A Delicate Truth by John le Carré Read Free Book Online Page A

twine or raffia. It’s a bin bag. It’s a bin
     bag with a football or a human head or a bomb in it. It’s the kind of suspicious
     object which, if you saw it lying around untended at a railway station, you either told
     someone or you didn’t, depending how shy you were.
    The cameras were vying with each other to
     get at it. Aerialshots followed ground-level close-ups and wide-angle
     shots of the terrace at giddying speed. Out to sea, the helicopter had dropped low over
     the mother ship in protection. In the hide, Jeb was urging sweet reason:
    ‘It’s a
bag
, Elliot, is
     what it is’ – his Welsh voice at its gentlest and most persistent.
     ‘That’s all we know, see. We don’t know what’s in it, we
     can’t hear it, we can’t smell it, can we? There’s no green smoke
     coming out of it, no external wires or aerials that we can see, and I’m sure you
     can’t either. Maybe it’s just a kid doing a bit of fly-tipping for his
     mum … No, Elliot, I don’t think we’ll do that, thank you. I think
     we’ll leave it where it is and let it do whatever it was brought here to do, if
     you don’t mind, and we’ll go on waiting till it does it, same as we’re
     waiting for
Aladdin
.’
    Is this an electronic silence or a human
     one?
    ‘It’s his weekly washing,’
     Shorty suggested under his breath.
    ‘No, Elliot, we’re not doing
     that,’ said Jeb, his voice much sharper. ‘We emphatically are
not
going down to take a closer look inside that bag. We’re not going to interfere
     with that bag in any way, Elliot. That could be exactly what they’re waiting for
     us to do: they want to flush us out in case we’re on the premises. Well,
     we’re not on the premises, are we? Not for a teaser like that we’re not.
     Which is another good reason for leaving it put.’
    Another fade-out, a longer one.
    ‘We have an
arrangement
,
     Elliot,’ Jeb continued with superhuman patience. ‘Maybe you’ve
     forgotten that. Once the land team has fixed the target, and not before, we’ll
     come down the hill. And your sea team, you’ll come in from the sea, and together
     we’ll finish the job. That was the arrangement. You own the sea, we own the land.
     Well, the bag’s on the land, isn’t it? And we haven’t fixed the
     target, and I’m not about to see our respective teams going into a dark building
     from opposite sides,and nobody knowing who’s waiting there for
     us, or isn’t. Do I have to repeat that, Elliot?’
    ‘Paul?’
    ‘Yes, Nine.’
    ‘What’s your personal take on
     that bag? Advise me immediately. Do you buy Jeb’s arguments or not?’
    ‘Unless you have a better one, Nine,
     yes I do’ – firm but respectful, taking his tone from Jeb’s.
    ‘Could be a warning to
Punter
to do a runner. How about that, then? Has anyone thought of that your end?’
    ‘I’m sure they’ve thought
     about that very deeply, as I have. However, the bag could equally well be a signal to
Aladdin
to say it’s safe, so come on in. Or it could be a signal to
     stay away. It seems to me pure speculation at best. Too many possibilities altogether,
     in my view,’ he ended boldly, even adding: ‘In the circumstances,
     Jeb’s position strikes me as eminently reasonable, I have to say.’
    ‘Don’t lecture me. All wait till
     I return.’
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘And no fucking
of
     course
!’
    The line goes stone dead. No shuffle of
     breath, no background atmospherics. Just a long silence over the cellphone pressed
     harder and harder to his ear.
     
    *
     
    ‘Jesus
fuck
!’ – Don, at
     full force.
    Again they are all five huddled at the
     arrow-slit as a high-sided car with full headlights shoots out of the tunnel and speeds
     towards the terraces. It’s
Aladdin
, in his people carrier, late for his
     appointment. It’s not. It’s the blue Toyota four-by-four without its CONFERENCE sign. Veering off the coast road, bumping on to the
     metalled service track and heading straight for