The New Eastgate Swing Read Online Free PDF

nothing away.
    ‘I did my National Service there.’
    ‘Really?’ Her eyes smiled for a moment. ‘Where were you?’
    ‘Hamburg, mostly. Some time in West Berlin. I was military intelligence.’
    ‘Mark was there after the fighting ended. Stayed there for a couple of years, then Vienna. He made some good contacts. Maybe you met him?’
    ‘Was he an officer?’
    ‘A captain. Why?’
    ‘We didn’t mix too much with them.’
    ‘Of course, sorry. Do you speak the lingo?’
    ‘A little.’ He’d learned enough to get by. ‘What about you?’ Markham asked. ‘What do you do?’
    ‘Oh, I just help around the office.’ She said it dismissively, as if she was just a secretary or receptionist. He didn’t believe a word of it.
    ‘What does your husband do in Germany?’
    ‘Background stuff, mostly. Checking on people that companies want to bring over. The whole denazification process wasn’t always thorough, shall we say?’ She flashed him another white smile. ‘Mark goes into more depth.’
    ‘I thought that would be government business.’
    ‘They farm some of it out. As I said, Mark has contacts.’
    He nodded. The old boys’ network in action. The way everything was done in this country.
    ‘And what would you want from me?’
    ‘Let me ask you something, Dan. You were in intelligence. Did you have to sign the Official Secrets Act?’
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘Good,’ she said with a smile. ‘That makes everything much easier.’
    ‘Why?’ Suddenly Markham was very suspicious. ‘What do you want?’
    ‘It’s nothing much. Just keeping an occasional eye on people who end up around here.’
    ‘People?’ he asked sharply. ‘What people?’
    Amanda Fox glanced around the restaurant before she answered and spoke very quietly, ‘Germans who would be useful to our defence industry.’
    ‘From the West or East?’ That was important.
    ‘East, of course,’ she replied coolly. ‘We work with the Gehlen people in West Berlin, bring them out, give them new names and backgrounds. I’m sure you can understand why.’
    Of course. No one in this country would be happy to have a German around. Not with the war still so close in memory.
    ‘The government knows?’ He wanted to be certain.
    ‘It’s their idea, Dan. These men all have good skills.’
    ‘I don’t understand, why can’t you do it yourselves?’ he wondered.
    ‘Mark is gone so often. We’re pretty much a one-man band. As I said, I just look after the office. What we need is someone who has the skills and background.’ Now he was certain she knew all about him; this wasn’t lucky dip and hope for the best on her part. ‘We pay generously,’ she added, ‘and it won’t take a great deal of your time.’ She cocked an eyebrow. ‘Does it sound interesting?’
    ‘Maybe. I’ll need to talk to my partner. He’s ex-police.’
    ‘All right,’ she agreed, but he saw he’d sprung something unexpected on her.
    ‘We’ll talk about it and I’ll be in touch.’ He shook her hand as he rose. ‘Don’t worry, he’ll have had to sign the Act, too. I’ll give you a ring on Monday, Mrs Fox.’
    ‘Amanda,’ she corrected him.
    ‘Of course. Amanda.’
    ***
    He strolled thoughtfully back through town. There was a weekend eagerness in the Friday afternoon crowds. Women squeezed past the top-hatted doorman to spend their wages at Marshall & Snelgrove’s department store. An older generation sat upstairs in Fuller’s and sipped tea.
    He wondered exactly what Amanda Fox and her mysterious husband wanted. More than the job she’d promised, he was certain of that.
    Baker hadn’t returned yet. He spent a while cleaning up some of the paperwork, filing notes and pictures and cleaning off his desk. The card table sat there accusingly, a paperback book under one of the legs to keep it steady. They needed something more professional if people were going to take them seriously.
    By four he was still on his own, desk clean, everything put away. No rain