It was hardly a question; she had his long professional curriculum vitae at her fingertips for sure, Jaggard would have seen to that too. 'No, not much — hardly anything, really. But I meant the old old days, Miss Franklin . . . may I call you 'Mary', Miss Franklin?'
'Of course, Dr Audley.' She had the measure of the Porsche now: she was a good driver, predictably. And the Porsche was also slowing down somewhat — also predictably, as its occupants began to talk to each other, each having no doubt decided that there was more to be gained from the other by a temporary alliance than by chalk-and-cheese antagonism.
'What 'old' old days?'
'When I was a student. And after.' The past pointed conveniently to the present. 'The Middle Ages was my special period. And the Welsh Marches are very . . .
medieval, Mary. Lots of big castles . . . Chepstow, Raglan up dummy1
ahead . . . Pembroke, to the west.'
'Yes?' She nodded politely into the murk. 'You wrote a book about the Earl of Pembroke, didn't you?'
'William Marshall — yes.' That would have been in the CV.
'And lots of smaller castles. And middling ones, like the
'quadrilateral' — Skenfrith, Grosmont, White and Maerdy, from Marshall's time. Although Hubert de Burgh held them then, of course.' He threw the names in deliberately. 'They control the Monow valley, which is the way into Wales from Hereford. And out of it, into England — Hereford-Worcester, Hereford-Gloucester . . . and Cheltenham.'
'Cheltenham?' Her interest stirred, as he intended it should.
'Indeed. And do you enjoy working for Henry Jaggard, Mary?'
The rain slashed down more heavily. 'I thought we were talking about medieval castles, Dr Audley?'
'You ought to work for Research and Development. You'd have much more fun . . . Did you do what I asked, last evening? Has Henry made contact with the Russians?'
She reached forward to increase the speed of the windscreen-wipers. 'A meeting has been arranged for this afternoon. At 4 P.M. — '
Audley frowned. 'As late as that?'
'Is that late?' She peered at a signpost. ''St Briavels Castle' ... Is that one of your 'middling' castles, Dr Audley?'
dummy1
The Russians were in no hurry to talk. 'They're still looking for Lukianov, I take it?'
'Yes.' She shrugged. 'It seems so. But Mr Aston and Mr Renshaw are both insistent that we don't do anything without consulting them.' She glanced at him meaningfully.
'Nothing must be done to disturb Gorbachev's visit to London after he's spoken to the UN in New York.'
Bloody politicians. And also, perhaps, bloody Henry Jaggard, too. 'Did Mr Jaggard let slip that I was close to finding Major Richardson, as I suggested?' He could see the river through the bushes, close to the road. But it was muddy and fast-flowing after the night's rain, not at all the sylvan Wye of his memory and the poet's imagination. 'Did he?'
'I don't know, Dr Audley.' Her lips tightened.
It wasn't like working for Jack Butler. Although even Jack might have had scruples about rocking the boat, the way things were. And that left only Jake Shapiro. But it wasn't going to be so easy to get through to Jake with Mary Franklin on his own back again.
'So what do you know?' He heard the snap in his voice. 'Is there nothing new on Lukianov? Or the others — what they were up to, between them?'
She relaxed slightly. 'We've heard from Washington . . . they believe Prusakov and Kulik sabotaged their respective computers, to remove information from them. And either dummy1
they, or maybe General Lukianov shredded certain files in their Central Records. But that's all —except there's been a joint KGB/GRU committee set up, to try and reconstruct what's missing. And that's been working round the clock — '
she frowned at him suddenly ' — but you said — ?'
That about wraps it up? Or does it? Damn Henry Jaggard!
The brake-lights of the Porsche glowed ahead, almost as though its driver had heard his uneasy thoughts. But other brake-lights were also winking on and off: they were approaching the junction of the Monmouth-Gloucester (and Cheltenham!) road, with the old bridge and the fast road to Hereford just ahead. And this early, in this weather, both the junction and the old bridge could be
