‘I’m not guilty,’ said Adam.
‘We’ll see,’ said Hoskins. ‘At least I’ll ensure you get a chance to prove that. On the run, you’d still be in danger from that lot.’ He nodded towards the remains of the Home Guard shack. ‘And another thing,’ he added. ‘Co-operate with me, and Miss Hart will be pleased.’
Oh God, thought Adam, is there nothing this man doesn’t know?
Hoskins rose to his feet. ‘Let’s go, shall we? Get some iodine on those cuts. And then I think you and I can help each other.’
Adam stood up wearily and looked at his captor. ‘You said you’re not police,’ he said. ‘And yet they all do what you tell them. Who are you?’
‘Forgive me,’ said Hoskins. ‘I should have introduced myself. James Hoskins, Commander, British Intelligence.’ He advanced a hand. ‘How do you do?’
As the train began to move, Adam sat back in his seat and felt it was time to make a statement. The other man’s firm but friendly manner encouraged him to speak out. ‘Can we get a couple of things straight?’ he ventured.
‘By all means,’ said Hoskins affably. ‘Go ahead.’
‘I didn’t murder Maurice Cooper.’
‘No,’ agreed Hoskins. ‘I know that.’
‘And I didn’t kill those two men on the pier.’
‘Of course you didn’t. I did.’
‘You did?! You killed two men?’
‘Had to, old chap. To save your skin. One of them was about to shoot you.’
‘Oh. Then I’m very grateful.’
‘To be honest, I didn’t actually kill the second blighter. I just scared him a bit, and he jumped. Hadn’t studied his tide-tables.’
‘Well, thanks anyway.’
‘No need for thanks, dear boy, it was all in the line of duty. We’re relying on you for vital information. Couldn’t afford to let those scruffs rub you out.’
‘Hm,’ said Adam ruefully. ‘Those three this afternoon nearly managed it.’
‘No,’ said Hoskins. ‘They want information from you too. They weren’t going to kill you in a hurry.’
‘Never mind the hurry, they’d have killed me in the end.’
‘They weren’t going to get the chance. We’d have pulled you out after an hour. I had a commando unit standing by at Laindon Barracks.’
‘Good God!’ said Adam.
‘You’re a very lucky young man, a protected species. British Intelligence has been watching over you ever since the Jefferson inquest.’
‘You mean you’ve been following me?’
‘I, or one of my colleagues.’
‘All the time?’
‘We lost you twice, but we quickly got back on track by following Jane Hart.’
‘Just a minute.’ Adam’s voice changed from surprise to resentment. ‘If you had people standing by, you were ahead of me. You must have known I was coming to Chalksea today.’
‘Yes, of course. We’ve been tapping the man Dudley’s phone since we knew you were staying there. We had to put up with some awful jokes but we heard your conversation with Dean.’
‘So you watched me walk into a trap! You let those bastards get me!’
‘Steady on, old chap. We didn’t know for sure it was a trap, did we? Any more than you did. It could have been just the whisky deal, like you thought.’
‘So why the commandos?’
‘We suspected things might turn nasty. There have been rumours of East End gangsters using that hideout to rough up the opposition.’
‘But the place is supposed to be Home Guard property!’
‘There’s a link, I’m afraid. That’s something we’ll have to talk about in a minute. But first I have to ask some questions.’
‘So do I!’ protested Adam. ‘And this one won’t wait. When I didn’t come out with the whisky after five minutes, you must have known I was in trouble!’
‘That was a fair assumption, yes.’
‘And you were going to let them beat the hell out of me for an hour?’
‘It was necessary, dear boy. You might have picked up some useful gen. The interrogator often gives away more than his victim.’
Adam had to admit to himself that this had been his own line of reasoning. ‘As long as the victim lives to tell the tale,’ he said bitterly. He winced, and rubbed his side where a kick had landed.
