The Girl From Peking

by George B Mair

  ‘And what are Tania’s instructions?’

  ‘She will be partnered off with a fairly senior member of the British delegation tomorrow evening but it seems that later she hopes to dance with the Prime Minister. She will use that dance to tape some indiscreet remarks.’

  Grant laughed aloud. ‘Sir! The Premier isn’t crazy. And even if he wanted to date the girl he’d have to dodge his own private bodyguard, not forgetting half a hundred Frenchmen. Not possible!’

  The Admiral looked at him impassively. ‘That same thought had crossed my mind, David. It had even crossed Miss Sidder’s mind. And, David, my boy, it had even occurred to C.I.A. that it wouldn’t be possible. So therefore we asked ourselves why make the invitation at all? And it is at this point that fragments of previous conversations monitored by Samos began to click into focus. So will you kindly permit me to marshall my thoughts without this perpetual interruption.’

  He lit his pipe, studied some notes and puffed out a cloud of deep blue grey smoke: a favourite gimmick when he was playing for time. And Grant knew that he was still looking for the right cards to play. ‘Let’s consider the situation,’ he said at last. ‘Let us suppose that Tania Monham has a little bug secreted somewhere in or on her person. A wrist watch would be sufficient. It could be within a pendant round her neck. It could be anywhere. But let us suppose that she has one. Anything she says can then be transmitted up to three or four kilometres and taped. So it would be enough for her to transmit a complete conversation and let editors cut out the words which don’t matter until they are left with a tape indicating acceptance of an offer. That is pure routine. But . . . at this point voice prints again come into their own, because it wouldn’t now be safe for them to use a mimic to fill in any gaps which might make the conversation as a whole really damning. However, if she made the Prime Minister say enough, if they were even able to take extracts from speeches which he has already broadcast, they could string something together which could be totally compromising. And no-one could prove it was phoney. Certainly not the general public.

  ‘Now then! Let us further suppose that a threat was made to broadcast this tape from selected radio stations around the world. This, if done, would be deadly. But apart from that the tape could be given to every anti-Western nation in Afro-Asia and a world leader would be ruined. No matter what he might say in extenuation the majority would argue “there’s no smoke without fire” so he would have to resign.’

  ‘But,’ said Grant tactfully, ‘the victim would have to weigh the effect of damage done by possible exposure to both his own party and to his private life against any alleged ill-effect from playing ball.’

  Miss Sidders interrupted with unexpected emphasis. ‘Britain already acknowledges Red China. France is said to be friendly disposed, if not indeed more than that, so one must assume that both the Premier and the President might feel that they were only speeding up a trend already established. They are not going to be blamed by China if the attempt fails. They are simply going to be used as something to start a ball rolling. But as I understand the position C.I.A. has a good deal more to say about the immediate future.’ She glanced at the Admiral. ‘Will you explain, sir?’

  John Cooper was thoughtful. The set up was controllable. For that part the woman could be prevented from arriving at the Élysée at all, and then, clearly, the whole problem would be solved. If it wasn’t for the next news item. ‘We all know that China goes hot for long term planning. Well it seems that they have gotten a “double” for the Prime Minister. So you can guess the rest. China is sitting with several hundred feet of compromising movies apparently involving a young and vigorous leader in disagreeable perversions. Now then,’ he snapped. ‘What do we do?’

  Grant remembered this ‘dirty movie’ approach being used by the Soviets against Sukarno a few years earlier during a State visit. And his reaction was probably the only time that Russia’s Secret police have been dumbfounded by an intended victim. Film taken through a two-way mirror had been sensational. Elaborately attractive girls had been used, but no one enjoyed it more than Sukarno himself. In fact he had immediately asked for copies to be sent out to his own library in Indonesia. And knowing his people as he did he realised that few things, if any, could have boosted his prestige more than his own outstanding performances during these Moscow sessions. But Britain and France were not Indonesia!

