Quiller's Run

'Who is General Dharmnoon?'

There was another silence. He was doing a lot of thinking, which didn't surprise me.

'He's Shoda's chief army commander, in charge of all her splinter groups.'

'There was a copy of a letter in the briefcase, written to Mariko Shoda. It said that Lafarge was "at present furthering arrangements for the acquisition of one hundred Slingshots, as outlined to General Dharmnoon". That's a quote.'

I waited for him to do some more thinking, suddenly aware of the sharp smell of antiseptics, an itching under the left wrist, hunger. They'd changed the dressing for me at the base hospital, and I hadn't eaten since the Red Cross had brought us the sandwiches at three o'clock this morning. Faint voices from outside, one of them an American's.

'They can't buy them,' Pepperidge said.

'For acquisition read steal.'

'Absolutely. I'll tell Laker Foundry to double the guard at the factory. And I don't know why you're so wary of Johnny Chen. This is a major breakthrough.'

'Just that it crashed. I'll get over it.' The memory wasn't ready to let go yet, that was all, the memory of the two voices, the one on the paging phone – There will be an accident, do you understand? – and the one on the radio three hours later – It has just been reported that a Thai International Airlines plane has come down in deep jungle north of Chathaburi. The names of the crew and passengers are being withheld until more information is available. One of the names on the passenger manifest had been Martin Jordan.

'Yes,' I heard Pepperidge saying, 'I know how you must have felt.' With hesitation he said, 'They kept me up to date, you see, the Thais, so I knew you were down to take that flight, and when they signalled me that it had crashed I broke the rules and hit the Scotch for a while. All right now, stone cold sober. You understand, I suppose, that a hundred of those things would give Mariko Shoda complete control of all air movement up to thirty thousand feet, wherever she chose to deploy them? Just a hundred launchers, plus, say, ten missiles to each.'

He was right. Major breakthrough.

'It's coming together,' I said.

'Indeed. And too bloody fast. I've got to go and get a few people out of bed, do some phoning round London. Look, can you send me copies of that stuff in the briefcase?'

'They're on their way.'

'Where to?'

'The Thai Embassy in London. I did it from the air base here through Bangkok.'

'First rate. I need to check them later with Laker for authenticity. Have you got anything else for me?'

'No.'

'Well, this is more than enough to get on with. Listen, old boy' – hesitating again – 'I ran into Fletcher yesterday.' I waited. The only Fletcher he could mean was a high-echelon control at the Bureau. 'I didn't say where you were, of course, or what you're doing. But they'd take you back, you know. Any time.'

'No.'

Once you've gone, we can never ask you back. That bastard Loman. Changed his tune.

'They'd be pretty accommodating. They'd send you a director in the field, right away. Anyone you asked for. Even Ferris.'

My God, what wouldn't I give for Ferris. . .

'They can't touch it,' I said. 'You know that. They haven't got-'

'Strictly under the table, of course.'

'That's where they put that fucking bomb.'

In a moment he said ruefully, 'Message understood. But I want to ask you something. When can you go to ground?'

'As soon as I can.'

'You're not going to survive, otherwise. They won't just leave it like that.' He meant the clowning around in the limousine.

'I know. As soon as I can.'

'I've got someone standing by,' he said, 'out there.'

'Listen, if you -'

'Now don't fidget. All I've told him is that I might want to call on him at any given moment. He's very good, and -'

'I've told you I don't -'

'I simply want you to know,' he said with studied patience, 'that if you ever need support, you've got it, instantly. If, for instance, you decided you can't trust Thai Intelligence." I didn't say anything; he waited and then asked, 'Have you ever heard of a man in that region named Colonel Cho?'

'How do you spell it?'

'C-H-O.'

'No.'

'If you do, tell me. He's someone I'm working on. And listen, signal me at any time on any subject, and I'll get to work immediately.' With a kind of weary persuasion, 'I really am on the ball, you know.'

I told him I understood dial.

Then I rang off and wondered if I should have told him that I'd just made up my mind to do the most dangerous thing I'd ever done in any mission up to now. Better to have left it; he'd only have hit the bloody Scotch again.

11 Shoda

Dusk was falling. It lowered among the cypresses, softening the edges of the shadows as the day's light died, covering them minute by minute until the lawns and the pathways began losing substance, leaving only the slender trees to stand on their own, holding the sky aloft on their dark columns. The air, even at this hour, was not still; it was filled with the gong's vibrations.

The gong was huge, hanging between the beams of its timber frame, and the striker itself was massive, ten feet long and hewn from a single tree trunk, its end capped with cowhide to muffle the sound, its cords passing through a pulley as big as a man's head. A monk in a yellow robe dragged on the end of the main rope, timing the strokes at long intervals, so that the gong's sound was a continuous vibration, booming and fading but never becoming silent. It seemed to possess the power of something palpable, as if without its presence filling the air the whole temple would fall down.

I had come alone.

The catafalque was ornate, red and gold and encrusted with carvings, and six men were bearing it step by step across the ancient stones; four monks paced beside it, intoning the prayer for the dead.

Khor hai khwarm song cham khong thun dai rap karn uay phorn… Khor hai Phraphuttha-ong rap than wai nai phramaha-karunathikhun talord karn…

Dominic Edouard Lafarge.

Inside the temple the light was low, coming mainly from the lanterns hanging from the arched ceiling but also from the rows of candles burning beneath the many Buddhas; as the guests came in, more were lighted, and more prayers said.

Khun yang khong pen thi rak loch yang khongyu nai khwarm song cham khong thuk khon. Khwarm khit khamnueng khong rao thueng than ca tham hat vinyarn khong than pay su sukhati talord kam.

In here the air was heavy with incense. There was no music, but the cavernous space made an echo chamber for the booming of the great gong outside. The guests were either in black or white, many of them robed. As the catafalque was lifted to the raised platform, two men opened the top, and the right hand of Dominic Lafarge was exposed, palm upwards, with its fingers curled. The mourners had already formed a line, and one after another poured the holy water into his hand, above a chased-silver bowl.

Than priap samuean phi khong rao sueng sathit yu ban suang sarvan.

I'd come alone because I didn't want the responsibility of anyone else's life. I hadn't even told Rattakul where I was going, because where I was going was into hazard, taking a calculated risk. This was hostile ground, and my only chance was that it was also sacred.

There weren't many guests, but I sensed that it wasn't because Lafarge lacked status but because Mariko Shoda's organisation practised privacy. Most of the people here would be the elite of her entourage, including, I hoped, General Dharmnoon. I suppose the chances of talking to him in any safety were less than a hundred to one, but if I could talk to him, knowing what I did, I could accelerate the mission and get close to the objective and find out what I had to do then, how to destroy Shoda without killing her. This much had been understood by Pepperidge and was understood by Prince Kityakara and his intelligence services: the only time I've ever killed except to save my life was to avenge a woman's death. It's never, in any case, an elegant solution; to take a life shows a lack of style.