Читать книгу A Woman Involved - John Davis Gordon - Страница 20

In the north the guns and mortars stuttered and thudded as the marines fought it out at old Pearls airport. In the south the Cuban anti-aircraft fire was so heavy, pounding the sky, that the commander of the Rangers aborted the first jump, but he knew from photographs that the positioning of the guns was such that they could not be lowered to hit a target under six hundred feet, so he brought his men in at five hundred. They hit the ground almost immediately after their parachutes opened, and they went running into action, guns blazing against heavy Cuban rifle fire. Over near Grand Anse beach the SEALs fought their way into the Radio Free Grenada broadcasting station, and the other party of SEALs attacked Richmond Hill Prison, supported by helicopter gunships. At strategic points within Government House the SEALs waited, ready to blast the heads off anybody who tried to breach the walls.

In the bedroom, Morgan sat on the mattress with Anna Hapsburg. There was nothing he could do about the war raging out there, there was nothing he wanted to do but sit here with her and just thank God she was safe, that the might of the entire United States was out there fighting their battles for them. He was still shaky at seeing her, and, oh, he just wanted to take her in his arms; but there was nothing like that in the air. She was a very different woman from the one he had seen a year ago. She was thinner, her long legs seemed longer, her shoulders more angular, her smoky blue eyes bigger, and there was no sparkle in them. She said grimly:

‘I’m sorry, I don’t believe you, Jack. It’s just too much of a coincidence.’ She looked at him: ‘They sent you to get me, didn’t they?’

‘They?’ And he felt like laughing, he was so happy.

She said, ‘The Americans, obviously. You’re here with the American army.’ She shook her head at him. ‘After what Max did to you, you disappear off the face of the earth. Suddenly Max is killed in a coup, and you reappear in an American invasion, like a knight in shining armour. They sent you, didn’t they? Because they know we were lovers once.’

Oh God, he wanted to tell her the truth, he didn’t owe a damn thing to the Royal bloody Navy – but he did not want to turn her against himself.

He said: ‘Look, once you’ve been in the Navy you’re never really free of them, they’ll call you up in emergencies. And this was an emergency. The Americans needed local knowledge of Grenada. They didn’t even have up-to-date plans of the island – they came in with tourist maps. So they called on the British, because this used to be a British colony. And so the Navy pulled me out of retirement. But my only job was to brief them on the features of the island, especially around Government House, because we knew civilians were under siege here.’ He smiled and shook his head. ‘I didn’t know you were in this house until I asked the Governor.’

She said: ‘So the British sent you? To find me?’

‘I told them I was going to find you. Come hell or high water.’

‘But how can you tell the British anything?’

He said: ‘They needed me. They had to agree. Told me to be careful. No heroics. This is America’s war.’

She didn’t believe him. ‘I hope they’re paying you well. They didn’t tell you to question me?’

And oh God he wanted to tell her the truth and be done with this! ‘About what, for God’s sake?’

Her nerves were strung tight. ‘Are the British paying you to find me?’

‘Oh Jesus …’ But his anger was with himself and the Royal goddam Navy.

She closed her exhausted eyes. She put her hand to her brow and massaged. ‘I’m sorry …’

He wanted to take her in his arms and claim her, tell her he was sorry. She opened her eyes and said:

‘The Russians are after me, you see.’

Brink-Ford had told him, but it was shocking all over again. ‘The Russians? How do you know?’

She took a trembly breath, and massaged her forehead.

‘I know something.’ She shook her head. ‘They think I know something. That Max told me.’

This was what he was supposed to be here for. ‘What did Max tell you?’

She sat quite still, controlling her tension.

‘He didn’t tell me anything conclusive – he only hinted at it. In a rage.’ He waited. It seemed she was not going to continue. Then: she took another deep breath. ‘Oh God, it became a miserable, cat-and-dog relationship … After your last visit.’ She shook her head again. ‘Oh, he was a good man in so many ways. But … Maybe I’m in shock, maybe I can’t believe that he’s dead … And God knows I don’t wish him dead …’ She breathed, then it came out as a sob: ‘But God knows I also don’t feel any grief either … ’

He wanted to take her in his arms.

‘That’s probably normal, in the circumstances.’

She sat there, steeped in guilt. And he wanted to squeeze her tight, and squeeze the story out of her, and get it over with. ‘But what is it that Max told you?’

She shook her head in refusal. ‘He was drunk. He screamed it at me …’

He waited.

She lifted her head. And suddenly she looked more under control again. She said:

‘I won’t tell you. I won’t tell anybody. Because I don’t believe it, and it can only do tremendous damage.’ She gave a trembly sigh; then said bleakly: ‘But the Russians are after me.’ She jerked her head at the gun on the mattress. ‘That’s why I was hiding up here. When I heard you breaking into the house, I thought you were Russians.’ She paused. Then she said: ‘They tried to kidnap me. And I killed a man.’

