Exocet - Jack Higgins [26]
She stood up and took his arm. 'Come on, Raul, let's go inside now,' and together they went up the steps.
* * *
At Cavendish Place, Ferguson was seated at the desk, working his way through the CIA signal for the umpteenth time, when Harry Fox came in carrying a couple of files.
'All here, sir. Everything on Felix Donner.'
'Tell me, is Gabrielle still in town or has she gone back to Paris?'
'Still at Kensington Palace Gardens. I was having dinner at Langans last night and she was there with some friends. Why?'
'I should have thought it obvious, Harry. She was considerably smitten by Raul Montera's charms and he with her. We can put that to good use.' He looked at Fox's face and raised a hand. 'Don't start getting moral on me, Harry. This is war we're playing at now, not patty fingers.'
'Yes, well there are days when I definitely would rather be doing something else.'
'Never mind that now. Donner. Tell me about him. Just the salient facts.'
'Multi-millionaire. The Donner Development Corporation has a vast range of interests. Building, shipping, electronics, you name it.'
'And Donner himself?'
'Very popular media figure, as you can see from the file. Started in property development in a very small way. Really took off in the boom of the sixties.'
'And never looked back?'
'That's it, sir. In the circumstances and considering the size of his bank balance, it seems odd that he would involve himself in an affair like this, even for a couple of million pounds.'
'Exactly.' Ferguson sat looking at the file for a while, frowning. 'I really do smell stinking fish here in a big way. First of all there's the Russian connection. How was Nikolai Belov so certain after being approached by Garcia that Donner was the man who could help?'
'True. So what are you saying, sir?'
'That Felix Donner was an orphan which is very convenient. That every other man who served with him and was taken prisoner in Korea died in captivity. Also very convenient.'
There was a long silence. Fox asked, 'Are you suggesting what I think you are, sir?'
Ferguson got up and walked to the fire and stood there, looking down into the flames.
Fox said, 'He's a highly respected businessman, sir. It doesn't make sense.'
'Neither did the Gordon Lonsdale affair, remember? Also a highly respected business man. A Canadian, to all intents and purposes. Even now, after all these years, there's some doubt as to his real identity.'
'Except that he was a Russian. A professional agent.'
'Exactly.'
'Are you suggesting that Donner could be another Lonsdale?'
'It's a possibility, that's all we can say for the moment. All right, so he could just be a thoroughly unscrupulous business man, out as our American friends would say, to make a buck. We'll have to see.'
'So what do we do, sir, pull him in?'
Ferguson went back to his desk. 'Difficult while he's in France. Oh, I could pull strings at high levels, but if we went public it would create one hell of a stink and we might lose considerable long-term advantages. If we could catch him properly, Harry, we might be able to bring down one hell of a house of cards. All his KGB connections in this country. But only if he is what I think he might be.'
'That's right.'
'And we don't even know what he's up to. Even Garcia has obviously been kept in the dark there. All he can say is that Donner has guaranteed him Exocets by next week. No, what we need now is someone right on his tail who can keep us informed day-by-day.'
Fox said, 'And how on earth can we do that?'
'I should have thought it obvious. The key to this affair is Colonel Raul Montera and our link with Montera is Gabrielle Legrand.'
There was silence between them and then Fox said. 'On the other hand, Gabrielle doesn't like us very much, sir.'
'We'll have to see, won't we? You'd better pull her in.'
At that moment, the red phone buzzed. He picked it up quickly.