Greek Fire (31 page)

“And what happens to the letters when I reach Paris?”

“They stay where they are,” said Anya.

“And you?”

“I too stay where I am.”

The birds were winging overhead again, wheeling round as if disturbed in their privacy.

“So that's it,” Gene said. “Then I'm not going.”

For the first time Anya moved and be saw her expression there had been hard bargaining and a hard fight and it had left its mark; in the moonlight her face looked drained of blood but not of feeling.

She said: “ It is a fair arrangement, Gene. Otherwise they will not play their part.”

“What difference would it make?”

“They do not trust you, my dear. I will stay as their security.”

“Come if you are coming,” said Manos impatiently. “We are not on a deserted island.”

Gene said: “ Is there more behind the bargain than this?” He looked at Manos.

Anya took his arm. “ There is nothing more. I promise you. Can you not believe that?”

“Normally. But in this this case I …”

Manos turned on him. “Listen, man; you're lucky to have had this woman to fight for you! Well, now we
have
fought it out, round a table for five hours, while you were lying in your bed in Nafplion. You were not consulted in this and you are not being consulted now!”

“That's what you may think——” Gene stopped because Anya was pulling at his arm.

Manos said: “ For a certain consideration we are prepared to pay. We are prepared to pay by misrepresenting the evidence in this case to make it appear that George Lascou was murdered by Philip Tolosa, who committed suicide on the following day. In doing this we are taking a considerable risk. In particular Major Kolono is risking his whole career. If this goes through you will be free, completely free. But we do not trust you. Once this case is closed we shall have no further hold on you. Well, you have your hostage, these letters. We shall have our hostage, this woman, who has worked in our midst all these years.”

“And d'you think I'm willing to get out on those terms?”

“You've no choice.”

“If Anya joins me in Paris——”

“If she were to join you in Paris, what guarantee would we have that you would not at once give an interview to the reporters? Your word? It's not worth a spit.
But
if Anya stays here, then if you have any care for her safety, as she says you have, you dare not talk because of what we would do to her. The bargain has been struck. Now get out and never come back.”

Quietly but insistently Anya began to move him towards a break in the wall where a path led down to the beach. Kolono turned to speak to the soldier, and Manos momentarily turned with him.

She said: “Gene, it's the only way.…”

“But it's impossible——”

“I tell you it's the
only
way! Later——”

“What other conditions are there? You—Manos?”

“No. I am quite free so long as I stay here——”

Just before the others caught up with them he felt her slip a small package into his pocket. They went on. The moon was still low and the moonlight only caught one edge of the bay like a bar sinister on a crusader's shield. A fishing boat moved quietly at a jetty even smaller than the one on Bourtzi. A man swung along the deck, strap-hanging by various ropes attached to the mast. The sea was quiet.

Anya's hand was on his arm. He held it to him, his mind tingling from the impact of her last action—groping, trying to see its way.

To gain time he said: “And how long has this—bargain to last?”

“Five years, ten years,” said Manos venomously. “ What does it matter?”

“It matters everything——”

“Listen, Gene,” said Anya, squeezing his arm warningly. “We have fought this out and fought this out. You must see their position. Talk from you in Paris would still damage even with no proof. Accusations from me would be much worse. After all I was George Lascou's mistress. Until the election's over they
must
keep us quiet. After that, each month that passes will slightly reduce the harm we can do by talking. As George is—is forgotten, so anything connected with him will have less news value. The letters will always remain just as dangerous for them, but our unsupported word will carry less and less weight. In time—”

“But how much time?”

“We cannot decide that now. But perhaps—though I don't want it—some interval is the right answer for us. In that way we can prove something to ourselves.” She stopped. “ But that is for the future. I believe, if it is everybody's wish, a settlement can be arranged. They cannot feel safe with the Avra letters still in existence. I might die accidentally and then exposure and ruin would come for them. Sooner or later we can make some arrangement for the exchange of the letters. And part of that arrangement could be that we can come together again—if you are still of the same mind.”

“I haven't any other. Believe that.”

She said: “It will be for you to choose.…”

“If you are going,” said Manos, “ get on that boat. Otherwise the bargain ends here and now.”

Anya said: “Jon,
our
bargain stands. But he must reach Paris in safety. These men will look after him?”

“Of course they'll look after him——”

“I promise you,” she said, “ if this man dies, you and your friends will go before a military court on charges of treason within a week.”

“Here!” called Manos angrily to the boat. “Here's your passenger.”

One of the two figures on the boat stepped on to the jetty and came down to meet them.

Anya said: “Gene, write.…”

“Writing won't be enough.”

“But it will help—for a time. And remember—I have done what I can. It is now for you to choose as you think best.”

She had said it twice. He had to answer. Picking every word with care, for every word must carry its message to her and not to them, Gene said: “ You must realise that if it comes to me to choose, I am not interested in these men and what their past histories were. They are small fry. George Lascou was the only real threat to Greece, and that threat is gone.”

She said; “Yet I have tried to—what is the expression you would use?—to put the ball back at your feet. That is how it should be. Never forget that you have freedom to change your mind.”

“Never forget,” he answered, “that I shall never change it. There will be no conflict over that. I am not interested in these men.”

Manos was listening suspiciously. The sailor took Gene's arm. Gene made a pretence of trying to free himself. But his next words were not spoken in pretence. “ To leave you here like this with such men——”

“I have been in the company of such men all my life.”

“I know. But there must be some other way——”

Anya said: “If you refuse to go you will be taken on board. This far I am quite prepared to—arrange your life.”

The sailor's grip tightened. So did Anya's for a moment and her cold soft lips brushed his cheek. Then her fingers sharply relaxed as if quick now to have done with the moment of parting. He let her fingers fall one by one. Then she was a foot away. Then she was standing between the two men, the moon shining on her face. Then she was one of three figures in the distance.

Gene sat crouched over the gunnel in the stern of the boat. He fingered the Avra letters she had given him but did not take them out. The strong smell of petrol came up to him as the old four-cylinder motor began to chug its way out to sea. A sail flapped above him but as yet caught no wind. They'd gone, the two men, but she still stood there. He raised a hand, hardly capable of the gesture because, whatever the promise for the future, however much through her great courage it might now lie again in his hands, this was for the present a gesture of good-bye. He did not expect her to see it, but she saw it and waved back. Then after a few minutes he could no longer see her figure but only a mark on the beach which would have moved had she moved. He persuaded himself of this long after his eyes could see nothing against the dark land.

They reached the entrance of the bay. The opening was only thirty feet. They slipped through like some slow-moving aquatic animal avoiding the claws of a crab. The sail flapped above his head and the boat listed gently, quivering with a different and more sensitive life. On the port beam a lighthouse winked. A few lights showed here and there round the ancient coast, but ahead it was quite dark.

A hand touched his shoulder.

“Come below, sir,” said the sailor. “ We've orders to see you come to no ill.”

First published in 1957 by Hodder & Stoughton

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