Hoskins produced a silver flask from his pocket. ‘You still look rather the worse for wear,’ he observed. ‘Knock back some of this and you might feel better. Then we can both put our cards on the table.’
Adam leaned back, put the flask to his lips, and swallowed a couple of mouthfuls. The brandy burned his dry throat but it sent a reviving charge of energy surging through his body. He closed his eyes and reviewed the events of the last hour.
As planned, the ambulance crew had done a good job of cleaning him up and tending cuts and bruises. Then they put the two men off at the station before returning to the firing range to look for further casualties.
Mid-afternoon passengers were still scarce on the Shoebury to London line and Hoskins had found an empty compartment on the first train.
Adam took another swig of brandy, sighed deeply, and handed the flask back to his companion. The pause had brought big questions storming to the front of his mind. ‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘The police seem to be searching for me, with their wanted notices, radio appeals and so on. But you say you knew where I was all along. So they could have arrested me at any time.’
Hoskins demurred with a smile. ‘Er, no. I said we in Intelligence knew where you were. I never said the police did.’
‘You mean you don’t tell the police what you know?’
‘Only when absolutely necessary.’
‘Is that fair? Those coppers were rushing to do everything you asked.’
‘They might not always do so, if they knew what we were up to. Don’t worry about the police, dear boy. We have an excellent relationship with the boys in blue, based on their doing a lot for us, and our not doing much for them.’
‘So why didn’t you want me arrested?’
‘Because you’d accidentally stumbled into a big conspiracy, a dangerous plot that threatens everyone in this country. We thought if we let you stumble on, you might blunder onto the truth. You see, we know the essence of this plot but we don’t have the details. We hoped the plotters might come after you, and then we could nab them.’
‘So I was the goat in a tiger trap!’
‘Something like that. Well, you owed the nation a favour after pulling that stolen-identity trick.’
‘How did you know I wasn’t who I said I was?’
‘Easy. For you, getting away with it depended on no one bothering to ask questions. As soon as anyone took an interest in you, the truth was sure to come out. You couldn’t have accepted the Nobel Prize for Science, for instance.’
Adam wasn’t in the mood for flippancy. He said tersely, ‘I don’t think I was in the running.’
‘Anyway, once you turned up on our radar, we only had to run a few checks and we had the whole story. The Marine Research Unit told us you’d come from London University, and gave us your photograph. We showed it to a few folks at your old college and they all recalled you as Adam Carr.’
‘Oh well,’ said Adam. ‘It’s nice to be remembered.’
‘And there was no problem in finding out that you shared digs with the other Adam, and only one survived the bomb.’
‘I suppose you think that was a lousy thing to do.’
‘I don’t know all the circumstances. It certainly didn’t make any difference to the real Adam Webber. Or to the poor chap’s family, since they’d all gone before him. You broke the law pretty seriously, of course.’
‘I realize that.’
‘Which is a pretty good reason for you to co-operate with us now. When all this gets sorted out, you’re going to need friends.’
‘I am co-operating, aren’t I? Listen, this big conspiracy you’re talking about. I
t’s black market, isn’t it? And I can tell you, the Home Guard are involved.’
Hoskins gave a brief laugh. ‘A small faction of the Home Guard seems to be in on this. But it’s a lot more serious than peddling booze and nylons.’
‘What is it then?’
Hoskins hesitated. He looked out of the window for a moment and studied the countryside. The tide was coming in now, most of the mud-flats were covered, and many of the sea-birds were on the wing. He realized it would be best to tell the young man everything. He cleared his throat.
‘The fact is,’ said Hoskins, ‘it’s a plot to overthrow the government.’
Adam gasped. He struggled to find words, and then he said, ‘You mean, a revolution?’
‘More like a coup d’état. Grabbing the reins of power in one swift strike.’
Adam remained incredulous. ‘And the Home Guard are behind it? The Home Guard?!’
‘A small but powerful section within the Home Guard, yes.’
‘That’s incredible!’
