“Urgent. A message from headquarters.”
He sealed the envelope and handed it with the necessary five shillings for postage to the man. Then he sat down to wait. It was going to be a ticklish interview if he was to learn anything, but the thrill of the game had fairly got him by now, and he watched eagerly for the messenger’s return. After what seemed an interminable delay he saw him crossing the lounge.
“Mr. Potts will see you, sir. Will you come this way?”
“Is he alone?” said Hugh, as they were whirled up in the lift.
“Yes, sir. I think he was expecting you.”
“Indeed,” murmured Hugh. “How nice it is to have one’s expectations realised.”
He followed his guide along a corridor, and paused outside a door while he went into a room. He heard a murmur of voices, and then the man reappeared.
“This way, sir,” he said, and Hugh stepped inside, to stop with an involuntary gasp of surprise. The man seated in the chair was Potts, to all intents and purposes. The likeness was extraordinary, and had he not known that the real article was at Goring he would have been completely deceived himself.
The man waited till the door was closed: then he rose and stepped forward suspiciously.
“I don’t know you,” he said. “Who are you?”
“Since when has everyone employed by headquarters known one another?” Drummond returned guardedly. “And, incidentally, your likeness to our lamented friend is wonderful. It very nearly deceived even me.”
The man, not ill-pleased, gave a short laugh.
“It’ll pass, I think. But it’s risky. These cursed reporters have been badgering the whole morning. … And if his wife or somebody comes over, what then?”
Drummond nodded in agreement.
“Quite so. But what can you do?”
“It wasn’t like Rosca to bungle in Belfast. He’s never left a clue before, and he had plenty of time to do the job properly.”
“A name inside a breast-pocket might easily be overlooked,” remarked Hugh, seizing the obvious clue.
“Are you making excuses for him?” snarled the other. “He’s failed, and failure is death. Such is our rule. Would you have it altered?”
“Most certainly not. The issues are far too great for any weakness. …”
“You’re right, my friend—you’re right. Long live the Brotherhood.” He stared out of the window with smouldering eyes, and Hugh preserved a discreet silence. Then suddenly the other broke out again. … “Have they killed that insolent puppy of a soldier yet?”
“Er—not yet,” murmured Hugh mildly.
“They must find the American at once.” The man thumped the table emphatically. “It was important before—at least his money was. Now with this blunder—it’s vital.”
“Precisely,” said Hugh. “Precisely.”
“I’ve already interviewed one man from Scotland Yard, but every hour increases the danger. However, you have a message for me. What is it?”
Hugh rose and casually picked up his hat. He had got more out of the interview than he had hoped for, and there was nothing to be gained by prolonging it. But it struck him that Mr. Potts’s impersonator was a man of unpleasant disposition, and that tactically a flanking movement to the door was indicated. And, being of an open nature himself, it is possible that the real state of affairs showed for a moment on his face. Be that as it may, something suddenly aroused the other’s suspicions, and with a snarl of fury he sprang past Hugh to the door.
“Who are you?” He spat the words out venomously, at the same time whipping an ugly-looking knife out of his pocket.
Hugh replaced his hat and stick on the table and grinned gently.
“I am the insolent puppy of a soldier, dear old bird,” he remarked, watching the other warily. “And if I was you I’d put the toothpick away. … You might hurt yourself—”
As he spoke he was edging, little by little, towards the other man, who crouched snarling by the door. His eyes, grim and determined, never left the other’s face; his hands, apparently hanging listless by his sides, were tingling with the joy of what he knew was coming.
“And the penalty of failure is death, isn’t it, dear one?” He spoke almost dreamily; but not for an instant did his attention relax. The words of Olaki, his Japanese instructor, were ringing through his brain: “Distract his attention if you can; but, as you value your life, don’t let him distract yours.”
And so, almost imperceptibly, he crept towards the other man, talking gently.
“Such is your rule. And I think you have failed, haven’t you, you unpleasant specimen of humanity? How will they kill you, I wonder?”
It was at that moment that the man made his mistake. It is a mistake that has nipped the life of many a promising pussy in the bud, at the hands, or rather the teeth, of a dog that knows. He looked away; only for a moment—but he looked away. Just as a cat’s nerves give after a while and it looks round for an avenue of escape, so did the crouching man take his eyes from Hugh. And quick as any dog, Hugh sprang.
With his left hand he seized the man’s right wrist, with his right he seized his throat. Then he forced him upright against the door and held him there. Little by little the grip of his right hand tightened, till the other’s eyes were starting from his head, and he plucked at Hugh’s face with an impotent left arm, an arm not long enough by three inches to do any damage. And all the while the soldier smiled gently, and stared into the other’s eyes. Even when inch by inch he shifted his grip on the man’s knife hand he never took his eyes from his opponent’s face; even when with a sudden gasp of agony the man dropped his knife from fingers which, of a sudden, had become numb, the steady, merciless glance still bored into his brain.
“You’re not very
