My Little Pixie

Chapter Thirty-Nine - A Quiet War...

At eleven o'clock, I summoned Thomas and my Guard Captain to my office and then asked James to bring coffee for three.

I allowed him to place the tray on my desk then produced a pad of paper with a simple message, "Do not speak."

He nodded slightly.

Thomas frisked him, producing two mobile phones and what looked like a sophisticated recording device.

The guard captain rolled one of the chairs across and applied slight pressure to James's shoulders to make him sit. The two then loomed menacingly behind him.

"Are the recordings of what is being said in this room being transmitted directly to the Mylar group?" I wrote. Then I passed him the pad.

"No, Sir," he wrote. "I prepare a daily summary of what I hear and send it at night under the cover of a phone call to my family."

"Good, then we can talk normally," I said out loud. "What are we going to find when we search your rooms?"

"Additional recording equipment for the bugs and encrypted transmission equipment... and a revolver."

"What is that for?"

"I was never told explicitly but I think we can guess."

"And how long have you been betraying me?"

"Ever since the start, Sir. The entire situation, with the accidents and everything, was engineered to have me put in position."

I sat and stared into space for a long time at that revelation then gave a slow nod.

"Why did you do it?" I asked at last.

"Because my wife and baby daughter are being held hostage," he replied and, for the first time, there was a slight break in his voice.

Again, I had to think about that for a long time. I wondered what I would do if anybody were holding my pixie hostage. Almost certainly, just the same as him.

"OK. This is what is going to happen. You are going to tell us everything you know about the Mylar group and then you are to be kept under arrest in your rooms

"You will continue to supply a daily report to your handlers. This will be vetted in advance and you will not, of course, use any alarm phrases. If you comply completely, then, in return, when we win this war - and we are going to win this war - I will do everything I can to ensure that your wife and daughter are released unharmed. Furthermore, I give you my word that I will not have you tortured for this treachery."

I sat and stared into his eyes for a long time. "Do we have a deal?" I asked at last.

He calmly returned my look. "Yes, Sir," he replied.

"Then tell me everything you can about the situation of your wife and daughter," I instructed him.

"Now get him out of my sight," I told the two, "and see if you can round up Mary."

"Yes, Sir."

Five minutes later, when Mary was shown into my office, I was busy updating my report. True to my promise to James, I was adding all the information he had given me about his family.

When I looked up, she was still hovering uncomfortably by the door.

"Come in then!" I told her brusquely. I had much more important things to do than sorting out my domestic arrangements.

She stepped across to my desk but she still looked as if she wanted the ground to swallow her up.

"I have been obliged to suspend James," I told her. "So you are going to have to take over his duties on a temporary basis. Is that understood?"