‘In my job, old chap, you find nothing’s incredible. Or impossible. The vast majority of Home Guard are decent, law-abiding men who want to defend Britain. But they have their rotten apples, like every other barrel – malcontents, anarchists, perpetual rebels – you know, the bolshie bunch. Many of them with time on their hands. We began to suspect some months ago that such people were being organized into small solid groups within the larger movement.’
‘Organized? Who by?’
‘By extremists on the outer limits of the Socialist and Communist parties. And some even further left than that. Admirers of Soviet Russia, who’d like to have the same sort of system over here.’
‘God forbid!’ Adam shuddered. ‘And they’ve latched onto the Home Guard?’
‘On the lunatic fringe I described, yes.’
‘And they think they can overthrow the government?’
‘Yes. And in dire circumstances they possibly could. Remember, the Home Guard have large stocks of guns and other weapons, plus plenty of ammunition and explosives, all the things they’d need to seize key areas. Also remember that most of our regular forces are still abroad, fighting in Europe and the Far East. If someone wants to mount a coup, there’ll never be a better opportunity.’
‘But you say most of the Home Guard are loyal. Surely they could put down the traitors.’
‘Not necessarily. A well-organized fanatical minority can sometimes defeat an easy-going complacent majority. Don’t forget, when Hitler seized power in Germany, his Fascists were in the minority. But they had the organization, and they had the will and the energy and a clear-cut plan. It seems the Red Brigade, as we call them, have been manoeuvring their men into key positions while the good guys have been at home, working on their allotments. When they strike, the first thing the extremists will do is grab control of their Home Guard units and their weapons.’
‘Good God!’ Adam was still trying to come to terms with the whole astounding concept. ‘All right, they’ve got the guns and stuff, as you say. They could cause a lot of trouble, maybe they could even storm 10 Downing Street. But what do they do then? The rabble you describe wouldn’t have the brains to run the country.’
‘Well, here’s the really alarming part. I said these renegades are being organized by political extremists. We believe that some serving MPs are involved, possibly even a government minister, though we don’t know which. Enough to set up some sort of ruling junta with experience of government.’
‘Phew!’ Adam exhaled forcefully. Then he reached out his hand. ‘I could do with another swig of that brandy.’
Hoskins handed over the flask and delivered further bleak news. ‘There’s also a third element. The plotters don’t want their members in the Home Guard to show their hands before the big day. Also, they like to think of themselves as idealists. So, if there’s dirty work to be done, they simply employ the criminal underworld to do it. As you yourself have discovered.’
‘You mean the sods who beat me up this afternoon.’
‘Exactly. They’ll have been East End gangsters paid by the Red Brigade.’
Adam fingered a bruise. ‘They seemed to enjoy their work.’
‘Always useful if you can get paid to do what you like doing.’
‘Talking of pay, where would the money for all this be coming from?’
‘Almost certainly from Russia.’
‘But they’re our allies!’
‘For now, yes. But Joe Stalin would like to take over the whole of Europe in due course. Including Britain. The Russians have their men over here, paving the way. They’ll fund anyone who helps the cause.’
Adam sat in dumb astonishment for a moment. Then he said, ‘I don’t know if I can believe it.’
‘I’d have thought what happened this afternoon would convince you that something nasty was going on. Now then, I’ve told you what all this is about. It’s time you told me what you know.’
‘I don’t know anything.’
‘Not true. You know a great deal more than you think you do. You can tell us a lot.’ Hoskins felt the train slowing, and glanced out of the window. ‘But wait a minute. We’re coming in to a station. Make sure no one gets in here.’
It was Tilfleet, Adam’s regular station. He was used to seeing it crowded with commuters. But, like Chalksea, at this time of day it was almost deserted. One woman approached their door but Hoskins, who had already opened the window, now stood by it and sneezed loudly several times. The woman moved further along the train, holding a handkerchief to her face.
It was a brief stop, and after a minute they were on the move again, the wheels settling back to their steady rhythm. Hoskins closed the window.
