The Assassins by Alan Bardos (read novel full .TXT) 📕

Johnny coughed - he should have thought of that. It was practically high treason, aiding and abetting a hostile power. 'I'm sorry, but at the time I was doing my best to assist a sovereign nation we were on good terms with.' His mind scrambled like a rat in a trap as he tried to think of the correct phrasing.

Sir George's eyes flickered with opportunity, 'You're not holding something back are you? Something you think will get you up the greasy pole? I know you, Swift; you have the back alley cunning of a guttersnipe. What else have you found out, moving around in the exalted circles of your country’s enemies? Any little snippet might help us form a coherent foreign policy. The Foreign Secretary and the cabinet are split over the possibility of war and what our involvement should be.'

'War, Sir George? You mean us - Great Britain, at war?' Johnny had allowed himself to be distracted at the newsstand and must have missed something important.

'My God, do you really have no idea why I sent you to the Balkans?' Sir George looked dubious. 'You are aware that the Foreign Secretary believes that making concessions to Serbia is vital to sustaining the Entente with France and Russia? Didn’t you notice that he championed Serbian territorial claims over Albania's at the Treaty of London?'

Johnny shrugged, 'It was before I joined the service.'

Sir George sighed impatiently. 'The point is, Swift, there is a policy of increasing the security of the Entente Cordial through Serbia. I believe it was Bismarck who said that the next war in Europe will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans. It's vital to know what the state of play is down there, so that any potential threat to peace can be mitigated.'

'You mean, to prevent a clash between Serb Nationalism and Austrian Imperialism,' Johnny said - that much he'd worked out for himself.

'I’m more concerned about the Russians. They're the real problem here. They've turned Serbia into a client state to act as a barrier against Austro-Hungarian expansion into the Balkans, safeguarding Russia's own plans in that ghastly peninsula. In a potential diplomatic crisis the Russians won't care what the rights and wrongs are and will act to protect their interests. They’ll have the full backing of the French, who are desperate to ensure the Russians fulfil their treaty obligations and attack the Germans if a war breaks out. They've been pouring money into Russian train lines for years, to speed up their mobilisation.’

'I don’t understand why Serbia and the Balkans are so important,' Johnny said. None of this had been in any of the dispatches or minutes that he’d copied out during his year of clerical servitude.

Sir George picked up a bust of Napoleon as he patiently explained the finer points of France’s diplomatic strategy. 'Serbia and the Balkans are important, Swift, because to the French way of thinking the Russians are most likely to participate in a war against Germany if it begins in the Balkans against Austro-Hungary. The Serbians will absorb large numbers of Austrian troops, allowing the Russians to unleash even larger numbers of Cossacks against Eastern Prussia, thus reducing the burden on the French Army in the most critical period of any future war.'

He paused to put the bust down. 'In short, France and Russia have fixed their defence policy on Europe's most violent and unstable region. Which, Master Swift, was why I sent you there - not necessarily to get killed, although that would have been amusing, or to pay back the money you stole, but to be my eyes and ears, using that guttersnipe cunning to keep me one step ahead of the competition.' Libby had told him as much, but Johnny didn’t think that would have been tactful to mention.

'Unfortunately, you have failed spectacularly to provide me with one shred of useful information,' Sir George continued. 'The Austro-Hungarian Government have declared war on Serbia, Russia has begun part mobilisation, and it's only a matter of time before the French drag us into things.‘

‘But that’s not possible!’ Johnny couldn’t believe it; his world was becoming unstuck.

‘It’s the very thing I sent you down there to prevent - Austro-Hungary's growing disputes with Serbia have escalated into war. The Russians will take the opportunity to further their influence in the region and maybe even get a port in the Mediterranean, under the guise of helping their Slavic brothers. Germany, Austria's ally, will see an opportunity to smash the growing power of Russia and declare war. France, not wanting to see their key strategic ally beaten, and hoping to right the wrongs of 1870, will attack Germany. And then Great Britain will inevitably have to step in and restore the balance of power and safeguard its interests.’ Sir George spoke with an accusatory tone, as if somehow, this was all Johnny’s fault.

'But we're under no written obligation,' Johnny managed to say. Humpty had told him so.

'Semantics - we still have an understanding. The French may not have learnt anything militarily from the Franco-Prussian war and can't wait to go haring off into Germany in a glorious Napoleonic cavalry charge, but they've certainly learned diplomatically. They've made sure that the Russians are able to mobilise and are insisting on our support, by every possible means.'

Johnny took a moment to absorb this and he wondered if the grand idea he'd had could still work with that level of escalation.

'The problem is, France view the Entente as a means of keeping Germany in check. For His Majesty's Government it has been a way of protecting our Empire. The assassination you failed to prevent, has exposed the inherent contradiction of being allies with our closest imperial rivals. Whitehall's policy is now somewhat garbled and can be interpreted as either pro or anti war. Currently, the British Government