  ‘You mean that films do exist?’

  ‘That is our understanding.’

  ‘Colour and on reels?’

  ‘That is again our understanding.’

  ‘Then where?’ Like everyone else in the room Grant knew that they would have to be found and destroyed.

  ‘According to Washington, the messages intercepted this evening from Samos point to their now being in Paris and in the hands of cover men who will offer them in the most suitable market as soon as Tania Monham has wangled an indiscreet conversation from the Premier and an edited version has been dubbed on to the movies.’

  Grant frowned. ‘But they’ll need more than an edited tape. The Premier’s movements will have to be accounted for. Clearly he never met the woman until the Élysée party. So all he needs to do is to have witnesses for every minute of time that he is in France . . . or Britain either for that part.’

  Miss Sidders shook her head. ‘He will spend part of the time at the British Embassy. The world would believe that he had fun with games there, and he simply couldn’t talk his way out of it.’

  ‘But are the movies linked to a sound track?’

  Admiral Cooper again shook his head. ‘Not yet. They’ll fool about with the genuine voice by editing a tape, but they won’t risk dubbing a dummy sound track on to the film. Though if I know the Chinese these movies ought to be dynamite: artistic: sophisticated: perfectly produced: calculated to show everyone to fullest advantage and impossible to fault in any background.’

  ‘No clue as to what the backgrounds are?’

  Miss Sidders again poured coffee. ‘The Embassy has occasionally been decorated. Tradesmen are sometimes called in to an electrical defect. Some such occasion has been used to take pictures of rooms which are known to the press and professional politicians. Reproductions seem to have been used as background for the photographs. Hence C.I.A.’s anxiety. They will be difficult to fault.’

  ‘And the double. Television apart, Britain’s Prime Minister is not so easy to imitate.’

  Miss Sidders again smiled her disagreement. ‘Men like John Bird took off many politicians during that satire programme thing which ran Saturday nights in London some time ago. If he could do it so can others. And it is, in fact, true that the Chinese do have a convincing double. Nothing exceptional in that! Montgomery had one during the war. I think Eden may have had one. Certainly Hitler did have at least one, possibly more. No problem at all.’

  The Admiral glowered at Miss Sidders with distaste. ‘You make everything sound so easy.’

  ‘What I am saying is perfectly true,’ said Miss Sidders firmly,’ and if I had my way every politician would be given two pieces of advice on taking office.’

  The Admiral decided to give her her head. ‘Such as what?’

  She flushed. ‘They should never lose a chance to “make themselves comfortable” . . . powder their noses if you care to put it that way. And they should never become involved with women in private. These two simple instructions would make both their public and personal lives a better insurance or security risk.’

  Grant remembered that the advice wasn’t original. The Duke of Windsor had said something to the same effect about the penny spending part. And it was true enough. Public life must be Hell, and for a second he wondered how some of the top gay boys got away with it. Especially one or two of the more dashing royals. ‘So what do we do?’

  ‘First,’ drawled the Admiral, ‘we say nothing about this to the people concerned. It is our job to protect and not to worry them. So we accept full responsibility and clear up the mess.’

 
‘We?’

  The Admiral nodded. ‘We three. And you start by attending the Élysée Palace tomorrow evening. You are being given a decoration: Chevalier du Légion d’Honneur and it will be pinned on by the President tomorrow evening along with two or three others. After all,’ he added dryly, ‘you deserve it. You have done good work in NATO for France, and the Republic is simply recognising that fact.

  ‘You will, however, never allow Tania Monham to be out of your sight. You will be opposite her at dinner. Her official partner will be manoeuvred so that she is within your line of vision when you are decorated, and when she does leave the Palace you will follow. She will use the Mercedes, which has been hired for three months, and we’ve bugged both front and rear so that every word can be picked up by monitor stations which will be circulating in the area of her car.

