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By Root 544 0

All Tommy’s senses were under assault. The stench of prison life in high summer, with hundreds of sweaty men crammed into tiny spaces, was stomach-churning. One day the prisoners were ordered to tidy and prepare their cells for inspection. Seeking to restore order in his own mind, Sneum complied until his tiny living space was sparkling perfection. Before long a large, red-haired prison officer by the name of Griffith entered Tommy’s cell on his tour of inspection. He seemed to have taken even more of a dislike to Sneum than the other inmates and glared contemptuously around the cell as he searched for fault. When he could find none, he became visibly agitated.

‘Your bed, Sneum. Look at it! What a bloody shambles.’

‘I’ve just made it,’ said Tommy defiantly.

‘It’s a mess.’

‘I don’t think so, sir.’

Griffith marched over, pushed Sneum against the wall and pulled apart the bed. ‘Well, it’s a mess now, isn’t it? Make it again, you slob.’

Sneum’s icy blue eyes drilled Griffith with such intense aggression that, for all his own sadistic tendencies, the officer was taken aback. Then he called Sneum’s bluff. ‘Go on, son, I know what you’re thinking. Why don’t you have a go? Throw a punch and see what happens to you.’

Tommy was confident he could floor the overweight warder without a problem. He also knew how deeply satisfying that punch would be. But for how long? He would be playing into Griffith’s hands—enjoying a short-term victory but a lasting defeat. If he knocked out a warder, they would have an excuse to lock him up for ever. Griffith would have all the time in the world to plan and exact his revenge.

Smiling, Griffith seemed to read his mind again. ‘Don’t worry about the consequences, Sneum. You couldn’t get into more shit than you’re in already, even if you killed me. It’s all over for you, boy.’ Tommy said nothing but wondered why Griffith suddenly seemed so sure of himself. ‘That’s right, Sneum. The rope’s waiting for you. Haven’t you been told? You’re due to swing in five weeks.’

Although he tried hard to hide his fear, Tommy was unnerved by this. A malevolent grin spread across Griffith’s face as he saw the news hit home, and he left the cell whistling cheerfully. Sneum slumped onto the mattress, which had been left in a heap on his cell floor, and wept as quietly as he could.

The next day, as he walked towards the exercise yard, Tommy experienced no abuse at all. There was mostly silence, although one or two prisoners shouted words of sympathy or encouragement from their cells. Sneum was convinced these were the same men who had been victimizing him previously. The kindness was chilling.

They began to treat me with more respect because they had heard I was going to hang. They told me straight: ‘You’ve been condemned to death. We’ll think of you.’ A lot of them said that: ‘We’ll be thinking of you when it happens.’ One said: ‘You can ask for a Bible.’ I was scared, but I was pleased when I found out my fellow prisoners liked me. I began to realize that some of the finest gentlemen in Britain were in Brixton.

Chapter 41

A DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT

SIS HAD BEEN BUSY REORGANIZING its A2 Section. Rabagliati’s successor overseeing operations in Holland and Denmark was the newly promoted Major Charles Seymour, his former number two, the man who had driven Sneum up to Ringway Airport for parachute training. With his resignation so surprisingly accepted, Rabagliati had asked Seymour to walk out too, as a gesture of solidarity. Seymour had refused, determined that there should be some continuity within the department, for the sake of any agents still in the field. He also failed to see why he should sacrifice his own career and prospects of promotion just because of Rabagliati’s personality clash with a colleague. As if to prove the point, he even took over the colonel’s old office, a particularly painful twist for Rabagliati as he stepped aside for a man half his age.

Since he had handled Tommy in the past, Seymour must have known about the Danish agent’s imprisonment in Brixton. However, he had only just got