The Shadow of Treason (18 page)

‘I am co-operating, aren’t I? Listen, this big conspiracy you’re talking about. It’s black market, isn’t it? And I can tell you, the Home Guard are involved.’

Hoskins gave a brief laugh. ‘A small faction of the Home Guard seems to be in on this. But it’s a lot more serious than peddling booze and nylons.’

‘What is it then?’

Hoskins hesitated. He looked out of the window for a moment and studied the countryside. The tide was coming in now, most of the mud-flats were covered, and many of the
sea-birds
were on the wing. He realized it would be best to tell the young man everything. He cleared his throat.

‘The fact is,’ said Hoskins, ‘it’s a plot to overthrow the government.’

Adam gasped. He struggled to find words, and then he said, ‘You mean, a revolution?’

‘More like a coup d’état. Grabbing the reins of power in one swift strike.’

Adam remained incredulous. ‘And the Home Guard are behind it? The Home Guard?!’

‘A small but powerful section within the Home Guard, yes.’

‘That’s incredible!’

‘In my job, old chap, you find nothing’s incredible. Or
impossible
. The vast majority of Home Guard are decent, law-abiding men who want to defend Britain. But they have their rotten apples, like every other barrel – malcontents, anarchists, perpetual rebels – you know, the bolshie bunch. Many of them with time on their hands. We began to suspect some months ago that such people were being organized into small solid groups within the larger movement.’

‘Organized? Who by?’

‘By extremists on the outer limits of the Socialist and Communist parties. And some even further left than that. Admirers of Soviet Russia, who’d like to have the same sort of system over here.’

‘God forbid!’ Adam shuddered. ‘And they’ve latched onto the Home Guard?’

‘On the lunatic fringe I described, yes.’

‘And they think they can overthrow the government?’

‘Yes. And in dire circumstances they possibly could. Remember, the Home Guard have large stocks of guns and other weapons, plus plenty of ammunition and explosives, all the things they’d need to seize key areas. Also remember that
most of our regular forces are still abroad, fighting in Europe and the Far East. If someone wants to mount a coup, there’ll never be a better opportunity.’

‘But you say most of the Home Guard are loyal. Surely they could put down the traitors.’

‘Not necessarily. A well-organized fanatical minority can sometimes defeat an easy-going complacent majority. Don’t forget, when Hitler seized power in Germany, his Fascists were in the minority. But they had the organization, and they had the will and the energy and a clear-cut plan. It seems the Red Brigade, as we call them, have been manoeuvring their men into key positions while the good guys have been at home, working on their allotments. When they strike, the first thing the
extremists
will do is grab control of their Home Guard units and their weapons.’

‘Good God!’ Adam was still trying to come to terms with the whole astounding concept. ‘All right, they’ve got the guns and stuff, as you say. They could cause a lot of trouble, maybe they could even storm 10 Downing Street. But what do they do then? The rabble you describe wouldn’t have the brains to run the country.’

‘Well, here’s the really alarming part. I said these renegades are being organized by political extremists. We believe that some serving MPs are involved, possibly even a government minister, though we don’t know which. Enough to set up some sort of ruling junta with experience of government.’

‘Phew!’ Adam exhaled forcefully. Then he reached out his hand. ‘I could do with another swig of that brandy.’

Hoskins handed over the flask and delivered further bleak news. ‘There’s also a third element. The plotters don’t want their members in the Home Guard to show their hands before the big day. Also, they like to think of themselves as idealists. So, if there’s dirty work to be done, they simply employ the criminal underworld to do it. As you yourself have
discovered
.’

‘You mean the sods who beat me up this afternoon.’

‘Exactly. They’ll have been East End gangsters paid by the Red Brigade.’

Adam fingered a bruise. ‘They seemed to enjoy their work.’

‘Always useful if you can get paid to do what you like doing.’

‘Talking of pay, where would the money for all this be coming from?’

‘Almost certainly from Russia.’

‘But they’re our allies!’

‘For now, yes. But Joe Stalin would like to take over the whole of Europe in due course. Including Britain. The Russians have their men over here, paving the way. They’ll fund anyone who helps the cause.’

Adam sat in dumb astonishment for a moment. Then he said, ‘I don’t know if I can believe it.’

