The Dogs of War

“Now, I have read your report, and I approve your judgment and conclusions. If offered this contract, would you be prepared to go through with it?”

“Yes, sir, I would,” said Shannon.

“There are a couple of points I want to discuss. I notice in the budget you award yourself the sum of ten thousand pounds.”

“Yes, sir. Frankly, I don’t think anyone would do the job for less, and most would ask more. Even if a budget were prepared by another person which quoted a lower sum, I think that person would still pass a minimum of ten percent to himself, simply by hiding the sum in the prices of purchases that could not be checked out.”

There was a pause; then the voice said, “All right. I accept that. What does this salary buy me?”

“It buys you my knowledge, my contacts, my acquaintanceship with the world of arms dealers, smugglers, gunrunners, and mercenaries. It also buys my silence in the event of anything’s going wrong. It pays me for three months’ damned hard work, and the constant risk of arrest and imprisonment. Lastly, it buys the risk of my getting killed in the attack.”

There was a grunt. “Fair enough. Now as regards financing. The sum of one hundred thousand pounds will be transferred into a Swiss account which Mr. Harris will open this week. He will pay you the necessary money in slices, as and when you need it over the forthcoming two months. For that purpose you will have to set up your own communications system with him. When the money is spent, he will either have to be present or to receive receipts.”

“That will not always be possible, sir. There are no receipts in the arms businesss, least of all in black-market deals, and most of the men I shall be dealing with would not have Mr. Harris present. He is not in their world. I would suggest the extensive use of travelers’ checks and credit transfers by banks. At the same time, if Mr. Harris has to be present to countersign every banker’s draft or check for a thousand pounds, he must either follow me around everywhere, which I would not accept on grounds of my own security, or we could never do it all inside a hundred days.”

There was another long pause. “What do you mean by your own security?” asked the voice.

“I mean, sir, that I don’t know Mr. Harris. I could not accept that he be in a position to know enough to get me arrested in a European city. You have taken your security precautions. I have to take mine. These are that I travel and work alone and unsupervised.”

“You’re a cautious man, Mr. Shannon.”

“I have to be. I’m still alive.”

There was a grim chuckle. “And how do I know you can be trusted with large sums of money to handle on your own?”

“You don’t, sir. Up to a point Mr. Harris can keep the sums low at each stage. But the payments for the arms have to be made in cash and by the buyer alone. The only alternatives are to ask Mr. Harris to mount the operation personally, or to hire another professional. And you would not know if you could trust him either.”

“Fair enough, Mr. Shannon. Mr. Harris.”

“Sir?” answered Endean immediately.

“Please return to see me at once after leaving where you are now. Mr. Shannon, you have the job. You have one hundred days, Mr. Shannon, to steal a republic. One hundred days.”

PART TWO

THE HUNDRED

D

AYS

nine

For several minutes after Sir James Manson had hung up, Simon Endean and Cat Shannon sat and stared at each other. It was Shannon who recovered first.

“Since we’re going to have to work together,” he told Endean, “let’s get this clear. If anyone, anyone at all, gets to hear about this project, it will eventually get back to one or another of the secret services of one of the main powers. Probably the CIA, or at least the British SIS or maybe the French SDECE. And they will screw, but good. There’ll be nothing you or I could do to prevent them ending the affair stone dead. So we keep security absolute.”

“Speak for yourself,” snapped Endean. “I’ve got a lot more tied up in this than you.”

“Okay. First thing has to be money. I’ll fly to Brussels tomorrow and open a new bank account somewhere in Belgium. I’ll be back by tomorrow night. Contact me then, and I’ll tell you where, in which bank and in what name. Then I shall need a transfer of credit to the tune of at least ten thousand pounds. By tomorrow night I’ll have a complete list of where it has to be spent. Mainly, it will be in salary checks for my assistants, deposits, and so on.”

“Where do I contact you?” asked Endean.

“That’s point number two,” said Shannon. “I’m going to need a permanent base, secure for telephone calls and letters. What about this flat? Is it traceable to you?”

Endean had not thought of that. He considered the problem. “It’s hired in my name. Cash in advance for one month,” he said.

“Does it matter if the name Harris is on the tenancy agreement?” asked Shannon.