Touch the Devil by Jack Higgins Read Free Book Online

twelve rockets simultaneously. Imagine them as missiles in miniature--heat-seeking, of course, spreading out in a field of fire that could stop a whole group of massed tanks. What a machine gun is to a rifle this new weapon is to the bazooka. It enables one foot soldier to fire the heat-seeking equivalent of a dozen bazooka shells at once, each capable of knocking out the biggest Soviet tank. A tank thrust into Europe could be stopped dead by NATO infantry."
    "Jesus," Barry said. "You'd wonder how they lost the war. What'll they come up with next?"
    "We must study the weapon and develop a suitable electronic defense. We've tried every way possible to get hold of one, but so far, we've failed. We must have one, Frank."
    "So, where do I come into it?"
    Belov started to unfold the maps. "I've had a report today of a rather interesting development. The Germans intend to demonstrate this weapon to the British and others at the British army rocket proving ground near Wastwater in the Lake District next Thursday. There's a team of Germans taking one over on Wednesday--an officer and six men. There's an unused RAF base at Brisingham, only twenty miles from the proving ground. They'll land there to be taken the rest of the way by truck."
    "Interesting." Barry opened the maps right across the table.
    "Frank, pull this off for me, and it would be worth half a million."
    Barry didn't seem to hear him. "I'd need ground support. Someone I could rely on in the general area of things. A thoroughgoing crook, preferably. Could your people in London arrange that?"
    "Anything, Frank."
    "And more maps. English ordnance survey maps. I want to know that area like the back of my hand."
    "I'll have them around to you in the morning."
    "Tonight," Barry said. "I'll also need fake passports. One British , one French, and one American, just to vary things. Details like who I am I'll leave up to your experts."
    "All right," Belov said.
    "And keep the SDECE off my back. Tell them I've been seen in Turkey or gone to the Argentine."
    Since the Sapphire scandal, the intelligence networks of most Western countries had had a rather poor opinion of the French intelligence service, believing it to be penetrated by the KGB, which it was--certainly enough for Belov to be able to agree to Barry's request.
    "And one more thing," Barry added, as Belov opened the door. "A banking account in my English identity for fifty thousand pounds' working capital." He smiled softly. "And it'll cost you a million, Nikolai. This one will cost you a million."
    Belov shrugged. "Frank, just get it for us and you'll see how satisfactory your reward can be."
    He went out, and Barry locked and chained the door, then returned to the table, sat down at the maps, and started to give the whole thing some thought.
    Harry Fox was just about to step into the shower when his phone rang. He cursed, pulled a towel around himself, and went to answer it.
    "Harry, Ferguson here. You know what you said earlier about setting a thief to catch a thief. You've given me a very interesting idea. Go to the office, bring me Martin Brosnan's file, and you might as well bring Devlin's while you're at it."
    Fox glanced at his watch. "You mean in the morning, sir?" "I mean now, damn you!"
    Ferguson slammed down his phone, and Fox replaced his receiver and checked his watch. It was just after two A . M . He sighed, returned to the bathroom, and started to dress.

    Chapter Three.
    "Martin Aodh Brosnan," Ferguson said. "The Aodh is Gaelic for Hugh, if you're interested, after his maternal grandfather, a well-known Dubliner in his day."
    The fire was burning well, it was four o'clock in the morning, and Harry Fox felt unaccountably alive--except for the hand, of course, which ached a little as if it were still there. That always happened under stress.
    "According to the file, he was born in Boston in nineteen forty-five, sir, of Irish-American parentage. His great, great grandfather emigrated from Kerry during the