The Garden of Weapons (The Herbie Kruger Novels) by Gardner John

Author:Gardner, John [Gardner, John]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781480406148
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2013-05-07T04:00:00+00:00

PART THREE

Trapeze

1

IN LONDON THE DIRECTOR put down the telephone, staring at Tubby Fincher for almost a full minute before speaking. He looked, thought Fincher, like a man who had just witnessed an appalling accident. Bewildered and angry.

Eventually he said that Big Herbie was on the loose. He spoke flatly, as though it was a personal affront. “Gave Max the slip.”

Tubby Fincher pursed his thin lips, emitting a little hissing noise. It was always on the cards, he mumbled. “Really thought we had him tied up, though.”

“Gone over,” the Director repeated several times in a sort of chant. “In East Berlin now. At this very moment. Christ.”

Tubby Fincher, lifting his skeletal body from the chair, opened his mouth to ask what kind of action the Director had taken. The answers were supplied before the question was even out. Worboys was holding the fort; the Director had promised somebody would be over, et cetera, et cetera.

Deep within his silent logic the Director knew exactly what he should do. This was a serious situation; one to be played by the book. In terms of the book there was only one way: a complete shutdown. Pull the Trepan team out; leave Herbie to stew. By the book, they would have to deny Herbie Kruger; for he had denied them.

So far the whole operation had been limited to a circle which encompassed only the Director, Tubby Fincher, Herbie and the Trepan team. All the thinking had been one of containment. Herbie’s chances of getting Schnabeln to sniff out the person the Director called “the rotting plant in the East Wing’s cellarage,” would have been reduced if Berlin Station had access—spoiled by allowing their street men the opportunity to offer a helping hand. A friend in need, someone once said, is a pest.

The major error was now very clear. There should have been some strictly controlled two-way radio traffic. Gloomily the Director realised that Herbie had outmanoeuvred him by not suggesting it. Sins of omission were often the most deadly.

They had cut out two-way traffic because of the decision regarding containment: relying on Herbie and the Trepan team to track Schnabeln with the electronic wizardry. Berlin Station assumed the Kruger-Schnabeln meeting was routine. They would only be brought into play for the end game, when the entrapment was complete.

The whole thing was planned and double-checked in this very office. Herbie had agreed: all professional and smooth. Schnabeln’s homer would guide them. His screech would give the name and details of the traitor among the Telegraph Boys. Once Herbie was satisfied with the screech—which included him being certain it came from Schnabeln, fast-sending from a designated point—he would personally go to lay the news on the Head of Berlin Station. In turn, Head of Station would verify with the Director.

They had allowed a four-hour lapse between reception of Schnabeln’s screech and the end game. Four hours, with half-hour fallbacks. Schnabeln’s job was to identify, and then snare the guilty Telegraph Boy, leading him to a predetermined spot—near Treptow Park.

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