He stared at her. Killed a man?

He said: ‘Tell me, from the beginning, Anna. Everything.’

She slumped back against the wall, her elbows on her knees. Her forehead in her hands.

‘Then don’t interrupt me. Let me tell it straight.’

He waited, his nerves stretched.

She looked at the wall, then said flatly: ‘I was all in favour of Maurice Bishop at first – he looked like he was going to be a new broom that swept the corrupt old government clean. But he turned so hostile to the West. And Moscow got him in their pocket, they were turning Grenada into another Cuba. Max did his best to talk Maurice Bishop out of all this – and persuaded him to patch it up with America. So the hard-line communists turned on Bishop. They placed him under house arrest and they put the whole island under twenty-four-hour curfew. Anybody breaking it was shot on sight.’ She massaged her forehead. Morgan waited. She continued: ‘But a mob of Bishop’s supporters got him out of his house. Somebody telephoned Max and he left home to go there. So I was alone. All our servants had disappeared, because of the curfew. An hour later I got a frantic phone call from the Russian embassy. Telling me that Max and Bishop and some others had been shot by the Revolutionary Army – executed …’

She closed her eyes. She took a trembly breath. ‘I was absolutely shocked. I … There was no love lost any more between Max and me, but this was terrible …’

Morgan waited. She massaged her temples.

‘Ten minutes later, a car arrives. I had locked myself in the house. It was a white man. He beat on the door, saying he had come to take me to the Russian embassy for my own protection. That’s why I let him in. But I told him I wasn’t going to go.’ She breathed. ‘I don’t trust the Russians. He began to shout.’ She glanced at him. ‘He told me to get all the documents out of Max’s safe and come with him. Now I was really frightened. I told him Max had no safe – I told him to get out. He shouted that I’d better show him where it was or he’d drag me back to the embassy and they’d get it out of me. He shouted, “Tell me the names of the foreign banks where he has safety-deposit boxes!” He tried to grab me and I ran up the stairs. He chased me. I ran into the bedroom …’ She closed her eyes and breathed: ‘I grabbed the gun Max kept in his bedside drawer … I ran into the bathroom. But he was right behind me. He shoved the door open and I staggered backwards. He lunged at me …’

Morgan waited, in suspense. She took a quivering breath.

‘It was … instinctive. I was frantic. I fired blindly.’ She closed her eyes again. ‘I hit him in the forehead. He crashed into the bath.’

‘Jesus …’ He leant out and squeezed her hand once.

She sat up and wiped her eyelids.

‘I was in shock. All I knew was I had to get out of the house … Get away from the island. And take whatever was in Max’s safe. I knew the combination, though I hadn’t used it for years. I opened it. There was a pile of documents, and keys and things. And some money. I just stuffed it into a handgrip.’

‘Everything?’

She nodded. ‘And the gun. I started to run out of the house. To drive to the airport. I was going to get Max’s aeroplane and fly away. Then I remembered the body.’ She put her fingertips to her eyes. ‘Oh God, I was frightened. I was going to be shot by the Revolutionary Army for murder … I had to get rid of the body. But where? I dragged him out of the bath. There was blood in the bath, so I turned on the shower, to wash it away. I tied a towel tight around his head to stop getting blood on the floor.’ She pressed her eyes. ‘And I dragged him. Through the bedroom. Down the stairs. Oh God, it was horrible …’

He squeezed her knee.

She continued bleakly: ‘I got him downstairs. I somehow got him into the car. The front passenger seat. Then … Then I didn’t know where to take him.’ She shook her head. ‘Where? And where was I going to run to afterwards? The mobs. The curfew. The army would be at the airport. Then I knew the only place I could run to was the Governor’s house.’ She breathed deep. ‘So I drove the car into town.’

‘The Russian car?’

She nodded. ‘It was dark now. I drove without lights. If I was stopped, I was going to say I was taking an injured comrade to the hospital.’ She sighed deeply. ‘I took back roads, through the shacks. Everything was deserted because of the curfew. But then I could hear the sounds of mobs. I stopped the car in a lane. I pulled the towel off his head. I … I had the presence of mind to remember my fingerprints. I wiped the steering wheel. Then I abandoned the car …’

Morgan sighed grimly. ‘Then?’

‘Then I walked. Through the back streets. Then up the hill, to Government House.’

‘And nobody challenged you?’

‘No. All the action was several blocks away.’

‘Did anybody see you abandon the car?’

‘It was a dark lane. Nobody would have seen me until I was a hundred yards away.’ She added: ‘I hope.’

‘What did you do with the towel?’

‘I threw it down a drain. Half a mile away.’

‘And the gun is the one you were pointing at me?’

She nodded.

He picked it up, and put it in his pocket. ‘We must get rid of that. At the bottom of the ocean.’

She looked at him. ‘But the Russian embassy knows one of their men went to my house. What’s going to happen?’

He took a tense breath.

