Albatross (45 page)

‘All right, sweetheart.'

She could hear the eagerness in his voice. If it's an act, she said to him silently, you're the best actor I've ever met. You deserve an Academy Award if you can make it sound like that.

‘I'll call you before I leave. Maybe you can meet me at the airport?'

‘I'll do my best,' she said. ‘Good night, Tony.'

‘Good night, my love.'

She put the phone down – her chance of sleep had gone. She had brought a briefcase back with her. The contents were not classified; she never took anything confidential out of the building and forbade even Humphrey to do so. The monthly intelligence data compiled from their European and Eastern European desks were prepared in précis form for her to study. She made herself a thermos of coffee and went back to bed with the file.

It stopped her thinking about Tony Walden. Until she reached the section on Soviet Russia. It was the largest and most detailed, originating from the Embassy in Moscow. Zerkhov was in very poor health, and the usual internal manoeuvring was starting among the candidates in the Politburo. When there was a new leader, what would it mean for Igor Borisov? Her old enemy – the enemy whose face was a blurred photograph taken fifteen years ago. The man who had reached the top of the most sinister organization in the modern world, after he'd arranged the murder of her husband, the defector Ivan Sasanov. When the leadership changed, the chief men were often replaced. In the case of Beria, Stalin's bloody-handed executioner, he had been shot. What would happen to Borisov? Who would her opponent be then? She sat with the file open on the bed for a long time before she took it up again.

The next morning she sent for Humphrey Grant as soon as she got into her office. She looked haggard, he thought with satisfaction. She certainly wasn't ageing well in the job. She looked up and saw him watching her. It didn't surprise her to know that he hated her. After all, he owed her quite a lot. What was surprising was his inability to keep that hatred hidden. He was going to love what she had to tell him. That couldn't be helped. ‘Humphrey,' she said quietly, ‘you came to me once about your private life. Now I have a personal problem, and I need your help. I want a security check carried out on Anthony Walden.'

He said, ‘You've already had one done.'

‘I want another,' Davina said. ‘I want information on his family in Poland. Particularly his sister and her family. Can you get this going right away?'

Humphrey nodded. ‘Yes, no problem. Is anything wrong? If there is, Davina, it would be better if you told me.' Interesting to see whether she trusts you, Sir James White had said. My guess is she'll keep back, but you mustn't mind that, my dear chap. After all, you've been doing your own investigating on the fellow behind her back.… She wasn't going to trust him – James White had judged correctly.

‘If there wasn't a problem, I wouldn't ask for the vetting,' she said. ‘If it turns out to be important, you'll be the first person to know, Humphrey. So let's leave it like that for now. Right, what's on the agenda for this morning, apart from these bloody appointments with Treasury and the Ministry of Defence. God, how I hate having to ask them for money!'

‘So did all your predecessors,' he remarked. ‘It's the only way the civil service can get back at us for flushing out some of their pinkos. Shall we go through the stuff now? I can put this other business in hand with a telephone call.'

‘All right.' Davina was bent over her desk. ‘Thanks, Humphrey.' She didn't look up.

‘No problem,' he murmured. He had so nearly added, ‘It's a pleasure.'

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About the Author

Evelyn Anthony is the pen name of Evelyn Ward-Thomas, a female British author who began writing in 1949. She gained considerable success with her historical novels—two of which were selected for the American Literary Guild—before winning huge acclaim for her espionage thrillers. Her book,
The Occupying Power
, won the Yorkshire Post Fiction Prize, and her 1971 novel,
The Tamarind Seed
, was made into a film starring Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif. Anthony's books have been translated into nineteen languages. She lives in Essex, England.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1982 by Evelyn Anthony

Cover design by Tammy Seidick

ISBN: 978-1-5040-2193-7

This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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