Betrayal at Lisson Grove Read Online Free PDF Page B

underlying wish to overthrow the Establishment, the backbone that dominated society. Linsky in particular was unashamedly a revolutionary.
    The remarkable thing was that their ideological differences were so intense it was extraordinary to see them together. The whole socialist movement was as passionate and idealistic as a new religion. There were the founders, who were viewed almost like apostles of the creed; dissenters were heretics. There were divisions and subdivisions, and the rivalries had all the fervour of evangelism. They even used these religious terms to speak of them.
    Pitt let out his breath in a sigh. ‘I suppose you’re sure about Meister as well?’
    Gower was motionless, still smiling in the sun, his chest barely rising and falling as he breathed. ‘Yes, sir, absolutely. I’ll bet that has something to do with what West was going to tell us. Those two together has to mean something pretty big.’
    Pitt did not argue. The more he thought of it the more certain he was that it was indeed the storm Narraway had seen coming, and which was about to break over Europe if they did not prevent it.
    ‘We’ll watch them,’ Pitt said quietly, also trying to appear as if he were relaxed in the sun, enjoying a brief holiday. ‘See who else they contact.’
    Gower smiled. ‘We’ll have to be careful. What do you think they’re planning?’
    Pitt considered in silence, his eyes almost closed as he stared down at the painted wooden door of number seven. All kinds of ideas teemed through his head. A single assassination seemed less likely than a general strike, or even a series of bombings; otherwise a group would not need to gather. In the past, assassinations had been accomplished by a lone gunman, willing to sacrifice his own life. But now . . . who was vulnerable? Whose death would really change anything permanently?
    ‘Strikes?’ Gower suggested, interrupting his thought. ‘Europe-wide it could bring an industry to its knees.’
    ‘Possibly,’ Pitt agreed. His mind went to the big industrial and shipbuilding cities of the north. Or the coalminers of Durham, Yorkshire and Wales. There had been strikes before; they were always broken, and the men and their families suffered.
    ‘Demonstrations?’ Gower went on. ‘Thousands of people all out at once, in the right places, could block transport, or stop some major event, like the Derby?’
    Pitt imagined it: the anger, the frustration of the horseracing and fashionable crowd at such an impertinence. He found himself smiling, but it was with a sour amusement. He had never been part of the society that watched the ‘sport of kings’, but he had met many of them during his police career. He knew their passion, their weaknesses, their blindness to others, and at times their extraordinary courage. Forcible interruption of one of the great events of the year was not the way to persuade them of anything. Surely any serious revolutionary had long ago learned that.
    But what was?
    Gower moved, drawing his attention to the fact that he had not replied.
    ‘Meister’s style, maybe,’ he said aloud. ‘But not Linsky’s. Something far more violent. And more effective.’
    Gower shivered very slightly. ‘I wish you hadn’t said that. It rather takes the edge off the idea of a week or two in the sun, eating French food and watching the ladies going about their shopping. Have you seen the young girl from number sixteen, with the red hair?’
    ‘To tell you the truth, it wasn’t her hair I noticed,’ Pitt admitted, grinning broadly.
    Gower laughed outright. ‘Nor I,’ he said. ‘I rather like that apricot jam, don’t you? And the coffee! Thought I’d miss a decent cup of tea, but I haven’t yet.’ He was silent again for a few minutes, then he turned his head. ‘What do you really think they have planned in England, sir – beyond a show of power? What do they want in the long run?’
    The ‘sir’ reminded Pitt of his seniority, and therefore