A Matter of Honour by Jeffrey Archer

Author:Jeffrey Archer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Conduct of life, Espionage, Fiction
ISBN: 9780330419055
Publisher: Pan
Published: 2003-07-04T16:44:20+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When Adam returned to the Hotel Frantel an hour later few guests would have recognised the man who had crept in earlier that afternoon.

He wore a new shirt, trousers, tie and a double-breasted blazer that wouldn’t be fashionable in Britain for at least another year. Even the raincoat had been ditched because the icon fitted snugly into the blazer pocket. He considered the shop had probably given him a poor exchange rate for his traveller’s cheques but that was not what had been occupying his mind for the past hour.

He booked himself into a single room in the name of Dudley Hulme and a few minutes later took the lift to the third floor.

Lawrence picked the phone up even before Adam heard the second ring.

“It’s me,” said Adam.

“Where are you?” were Lawrence’s first words.

“I’ll ask the questions,” said Adam.

“I can understand how you feel,” said Lawrence, “but. . .”

“No buts. You must be aware by now that someone on your so-called team has a direct line to the Russians because it was Romanov and his friends who were waiting for me outside the hotel in Geneva, not your lot.”

“We realise that now,” said Lawrence.

“We?” said Adam. “Who are we? Because I’m finding it rather hard to work out who’s on my side.”

“You don’t believe that...”

“When you get your girlfriend murdered, chased across Europe by professional killers, shot at and...”

“Shot at?” said Lawrence.

“Yes, your friend Romanov took a shot at me today, hit me in the shoulder. Next time we meet I intend it to be the other way round and it won’t be the shoulder.”

“There won’t be a next time,” said Lawrence, “because we’ll get you out safely if you’ll only let me know where you are.”

The memory of Robin’s words, “Just be wary of how much you let him know,” stopped Adam from telling Lawrence his exact location.

“Adam, for God’s sake, you’re on your own; if you don’t trust me who can you trust? I admit it looks as if we let you down. But it won’t happen again.”

There was another long silence before Adam said, “I’m in Dijon.”

“Why Dijon?”

“Because the only person who would give me a lift was going to a mustard conference in Dijon.”

Lawrence couldn’t stop himself smiling. “Give me your number and I’ll phone you back within the hour.”

“No,” said Adam, “I’ll phone you back in one hour.”

“Adam, you’ve got to show some trust in me.”

“Not now that I know what it is you’re all after, I can’t afford to trust anybody.”

Adam replaced the phone and stared down at the icon which lay open on the bed. It wasn’t the signature of Stoeckle or Seward that worried him. It was the date -June 20, 1966 – that read like a death warrant.

“Goodnight, sir,” said the doorkeeper as the senior civil servant left Century House that evening. “Another late night for you,” he added sympathetically. He acknowledged the doorman by raising his rolled umbrella a few inches. It had been another late night, but at least they had caught up with Scott again.

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.