‘I’m not a lawyer. But with all the mayhem on this island, one dead Russian is not particularly surprising. And even if you are implicated, you have the argument of self-defence.’

‘Do you think the Revolutionary Army will listen to that?’

‘There’s not going to be any Revolutionary Army after this, the Yanks aren’t here on a goodwill tour.’ He ran his hand through his hair. ‘And the things from the safe?’

She waved her hand. The handgrip stood in the corner.

‘Have you read the documents?’

She nodded.

‘And? Is there anything significant? That the Russians would be so interested in?’

‘No.’ He knew she was lying. She said: ‘There’s Max’s will. Unsigned, by the way. In which he leaves everything to me.’

‘What about the keys? What locks are they for?’

She said, ‘Probably his safety-deposit boxes. They’re not labelled.’

He put his finger on her chin and turned her face to him. He said: ‘What is it the Russian wanted to know?’

She held his eye. ‘I’ve told you – No.’

He hardly cared, as long as he was with her.

‘Can I look through those documents?’

She demanded, ‘Why?’

‘Because the Russians are after you. Because you know something that Max knew. I want to know what that is.’

She demanded again, ‘Why?’

He didn’t care a damn about his assignment, or about deceiving her – all he was worried about was her safety. ‘So I know what we’re up against, Anna! The Russians have tried once to kidnap you, to get this information. After they’d got it they might have murdered you! I need to know what they’re after so we can evade them next time.’

Her eyes were steady. She said slowly:

‘The British sent you to get the same information, didn’t they?’

He hardly cared what lies he told her.

‘Bullshit! My job is over! I gave the Americans my local knowledge, and we’ve secured Government House! The only reason I need to know what Max told you is to protect you!’ She looked at him grimly. He went on: ‘You’ve got to tell me sometime, Anna! Because when you’re off this island you’re coming to live with me. And if I’ve got to deal with Russians I need to know why.’

Her nerves near breaking; she said softly:

‘Oh, no, Jack – I can’t live with you. I’m not involving you in this.’ She clenched her fist in her lap. ‘I’m not letting you fight my battles for me. When we get off this island I’ve got my own thing to do and I’m going to politely disappear until it’s done.’

He said: ‘You’re not going anywhere without me, Anna.’

She clenched her fist. ‘I’m a marked man! – I’m red-hot, and they’ll kill you too if you’re in their way!’

It was all still staggering to him. He held up both hands, to calm her. Outside there was the thud of gunfire. He said:

‘We’ll cross the bridges as we come to them …’ He sighed angrily. ‘All right, now, why don’t you try to sleep?’

She closed her eyes.

‘I haven’t slept for days.’ She breathed, ‘Will you stay here if I sleep? And guard that handgrip?’

The handgrip. ‘Yes, of course.’

She massaged her forehead. She said, ‘And you’ll examine the contents, I suppose.’ She shrugged wearily. ‘You won’t find anything. Because I’ve destroyed it. But the keys must be guarded.’

He frowned at her. ‘What have you destroyed?’

She shook her head, rubbing her forehead. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘Of course it matters! Or the Russians wouldn’t be after it.’

Her nerves cracked and she cried: ‘One page from his notebook! Containing a list of numbers, that’s all!’

‘Numbers? Of what? Safety-deposit boxes?’

She cried, ‘Of course! If you were Max where else would you keep something that could destroy the whole Roman –’

She opened her eyes, aghast. She stared at him; then she dropped her head, and held it.

‘Oh God, forgive me …’ she whispered.

Morgan stared at her. Destroy the whole Roman what? The whole Roman Catholic Church? … She sat tensely, then she flung her head up. She waved her hand angrily at the bag.

‘Go ahead! The box numbers are listed in his will, anyway.’

He frowned. ‘But, if the numbers are listed in the will, why did you destroy the numbers in the notebook?’

Suddenly tears were glistening.

‘All the numbers except two are listed in the will! And those are the numbers I’ve destroyed! They are in my head! I memorized them!’

‘But tell me why …’

She cried at him: ‘Because I’m going to destroy what’s in those two boxes, that’s why!’

And she threw herself on the mattress and put her hands over her face. She sobbed once. And he came down beside her and put his arms around her. She cried: ‘I’m not going to tell anybody … I’ll die first, like God’s Banker hanging from Blackfriars Bridge! … And if you try to take me anywhere I’ll fight you tooth and nail!’ …

His exhausted mind was racing. God’s Banker hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London? Two months ago? The Italian banker? … He held her, his mind fumbling.

‘I won’t try to take you anywhere you don’t want to go.’

She lay, racked, sobbing her exhaustion into her hands; he held her, and oh God he hated this whole stinking business; then she twisted in his arms.

‘Do you swear?’

His heart turned over for her. ‘Yes.’

She lay still a moment; then she sat up abruptly. She looked at him hard. ‘And you’re not here to trick me – do you swear to that?’

He said: ‘I swear it …’