101. A Call of Love (15 page)

An equerry said,

“Major Warde wants to see you, my Lord, and he said it is very urgent.”

“Yes, of course, show him in,” the Viceroy replied.

Then he looked at Lord Kenington and said in a lower tone,

“What on earth is going to happen now? Warde said he wanted to be with his daughter.”

Then the door opened and Major Warde entered.

There was an expression on his face as he walked straight across the room to the Viceroy that made Lord Kenington stare at him.

“What is the matter, Warde?” he asked.

There was a pause.

With some difficulty he managed to reply,

“They have taken Aisha and left this on the seat where she was sitting.”

As he spoke, he handed the Viceroy a crumpled and rather dirty piece of paper.

On it was written in badly spelt Urdu,

“
Give us the names of 17, 24, 85 and 96 or your daughter dies
.”

Lord Kenington stared over the Viceroy’s shoulder and, when he read what was written, he exclaimed,

“It cannot be possible! What have they done with her?”

“They have taken her away,” Major Warde replied. “They will lock her up, so that she will starve to death if I don’t do as they have demanded.”

“What can we do then?” the Viceroy now enquired. “You know as well as I do they will murder those four men when they know their names.”

There was no need to explain to Lord Kenington that everyone in
The Great Game
was known by a number. They never gave their real names to anyone when they were on a mission.

It was exceptional, as in the case of someone as important as Major Warde, for anyone to know who they actually were.

“How could this have happened in my garden?” the Viceroy asked.

“Very easily I am afraid, my Lord, as, although you are not aware of it, there is a spy amongst your servants. I must have been followed, although I was certain that I was clear of them and they have learnt that my daughter is here with me.”

“I suppose that Aisha was sitting by the swimming pool?” Lord Kenington asked.

“That is where I said I would meet her when I left you,” Major Warde replied.

He walked across the room and stood with his back to them while he looked out into the garden.

Then he came back to the desk and said,

“I must do everything possible to find her quickly. But I would like, if possible, someone to come with me.”

“I will come with you,” Lord Kenington offered at once.

Major Warde looked at him.

“Are you sure? I don’t need to tell you it will be extremely dangerous and you may lose your life.”

“I could not stand by idle and allow Aisha to die in such a ghastly way and I promise to do everything you tell me if I may accompany you.”

“But have you any idea where to go?” the Viceroy asked the Major.

He was staring at the piece of paper and wondering how in the tranquillity and quiet of his garden this outrage could have happened.

“I am almost certain,” Major Warde said after a little pause, “that I know where they will take her.”

The Viceroy looked up.

“Tell me,” he said, “so that at least I will have some idea where you have gone.”

Major Warde bent forward and spoke a word in Urdu that was just a whisper and the Viceroy stared at him.

“
The Mountain of Eyes
?” Major Warde nodded.

“I think so. That is where they took Lord Swinton, who you remember disappeared and was never found.”

“I have often wondered what happened to him,” the Viceroy said. “Although we had many people searching the whole of India for him, they never found him.”

“That is where he was taken,” Major Warde said still in a low voice, “and he died of starvation.”

“You found him?” the Viceroy asked.

Major Warde nodded.

“And you never told anyone!”

Major Warde made a gesture with his hands.

“What was the point? As he was dead, I did not want our enemies to know that we had been astute enough to find where they had taken and murdered him.”

“I see your point. Do you really think they will have taken Aisha there?”

“It is nearer to here in their territory than anywhere else, but with the number of soldiers guarding you, there should have been no trouble.”

“The sentries should have seen anyone entering the garden,” the Viceroy said angrily. “I will find out how this could have occurred.”

“Not until I have found Aisha,” Major Warde said firmly.

“Do you mean that?”

“I mean that we must behave outwardly from this moment as if nothing has happened.”

Major Warde was still talking in a very low voice. It could not be heard even on the other side of the room, let alone by anyone listening outside it.

He looked round and pulled up a chair to sit beside Lord Lytton who was still at his desk and, without saying anything, Lord Kenington did the same.

“Kenington and I,” Major Warde said, “will leave after luncheon. We will tell everyone we are going to look at a new gun that has just been taken on by the Regiment. As you know, there is a small detachment of them about ten miles from here.”

The Viceroy nodded.

“Actually we will drive on to an address I have no intention of telling you. There we will change and make our way on foot to the place I have just mentioned. That name must never be spoken and it is best if you don’t even know it exists.”

“I understand. Is there anything you require?”

“I have enough money of my own and I now have a companion to accompany me and who will carry on if by chance the enemy disposes of me.”

He paused for a moment while the two men stared at him and then he added,

“I think it is unlikely, as long as they believe that I am giving them what they demand.”

“It is the most unforgivable blackmail I have ever heard,” the Viceroy fumed. “To me it is utterly appalling. But, as I have always been told, no one is ever safe in this country from our enemies.”

Major Warde rose to his feet.

“I am going to circulate with your guests,” he said, “as if nothing has happened and Lord Kenington should do the same. When we are not here for dinner this evening, you can tell them that you have had a message to say we have met some friends while visiting the Regiment and that you understand we will not be back until tomorrow.”

“I can only pray that at least is the truth,” and then the Viceroy added in a kindly voice,

“You have had a very nasty shock, Warde. Let me get you a drink.”

The Major shook his head.

“I need my brain to be very clear and then with the help of God I hope to find Aisha.”

“I suppose there is no question of an arrangement with them, such as paying for Aisha?” Lord Kenington asked.

“If this is planned by who I think it is, they have plenty of men behind them and what they really want is to eliminate as many as possible of those in
The Great
Game
. The numbers they have given me all belong to the bravest and most successful of our members and they may have been waiting for a long time to find out who they are. But, now because I am here with my daughter, we have played right into their hands.”