‘I’d have thought what happened this afternoon would convince you that something nasty was going on. Now then, I’ve told you what all this is about. It’s time you told me what you know.’

‘I don’t know anything.’

‘Not true. You know a great deal more than you think you do. You can tell us a lot.’ Hoskins felt the train slowing, and glanced out of the window. ‘But wait a minute. We’re coming in to a station. Make sure no one gets in here.’

It was Tilfleet, Adam’s regular station. He was used to seeing it crowded with commuters. But, like Chalksea, at this time of day it was almost deserted. One woman approached their door but Hoskins, who had already opened the window, now stood by it and sneezed loudly several times. The woman moved further along the train, holding a handkerchief to her face.

It was a brief stop, and after a minute they were on the move again, the wheels settling back to their steady rhythm. Hoskins closed the window.

Adam had been thinking. ‘All right. Suppose it’s all true. It seems you know everything already. You can raid the Home Guard centres and arrest the plotters, you can lock up the suspect politicians. Why do you need anything from me?’

Hoskins frowned. ‘Good Lord, man, don’t you understand? I’ve told you, we don’t yet have enough to act on. We’ve good reason to suspect all this, we’re sure we know the basic plot, but we haven’t any firm details: names, places, plans, dates and so on. We can’t just pile into every Home Guard HQ in the country. A lot of them probably aren’t involved in any way.’

‘You don’t even know which units are in on this?’

‘No, not entirely. We have a good idea, but we haven’t got it a hundred per cent. Or even eighty per cent. Likewise, we think we know some of the rogue MPs, but nothing’s certain. This is a democratic country, we aren’t allowed to seize several hundred people on suspicion. There’d be a terrible reaction: charges of false arrest, threats to civil liberty! Can’t you see that?’

Adam nodded. ‘Yes. Yes, if you put it like that, I suppose I can.’

‘Besides, when we swoop we’ve got to get it totally right. We have to catch the lot. We can’t afford to have the round-up go off at half-cock, and leave some of the buggers free to cause trouble elsewhere.’

‘I still don’t see how I can help.’

‘You will. We’ve had our agents join up in various units, where we think there’s subversive activity. Several have confirmed there’s something going on, but they’ve not yet come up with firm facts. Several have found nothing to report. One or two have met with fatal accidents. The plotters are very cunning – at least, their key people are. They can spot a mole a mile off.’

Adam suddenly saw the light. ‘Was Mark Jefferson one of your men?’

‘Yes, he was, one of the best. That’s why we put him into Tilfleet which, we have reason to believe, may be a Red Brigade stronghold: possibly their command centre for southern England.

‘What made you think that?’

‘Several pointers. For a start, their CO’s a man called Brigden. We know he used to be extremely left-wing, a member
of the Communist Party, and a very active one. Strikes,
demonstrations
, riots, he’d be in the forefront, hurling abuse at the police, plus the occasional brick. Three years ago, he left the Communist Party, became a model citizen, joined the Home Guard, and started standing to attention for the National Anthem.’

‘Is that significant?’

‘It’s routine for extremists who’ve been told by their bosses to put on a respectable faćade and start working underground. Also Tilfleet’s been ordering more weapons and ammunition than you’d expect them to need.’

‘Did Jefferson find anything?’

‘He strengthened our suspicions. He reported that there’s an elite squad of soldiers in that unit. They do special training at weekends, from which the others are excluded. Jefferson said Brigden works eighteen hours a day, and is surrounded by a bunch of henchmen who keep the rest of the men away.’

‘Like Mussolini.’

‘Like any dictator. It seems Brigden’s a bitter and twisted character, born with a big chip on his shoulder. We checked his background. Expelled from school for persistent bullying. Missed out on college because he was already known as a problem-boy.’

‘So how did he get to be a Home Guard commander?’

Hoskins shrugged. ‘Low cunning, I suppose. He knew what he wanted and he went for it. Probably there weren’t many volunteers for the job. And apparently he had some
management
skills. He’d joined Woolworth’s as an office boy and was climbing the executive ladder. Then he got the sack, because he was always off work, making trouble. He’s just the type for a leading role in an insurrection.’

