The Secret Families by Gardner John

Author:Gardner, John [Gardner, John]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2014-06-03T04:00:00+00:00

2

They met in almost farcical secrecy, in a rather opulent safe house the firm kept for delicate matters just off St James’s. There were even code sentences to be exchanged on arrival and, once inside, Alexander Percival Railton almost went berserk.

‘I was told Willis Maitland-Wood was to meet me here with you. I insist on seeing him. There are questions I must put to him.’

Gus Keene, accompanied by Martin Brook, thought Alex was going to stamp his small foot.

Indeed, Alexander’s size went totally against genetics. All the Railton men produced in their own image, in spite of their chosen wives’ genes. They had sons about them who were tall, long-boned, fine-looking and with one distinctive feature, patrician noses that flared slightly at the nostrils. Railton men who sired females found the daughters all took after their mothers.

Like his great-grandfather Giles, whom he had never met, Alexander was the exception and Caspar, though he never said a word, was sad at the physical shaping of his son, overcompensating by being more generous and affectionate to Alexander, though the son showed little respect for his parents. Alexander was short, just over five feet, with dark unruly hair, and an odd strutting gait which bespoke arrogance, not an unknown quality in small men.

Certainly he was brilliant, a superb mathematician with a distinct bent towards electronics, who had graduated into the field of clandestine communications during the Second World War. It was natural that he would become a senior officer at GCHQ, and he had risen there, happily concerning himself with codes, ciphers and analysis.

Even when he had met, courted, bedded and then married the fair Delia Butcher, at the relatively late age of forty-two — Delia was twenty-six — in 1962, Alexander seemed to continue to be wrapped up in his work. He had no really close friends at GCHQ, but those who knew him best said that with marriage he had become less tense, and certainly seemed to look younger and even dress differently. If it had been a woman, people would have said ‘mutton dressed as lamb’. With Alexander, friends admired the new, fashionable cut of his clothes.

Yet now, throwing this small tantrum in the house off St James’s, Gus Keene’s instinct told him this was a Railton who could turn out to be a painful thorn in his flesh. He had absolutely no desire to interrogate the unpleasant, moody little man, but he started right in with a certain amount of aggression.

‘Mr Maitland-Wood can be called.’ He placed a hand gently but firmly on Alexander’s shoulder, propelling him into the room they planned to use. ‘You may talk to him when he’s free. In the meantime, Mr Railton, I require words with you.’

‘And who the bloody blazes do you think you are, Keene?’ Both words and voice betrayed the terror under the bluster.

‘You know very well who I am. The name’s Keene, Mr Railton, and that’s really what I am, and you know it. Keen as mustard, keen to get on with my job, keen for results.

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