Any Human Heart (Vintage International) by William Boyd

Author:William Boyd [Boyd, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307424853
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2007-12-18T07:00:00+00:00

1944

FRIDAY, 7 JANUARY

I was covertly reading Plomer’s autobiography80—which has done aggravatingly well—and wondering if anyone would guess from its pages that its author was a promiscuous homosexual. Rhetorical question: the answer is no. Which then begged another—so what level of truth did this book contain? I was musing over this paradox when Vanderpoel came in and called me through to Rushbrooke’s office. Rushbrooke was waiting for me with another man whom I didn’t recognize but who was introduced as Colonel Marion (he was wearing civilian clothes). I felt a sudden pressure build in my body when I realized I was going to be given the assignment that my parachute course had prepared me for—and I wanted to say, “Before you go any further, Admiral Rushbrooke, I’d like to request a transfer to the Catering Corps”—but said nothing, of course, and meekly sat down when Rushbrooke waved me to a chair. He smiled at me.

“Don’t look so worried, Mountstuart. We’ve bought you a couple of tramp steamers. You’re a shipowner. Now we want you to go to Switzerland and buy a few more.”

Switzerland? I felt a warm rush of pleasure in my lower abdomen and for a horrible moment wondered if I’d wet myself in my relief. My bowels had indeed loosed but my dignity was preserved. Switzerland was neutral, I was saying to myself, safer even than the Bahamas. It seemed odd to go to a landlocked country to buy ships but that was none of my business.

And so “Operation Shipbroker” was born. The job, as it was explained to me, seemed quite straightforward—only the actual getting into Switzerland was complicated. The strategy was that I was to pass myself off as a Uruguayan businessman looking for funding in Portugal, Spain and Switzerland to increase the size of my merchant fleet, two of which were currently moored in Montevideo harbour. I wondered if this was credible and was reminded that not the whole world was at war. Take South America for example. Citizens of neutral countries were free to come and go, providing they had the necessary documentation and visas. Swedes could travel to England, Mexicans to the USA, Spaniards to Australia, if they could get permission.

I was to visit certain banks in Geneva and Zurich and see if I could secure a loan to purchase my ships (all this would be detailed in a series of briefings over the next few days). “We don’t actually expect anyone to lend you money,” Rushbrooke said, “we just want you to be out there trying.” I asked why. Then Marion spoke. “You’ll be approached, covertly, by Germans, or by the representatives of important Germans. They will want to know how much it’ll cost for you to take them to South America on your boats.” Why would they want to do this, I asked? Because the war is going to end soon and the rats are already preparing to leave the sinking ship, Marion said. These people will approach you and you will take down their details—such as they are— and try to identify them.

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