The Light of the Day - Eric Ambler [42]
I thought it over; that part of it might not be so bad. I would just have to make sure that I had plenty of cigarette packets. What I did not like was having to write out the reports. I said so.
“There is a slight risk, I agree,” he said; “but you will have to take it. Remember, they will only search you if you have given them reason to suspect you. You must be careful not to.”
“I still have to write the reports.”
“You can do that in the toilet. I do not imagine you will be observed there. Now, as to our communicating information and orders to you.” He opened his briefcase and took out a small portable transistor radio of the type I had seen German tourists carrying. “You will carry this in your bag. If it should be seen, or you should be heard using it, you will say that it was given to you by a German client. Normally it receives only standard broadcast frequencies, but this one has been modified. I will show you.” He slipped it out of the carrying case, took the back off, and pointed to a small switch just by the battery compartment. “If you operate that switch it will receive V.H.F. transmissions on a fixed frequency from up to half a mile away. The transmissions will be made to you from a surveillance car. It is a system we have tried out, and, providing there are no large obstacles such as buildings between the two points, it works. Your listening times will be seven in the morning and eleven at night. Is that clear? For security it will be better if you use the earphone attachment.”
“I see. You say it has been modified. Does that mean that it won’t receive ordinary broadcasts? Because if so I couldn’t explain it …”
“It will work normally unless you move this switch.” He replaced the back. “Now then, I have some information for you. Both Harper and Miss Lipp are traveling on Swiss passports. We had no time at the airport to discover, without arousing suspicion, if the passports were genuine or not. The relevant particulars are as follows: Walter Karl Harper, aged thirty-eight, described as an engineer, place of birth Berne, and Elizabeth Maria Lipp, aged thirty-six, described as a student, place of birth Schaffhausen.”
“A student?”
“Anyone can be described as a student. It is meaningless. Now, as to the Kösk Sardunya.” He referred to a paper in the briefcase. “It is the property of the widow of a former minister in the government of President Inönü. She is nearly eighty now and has for some years lived quietly with her daughter in Izmir. She has from time to time tried to sell Sardunya, but nobody had wished to buy at the price she asks. For the past two years, she has leased it furnished to a NATO naval mission which had business in the zone. The mission’s work ended at the beginning of the year. Her agent here in Istanbul was unable to find another tenant until three months ago. Then he received an inquiry from an Austrian named Fischer—yes, exactly—who was staying at the Hilton Hotel. Fischer’s other names are Hans Andreas, and he gave an address in Vienna. He wanted a furnished villa for two months, not a particular villa, but one in that neighborhood and near to the shore. He was willing to pay well for a short lease, and gave a deposit in Swiss francs. On the lease, which is in his name, his occupation is given as manufacturer. He arrived three weeks ago, when the lease began, and has not registered with the police. We have not yet traced the record of his entry, so we do not have all passport particulars about him.”
“What is he a manufacturer of?”
“We do not know. We have sent an inquiry to Interpol, but I expect a negative reply. We received negative replies on both Harper and Lipp. That increases the probability that they are politicals.”
“Or that they are using aliases.”
“Perhaps. Now, the other personnel at the villa. There are a husband and wife who live over what was the stabling. Their name is Hamul and they are old servants who have been there for some years as caretakers and