‘But you’ve got no firm evidence?’

‘Nothing that we can act on yet. But we reckon Jefferson was getting close.’

‘Pity about the accident.’

Hoskins gave a short, humourless laugh. ‘That was no
accident
.
The day before he was found dead, Jefferson told us he was going to break into Brigden’s office. Tilfleet Home Guard are based at a school. They have the run of the place at
weekends
and weekday evenings, except Tuesday. Tuesday night the school works late – sport, societies and so on – but they pack up at eight. Then the school is empty. Jefferson reckoned that was his opportunity.’

‘So what happened?’

‘We don’t know, we never heard from him again. But we have a pretty shrewd idea. We had men call at local houses, posing as council officials and asking if residents had any complaints about noise from the Home Guard. We got several reports of a fracas in the street that Tuesday night. People thought it was horse-play. Our guess is that Captain Eighteen-Hours-a-Day Brigden came back to work unexpectedly, and Jefferson had to run for it. From the condition he was in next day, I fear he didn’t run fast enough.’

‘Poor bloke. Jane Hart says he was a good man.’

‘He was. And a very brave one. We believe you’re the man to see his work isn’t wasted.’

‘If you think I can help, I will.’

‘Good. Now here’s the crunch. One resident we questioned was a bright old boy who likes looking out of his window. He loves the night sky, apparently. He reported seeing a man come running down his road, stop, put something in the pillar box, and then carry on running. It struck this chap as an odd way to post a letter. There was no hurry – the last collection had gone hours earlier. So it stuck in the old boy’s mind and he told our man about it.’

‘And you think it was Jefferson he saw?’

‘We do. He fitted the description our man tried on the
resident
. Jefferson always wore this duffle coat. And he was a resourceful man. If he’d taken something from the safe before they surprised him, he wouldn’t want them to catch him with it on him. He’d want to get it to us. So he posted it.’

‘Would he have had time, with people chasing him?’

‘Obviously not enough to find an envelope and address it to us. Anyway, we didn’t receive anything. But he might have had a letter that he’d received and stuffed in his pocket, like you do. It would have his name and address on it. He’d just have time to shove whatever he’d found into the envelope and put it in the pillar box. Posting it to himself.’

‘Good grief! That must be the notebook!’

‘Notebook?’ Hoskins tensed, his eyes bright. ‘There was a notebook?’

‘Yes. Jane picked up the few bits of post that arrived for Jefferson, after he didn’t come home.’

‘Eureka! That’s what we hoped! Jefferson told us about this girlfriend where he was living. He said she might be useful for messages in a real emergency, although she didn’t know what he was up to.’

‘The poor chap didn’t seem to have any relatives, so Jane tidied up his things, and I helped her. There was this notebook which baffled us. It was full of writing, but all in some sort of code.’

‘My God, Carr, I said you’d have answers! There had to be a reason why the Red Brigade put their thugs on to you! That notebook must be hot stuff! When it went missing, they’ll have made the same guess as we did – that Jefferson had somehow got it to the Cavendish. That’s what they were looking for when they wrecked Jefferson’s room. And then yours.’

‘I suppose they killed Maurice Cooper?’

‘He must have got in the way. They’d have killed you, if you’d been in your own bed. But no doubt you’d made more agreeable arrangements.’

Hoskins paused and looked at Adam. Adam said nothing.

Hoskins continued. ‘We were just hoping Jefferson might have grabbed a few papers. This notebook is a huge bonus! It must be vital to the Red Brigade, the way they’ve reacted.’

‘The thugs on the pier were on about it. So were those bastards this afternoon. Only they kept calling it a logbook.’

‘That’s even better. It could have names and a record of
activities
.’

‘But I’m still puzzled. You could have nabbed Jane and me and asked all these questions at the outset.’

‘Like I said, you were bait. Not knowing about anything as positive as a full logbook, we hoped we could learn more about the Red Brigade by watching them following you. We thought one of their leaders might break cover. That hasn’t happened. All we’ve encountered is their hired help. So this afternoon I decided it was time I intervened directly.’

‘Pity you didn’t decide that sooner,’ said Adam. Most of his body felt as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper and there was still a sharp pain in his side.