The Secret Agent (8)

Hello guys,

Here is the eighth part of our story by Joseph Conrad.

Enjoy!




Chapter eight

 

The Assistant Commissioner meets Vladimir

 

The Assistant Commissioner was driven quickly in a cab from Brett Street to Westminster where he got out at the entrance to the Houses of Parliament. He was shown immediately into a poorly-lit room where the greenish-coloured lamps gave the feeling of being in a forest. The Home Secretary was sitting behind a large, almost empty desk. Through the green shadows the Assistant Commissioner could only see a heavy head resting on a large. white hand. He sat down at the other side of the desk. In the green light, he looked darker and more foreign. than ever.

Sir Ethelred showed no surprise at the other man’s early arrival, but he wanted to know the news and his voice was hard. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘what have you found out?’

‘Verloc was very quick to tell me everything, sir. His brother-in- law, nothing more than a weak boy, was the person who was killed. Another interesting thing is that I’m sure Michaelis had nothing to do with it although the boy had been staying with him. It's difcult to believe, but Verloc was terried of that man Vladimir. He thought that he and the other Embassy people would destroy his life. I don’t think he planned the death of that poor boy. but he completely lost his head.’

Something moved among the green shadows of the room and the great man spoke.

‘What have you done with him?’

‘I let him go, Sir Ethelred. I don’t think he will disappear. He seemed to want to be with his wife. He has to think of the possible danger from his comrades too. How will he explain trying to disappear to them?’

The great man, who perhaps had other, more important things to think about, got up heavily.

‘Tonight I will discuss what to do with Verloc and I’ll send for you tomorrow morning.’ He held out his big, white hand and shook the thin, dark hand of the Assistant Commissioner. He had his information and the conversation was over.

The Assistant Commissioner walked home and changed his clothes. There was time after all to visit his wife’s friend, the great lady who looked after Michaelis. He was glad — he knew that he was always welcome in her house.

 

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When he entered the large and crowded room, he saw his wife talking to a small group of people in the corner. The great lady herself was sitting talking to a man with a thin lace and a short beard. She greeted the Assistant Commissioner warmly.

‘I never hoped to see you here tonight. Annie told me that you were working.’

‘Yes. I had no idea myself that my work would be over so soon.’

He spoke in a lower voice: ‘I am glad to tell you that Michaelis is out of trouble now.’

A silence fell. The other man smiled a little and the lady said: ‘I don‘t know if you have ever met before.’

Mr Vladimir and the Assistant Commissioner were introduced and greeted each other politely. It was surprising how, sooner or later. everybody came to this house. Another woman standing next to them turned and spoke now, looking towards Vladimir:

‘He’s been frightening me with all his talk about Greenwich. He says we must stop these people or the future is black for us.’

‘Oh, Mr Vladimir is good at frightening people,’ said the Assistant Commissioner. ‘But I’m sure he knows the true importance of what happened at Greenwich.’

Vladimir did not trust policemen and he trusted this one less than most. What did the man mean with his talk of ‘importance’? He smiled when he answered, but his eyes were hard.

‘Perhaps we have problems in my country because you let these people do what they like in your country.’

Vladimir got up to leave and when he had turned away the Assistant Commissioner got up. too.

‘I thought you were going to stay and take Annie home.’ said the great lady.

‘I still have a little work to do. It may be important.’

The Assistant Commissioner went out in.to the street first and Vladimir waited as long as possible before he did the same. But it was not long enough. The policeman was still standing there and he started to walk along the street next to the other man. Vladimir was furious – what did he want?

‘Terrible weather,’ said Vladimir angrily.

‘But not too cold.’ replied the Assistant Commissioner. Then he added, ‘We’ve got a man called Verloc helping us. I think that you know him.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘I don’t. It’s Verloc who says that.’

‘A lying dog of some kind.’ said Vladimir, surprised that the English police could be so clever.

‘Now we can really begin to get rid of all foreign spies from this country. We can’t catch them one by one. The only way is to make things difficult for the people who employ them. The arrest of this man Verloc will show people how dangerous they are.’

‘Nobody will believe what a man like that says.’

‘I think that they will believe him when they hear the full story.’

‘But you’re just making things easier for anyone who wants to call himself a revolutionary,’ cried Vladimir.

‘Look, we have enough work to do catching the real revolutionaries. The last thing we want is to spend our time running after fake ones.’

‘I can’t agree with you. What you want to do is terrible. We should be good Europeans, not just look after our own interests.’

‘Yes,’ said the Assistant Commissioner. ‘Except that you look at Europe from the other end. No foreign country can complain about our police this time. In less than twelve hours we have identified the dead man, discovered who planned the bombing, and found out who had the idea in the first place. And we can go further, but we will stop inside our own country.’

‘So you know that this crime was planned abroad?’ said Vladimir quickly.

‘Well, in a way,’ said the Assistant Commissioner. ‘But that’s a detail. I’m talking to you because it’s your country that complains most about our police. As you can see, we are not always so bad.’

‘Thank you for telling me,' said Vladimir through his teeth.

‘We know every anarchist here. and where they are,’ said the Assistant Commissioner, sounding just like Inspector Heat. ‘All we need to do now to make everything safe is to get rid of the secret agent.’

Vladimir had heard more than enough. Without a word, he stopped a passing cab, jumped inside and drove off.

The Assistant Commissioner looked at his watch and saw that it was only half-past ten. Smiling to himself, he thought that he had had a very full evening.

 

                                                                 (to be continued)


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