Gibraltar Road Read Online Free PDF

of your naval contacts . . . you’ve joined the Armament Supply Department as a civilian inspector, and you can go out to Gib on a routine inspecting visit for your first duty.”
    “What’s the Superintending Naval Armament Supply Officer out there going to say?”
    Latymer chuckled. “He’s already been warned to expect you—that’s how sure I was you’d take this job! He’s only got the cover story, of course. All you’ll have to do is to listen to any complaints, suggestions, and so on and pass ’em on to the right quarter. That, and sound intelligent.”
    “Do I use my own identity, sir?”
    Latymer looked irritable. “Course you do . . . you know I’m allergic to these unnecessary complications. That woman’ll have her eyes on our movements in any case. Really, it’s just the ‘already unsuspicious’ that we have to lull, and as Commander Shaw, R.N. (Retired), you’ll mean damn-all to them. If you go out as—as a kind of Bearded Basil you’ll attract unwelcome attentions right away. In Gib, I mean.”
    Shaw grinned. “Quite, quite! How about getting there— do I fly?”
    “No. This full-dress test—which is one of the things we want you there for—isn’t due to begin for a few days. Apart from that, we’re not risking any security break which might follow if we flew you out for what’s ostensibly a mere routine inspection of a store depot—particularly as it happens there’s a cruiser sailing for Gib the day after to-morrow, which is how an inspector would normally be sent—and you’ll need the time to talk to Carberry, and also familiarize yourself with the obscurer workings of the Armament Supply Department!” He paused, then went on:
    “You join the Cambridge at the South Railway jetty in Portsmouth, just before she sails. On arrival in Gibraltar you’ll put up at the Bristol Hotel off Main Street, and make your number with S.N.A.S.O. From then on the game’s yours to play. No reason why you shouldn’t feel free to hop across the La Linea frontier whenever you want to, but just in case you want to make a long stay without questions being asked in Gib, we’ve provided you with an old friend in Spain who’ll be expecting you whenever you care to look him up. He’s Sefior Don Jaime de Castro, and he has a big villa in Torremolihos, just outside Malaga on the Gibraltar side. You were great friends some years ago, when he was attached to the Spanish Embassy staff in London. Captain Carberry will hand you a letter of invitation from him before you leave. Incidentally, the letter’s quite genuine and so’s Don Jaime—he’s a personal friend of mine, and he happens to be pretty friendly towards the British. Of course, you don’t have to stay with him, but on the other hand you might find it useful to do so . . . his half-sister is Lady Hammersley, by the way,” Latymer added casually. Shaw knew that Sir Francis Hammersley was the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar. “There’s also a contact called Domingo Felipe in Malaga who may be useful—he’s a queer fish, though, and even we don’t know his current whereabouts, but there’ll be ways and means of getting in touch— Carberry’ll tell you all that. That’s one of the reasons—geographically speaking—why we thought Don Jaime’s villa would be a handy pied-à-terre for you.”
    “Any other contacts, sir—in La Linea, say, or Algeciras?”
    “No, sorry. We’ve no one we can trust in La Linea, that I do know—but you can always try the British Consul in Algeciras. The consuls generally keep an ear to the ground —as you know. He may be able to put you in touch with somebody—or he may not. But the Malaga man’s good.”
    Shaw nodded. These things were often a matter of luck.
    Latymer continued, “Well, that’s the lot, Shaw, so far as I’m concerned. Carberry’ll be sending for you to-morrow for special briefing details and supply of any particular items you think you may need in the way of