The speculation was still in Hawkins's eyes. 'You don't normally make remarks like that. Not without good reason. You have something in mind?'
'I think I have. But it's so far back in my mind that I can't reach it. It'll come.' He turned as Denholm entered the cabin. 'I seem to recall having asked you this question before. What drags you away from the fleshpots?'
'Duty, sir.'
'You will have noticed, Admiral,' Talbot said, 'how devoted the Ariadne's officers are to their duty. I thought, Jimmy, that you were supposed to be lurking and eavesdropping?'
'I have lurked, sir. And eavesdropped. I have also been plying Mr Andropulos and his friends with strong drink.'
'At this time of the morning?' Hawkins said.
'Captain's orders, sir. I hope, Captain, that the Admiralty are going to take care of my bar bill.'
'Prodigious?'
'Not as prodigious as their thirsts. They have relaxed a bit.
They have apparently agreed that I'm simple-minded. They are quite certain I don't know a word of Greek but even so they're still very cautious. Much given to allusions and cryptic references, all made, for good measure, in a Macedonian dialect.'
'Which you learnt at your mother's knee?'
'A bit later than that. But I'm at home in it. I don't know whether you will consider this good news or bad, sir, but Andropulos knows there are hydrogen bombs aboard that bomber. He even knows there are fifteen of them.'
There was a fairly lengthy silence while the other three men in the cabin considered the implications of Denholm's words, then Hawkins said: 'Good news and bad news. Good news for us, bad news for Andropulos. Well done, my boy. Very well done.'
'I echo that, sir,' Talbot said. 'Lieutenant Denholm is miscast as either a classicist or electronics officer. MI 5 should have him. There is no way that Andropulos could have learnt aboard the Ariadne of the existence of those bombs. So he knew before. Proof, if that were needed, of our near-certain conviction that Andropulos has penetrated the Pentagon.'
'I would point out, sir,' Denholm said, 'that the words hydrogen bombs weren't actually used. Also, it's only my word against theirs.'
'That's irrelevant and this is no court of law. There will be no confrontation. All that matters is that we know and they don't know that we do.'
'My usefulness is over? Or do I continue to lurk?'
'Lurk, of course. The three A's must be making some contingency plans. We know now why they wanted aboard the Ariadne. What we don't know is what they intend to do now that they are here. Resume your wassailing.'
'Wassailing?' Denholm sounded bitter. 'I have an arrangement with Jenkins whereby I consume copious quantities of tonic water, lemon and ice. Ghastly.' He turned to go but Talbot stopped him as a seaman entered and handed over a sheet of paper.
'You might as well hear what's in this.' He studied the paper briefly. 'This is in reply to a request we made of Greek Intelligence for as exhaustive a list as they could supply of all places where Andropulos is known either to do business or have contacts. No names, no addresses, just towns. Forty or fifty of them. My, my. This list wasn't compiled on the spur of the moment. Greek Intelligence must have been taking a more than passing interest in the activities of our friend Andropulos over a long period, years I would think. I wonder why. About half of those places are marked by asterisks. Again I wonder why. Was that for their own information or is it intended to suggest something to us?'
He handed the paper to Hawkins, who studied it for a moment, then said: 'I know those places marked with an asterisk. I don't see their relevance in our circumstances. I can't even remotely associate them with our problem. I'd swear that none of those places had any connection with hydrogen bombs.'
'So would I,' Talbot said. 'Maybe they handle something else. In spite of the situation we find ourselves in, maybe hydrogen bombs aren't the biggest cause for concern. If you can imagine anything worse than our present situation, that is. Could I have that back, sir?'
He sat at the desk, made some marks on the paper before him, then looked up.
'Bangkok, Islamabad, Kabul, Bogota, Miami, Mexico City, Tijuana, San Diego, Bahamas, Ocho Rios, Ankara, Sofia — Andropulos playing both sides of the fence with those last two, the ethnic Turks are having a very bad time in Bulgaria just now, but Andropulos wouldn't let that interfere with his business interests ? and Amsterdam. What does that list suggest?'
'Drugs,' Van Gelder said.
'Drugs. Heroin, cocaine, marijuana, you name. it. Now some more towns. Tehran, Baghad ? Andropulos again playing both sides of the fence, Iran and Iraq had been at war for six years now — Tripoli, Damascus, Beirut, Athens, Rome, East Berlin, New York and London. That suggest something?'
'Yes.' It was Van Gelder again. Terrorism. I'm not quite sure why New York and London qualify.'
'I seem to remember there have been two attempts, one at John F. Kennedy, the other at Heathrow to smuggle bombs aboard planes. Both bungled, both failed. I think it's fairly safe to assume ? in fact, it would be criminally negligent not to assume ? that the terrorists who planned those crimes are still in residence in London and New York, waiting. Jimmy, would you please go to your cabin and bring Theodore here with whatever further results his cryptology has turned up.'
Hawkins said: 'I most sincerely hope that you are not thinking what I think you are, if you follow me.'
'It may be, sir, that I am thinking what you are, if you follow me.'
'What you are suggesting is that this Andropulos is some kind of mastermind ? possible world co-ordinator ? of drug-smuggling? Is that what you meant by your remark that we didn't know he wasn't a mass murderer?'
'Yes, sir. What else can that list of contacts he has in drug areas mean? Where else has he accumulated his vast wealth — and we haven't added it all up yet, not by any means.'
'There's no actual proof.'
'All depends on what you call proof. It's very powerful suggestive evidence. How far are you prepared to stretch the long arm of coincidence? To infinity?'
'And you're further suggesting he's engaged in terrorism. That he's using his vast profits from drug-smuggling to finance his terrorist activities?'
'It's possible, but I don't think so. I think the two activities are being run in tandem.'
'A drug-peddler is one thing. A terrorist quite another. Incompatibles. Poles apart. Never the twain shall meet.'
'One hesitates to contradict a senior officer. But I'm afraid you're wrong, sir. Vincent, would you enlighten the Admiral? You know what I'm talking about.'
'All too well, sir. October 1984, Admiral, our last submarine patrol. North Atlantic, about two hundred miles west of the Irish coast. I can remember it as if it were yesterday. We were asked to move into position to observe, but not to intercept, a small American ship en route from the States to Ireland and given its course and estimated time when it would pass a certain point. Neither the crew of this vessel nor its captain, a certain Captain Robert Anderson who, I believe, is still at large, knew that they had been monitored from the moment they had left port by an American spy-in-the sky satellite. We upped periscope, identified it, then downed periscope. They never saw us. It was a New England trawler, the Valhalla, based on Gloucester, Massachusetts, from which it had sailed a few days earlier. It transferred its cargo to an Irish tug, the Marita Ann, which was duly seized by the Irish Navy.
'The cargo consisted entirely of military hardware — rifles, machine-guns, shotguns, pistols, hand grenades, rockets and, as I recall, about 70,000 rounds of ammunition, all destined for the IRA. It was to have been the IRA's biggest gun-running plot ever, but it was foiled because of what was called 'Operation Leprechaun', where the CIA, our MI5 and Irish Intelligence took a healthy ? or unhealthy, it all depends on your point of view — interest in the activities of Noraid, an Irish-American group that specialized ? for all I know it may still be specializing — in buying American arms and shipping them to the IRA in Ireland.
'Round about the same time a Panamanian registered cargo ship by the name of the Ramsland, chartered by the same gang who had organized the Valhalla, put into Boston harbour and was promptly seized by the United
