A Woman Involved. John Davis Gordon

your nose flattened you’ll frighten her off, you big prick! You’ll make her suspicious! So leave us severely alone until we get to England! And then if you try any tricks on her …’ He held up his finger. ‘I’ll break your neck.’ He jabbed his finger at the ceiling. ‘Now I’m going upstairs to sleep! Don’t you dare come near us until it’s time to leave!’

      He glared at the man, then strode out of the room.

      Carrington smiled and raised his hands in peace.

      Morgan strode up the stairs with four bottles of beer and the civilian clothes the consul had given him. Mrs Gillespie was coming down, clutching a bundle of Anna’s clothing. She shook the bundle gaily as she darted past him: ‘Just going to stick these in the washing machine – do give me anything of yours, they’ll be dry in a jiffy! Just leave them outside your door …’

      ‘Thank you.’

      He climbed the stairs, and opened the door to the first bedroom. It had a private bathroom and there was the sound of the shower. He closed the bedroom door behind him. There was a key. He locked the door.

      He went to the window. The air conditioner was humming. He twisted the catch and slid the window open. He looked out.

      The room was on the side of the house. It was a straight-forward drop from the window, onto lawn. And the window immediately below was the consul’s study. Beyond the lawn were flowerbeds, tropical trees, then a garden wall. About eight feet high. Beyond a road led down to the beach. The other way was the suburban road. Heavily treed. Lampposts.

      He turned to the bathroom door. The shower suddenly stopped; the curtain swept back. The door opened and Anna came out.

      She was wearing Mrs Gillespie’s bathrobe. Water was still running off her. Her washed hair hung in long tresses. She looked at him angrily.

      ‘You lied to me.’

      He held up a finger, then pointed at the door. He walked into the bathroom, and switched on the shower again. He beckoned her back into the bathroom. She came. He said softly:

      ‘Anna, this is your last opportunity to think about this. Now, at midnight they’re flying us to England on an RAF plane. The British intend to interrogate you about this evidence. If you cooperate, I believe you’ll be safe. They’ll protect you from the Russians. Now, do you want to do so?’

      Her eyes flashed. ‘You lied to me! And I’m telling you loud and clear that I’m not going! They have no legal right to make me go anywhere – I’m an American citizen and I demand to see the American consul!’

      He closed the door.

      ‘Yes, I lied to you! But it’ll do you no good screaming for the American consul because the American government is in on this! How do you think the British got me into an American uniform in an American war? Why did the American admiral have you flown to the British authorities in Trinidad?’

      ‘Why indeed? I think you better start telling me the truth!’

      ‘The truth is yes, I was sent by the British to find you and get you to England! Because yes, the British and Americans want to find this information of Max’s! Just like the Russians want to!’

      She hissed, ‘And what are the noble British going to do with it?’

      ‘I don’t know!’

      ‘You’re lying to me again!’

      He closed his eyes angrily. ‘I am not lying now, Anna. I don’t know what the information is, so I don’t know what they’ll do with it. They’ll exploit it, yes! Now, you’ve got two options –’

      ‘Why did you lie to me?’

      ‘Goddammit, because you were overwrought! You didn’t trust me! I had to figure out what this was about and what to do about it!’

      ‘No – you lied to me because that was your assignment! The British told you to get the story out of me –’

      ‘Correct! But I was also lying to win your trust so I could figure out what to do! Now I’m trying to help you.’ He glared at her. ‘Now, you’ve only got two options, Anna. You can fly with them to England, and hire a lawyer to protect your rights. But I don’t think you’ll have a chance to do that. You’ll be whisked from some military airfield to some unknown destination to be interrogated –’

      ‘I’m not going with them to England!’

      He looked at her. ‘Is that final?’

      ‘Yes!’

      He took a breath. ‘Then your only option is to trust me and go out by that window with me after dark. And escape.’

      ‘Or,’ she said angrily, ‘I can walk out by the front door! As I’m fully legally entitled to do!’

      He stood aside and waved his hand.

      ‘Try it. See how far you get. You won’t get near the front door! They’ll forcibly detain you. They haven’t gone to all this trouble just to let you stroll away. But go ahead, try it!’

      ‘But they can’t detain me – that’s illegal!’

      ‘Of course it’s illegal! But whatever it is you’ve got in your head they want so badly that they’ll do it! And a hell of a lot more!’ He glared at her, then took a deep, tense breath. ‘Look, Anna, right now they’re off their guard because I’ve told them that you’re cooperative. So this moment, I’m your only jailer. There’re two security men in the house, plus a bastard called Carrington who’s supposed to be my controller. But they’re all entrusting your safe-keeping to me because I’m the only one who can keep you happy. But if you try to walk out and kick up a fuss, they’ll politely lock you up with the two security men as your jailers and at midnight they’ll put you on that plane in a straitjacket!’ He glared at her. ‘But if you trust this jailer’ – he banged his chest – ‘we’ve got a chance of escaping, because they trust me and won’t be watching! Then we can get you a lawyer.’

      She stared at him. The shower gushing down.

      ‘Why are you doing this?’

      ‘Because you are legally entitled to do what you like! They have no rights over you. And I’m not going to stand by and let them force you to do something. And I believe they will use force if necessary – it’s that important to them. And worse than that – I’m by no means sure that if you’ve been uncooperative they’ll let you walk out and tell the world what the beastly British did to you. Or let you blow your secret information to the wide world!’ He took a tense breath. ‘I’m doing this because I believe you’re in serious danger.’ He added: ‘And because I love you.’

      She looked at him angrily.

      ‘And what’ll the British do to you? For helping me escape their clutches?’

      He said: ‘To me? Nothing! What can they do? I’m here on an illegal assignment of kidnapping Anna Hapsburg. What can they legally do to me for refusing to be an accomplice to a crime? They daren’t court-martial me, because I’m here unofficially and deniably, quote unquote, and I’ve committed no crime. And I’ll be a terrible embarrassment when I tell the court what the British were up to in Grenada. That would make lovely reading in the press.’ He waved his hand impatiently. ‘They daren’t do a damn thing to me.’

      She said, ‘They could kill you. To keep your mouth closed.’

      He snorted. ‘They won’t dare do anything once we’ve got a lawyer.’ He pointed grimly at the window. ‘That’s the only way out, Anna. We’re committing no crime and you’ve got nothing to lose.’

      She looked at him. Exhausted. ‘And where do we go?’

      ‘You have to tell me. I don’t know where this precious information is, remember. First we have to get off this island. To South America,