A New Kind of War (43 page)

‘You will, of course, rejoin your family firm then—your Uncle Luke will put you in the right place. But in three months’ time there will be a civilian vacancy on the British Control Commission in Germany, in the economic section. And the circumstances of your departure from TRR-2 as well as your name and qualifications, plus the influence I will arrange, will get you the job. So then you will be where I want you to be. Because, although this new bomb has given us a breathing space, I foresee trouble in Germany first. And I must have someone right inside the commission to keep an eye on things, Fred.’

For a moment all Fred could think of, almost irrelevantly, was
so I’m not going to get to see Berlin after all
. But then it occurred to him that this was a properly symbolic failure if his war wasn’t ending, but just beginning. The only question was …
did he still want to continue fighting
?

‘You aren’t leaving me much choice, it seems.’ He stared at Clinton.

‘On the contrary. The choice is all yours. I told you that you were a free man, and you are. And in a fortnight’s time you will be altogether beyond my reach, if that’s where you want to be. It’ll be entirely up to you then to decide your own right and wrong, and whether you want to serve undercover.’

One of the Dakota’s engines coughed, and then came explosively to life. Colonel Stocker was already a dozen yards away, striding towards the plane as though Major Fattorini’s decision was a foregone conclusion.

‘Yes, sir.’ Because there didn’t seem much else either to say or to do, he saluted Clinton. Which meant that Stocker was right—at least for the time being, anyway.

The Brigadier returned his salute. ‘Well then … you’d better be starting, Major Fattorini,’ he said.

The End