Jeffrey Archer Kane and Abel Trilogy by Jeffrey Archer

Author:Jeffrey Archer [Archer, Jeffrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

41

GENERAL ALFRED JODL signed Germany’s unconditional surrender at Rheims on May 7, 1945. The war in Europe was over. Three months later Abel arrived back in a New York preparing for victory celebrations to mark the end of the war.

Once again the streets were filled with young people in uniform, but this time their faces showed relieved elation, not forced gaiety. Abel was saddened by the sight of so many men with one leg, one arm, blind or badly scarred. For them the war would never be over, no matter what pieces of paper had been signed on the other side of the world.

He walked into the Baron in his colonel’s uniform, but no one recognized him. When they had last seen him in civilian clothes more than three years ago, there had been no lines on his then youthful face. He now looked older than his thirty-nine years, and the deep furrows on his forehead showed that the war had left its mark. He took the elevator to his 42nd floor office, where a security guard told him firmly that he was on the wrong floor.

‘Where’s George Novak?’ asked Abel.

‘He’s in Chicago, Colonel,’ the guard replied.

‘Then get him on the phone.’

‘Who shall I say is calling him?’

‘Abel Rosnovski.’

The guard moved quickly.

George’s familiar voice crackled down the line. Abel immediately realized just how good it was to be back - and how much he now wanted to go home.

He decided not to stay a moment longer in New York, but to fly the eight hundred miles to Chicago. He took George’s latest reports with him to study on the plane. He read every detail of the Baron Group’s progress during the war years, and it was obvious that George had managed to keep the group on an even keel during his absence. But if they were to move forward Abel realized that he would have to start employing new staff immediately, before his rivals picked up the best of those returning from the front.

When Abel arrived at Midway Airport, George was standing by the gate waiting to greet him. He had hardly changed - he’d put on a little weight, and lost a little hair perhaps - and after an hour of swapping stories and bringing each other up to date on the past three years, it was almost as though Abel had never been away. Abel would always be thankful to the Black Arrow for introducing him to his senior vice president.

George commented on Abel’s limp, which seemed more pronounced than when he had gone away. ‘The Hopalong Cassidy of the hotel business,’ he said mockingly. ‘Soon you won’t have a leg to stand on.’

‘Only a Pole would make such a dumb crack,’ replied Abel.

George grinned at him, looking like a puppy that had been scolded by its master.

‘Thank God I had a dumb Polack to take care of everything while I was away searching for Germans,’ said Abel.

‘Did you find any?’

‘No. The moment they heard I was coming, they ran away.

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