Every Spy a Traitor by Alex Gerlis

Author:Alex Gerlis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
Published: 2024-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

It was the seventh time Percy Burton had met the man he knew only as Murray and as on the previous seven occasions, he was astonished how different he looked.

Burton prided himself on having a good memory and an accurate sense of recall, but with Murray it was hopeless: if he was asked to describe Murray he’d come up with some vague description, which he realised, of course, was the point. The last time they’d met – just one month before – Murray had appeared to be over six foot and held himself in an upright, military bearing. He’d been hatless, with his thick fair hair catching in the wind – Murray always insisted on meeting outside – and had spoken with a soft Scottish accent. The time before that Murray looked more well-built, rather too-well-fed, as his mother would have put it, and was wearing a trilby and spoke with a hint of a northern accent.

And now, the man who sidled up to him as he reached the part of Fulham Palace Road where it approaches Putney Bridge, looked quite different: dressed slightly shabbily with a broad-brimmed cloth cap – the type one wears when shooting – and a mud-spattered raincoat.

‘We’ll turn left here and walk through Bishops Park.’ It was unmistakably Murray, but with an accent he’d not heard before – possibly Welsh, and if he was pushed Burton would have said North Wales. They walked towards the park and then alongside the river bank in the direction of Hammersmith and Percy Burton didn’t say anything yet because he was only too well aware that the man he knew as Murray would decide when it was safe to speak.

Close to Craven Cottage, the ground of Fulham football club, Murray stopped under the enormous bough of an oak tree and leant against the iron railings and Percy Burton joined him. Both men gazed out over the Thames, staring straight ahead at the opposite bank. This was how Murray liked to conduct business, with minimal eye contact.

‘The last job went well, thank you.’

‘Really?’ Murray sounded annoyed.

‘Well, we certainly thought so… yes.’

‘This was the fourth job I’ve done for you and I’ve told you: I require the information you give me to be unerringly accurate, as was the case with the first three. The information I was given for the last person was inaccurate.’

Percy Burton spread his hands out apologetically and was minded to reply that surely it didn’t really matter, did it, because he’d killed the right person, but the last thing he wanted now was to rile Murray, not as he was about to tell him about another important target.

‘The information I was given was that the target would be driving a black 1932 Austin 7, registration number BCA 313. In fact, he was driving a dark blue 1934 model Austin 7, registration number BCR 313.’

Percy Burton didn’t reply because he knew full well that if he said that surely it was close enough Murray would be furious.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.