Assignment- Treason by Edward S. Aarons

Author:Edward S. Aarons [Aarons, Edward S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Espionage, Fiction, Mystery, Spies, Suspense, Thriller
Amazon: B000NPRZ64
Publisher: Fawcett Gold Medal
Published: 1956-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

“Is that why you tried to kill Corinne?”

“I don’t know what happened to me. But I hate her so . . .Yes, I once looked like she does.” The babyish face came up, stained with tears that were silver in the moonlight. Her eyes were beautiful, even though they were swollen by her sobbing. “Do you believe that?”

“Why not?” he asked. “But you don’t go around wanting to kill every young girl you see. Why pick on Corinne?”

“Because of Henry,” she whispered. Her huge shoulders slumped under the towel that covered her. “I surprised her—with Henry. I don’t blame him for not wanting me, or for ignoring me that way. But I wish—I’ve so often hoped—”

“That’s not the whole reason," Durell said.

“No. Of course not.”

“What’s the rest of it?“

“Roger is the rest of it. My son.”

“Corinne knew him?”

“Roger wrote about her, long before he—before he was caught in East Berlin. He wrote that he’d met a wonderful French girl and Wanted to marry her.”

“What was he doing over the line, by the way?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” she moaned.

“Why should you try to kill your son’s girl, then?” he asked.

She looked up, her big childish eyes reflecting tragedy. “Don’t you see? Roger’s girl—he loves her—and she, with Roger’s father, with her background—”

“Why should she do that?”

“Because she must be thoroughly rotten. She’s vicious and evil. And she’s a spy.”

He waited.

“She’s working for the Quenton crowd. You must not trust her, Mr. Durell. You‘re in very serious trouble, I understand. You’re in that trouble simply because Henry is half crazy with worry, trying to keep Roger alive over there, hoping he can keep them from killing him. I know what Henry has done. And why he forced you to do what you did. And it’s killing him, too. But he can’t help himself. I think I would do the same, if I had the opportunity. I’m not sure. Roger is all I have. My only son. I don’t want them to kill him. I’d do anything they ask, as long as they don’t hurt him.”

“If Corinne is Rogers girl," Durell asked, “why should she work for Quenton and try to stop you from helping Roger, all at the same time?”

“I don’t know,” the fat woman moaned. “She came to us a month ago and introduced herself. We took to her, at first. Henry was very fond of her. She knew Roger so well, it was almost like a visit from him." Her small hands fluttered to her face, then sank down again, as if the weight of her massive arms was too much for her. She bowed her head. “I’m so ashamed. You saw me. I’m so ugly,” she said irrationally. “Nobody has ever seen me like that for—-for years. Not even Henry. Especially not Henry. But I— Those people down the beach—they have a rule on nights like this. You can’t go on the beach unless you—unless you go like the rest of them. It’s all false, you know. All an excuse for their licentious parties.

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