“Then we have to rescue her, we
have
to,” Lord Kenington insisted.

“The only chance we have is that the people who are blackmailing me have no idea that I know how poor Swinton died. His bones are still lying where they left them and the mystery of his disappearance is still talked about by his friends and the men who worked with him.”

Lord Kenington was musing that no one in England realised the strength and the power of Russia’s spies. They had infiltrated deep into India and were causing trouble wherever they could.

Their main objective at present was to deal with the Forts and loyal tribes on the North-West Frontier. These could delay and hinder their advance, even though there was no question of winning against a strong Russian Army.

The fact that distinguished men like Lord Swinton could disappear and his body never found was a factor that would strengthen the resolve of the Prime Minister.

He was already convinced that even more help was needed in India than it was currently receiving and it was appalling that a young girl like Aisha could be kidnapped from the Viceroy’s garden without anyone knowing.

‘We
have
to find her,’ Lord Kenington murmured again to himself.

The Major rose to his feet.

“I am going now,” he said, “to watch the tennis or the polo and appear completely unconcerned, as if nothing unusual is happening. If I am asked where Aisha is, and you should ask me openly over luncheon, I will reply that she has a headache and is lying down.”

“What about the servants?” Lord Kenington asked quickly.

“I have already thought of that. I am going up to Aisha’s room now and, if the servants are outside, they will hear me talking to her. Then I will come out and say she has a very bad headache and does not wish to be disturbed. I will lock the door and take away the key.”

“You think of everything,” the Viceroy remarked.

“This is a moment, my Lord, when none of us can afford to make a mistake,” Major Warde replied quietly. “If we do, my daughter will die and I expect I will die too.”

“You must not talk like that. I cannot believe that you and Charles together will not succeed in finding her and bringing her back here.”

“Believe that and it will help us.” He walked across the room and opened the door.

“I promised to go and look at the tennis players and I will see you at luncheon.”

With that he closed the door quietly behind him. For a moment there was a hushed silence between the Viceroy and Lord Kenington.

Then the Viceroy said, putting his fingers up to his forehead,

“I cannot believe this is happening. I have always been assured that I am over-protected. Yet a girl has been taken out of my garden without anyone noticing it.”

“It makes me furious too,” Lord Kenington said, “but for the moment you must not ask questions of anyone. If Warde can act his part well, so must we.”

“You are quite right, Charles, but it makes me so angry that this should happen to one of the best men who has ever worked for us and to his charming daughter.”

“I know, but she has the same courage as her father and I feel confident that we will find her.”

He was thinking as he spoke how Aisha and he had talked about the Tibetan monks and how she was interested in the way they could communicate with each other.

‘Perhaps,’ he thought, ‘she will try to tell me where she is.’

Then he told himself he was being over-optimistic. It was ridiculous to think that a young girl could have the same powers that the monks in Tibet had worked at all their lives to achieve.

Yet it was there in his mind and he kept thinking of it all the time over luncheon, trying to make conversation with the guests and hearing the Major not only talking but laughing at the other end of the table.

‘He is a magnificent actor,’ he told himself.

At the same time he knew that the Major had had a great deal of experience. He was determined that no one staying in Peterhof should know of Aisha’s disappearance.

The luncheon seemed to drag on and take hours, but it was actually no longer than the day before.

When it finished, the Major said in a loud voice,

“Are you ready, Charles? It’s going to be a hot drive, but I promise a cool drink when we reach camp.”

“Where are you going?” a woman guest asked.

It was the same lady who had been so curious with Aisha earlier in the day.

“We are going to a detachment of my Regiment,” the Major said. “We have a new gun that has recently arrived from England and I now wish to show it to Lord Kenington. In my opinion it is one of the most effective weapons to have been developed for some time.”

“How interesting,” the lady twittered.

This was a splendid titbit of gossip that she would be able to convey to her friends.

“Do tell me all about it, Major.”

“I will tell you about it tonight, but now we must be on our way. I have already told the Viceroy what I think about his roads and it was not particularly complimentary!”

Everyone laughed and those who were going out to play tennis said,

“Well, good luck and we expect we will be a lot hotter on the tennis court than you will be on the roads.”

“I will test that tomorrow by having a game with you,” the Major countered.

“I shall look forward the challenge,” was the reply.

*

The Major had already changed from his uniform into a casual thin suit and Lord Kenington did the same.

There was an open carriage drawn by one horse waiting for them outside. There was only room for two people to sit in it, so that it was obvious that they would not be accompanied by the groom.

“Don’t worry if we are delayed,” Major Warde said to him in Urdu. “We might, if there is a party this evening, stay tonight at the camp and the horses will be well looked after.”

The groom bowed and the Major drove off.

The horse was pretty fast and they covered quite a distance before Lord Kenington asked,

“How far is this mountain?”

“It is not really a mountain, but it is remote and at one time inhabited by Holy men who worshipped some peculiar God of their own. They were therefore found a place where no one would interfere with them.”

“Go on,” Lord Kenington urged.

“Well, these Holy men then dug small caves into the mountainside, each one for himself and there were a great number of them. Long after they moved on the caves have remained. Some of them extend some way back into the mountain and it’s difficult to go into them because of falling rocks.”

“And you are sure they have taken Aisha there?”

“No one can be sure of anything, but I have been told that our enemies use these caves and it was there that I found the body of Lord Swinton.”

He paused for a moment and then added,

“It was, of course, only his skeleton, as he had been missing for over five years, but his signet ring was still on his finger bone and I recognised the Swinton crest.”