The Widow & Her Hero Read Online Free PDF Page B

intelligence corps.
    The tall man smiled.
    I was wondering if I could have a confidential word, Creed
asked Doucette. The Boss said certainly, and then Creed
looked significantly at Mortmain and myself, suggesting we
should leave. I was already standing up to go. But the Boss
said, These gentlemen can stay.
    Creed agreed, making the best of it he could. He asked the
Boss about the spare engine for the Japanese fishing boat,
Pengulling. I hear it's turned up, he said.
    Being installed as we speak, said the Boss.
    That was the first I'd heard of it, but I really hoped it was
true. It was time.
    Creed shook his head and grinned. You English, you do
things all your own way, he said.
    I'm actually an Irishman, said the Boss. But he only said it
for the sake of argument since he was one of those Irishmen
who considered himself British.
    You'd have a hard time proving that in New York, Creed told
him.
    I am, begorrah, said the Boss, without a smile. I'm Irish as
Shackleton. Irish as that ponce Oscar Wilde, Irish as Dean
Swift or Sheridan or Oliver Goldsmith.
    Creed said, All right then. Since your cranky old boat's
getting its temporary repair . . . the question arises. Was this
morning to improve the safety of dear old Townsville, the
delightful place destiny has placed us? Or was it a dress
rehearsal?
    It was an expression of brio, sir, said Doucette, but still
without any emphasis in his voice.
    Loosen up a bit, for God's sake, Creed said. Last time I read
about it, we were allies.
    So I could tell you everything, and you would say, That's
absolutely splendid and we Yanks can help. But when the time
came, you wouldn't be available. As happened with young
Waterhouse here. Suddenly, no sub for his jaunt. That's what
happens with you chaps all the time.
    Creed was angry and his face flushed for a moment. He
said, We did lose a sub off New Britain. That's eighty men who
drowned, whose lungs choked with water. But a person would
think we did it just to thwart IRD and cause you offence,
Major Doucette.
    The Boss murmured, If that's the impression I gave, then I
apologise. But I think there's a policy on your side to keep us
permanently training for ops which get cancelled. And it's just
not good enough.
    And he didn't give an inch.
    Creed lowered his voice. There's a rumour around that
you're going up to Java, to Surabaya, say, in that cranky old
bathtub of yours.
    That was indeed the rumour. The Boss might have spread it
deliberately, though he told me it would be better if there were
no rumour at all.
    The American said, God forbid you got into trouble, but I
could make sure your distress calls were acted on. I must be
crazy talking to you like this, on a hotel balcony. I'll approach
you more formally and, Major, I'll expect a private meeting
and a polite answer.
    Perhaps you should talk to Major Doxey at IRD, the Boss
said, suddenly stricken with a fake air of helpfulness. And he
smiled now, like a boy. He did have a boy's wiry build and
lolly-legs, and seemed maybe fifteen years younger than he
was when he did that grin.
    Creed was pretty exasperated, standing and addressing us
from that position while making a patting-down gesture that
said we should remain where we were. It's like this, Doucette. I
used to paddle boats when I was a kid. Life seems pretty simple
when you're surrounded by water and it's kind of level with you.
But then I'd come in at the end of the pier and moor the canoe
and come ashore, and I'd be amongst complicated stuff then –
my parents, my sister, and whether she was dumping this boy
or encouraging the other, and all the financial secrets and even
other secrets of my parents. That's your situation, Doucette.
You're just paddling away, but there's a complicated big house
somewhere, where your IRD and the whole Mountbatten SOE
group and Central Intelligence Bureau all live. And you despise
and don't understand the big house at all, Major Doucette. You
don't know our secrets and you don't want to give any