The Blue Ring by A. J. Quinnell Read Free Book Online

had been a stranger and arrived into his life and given him
the satisfaction of vengeance; a man whom he respected to his core. Of course the
conversation had been so abrupt as to be monosyllabic, but the contact and the
voice had blown away a loneliness. He recalled the days gone by with Creasy.
The man he had found drinking at the bar in his lounge late one night, the man
who told him that together they would take vengeance on those people who had
killed their loved ones. The man who had done what he had said he would do.
Grainger knew all about Michael and what he also had done on that trail of vengeance.
    He decided to go right down the line on what Creasy had asked for. He picked up
the phone, flicked through his personal directory and dialled the number of the
director of the FBI.
     
    When Creasy was shown back into Lars Pedersen's office he was greeted with deference
and even given a cup of coffee. Forty minutes later he was drinking another cup
of coffee and talking to Birgitte Jensen in her apartment.
    "Marseille,"
she told him. "They left yesterday morning by air via Paris."
    "Do
you know where they're staying?"
    She
shook her head, looking worried. "No. Jens told me he would phone me in
four or five days. He expected to be away about a month." She paused and
said tentatively, "Michael told us something about you, Mr Creasy, and I
know why they've gone down there. Is there a great danger?"
    He
shrugged and said non-committally, "I don't think so, but I'd like to
be there. Do you know if your husband has any contacts in Marseille?"
    "Yes.
He will certainly have a contact in their Missing Persons Bureau."
    "Do
you know his name?"
    "No,
but it will be on file at police headquarters here."
    "Would
you mind getting Lars Pedersen on the phone for me?"
    She
smiled at the thought of phoning her husband's boss. A minute later Creasy was
talking to Lars Pedersen and two minutes later he had the information he
wanted. He turned to Birgitte and said, "Your husband's contact is an
Inspector Serge Corelli."
    "Will
you phone him?" she asked.
    Creasy
shook his head.
    "No.
It's better that I wait until I get there. I'll be in Marseille by tomorrow
morning. As soon as I arrive I'll call you and give you the name and number of
my hotel. When Jens rings tell him to have Michael contact me there immediately
and to do nothing until I talk to him. If Jens phones tonight, get a contact address
and phone number."
    He
moved to the door and as he opened it she said, "I'm glad you're going
down there. I feel better about it."
    He
turned and for the first time smiled. "Don't worry. Your husband will be
just fine."
    He
closed the door behind him and stood on the small landing. He moved towards the
lift but suddenly stopped and leant against the wall. Pain went through him. It
had only been three days since his operations. They had taken out the metal,
but the pain was still there.
    He
dragged in air and created a mind over matter situation. His body would do what
his mind instructed. It had always been that way. Even when the blood flowed.
He thought again about the woman he had just left. The last words he had spoken
were for her comfort, but inside he had a suspicion that her husband might not
be fine. Creasy knew Marseille well. He had joined the French Foreign Legion
there many years before, and the one thing in his favour now was that he had
good contacts in the city. As he pressed the button to call the lift, a thought
struck him: Michael would need weapons. They had gone to Marseille via Paris,
and Michael knew where to get weapons in Paris.
    He
turned back and knocked on the apartment door again. When Birgitte opened it he
said, "Sorry to bother you, but can I make a quick call to Paris?"
    She
nodded. "Certainly."
    She
understood French very well, but the side of the conversation she heard was
puzzling. On getting through Creasy simply said, "Do you recognise my
voice?...Good. Have you seen my son recently? Did you give or sell