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

he saw her standing at the bottom of the stairs in a bright green veil. There was no mistaking the amber eyes mocking him.

Chapter 28

Johnny pressed himself into a corner outside the eastern end of the Catholic Cathedral and shivered. Its gothic design didn't offer much cover from the rain. He looked longingly across the street at the green domes of the Turkish baths and thought of the shimmering green silk of the belly dancer.

It had taken him a moment to recover from the shock of seeing her at the boarding house. By the time he'd regained his senses she'd ushered him out into the alley next to the house and slapped his hands away, as he simultaneously tried to lift her veil and robe. It was an instinctive reflex he'd perfected under his uncle's tutelage, but it was completely wasted on her.

'Laszlo sent me,' she said, removing the veil herself.

'Laszlo? Oh, you mean Breitner,' Johnny said, dejected. The name was like a bucket of cold water thrown in his face. 'You work for Breitner?'

‘Why else would I share my lunch with you and take the trouble of explaining Kropotkin, so that you could make friends with the other boys.’ Her eyes mocked his naivety.

Johnny's anger flared up. 'He told me he didn't have any chaps.'

'I thought you'd noticed. I'm not a "chap".' She rolled her eyes coyly.

'Well, yes, I have obviously....what I meant was...'

'I believe what Laszlo actually said was that he didn't have anyone suitable. I'm not suitable,' she explained.

Johnny smiled in spite of his rage and frustration. The thought of her trying to make friends with a puritan like Gavrilo was vaguely amusing. Then he remembered.

'You got me sacked.'

'Something had to be done to, "winkle you out". Laszlo thought you were getting far too comfortable. He needs your information, urgently.'

'So that was a trap? You knew I'd recognise you at the charity?'

'You are a man of certain crude predictabilities. It makes you very easy to manage.'

'Breitner planted you at the cafe!' Johnny couldn't believe he'd gone to that much trouble. Breitner must have known that if he stopped Johnny from following her through the side door at the cafe, he'd completely lose control the next time he saw her. The eye for detail staggered him. 'How did Breitner magic up your father?'

'My father?'

'The chap you were with, puffing cigar smoke all over the place.'

'My father, yes.' She seemed amused by the comment, as if he'd believe anything and everything. 'Oh, Krumpli - that particular "father" is a well known philanthropist, who I met at a Chamber of Commerce function. I pretended to be interested in such matters and he invited me to join him when he visited the Prosvjeta office.'

'How does he feel about you cavorting about as a showgirl?'

Her amber eyes flashed angrily. 'You are to wait by the tram stop behind the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart tonight, after last mass. Laszlo will be on one of the trams going past.'

'But I'd rather meet him at the cafe again.'

'Yes, I'm sure you would, but it will create less suspicion if you are on a tram rather than sitting together in a cafe - I shouldn’t have to tell you this. Now, you've detained me long enough.' He'd detained her! Johnny was so taken aback at her gall that he forgot to ask her name.

He had been waiting for hours, watching the trams rattle past, trailing sparks in the rain. Breitner hadn't been on any of them and Johnny wouldn't have put it past that spiteful little minx to have made the whole thing up. The thought gave him a warm feeling. She was magnificent. Scheming women were new to Johnny. Libby, for all her guile, was pretty no nonsense. You always knew where you were with her, and exactly what was expected. Johnny would have to raise his game if he was going to get anywhere with this sophisticated continental.

He nearly missed the tram when it finally came, battling its way through the heavy rain. He saw Breitner sitting at the window; there was no mistaking his ridiculous pince-nez. Johnny did a hundred yard dash through the rain and jumped on just as the doors slammed shut. Breitner nodded approvingly, obviously thinking it had all been part of an elaborate ruse to make sure he wasn't being followed.

He fell into the seat next to Breitner and said a little too begrudgingly, 'I got your message.'

Breitner smiled. 'You're cutting things a bit fine, Johnny. The Archduke arrived in Bosnia today and we have no idea how your friends plan to welcome him.'

'They're not going to do anything before Vidovdan, on Sunday. I've still got Friday and Saturday.'

'Vidovdan,' Breitner repeated the word, ponderously. 'I'd have thought that it would be a lot easier to shoot him during the manoeuvres, when he's standing around in a forest. There must be hundreds of ex-Partisans who could do it.'

'They want to slay the Sultan on their national day,' Johnny said curtly. He'd already told Breitner all of this. 'They'd hardly ignite a revolution skulking about in a forest.'

Breitner gave him a cold look. 'So, it's definitely a nationalist plot by the Young Bosnians - there's no one else involved?'

Johnny shrugged his sodden shoulders, inadvertently pressing cold water down his back. 'The whole thing seems to be their own idea.'

'You're sure?'

'The weapons were supplied by a group called 'The Black Hand' - whatever that is.'

'It's a Pan Slav extremist group, connected with Serbian Intelligence. Exactly the sort of people to mastermind something like this,' Breitner explained.

'They don't appear to have direct control over Gavrilo. In fact, he's very hostile to a Major Tankosic in their leadership.'

The tram went round a corner and Johnny fell onto Breitner. 'Have you managed to spike their weapons?'