  ‘If she returns to the Ritz everything will be simple. Today the large looking glass which is flush with the wall of her bedroom will be converted into a two way mirror. A closet entered from an outside corridor will allow us to keep an eye on her, and this has been arranged, of course, with the management. Our own men are doing the conversion and, since we suspect that someone knows about the door handle pick-up, we have arranged instead that the orange electric light bulbs which she uses will not only provide light but each will hold a tiny microphone which can throw a message for about fifty metres. But within that range there is a tape recorder motivated by the reception of sound which will automatically switch on whenever a message is received. Everything, therefore, will be recorded and if visitors arrive it will be your job to track them back to home base.’

  ‘And if there is more than one?’

  ‘You will send out a standard signal from you own transmitter and ask for extra help. Miss Sidders will probably turn up in her favourite rig as concièrge. And wearing that extraordinary outfit of misshapen clothes will track any subject to his ultimate destination.’

  ‘Having located home base, what then?’ The more Grant heard about this the less he liked it.

  ‘Then you must do three things: find any Chinese agent, films and tape and hand them over to me.’

  Grant hesitated. ‘I take it that the President doesn’t come into this in the immediate future.’

  Admiral Cooper grinned broadly. ‘Then you take it wrong. Because here is the real bombshell. According to messages from Samos this evening Tania has orders to compromise the President during the actual party. It seems that he usually retires to a private room for rest after dinner and in order to unwind at leisure before working his way through the rest of the night.

  ‘She knows that it will be difficult, but study of Élyseé Palace shows that the room used by the President can be entered from outside. Their hope is that some rapid infra red film can be taken of Tania and the President together. He ought to be surprised by her appearance because she will be standing with her gown open from ankle level to neck, and since it will be skin tight he should, for a split second, be taken aback. During that second his face is certain to register either surprise or fear and that is when pictures will be taken. But she will immediately apologise, claiming that she wished only to cool off and went to the wrong room. If the photographer has done his stuff properly there will be no reason for suspicion, and, being a gallant Frenchman, the President will respond to her embarrassment, try to comfort her and probably return with her on his arm to the ballroom. In which case still another picture will be taken by the press, and the enemy will imagine that it has carried its objectives.’

  ‘The window photographer?’ asked Grant.

  Admiral Cooper hesitated. ‘I’ll let you know definitely tomorrow. Meanwhile is that all clear?’

  Miss Sidders laid her coffee cup down with a curious gesture of finality. ‘One small point, sir. Perhaps Doctor Grant would care to get some information either from the photographer or the girl if we fail to find any other agent. Because we must have heavy insurance against anything going wrong. If we can accuse China of rigging a job like this and produce evidence to support it we will have a useful second string in the event of not being able to secure the films. Or if China has made duplicates for preservation in Peking.’

  The Admiral paused only for a second. ‘Okay! You heard David. No holds barred but find everything, and if there is a proven agent bring him to me for attention.’

  ‘You mean here, sir?’

  The Admiral nodded. He seldom used the bottle neck dungeon in the basement, but it was a useful jail in emergencies, and he couldn’t think of more suitable occupants than people who threatened the security of Britain’s most important Prime Minister since Churchill. ‘Here,’ he snapped. ‘But now bed. All of us. Tomorrow is going to be one of these days.’

  Chapter Eight – ‘A non-stop flow of quality liquor’

  Tania enjoyed a long lie. A continental style breakfast was served at 10.00 hours and as she ate her last croissant she remembered her first order for the day. ‘Buy a copy of Paris Soir at exactly 3.15 p.m. from the stall nearest to the entrance to Metro station Louvre.’

  She lay for over an hour in her foam bath and amused herself listening to Radio Paris but the news was dull and full of detail about the British delegation. It seemed that the President was being difficult and that the British Prime Minister was not giving way on any point which mattered.

