SMILEY. 9 BYWATER STREET, CHELSEA. Then the telephone number underneath. It was very strange.
* * 12 * East
Leamas unfastened his seat belt.
It is said that men condemned to death are subject to sudden moments of elation; as if, like moths in the fire, their destmction were coincidental with attainment. Following directly upon his decision, Leamas was aware of a comparable sensation; relief, short-lived but consoling, sustained him for a time. It was followed by fear and hunger.
He was slowing down. Control was right.
He"d noticed it first during the Riemeck Case early last year. Karl had sent a message: he"d got something special for him and was making one of his rare - visits to West Germany; some legal conference at Karisruhe. Leamas had managed to get an air pa.s.sage to Cologne, and picked up a car at the airport. It was stifi quite early in the morning and he"d hoped to miss most of the autobahn traffic to Karisruhe but the heavy lorries were already on the move. He drove seventy kilometers in half an hour, weaving between the traffic, taking risks to beat the clock, when a small car, a Fiat probably, nosed its way out into the fast lane forty yards ahead of him. Leamas stamped on the brake, turning his headlights full on and sounding his horn, and by the grace of G.o.d he missed it; missed it by a fraction of a second. As he pa.s.sed the car he saw out of the corner of his eye four children in the back, waving and laughing, and the stupid, frightened face of their father at the wheel. He drove on, cursing, and suddenly it happened; suddenly his hands were shaking feverishly, his face was burning hot, his heart palpitating wildly. He managed to pull off the road into a lay-by, scrambled out of the car and stood, breathing heavily, staring at the hurtling stream of giant lorries. He had a vision of the little car caught among them, pounded and smashed, until there was nothing left, nothing but the frenetic whine of klaxons and the blue lights flashing; and the bodies of the children, torn, like the murdered refugees on the road across the dunes.