A Fool's Errands: A Johnny Swift Omnibus: Books 1 & 2 by Alan Bardos

Author:Alan Bardos [Bardos, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sharpe Books
Published: 2021-05-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 44

Johnny arrived at Paris's Gare de l'Est to the sensational news that Madame Caillaux had been acquitted of murdering the newspaper editor, Gaston Calmette. The story appeared to be on the front page of every Paris paper.

Johnny turned away from the headlines to catch a last fleeting glimpse of Libby, as a swarm of porters and Embassy officials escorted her through a group of French soldiers. They'd travelled back to Paris separately, for the sake of discretion, with Johnny safely secured in second class.

Johnny waited at the newsstand until the last Embassy flunky cleared off. He couldn't see anything about the Balkans crisis in the papers: obviously, nothing critical had happened during his glorious three week sabbatical with Libby.

He smiled contentedly to himself. Libby had bestowed every possible reward on him that her mischievous and creative mind could devise. A pretty brunette behind the counter saw the look on Johnny's face and grinned back coyly.

At nine o'clock the following morning, and fully reacquainted with the hurly burly of Parisian life, Johnny presented himself to Sir George Smyth in the Imperial finery of his Chancery Office.

Sir George was too incensed to speak for a moment, his face flushing with rage. The undertone was clear - how dare Johnny have the barefaced cheek not to get his bloody head blown off, when a better man had been killed.

'If you haven't got anything tangible to report, God help you, Swift,' Sir George managed to say at last. Without going into the 'whys' and 'hows', Johnny explained that he'd liaised with the Austro-Hungarian Joint-Ministry of Finance to investigate the Young Bosnia Movement, who he felt were the main threat to Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia, their aim being to unite the South Slav people through a revolution that would overthrow their Imperial masters. They believed, Johnny continued, that such a revolution would be sparked by the assassination of a leading Austro-Hungarian personage. It was this belief that led to the outrage in Sarajevo.

Johnny was about to explain his role in foiling Nedjo's attempt to throw a bomb into the Archduke's car, when Sir George interrupted him.

'Yes, that's all rather by the by now. The Austrians have already given us the findings of their police investigation, in German. I believe it's still in the basement of the Foreign Office, unread. Did you actually manage to find out anything useful?'

Johnny's stomach clenched in frustration. 'With respect, Sir George, you sent me to Bosnia to investigate the nationalist question.'

'Did I indeed? Was that really the reason?' Sir George let that dangle, like a noose around Johnny's neck.

'I have paid off all of the debts...' Johnny said, taking the wire receipts out of his pocket. Sir George went red and got up from behind his desk to properly express his indignation.

'Don't be so damned vulgar, boy!' Sir George shouted and then regaining his composure, he sat down and in the correct manner of a British gentleman addressing his staff, asked, 'What were your exact instructions, Swift?'

'I believe my exact instructions were to "ferret about a bit",' Johnny replied as tonelessly as possible.

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