'Later we might see what we can do with your back. There we have the added factor that the recipient is unaware of where and when each successive stimulus will be applied. The uncertainty can have interesting consequences. But it's vulgar to exchange threats. I'll leave you to your lunch. Evgeny has promised something special in the way of an omelette. And today I think we might allow you a glass of wine. You'll want to drink to the safe arrival of your friend and colleague.'
Turning away, M gazed out once more at the empty sector of sea.
Chapter 14
The Butcher of Kapoudzona
'THE GENERAL was very worried by what I had to tell him,' said Ariadne. 'He wants you to go see him and have a talk. I think he proposes to join forces with you. He said he needs your help. After the interview, of course, you're free to go if you want to.'
Bond examined the tip of his cigarette. 'What guarantee have I that he'll let me go once he's got me there?'
'Oh, you have his word for that. The word of a colonel-general in the KGB.'
There was silence for a moment in the saloon of the _Altair__. Then Bond and Litsas exploded into laughter.
'Did I do it well?' asked Ariadne eagerly. 'Did I have you fooled any of the time?'
Bond put his arms round her and kissed her cheek. 'No,' he said, 'I'm afraid not. You'll never make a proper spy; you're too honest. We could tell you were hating every word you said and despising the whole thing for being so unbelievable. A very poor performance all round.'
'That chap seems to be raving mad.' Litsas was pouring ouzo for the three of them. 'What was he thinking? You told him the whole story, I suppose?'
'Everything. He didn't believe me. Oh, he believed the part about Mr Gordienko because even a moron like myself wouldn't tell a lie he could check out. But the rest was that James was smooth-talking me to help him fight some gangsters so that he could try to blow up this conference. He wouldn't succeed, of course, because the general's precautions are so marvellous, but the man Bond is a dangerous criminal,' - she mimicked Arenski's accent scornfully - 'and might be a nuisance; I had to pretend to go along with him or I would not have gotten away myself.'
'In other words,' said Bond, 'he went on as if he'd decided not to believe you as soon as he set eyes on you.'
Ariadne nodded vigorously. 'Right. I was exactly the person he couldn't believe. I'm Greek, so I'm backward and stupid and a peasant. Then I'm a woman.'
'Oh, he's...' - Litsas gestured - 'one of the boys, is he?'
'Yes: you should have seen the look he gave Yanni. You ask him. Well, also I'm middle-class, so I'm a sentimental idiot who can't understand politics. And finally I'm GRU and Arenski's KGB.'
'Yes, that would certainly make you enemies,' said Litsas dryly. 'It must.'
Bond grinned. 'The GRU is the Intelligence agency of the Red Army, Niko. They go in for ordinary regular spying too. That brings them up against the other lot, the KGB. They're the secret police and much larger and more powerful. There's quite a bit of rivalry there.'
'Rivalry!' said Ariadne with a snort. 'Jealousy and hate. A private cold war. You remember Oleg Penkovski, the GRU colonel who spied for the West with that English businessman, Greville Wynne, and committed suicide in prison in 1965. 'Yes,' she went on as Bond looked up quickly, 'the official story is that he was shot in '63, but really they were keeping him, in the hope of using him in a conspiracy against the Americans. Then by poisoning himself he escaped them after all. Anyway, everybody in the capitalist countries wondered why he became a spy - it wasn't money, you see. All of us in the GRU know that Penkovski was having revenge on the KGB, getting back at them the only way he could for what they'd done to him and his friends and...'
Ariadne checked herself. Bond gave her a sardonic glance and chain-lit another cigarette.
'Well, no help from the general,' he said. 'In fact we must keep out of his way. We've learnt that much.'
'More. A survivor from the cruiser is in the hospital here. Arenski's going to check on him.'
Bond and Litsas exchanged a glance. 'So he was picked up after all, James. Interesting.'
'That's about as much as you can say. We haven't the resources to watch him and find out who goes to see him and I can't believe he's any threat to us. Von Richter is our lead. Where do we start looking?'
'The harbour. Always the harbour. We can be safe there for a short time and we must get some food, real food, hot food, meat, not these meals of a shepherd. And I'd like to refuel; the range of this tub is only a couple of hundred miles. Off we go, then.'
Litsas drained his glass and disappeared in the direction of the engine-room. Bond glanced at Ariadne. The girl's light-brown eyes were veiled and the firm Grecian mouth drooped at the corners. He put his hand gently on the back of her neck.
'What is it, Ariadne?'
'Oh, darling, I'm so depressed. A big operation like this and they put that man in charge of Security, a fat little fairy, a... a monster of complacency. At least they were competent before. What's happened?'
'I could read you a lecture about bureaucracy and how promoting people for political reasons means not getting the best people, but I'll spare you that. Forget it. Rely on Niko and me. And yourself. We'll do what Arenski couldn't.'
Ariadne nestled against him. Bond grinned to himself. Not the least oddity of this adventure was finding himself promising a Soviet agent that Soviet interests would be safeguarded. If M ever heard about that, he would- The engine caught and Bond's mind shut down.
* * *
The main harbour of Vrakonisi, though comparatively small, is one of the best in the southern Aegean, safe and comfortable in any weather except a southerly gale, which is uncommon in these waters. Most volcanic islands rise too steeply out of the sea to afford decent anchorages - the bay of Santorini, for instance, is over a thousand
