The Double Agents (Men at War 6)

As Jamison and the men left, those remaining in the room sat back at the table.

“As you may have gathered,” Montagu then said, “the typewriters are for the letters we’re to compose. I collected a variety of brands in order to give each letter its distinct characteristic.”

He pointed to the Olivers.

“These, for example,” he went on. “You may know that the special models 15 and 16 were manufactured specifically for British government offices. Thus, we’ll use them for those letters we write for the brass.”

“I see,” Charity said.

“And the box contains a great variety of stationery and business letterhead that we collected for our purposes,” he added.

Charity nodded, now clearly in thought. She looked across the table, then motioned for the sheet that was before the Duchess.

“May I?” she said.

“Of course,” the Duchess replied, and slid the Most Secret paper to her.

“Before we get into all that,” Charity said.

“Yes?”

“You were speaking earlier about how everything came together to this point.”

Montagu was nodding.

“I’m unclear on a couple of things.”

“Ask away.”

Charity picked up the paper and looked again at its first part.

* * *

1. OBJECT.

TO CAUSE A BRIEFCASE CONTAINING DOCUMENTS (BOTH ONES MOST SECRET AND OTHERS OF A PERSONAL NATURE) TO DRIFT ASHORE AS NEAR AS POSSIBLE TO HUELVA, SPAIN, IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES THAT IT WILL BE THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN WASHED ASHORE FROM AN AIRCRAFT WHICH CRASHED EN ROUTE FROM THE U.K. TO ALLIED FORCES H.Q. IN NORTH AFRICA.

2. METHOD.

A DEAD BODY IN THE BATTLE-DRESS UNIFORM OF A MAJOR, ROYAL MARINES, AND WEARING A “MAE WEST,” WILL BE TAKEN OUT IN A SUBMARINE, TOGETHER WITH THE BRIEFCASE, AND A RUBBER DINGHY.

* * *

“Numbers one and two,” she went on. “How was it decided that it would be a Royal Marine, a major, and that he would be put ashore at Huelva?”

Montagu raised his eyebrows and looked at Fleming and Niven.

“No offense intended,” Charity added reasonably, glancing at them. “I do not mean to sound critical. It’s just that I think it might be good to know as we get into all these letters.”

“No offense taken,” Montagu replied. “It’s just that a great deal of effort went into it, so much so over many months, as we mentioned earlier, that frankly even if I could give you a complete chronology, we do not have the time for it.”

Fleming looked at Montagu and said, “How about simply explaining how we arrived at numbers one and two?”

“That’d be fine,” Charity said.

Montagu nodded. “Very well.”

He took in a deep breath, composed his thoughts, then said, “As we have mentioned, we entertained many scenarios—some quite good, some absolutely worthless. We ultimately arrived at the idea of a courier of some importance carrying correspondence between higher-ups. These letters are to be so secret that they could not be sent by wireless or any other method. And to get our courier to the enemy—in one, credible piece—we decided to use a submarine, having discarded the use of a flying boat or an escort ship diverted from a convoy as being too risky.”