The African Affair by T W Casson

Author:T W Casson [Casson, T W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Casson Novels
Published: 2020-08-28T22:00:00+00:00

The Minister sat behind his desk looking up at Peurré, who had just updated him on the recent evidence of a dark-fund within the man’s department.

The Minister said, “So, the dark-fund isn’t you, I mean the Bureau?”

“No. They made a mistake.”

“Whose dark-fund was it or should I say is it?”

“Do you really want to know this?”

“Well, perhaps I should, if it’s within my department.”

“Are sure that you really need to know this?”

“Um, well no. Not if you think I need not know.”

“You can’t be criticised for not knowing about this. And according to our specialist accountants, it’s neither dark nor sinister, it’s just badly recorded. They recommend that we let the Treasury teams continue to dig into it and waste their time. Eventually they’ll be embarrassed by the fuss they’ve made and leave your department alone for a few years. They’re like all good civil servants, they know it’s good policy to spread their mistakes around. That way nobody works out just how incompetent they are.”

The Minister knew this was not quite the truth and that Peurré was obfuscating but decided to move on before the dark-fund accidentally revealed itself. He wondered how best to couch his next question. When they had last spoken of the matter Peurré had become worrying silent and still.

“Is there anything you believe I should know about the work of a certain female agent?”

“She’s still following the original course of action I agreed with her.”

“And have there been any significant developments? By that I mean has she achieved anything?”

Peurré’s expression hardened as he fixed his eyes on the Minister. “Yes, quite a lot. She is still on the trail of Forgéron, despite discovering the Head of Legation in Kenya was a fraud, despite a significant gun battle at a commercial airport and despite narrowly avoiding a firefight with the GSU, Kenya’s elite fighting force. Of course, if you prefer, I’ll retract what I’ve just reported, as you probably feel you don’t want, or indeed need, to know any of this.”

The Minister wondered if Peurré was openly lying, in order to pass control to him, or was telling the truth and making him vulnerable. He felt like screaming at the man, telling him to stop manipulating him but even on simpler matters he had never managed to best Peurré. The Minister had often dreamed of cutting him down to size but the consequences might be beyond his worst imaginings. Peurré was a killer who employed killers, and no doubt tortured and maimed in the name of France. But as reality began to seep back, he realised that the man was just an ordinary functionary of the state, working within slightly different guidelines to his own. Perhaps it was best to just let him get on with it. The click of his door brought him fully back to the moment and he realised that Peurré had left the room. A frisson of fear flitted across his stomach as he listened to the man’s footsteps marching off down the corridor towards his office.

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