Passenger to Frankfurt - Agatha Christie [75]
‘Shut up, George.’ Mr Lazenby pulled out his pipe, looked at it, put it back in his pocket again. ‘The best plan, I think,’ he said, his idée fixe reasserting itself, ‘would be for me to fly to Russia. I understand that–well, that these facts are known to the Russians.’
‘They know sufficient,’ said Herr Spiess. ‘How much they will admit they know–’ he shrugged his shoulders–‘that is difficult to say. It is never easy to get the Russians to come out in the open. They have their own troubles on the Chinese border. They believe perhaps less in the far advanced stage, into which the movement has got, than we do.’
‘I should make mine a special mission, I should.’
‘I should stay here if I were you, Cedric.’
Lord Altamount’s quiet voice spoke from where he leaned rather wearily back in his chair. ‘We need you here, Cedric,’ he said. There was gentle authority in his voice. ‘You are the head of our Government–you must remain here. We have our trained agents–our own emissaries who are qualified for foreign missions.’
‘Agents?’ Sir George Packham dubiously demanded. ‘What can agents do at this stage? We must have a report from–Ah, Horsham, there you are–I did not notice you before. Tell us–what agents have we got? And what can they possibly do?’
‘We’ve got some very good agents,’ said Henry Horsham quietly. ‘Agents bring you information. Herr Spiess also has brought you information. Information which his agents have obtained for him. The trouble is–always has been–(you’ve only got to read about the last war) nobody wishes to believe the news the agents bring.’
‘Surely–Intelligence–’
‘Nobody wants to accept that the agents are intelligent! But they are, you know. They are highly trained and their reports, nine times out of ten, are true. What happens then? The High-Ups refuse to believe it, don’t want to believe it, go further and refuse to act upon it in any way.’
‘Really, my dear Horsham–I can’t–’
Horsham turned to the German.
‘Even in your country, sir, didn’t that happen? True reports were brought in, but they weren’t always acted upon. People don’t want to know–if truth is unpalatable.’
‘I have to agree–that can and does happen–not often, of that I assure you–But yes–sometimes–’
Mr Lazenby was fidgeting again with his pipe.
‘Let us not argue about information. It is a question of dealing–of acting upon the information we have got. This is not merely a national crises–it is an international crisis. Decisions must be taken at top level–we must act. Munro, the police must be reinforced by the Army–military measures must be set in motion. Herr Spiess, you have always been a great military nation–rebellions must be put down by armed forces before they get out of hand. You would agree with that policy, I am sure–’
‘The policy, yes. But these insurrections are already what you term “out of hand”. They have tools, rifles, machine-guns, explosives, grenades, bombs, chemical and other gases–’
‘But with our nuclear weapons–a mere threat of nuclear warfare–and–’
‘These are not just disaffected schoolboys. With this Army of Youth there are scientists–young biologists, chemists, physicists. To start–or to engage in nuclear warfare in Europe–’ Herr Spiess shook his head. ‘Already we have had an attempt to poison the water supply at Cologne–Typhoid.’
‘The whole position is incredible–’ Cedric Lazenby looked round him hopefully–‘Chetwynd–Munro–Blunt?’
Admiral Blunt was, somewhat to Lazenby’s surprise, the only one to respond.
‘I don’t know where the Admiralty comes in–not quite our pigeon. I’d advise you, Cedric, if you want to do the best thing for yourself, to take your pipe, and a big supply of tobacco, and get as far out of range of any nuclear warfare you are thinking of starting as you can. Go and camp in the Antarctic, or somewhere where radio-activity will take a long time catching up with you. Professor Eckstein warned