Adam had been thinking. ‘All right. Suppose it’s all true. It seems you know everything already. You can raid the Home Guard centres and arrest the plotters, you can lock up the suspect politicians. Why do you need anything from me?’
Hoskins frowned. ‘Good Lord, man, don’t you understand? I’ve told you, we don’t yet have enough to act on. We’ve good reason to suspect all this, we’re sure we know the basic plot, but we haven’t any firm details: names, places, plans, dates and so on. We can’t just pile into every Home Guard HQ in the country. A lot of them probably aren’t involved in any way.’
‘You don’t even know which units are in on this?’
‘No, not entirely. We have a good idea, but we haven’t got it a hundred per cent. Or even eighty per cent. Likewise, we think we know some of the rogue MPs, but nothing’s certain. This is a democratic country, we aren’t allowed to seize several hundred people on suspicion. There’d be a terrible reaction: charges of false arrest, threats to civil liberty! Can’t you see that?’
Adam nodded. ‘Yes. Yes, if you put it like that, I suppose I can.’
‘Besides, when we swoop we’ve got to get it totally right. We have to catch the lot. We can’t afford to have the round-up go off at half-cock, and leave some of the buggers free to cause trouble elsewhere.’
‘I still don’t see how I can help.’
‘You will. We’ve had our agents join up in various units, where we think there’s subversive activity. Several have confirmed there’s something going on, but they’ve not yet come up with firm facts. Several have found nothing to report. One or two have met with fatal accidents. The plotters are very cunning – at least, their key people are. They can spot a mole a mile off.’
Adam suddenly saw the light. ‘Was Mark Jefferson one of your men?’
‘Yes, he was, one of the best. That’s why we put him into Tilfleet which, we have reason to believe, may be a Red Brigade stronghold: possibly their command centre for southern England.
‘What made you think that?’
‘Several pointers. For a start, their CO’s a man called Brigden. We know he used to be extremely left-wing, a member of the Communist Party, and a very active one. Strikes, demonstrations, riots, he’d be in the forefront, hurling abuse at the police, plus the occ
asional brick. Three years ago, he left the Communist Party, became a model citizen, joined the Home Guard, and started standing to attention for the National Anthem.’
‘Is that significant?’
‘It’s routine for extremists who’ve been told by their bosses to put on a respectable faćade and start working underground. Also Tilfleet’s been ordering more weapons and ammunition than you’d expect them to need.’
‘Did Jefferson find anything?’
‘He strengthened our suspicions. He reported that there’s an elite squad of soldiers in that unit. They do special training at weekends, from which the others are excluded. Jefferson said Brigden works eighteen hours a day, and is surrounded by a bunch of henchmen who keep the rest of the men away.’
‘Like Mussolini.’
‘Like any dictator. It seems Brigden’s a bitter and twisted character, born with a big chip on his shoulder. We checked his background. Expelled from school for persistent bullying. Missed out on college because he was already known as a problem-boy.’
‘So how did he get to be a Home Guard commander?’
Hoskins shrugged. ‘Low cunning, I suppose. He knew what he wanted and he went for it. Probably there weren’t many volunteers for the job. And apparently he had some management skills. He’d joined Woolworth’s as an office boy and was climbing the executive ladder. Then he got the sack, because he was always off work, making trouble. He’s just the type for a leading role in an insurrection.’
‘But you’ve got no firm evidence?’
‘Nothing that we can act on yet. But we reckon Jefferson was getting close.’
‘Pity about the accident.’
Hoskins gave a short, humourless laugh. ‘That was no accident. The day before he was found dead, Jefferson told us he was going to break into Brigden’s office. Tilfleet Home Guard are based at a school. They have the run of the place at weekends and weekday evenings, except Tuesday. Tuesday night the school works late – sport, societies and so on – but they pack up at eight. Then the school is empty. Jefferson reckoned that was his opportunity.’
The Shadow of Treason Page 17
