'No bid, sir. There's nothing to go on.'
'Mm. And presumably we're in a similar state of non-information about where this scheme, whatever it is, whoever's running it, is going to be mounted. Any reports of unusual activity from any of your stations abroad?'
'No, sir. Of course, I've asked for a special watch to be kept.'
'Yes, yes. So we know nothing. It looks as if we have merely to wait until the other side makes a move. Thank you, all of you, for your help. I'm sure none of you could have done more than you have. I'm sorry if I may have seemed to suggest that you, Mr Bond, could have acted in any other way. I spoke without thinking. Your escape is the one redeeming feature of this whole affair.'
The Minister spoke with what sounded very much like simple sincerity. The thought had occurred to him - belatedly, but then he had always been prone to let his impatience with lower-echelon muddle run away with him - that although he was not in fairness accountable for the abduction of the head of the Secret Service, his Cabinet colleagues as a whole held the view of fairness common to politicians. In other words, this business could be turned into a most useful weapon in the hands of anybody who might want to get him pushed out. Envy, spite, ambition were everywhere around him. These people here might not be the most satisfactory or effective allies, but they were the only ones immediately available. He turned to Valiance, whom he had several times in the past dismissed as an over-dressed popinjay, and said in a humble tone, unconsciously smoothing the front of his own frilled azure evening shirt as he spoke, 'In the meantime, Assistant Commissioner, what about the Press? A 'D' notice, do you suppose? I'm more than content to be guided by you.'
Valiance did not dare glance at Bond or Tanner. 'I think not a black-out, sir. The Admiral has plenty of connections and we don't want them turning inquisitive. I suggest a short tucked-away paragraph saying his indisposition continues and he's been advised to take a thorough rest.'
'Excellent. I'll leave that in your hands, then. Now - any more suggestions? However tentative. Anybody...?'
Crawford stirred. 'Well, sir, if I may just...'
'Go on, Inspector. Please go on.' Sir Ranald crinkled his eyelids. 'Most welcome.'
'It's this piece of paper with the names and numbers which we all had a look at earlier. We found it crumpled up in a corner of the man's wallet. I understand the cipher people are working on a copy of it still but are just about sure it's a waste of time, there being so little of it. I wondered whether we might perhaps take another look at it ourselves. Have we considered the possibility that these are telephone numbers?'
'I'm afraid there's nothing in that, Inspector,' said Tanner, rubbing his eyes wearily. ' 'Christiana' looks like Christiania in Norway, of course, and 'Vasso' might be Vassy in northeastern France, and we all know where Paris is, but it didn't take us ten minutes to establish that these numbers aren't possible for the exchanges at those three places, any more than, say, Whitehall 123 would be for London. If they are telephone numbers they're probably coded on some substitution system we've no means of cracking, so we're back where we were. Sorry to disappoint you.'
'Might they be map references?' put in the UnderSecretary.
Tanner shook his head. 'Wrong number of figures.'
'Actually, sir,' the Inspector went on with quiet persistence, 'I wasn't really meaning it quite like that. Take the one we haven't mentioned - Antigone. What does that suggest to people?'
'Greek play,' said Tanner. 'Sophocles, isn't it? Code word for God knows what.'
'That is possible, sir. But Antigone isn't only a Greek play, is it? It's also a Greek name. A woman's name. I don't know whether it's still in use there, but I do know a lot of these classical names are. Now Christiana. Doesn't that sound like a woman's name too, on the lines of Christine and Christina and so on? Christiana might be the Greek form. And Paris, of course, is another Greek name.'
Abruptly, Bill Tanner got to his feet and hurried to a telephone that stood on an ink-stained and cigarette- burned trestle table by the wall.
'As regards Vasso, I'm afraid I don't - '
'What are you leading up to, Inspector?' broke in Sir Ranald, with a return to his earlier manner.
'That our man was going to Greece and had got some telephone numbers off somebody so that he could fix himself up with some female company if he felt inclined. That these are telephone numbers on the same unstated exchange. A large one, presumably. Athens, as it might be. Or at least that that's what we were supposed to think, sir.'
Sir Ranald frowned. 'But Paris is a man's name. I hardly - '
'Quite so, sir, the abductor of Helen of Troy, the man who started the Trojan War. But if you'll just take another look...'
Crawford passed over the small creased sheet of cheap lined paper. The Minister, still frowning, hitched over his ears a pair of spectacles with heavy black frames and peered at the ballpoint scrawl. He sniffed. 'Well?'
'Immediately above 'Paris' there, sir... It's not at all clear, but it looks to me like 'If supplies fail' or 'fall'. If Antigone and the other two were away or he didn't like them or something then Paris was going to be able to fix him up.'
'Mm.' Sir Ranald took the spectacles off again and chewed at the earpiece. His eyes darted briefly to Tanner, who was still telephoning. 'What did you say about our being supposed to think this?'
'To me this looks planted, sir. If it's genuine it got into our hands as a result of at least three oversights. Not removing the body. Not emptying the pockets. Not at any rate searching the pockets. Well, now...'
'You mean it's a red herring?'
'No, sir, quite the contrary. It's a straightforward pointer to Greece, clear enough but not too clear.'
Tanner rang off and returned to his chair. He glanced over at Crawford with heightened respect.
'All four are perfectly possible modern Greek first names, according to Mary Kyris at the Embassy. And the
