Whatever the Cost by Michael Kurland

Author:Michael Kurland [Michael Kurland]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2020-12-08T00:00:00+00:00

EIGHTEEN

… And on the pedestal, these words appear:

‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.’

— ‘Ozymandias’, Percy Bysshe Shelley

Paris – Thursday, 28 September 1939

The guardians of the International Prototype of the Kilogram at the Bureau international des poids et mesures listened respectfully to Lord Geoffrey as he suggested, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, that the French authorities do this or that to safeguard the precious little ball of platinum alloy. They were not amused. They suggested obliquely that the British had some nerve trying to tell the French what to do with something as essentially French as the IPK. They assured him that it was quite safe right where it was in its temperature- and humidity-controlled case. And there was a temperature- and humidity-controlled vault downstairs to move it to in case of air raids. Which were, in any case, highly unlikely. The French Air Force, the magnificent Armée de l’Air, would easily shoot down any Luftwaffe bombers before they could get this far. And besides, the war would likely be over in three months, when General Gamelin decided it was time to take the offensive.

Geoffrey thanked them for this reassuring news and left shortly before lunchtime.

His first stop was back at the British embassy to report on the results, or lack thereof, of his morning’s endeavor, and then to talk an undersecretary for procurement into authorizing the purchase of a short-wave radio.

‘You know we have one here, Lord Geoffrey,’ Undersecretary Frobisher reminded him. ‘As a matter of fact, come to think of it, more than one. In the communications center in the basement. Why can’t you use one of them?’

‘I believe they are monitoring certain frequencies twenty-four hours a day,’ Geoffrey said. ‘I might need to skip around a bit.’

‘I’m sure that there is at least one that is not so employed,’ said Frobisher.

‘Yes, but it may well be in use on embassy business at the specific times I would need it,’ Geoffrey said. ‘And if it was free, that would present its own problems.’

‘What problems?’ the undersecretary asked unwisely.

‘You don’t want me arriving here at three in the morning,’ Geoffrey told him, ‘and I don’t want to try to get back home at four ack emma. Hard to get a cab at that hour.’

‘Why can’t you drive yourself?’ asked Frobisher. ‘At that hour the streets are just about deserted, I would imagine.’

‘The Bentley is on the estate back home,’ Geoffrey told him. ‘I hope not being driven by my brother, the Duke, who has his own. He likes tootling around the countryside without his chauffeur, but he keeps hitting things. Usually fenceposts and trees; he hasn’t mowed down a person yet, praise the Lord.’

‘Well,’ began Frobisher.

‘I suppose the embassy chauffeur could drive me, if he doesn’t mind getting up at four in the morning.’

‘That wouldn’t be—’

‘No, I suppose it wouldn’t. Say – if the embassy wants to authorize the purchase of an auto …’

‘Well.

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.