  There were photographs of almost all the British visitors, and she studied her future partner with care. Like so many British people he seemed rather uncomfortable in front of the camera, while his tiny moustache suggested that he had some sort of military background. But she also knew that appearances were deceptive and she guessed that below this fossilised exterior there surged some stormy instincts which might make him interesting. Given the opportunity! In fact he seemed rather a nice man.

  The Prime Minister was immaculate as usual. His smile was infectious but she guessed that he must be tough as nails to face up to the problems which had challenged him during the previous few years. She looked forward to meeting him and wondered how he would ‘do’ the dance floor.

  And then she ordered luncheon. Pâté du Maison and chicory salad. Russian eggs and a fresh pineapple.

  Her wardrobe was in order, but she checked her accessories, studied the wrist watch which would be an essential key to her evening and then sauntered into Place Vendôme. She refused a taxi, but turned towards rue de Rivoli and wandered through the arcades until it was time for action. She laid a mille on the counter of a Kiosk. The woman in charge asked if she had nothing smaller. Tania then opened her handbag twice, emptied her purse and showed only an English five pound note.

  As she gathered her things together the woman mentioned that her grandmother had, only that afternoon, been killed in a motor car accident and that she was about to close the stall. Tania offered her left hand in a gesture of sympathy, and as they looked at one another the woman handed over a copy of the paper.

  Tania folded it under her arm and felt the bulge of an envelope. She opened it in a toilet at the Meurice, and digested instructions which were crisply to the point.

  ‘First you episode with the President. This is arranged.

  ‘Second. Do not be afraid of any complication which may develop while you are with him. The photographer is competent. But steps may have to be taken to deal with a counteragent.

  ‘Third. When you return to the Ritz go direct to your room: do not use the phone or attempt to contact anyone until you have changed all electric bulbs. The mirror has also been altered and you will soon be under supervision.

  ‘Fourth. On no account attempt to contact anyone or do anything until further instructions have been received.

  ‘Signify that you understand by opening all windows in your suite and taking a picture of Paris.

  ‘Finally. Destroy this note in the usual way.’

  And then, unexpectedly, there was a postscript.

  ‘You will also wear the black pearls for use if need arises to kill yourself, because you must on no
account be taken prisoner.’

  Her thoughts returned to Grant. The man had impressed her. He really was more mature. There was an aura of understanding about him which was new. In brief, he was now sympathique, and she didn’t care for the phrase ‘steps may have to be taken to deal with a counter-agent.’ The only probable counter-agent who might matter was Grant. And she now felt that he was her own especial target.

  She returned to the Ritz and studied the bulbs in her room. A slight bulge at the base of each showed where a microphone had been built in. And the mirror had that faintly pink appearance which was so typical of two-way devices. Trouble lay ahead. Clearly Maksud had an agent on the hotel staff and it was certain that other people would also be monitoring the place.

  The immediate question was what to do about it? She hated the idea of changing and bathing with a complete stranger looking on. Especially if it was a woman. And she made a swift survey of the corridor to see how there could be access to the back of the glass.

  The cupboard door was locked. But she guessed that it would be the vantage point. This cubby hole for brushes and vacuum cleaners had been cunningly built into a wall recess between her bedroom and bath. But they wouldn’t use it till nearer the time. She fumbled in her pocket. The selection of master keys which she had been given would move any lock. The coast was clear and she opened the cupboard at the fourth try.

  Maksud had forgotten nothing, and she was never without an ovoid bottle of apparently harmless toilet water which had been cooked up by technicians in Canton for use in just this sort of emergency. It was fragile, and highly explosive once the screw top had been moved anti-clockwise for three full turns. The thing was a bomb for use within enclosed spaces, and she placed it so that anyone entering was certain to crush it against the wall on opening the door.

  If they were going to supervise her movements it was unlikely there would be action before she began to think about dressing. Which would be around seven o’clock. The first person to open the door would crush the glass, and if Maksud’s men had been up to standard the chances were that they would be killed.