Red Hawk Rising

in her late thirties was standing there and Jamie guessed it must be Walmar’s wife. The deck hand mooring the boat was the man he had seen in the West Sanby pub. A solid-looking man in his forties came out of the wheelhouse of the fishing boat. He lifted a gangplank in place and went down and gave the woman a hug and a kiss. Then they both went on board to start unloading the catch. Walmar hooked a loading net onto the boats hoist and lowered it into the hold. The deck hand went down into the hold and started loading the boxes of fish onto the net. When it was ready he signalled for Walmar to raise the net from the hold. A small donkey motor drove the winch and as the net cleared the hold it was swung out over the quayside. People other than the local villagers now arrived and walked from trolley to trolley looking at the catch as it was unloaded from the boats. Jamie walked over to the Penny Jane and called out, “Mr Walmar, I’ve come to pick up the order from The Hound and Pheasant at West Sanby.” Walmar looked surprised and turned to Berin.

He said, “I was over there last night and got the order from the publican, Mr Casey. Sorry, I forgot to tell you.”

Walmar, looking a little put out, said, “Okay. We’ll be about fifteen minutes before we can sort something for you. Just wait for us.”

“Fine, Mr Walmar,” said Jamie.

Penny Walmar came over to Jamie, “Don’t mind my husband. He’s feeling tired. We didn’t have a good night with our young daughter last night,” she said apologetically. “Do you have children? Sorry,” she said, “I’m Penny Walmar,” and she held out her hand.

Jamie took it and replied, “My name’s Jamie Rogerson and, no, I’m not married, nor do I have children. But I remember the days when my younger brother wasn’t well; we’d have sleepless nights.” He smiled sympathetically and Penny Walmar smiled back a grateful smile.

The first boat in had finished unloading and the trolley was pulled over to the cold room behind the shop. Walmar and Berin finished unloading and Walmar asked for the order. Jamie gave the list and Walmar and Berin sorted the fish out plus some crayfish. They put it in a wooden tray and gave it to Jamie. “Go to the shop and Yvonne will price it for you and you pay her. Tell her it’s for my private account,” said Walmar. “Oh! And let us have that tray back. They cost money.” Jamie thanked him and nodded to Penny Walmar and headed for the shop with the tray of fish. Walmar and Berin started pulling the trolley across to the cold store.

When Jamie went into the shop he saw the seafood counter covered in ice and fresh fish being laid out upon it. He was the first customer in. “Hi Yvonne,” he said. “Mr Walmar told me to see you about pricing and payment. It’s to his personal account.”

“Fine,” she replied, “I’ll be with you in a couple of minutes.” Other customers started arriving at the shop. Yvonne finished putting fish onto the counter and took the tray from Jamie. She checked and weighed the fish and made out an invoice in duplicate for them. Jamie paid her and she stamped the invoice as paid and gave him the top copy. He thanked her and headed out to the van. He put the tray in the back of the van and put a wet sack over it for the short trip back to West Sanby. As he got in and drove off, Jamie felt that it had been a useful trip. The man from the pub had told the truth about being Walmar’s deck hand. By his accent, Walmar was East European but obviously well-established here in the village. His wife was English and, by her accent, a local. The deck hand was a different story. He looked as though he could be East European but his accent was English. Somehow, thought Jamie, his English is too good for the deck hand of a fishing boat. There was hardly any accent when he spoke. He decided that the man needed checking out. Yvonne could be a useful contact but he would need to be careful. She would know everyone in the village and much of their history. Jamie decided it would be when he took the tray back and the fishing boats were out. That way he could have a chat with Yvonne about the locals. The only other place he could find out about them would be in the local pub. Jamie wondered how much Mr Casey knew about the Parfleet St Peter locals. He decided that he needed to find out.

***

In the Russian Consulate in Manchester, Major Garasov was in consultation with Colonel Sergei Kharkov of the KGB. His passport showed him to be a secretary from the Russian equivalent of the Department of Trade. He was officially on a seven-day visit and had meetings arranged with engineering companies in England. Unofficially, he had other engagements that would take him to places not on his official itinerary. These were being discussed with Major Garasov. One of those engagements was in Sleaford. That engagement would use skills of Colonel Kharkov that had nothing to do with trade.

Air Vice-Marshal Denby was being driven back to Air Ministry after a satisfactory meeting with his opposite number in MI5. He smiled grimly to himself. It had been agreed that he would have a member of No. 28 JSTU temporarily attached to the office of the supply section in Air Ministry that was dealing with the supply of equipment and parts for the Red Hawk SAM system. An MI5 agent would also be temporarily attached to the supply section to support the RAF person. Now he was going to have to convince