Albatross by Evelyn Anthony Read Free Book Online

Just the four of us. We haven’t seen you for far too long. Bye.’
    Lomax put the phone down. Somebody had better sort out the Arlington Agency end. Even Charlie had sounded surprised, and in Colin’s opinion she wasn’t bright enough to be suspicious. He decided to have a word with Humphrey Grant. No point in worrying Davina. He said that privately about a lot of things. It was the nearest he could get to protecting her and assuming his natural role in their relationship. He had come close to dying for her once. He loved her so much he wouldn’t have minded doing it again. Except that he wanted to live with her instead. He wanted to bind her to him, tether her with a couple of children, build a life for both of them in which the world of secrets and violence was only a memory.
    But he had helped to put the net into her hands, and they were both too dedicated and professional to hand it back. First catch the traitor, the Russian implant that had grown in the body of the SIS like a silent cancer. Men and women had been betrayed to death and the labour camps. Davina herself had suffered torture; an innocent woman had been tormented and killed in Mexico, and the same sly hand had helped to guide her to her fate.
    The man had to be caught. Then it would be time for Colin to lay claim once and for all to Davina Graham. In the meantime something had to be done to tighten up the situation at Arlington Street. It wouldn’t do if Kidson himself or the brigadier tried to contact her and the response was similar to Charlie’s – they would quickly scent something was amiss. He called Grant’s private number; it was nearly seven and Davina must be caught in the West End traffic to be so late.
    â€˜Hello?’ Grant’s voice was brittle and staccato. He never gave his number or identified himself until he knew who was calling.
    â€˜Lomax.’ Colin was equally laconic on the phone.
    â€˜What’s wrong?’ Typical of Humphrey to assume the worst.
    â€˜Nothing, except your cover. The agency doesn’t deal with inquiries very well. It needs tightening up that end.’
    â€˜I’ll speak to Walden,’ Humphrey promised. ‘Is Davina back yet? No, no, I don’t want her telephoning me. I’ll meet her in the usual place tomorrow if she’s any news. You ring me if she has. Just confirm the appointment for tomorrow.’
    â€˜Right.’ Colin hung up. He poured himself a whisky, shrugged aside the still recurring urge to smoke a cigarette, and switched on the TV. He didn’t watch the programme, he looked at the flickering figures on the screen and dimly heard the sound of voices, while his thoughts ranged far away from the small sitting room. The first clue had appeared when he was studying the dossier on Davina Graham, long before he met her and they went to America together.
    He had been trained to pick up details, however insignificant or irrelevant they seemed. The Special Air Service had trained his body and conditioned his mind to fight the enemy; but from there he had gone into the secret world of army undercover agents who penetrated the IRA in Northern Ireland. He was operating in that section when he won his George Cross. London knew the calibre of the man when they recruited him. A rare combination of brute strength and skill, with a considerable flair for intelligence work. It was a tiny piece of grit that lodged in his mental eye and worried him.
    Six years ago Colonel Ivan Sasanov of the KGB had defected to the West. Davina Graham had been selected as his ‘minder’, a job that required tact and patience and had always been allotted to a man. He remembered the comments made about her at the time. Dedicated, highly intelligent, efficient. Reserved. No men friends and no intimates in the Service. No friends to tempt her into indiscretion. He had read farther back, right to the beginning of her recruitment and training, and found one