into the frothing water. Its immaculate tailoring ballooned briefly on the surface and then disappeared.
«There doesn’t appear to be any exit this way,» I said at last. «So we’ll probably have to swim back against the current. Are you up to it?»
He didn’t look it but he said yes.
I shook the grille with my hand but it was solid despite the corrosion on its surface.
«Where’s the light coming from?» said Charlie.
«Where indeed?» I said, hauling myself up the grille and peering through the murk. A glow-worm phosphorescence was visible somewhere past it to the right of the waterfall.
«There’s another tunnel through there,» I muttered.
Charlie shook his head. «No. I meant
He raised his arm from the water and pointed back the way we had come.
Bobbing in the darkness were the unmistakable outlines of men in the water, the searing white light of flares hissing in their upraised hands.
I looked around wildly. The livid new light threw huge jagged shadows against the grille before us. I looked it up and down, thinking frantically, then pushed myself off from the tunnel side, took a huge breath and plunged down into the river. It was utterly disorientating.
Thrusting forward, I immediately felt for the grille in front of me. It was impossible to see a thing in the murky brine so I ran my hands over the surface of the submerged metal, groping for any change in the structure. Somewhere at the back of my mind I could picture one such sewer construction; a vast gated thing perhaps glimpsed as a child on a school-visit to one of Joseph Bazalgette’s shit-sifting palaces.
For a few seconds, I groped blindly in the disgusting water, feeling nothing but the same repeated pattern of slimy iron bars. Then, yes! At last! My hands met space and I was dragged forward by the tug of an undoubtedly faster current. There had to be room for first Charlie and then me to push ourselves through.
I kicked off from the grille and raced to the surface. Shaking the water from my hair I briefly glimpsed a flotilla of flares bearing down on Charlie then, without a second thought, I grabbed him, pushed his head under the water, took another breath, and followed.
Bubbles rushed along the lines of our soaked bodies as we reached the hole in the grille and I forced us through.
All at once we were tumbling down, down, half-emerging into the air, then immersed again in the falling water, finally crashing into the tunnel on the other side and freedom.
Well, freedom of a kind. It wouldn’t take those thugs long to discover what we had done and plunge through after us.
Charlie was taking in huge gulps of the foetid air.
«All right?» I quizzed. He nodded exhaustedly.
I swam ahead a little. There was now a clearer view of the strange light source. Not far from where we were floating there was a small hole in the tunnel wall. Half a dozen or so rotten bricks had tumbled through revealing a chamber beyond. I swam quickly towards the breach, gained it and managed to scramble up to get a better look. Before I slid down into the water again I saw, strung over the salt-corrupted walls like Christmas decorations, the unmistakable glow of electric light!
Relief flooded through me. Weak as he was, I knew that Charlie would rally at the sight of dry land and the chance of a rapid escape from our pursuers.
When I swam back to him, however, I could see that our recent exertions had taken their toll. His head was lolling back in the water and his eyes were showing white.
«Charlie!» I hissed. «Wake up! There’s a way out ahead. Just hold on a little longer.»
He fell forward and attempted to focus on me. He smiled stupidly and closed his eyes.
With a heavy sigh, I began to drag him onwards. The water in this new tunnel was much more shallow and I could feel the sediment-covered bottom squelching beneath my shoes as I threaded my arm under Charlie’s and staggered towards the hole in the wall.
Meanwhile, a series of cries and oaths told me that our pursuers had worked out our method of escape through the grille.
When we reached the breach in the tunnel, I pushed Charlie through it and into the room beyond. Normally, the feel of strong buttocks in wet trousers might have made my thoughts wander but I shoved Charlie on without a second glance. As soon as he had fallen forward into a crumpled heap, I leaped up and pulled myself through.
I lay dazed for a long moment. Then, as my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw that we were surrounded by packing cases and ladders, black against the garish flare of the electric light. Charlie stirred and opened an eye experimentally.
«Some sort of warehouse,» I said, getting up and testing the windows. One creaked open on a hinged pane and moments later, we had clambered out on to the street. Perhaps it was not surprising that even in Naples we had some trouble finding a cab, given our state. Eventually, we gave up and managed to drag ourselves back down towards the harbour and finally into the reassuring warmth of the Hotel Santa Lucia.
The next day dawned blazing hot. Through the half-drawn blinds, I could see Naples sparkling almost painfully in the searing sun, as if in celebration that my life had been spared (one gets these fancies now and then). Perhaps I would go for a constitutional? A walk by the sea on this glorious morning would clear my head and lift my spirits! I drew the blinds shut and, shambling back to bed, lit a cigarette. Sod that.
Charlie Jackpot, whose tired face and dark-ringed eyes still somehow conspired to make him a corker, lay sprawled on the bed next to me. In the mess of sheets his form showed pale and flawless as a marble tomb effigy.
I slapped at his buttocks and he grudgingly emerged from sleep.
«Good morning, Charles.»
He grunted and burrowed further into the sheets.
«Let us return to our previous conversation,» I said brightly. «The one so rudely interrupted by the noxious oil-lamp. What’s going on in the Vesuvius Club?»
Charlie rubbed at his hair and groaned. «Not now. I’m half-dead.»
«And thanks to me, only half.» I examined my bare knee. It was barked and bloodied. «As I recall, you were trying to interest me in a little bargain.»
He raised himself up on one elbow and yawned. «That’s right.»
«You want a leg-up, yes? A way out of your sordid little existence?»
Charlie hugged himself and shivered. «I just want to get a start in life, Mr Box. In return for what I know. Don’t seem too unfair from where I’m lying.»
I nodded. A notion was forming in my early morning brain. «Mr Jackpot, I currently find myself in the position of requiring a valet.»
The lad’s face fell. «What?»
«Don’t answer me back like that, you little villain. Just listen»
«Not
«Dear me, we are ambitious, aren’t we? What do you fancy? A villa in Broadstairs and two hundred a year?»
He frowned sulkily.
«If you don’t wish to be pitched into the street I suggest you shut your pretty little mouth and pay attention.» I drew deeply on my cigarette. «Your duties will be fairly light. Valeting, as I say. Cleaning. A little cooking. Running my baths. Saving Britain from mortal peril. That sort of thing.»
Charlie looked nonplussed. «What… what happened to your old valet?»
«Shot,» I said blithely. «You see Charles, I’m in a rather specialized line of work. If you’re genuinely interested, my
«Who do you work for?»
«His Majesty’s Government.» I reached across him to stub out my cigarette on the marble table. «I’m a spy, Charlie. An agent. An assassin. A sharp instrument of the powers that be. And I need an assistant. What do you say? It’s not a bad life and you will have King Edward’s undying gratitude.»
He frowned. «I dunno.»
