Exocet - Jack Higgins [30]
'Please, Brigadier, spare me the details. Which only leaves the French, and I have Monsieur Mitterand's personal assurance that the arms embargo will stay in force.'
'I'm pleased to hear it, ma'am.'
She stood up, walked to the window and looked out. 'Brigadier, if one Exocet hits either Hermes or Invincible, the entire course of this conflict is changed. We would almost certainly have to withdraw.' She turned. 'Can you assure me that there is no possibility of further Exocets reaching the Argentine from any source whatever?'
'No, ma'am, I'm afraid I can't.'
'Then I suggest you do something about that, Brigadier,' she said calmly. 'Department Four has full power - total authority from this office. Use it, Brigadier, use it any way you can, for the sake of our men in the South Atlantic, for all our sakes.'
'Thank you, Prime Minister. I'll do my best, I can assure you of that.'
Ferguson got the door opened and went out. The eyes of those previous Prime Ministers seemed to follow him as he went down the stairs. He wondered if he'd just secured himself a small niche in history, but decided probably not. Even if it all works perfectly, it was the kind of thing they'd all deny had happened. He chuckled to himself as the aide bowed him to the front door and showed him out.
* * *
As Harry Fox and Ferguson went up in the lift at Kensington Palace Gardens, Fox said, 'We're wasting our time, sir. When I tried to speak to her on the phone, she just told me to get lost.'
'We'll see,' Ferguson said.
He pushed open the lift door, went around the corner to Gabrielle's flat and knocked. After a while the door opened on the chain and she peered out.
'What do you want?'
'To talk to you.'
'Well I don't want to talk to you. Clear off!'
She started to close the door and he pushed his foot in. 'Not even about Raul Montera?'
She stared blankly at him, then took off the chain and turned away. Ferguson followed her in and Fox closed the door behind them.
She went and stood by the fire and lit one of her rare cigarettes. 'Well, get on with it.'
She looked magnificent in her anger, eyes full of hate, and Ferguson decided to go in with both feet.
'Raul Montera arrives in Paris tomorrow to liaise with a man called Felix Donner who the Argentine Government believes can procure them an additional supply of Exocet missiles. I need to find out what they're up to and stop them. I want you to go to Paris, make contact with Montera again, and do whatever is necessary to help us stop them cold.'
'You must be crazy. I'll never work for you again. Never.'
'It's your duty. You're still a British citizen.'
'I am also a citizen of France. That makes me neutral.'
'Impossible,' he said calmly. 'Your half-brother, sublieutenant Richard Brindsley, is serving as a helicopter pilot on board HMS Invincible, as you very well know.'
'Stop it!' she said desperately. 'I won't listen.'
'He is serving with 820 Squadron,' Ferguson carried on relentlessly. 'The same squadron as Prince Andrew. Let me tell you what one of his more unpleasant duties is. The Sea Kings are frequently used to act as decoys for Exocet missiles. Prince Andrew and your brother and their comrades act in the belief that an Exocet cannot fly above twenty-seven feet. They hover, present an attractive radar target, protecting the ship of the fleet. The idea is to gain height quickly at the last moment possible, so that the missile passes beneath them. Unfortunately, rogue Exocets have been known to exceed that height. I'll spare you a description of the possibilities.'
She was almost beside herself with rage and fear. 'I won't listen. Leave me alone.'
'And then there's your friend, Montera. A gallant fool if ever I saw one, but the enemy in this war, Gabrielle, make no mistake about that. A man who has flown a Skyhawk with a five thousand pound bomb load to attack the British fleet in San Carlos Water on no fewer than twelve occasions. I wonder which frigate he helped sink?'
She turned away. Ferguson nodded to Fox and went out. Fox closed