Read Online Blackstone and the Endgame by Sally Spencer - Free Book Online Page B

there, and rubbed shoulders with horse traders from Siberia and tailors from Minsk. And, for the moment at least, it appeared to be where Vladimir had established his base.
    As the cab pulled away from the curb, the Russian said, ‘So tell me, Sam, however did you come to be in this pitiful condition?’
    â€˜It’s quite a long story,’ Blackstone said.
    â€˜It’s quite a long way to our destination,’ Vladimir replied.
    And there was a commanding edge to his voice that said he would have the story, one way or the other.
    Despite his exhaustion and his pain, a grin came to Blackstone’s face. It was typical of Vladimir to want to know the full story, he thought, because the Russian had a thirst for information –
any
information.
    It was always possible that, one day, some of that information might come in useful – just as a collector of string might, one day, suddenly need to wrap a large and complex parcel that required miles of the stuff. But that was not why the string collector collected string, nor why Vladimir collected information.
    It was an obsession, and Vladimir could no more resist it than some of his compatriots could resist a bottle of vodka. He was – and always had been – an addict.
    â€˜Whether a story is long or short, it is always best to start at the beginning,’ Vladimir nudged.
    Blackstone sighed. There was no getting round it, he decided.
    He began by telling Vladimir of his first meeting with the head of the Special Branch.
    He was only halfway through when the Russian interrupted him.
    â€˜I don’t think that I much like the sound of this Superintendent Brigham of yours,’ Vladimir said. ‘He is just the sort of man I would take great pleasure in crushing, and – don’t misunderstand me, Sam – I do not mean that in any metaphorical sense.’
    When Blackstone got on to Max, Vladimir found it impossible to restrain his amusement.
    â€˜He didn’t know the man’s name, and yet he was prepared to hand over twenty-five thousand pounds to him,’ the Russian said, between chuckles. ‘For that amount of money, I would demand – as a minimum – that he gave me his first-born child as a hostage.’
    â€˜But then maybe you’re not as desperate as Brigham – and the British government,’ Blackstone pointed out.
    â€˜Desperation is a weakness,’ Vladimir said, ‘but when combined with foolishness, it is nothing less than a capital crime – and Brigham clearly
is
a fool. Why did you agree to go along with his plan?’
    â€˜I was ordered to.’
    â€˜I would not have obeyed that order, even if it had come as a direct instruction from His Imperial Majesty Nicholas the Second, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias,’ Vladimir said.
    Blackstone laughed – it seemed to him to be a long time since he had done that.
    â€˜Have I said something funny?’ the Russian asked.
    â€˜I know you too well to believe what you just said, Vladimir,’ Blackstone replied. ‘If His Imperial Majesty Nicholas the Second – Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias – had told you to saw off your arm with a teaspoon, you would have tried your hardest to comply.’
    â€˜True,’ Vladimir agreed, rather uncomfortably, ‘but I still don’t think you should have obeyed the instructions of a jumped-up bureaucrat like Superintendent Brigham.’ He paused. ‘Of course! How foolish I’m being! It was not Brigham’s order that made you decide to accept the mission. That wasn’t it at all. So why don’t you tell me your real reason?’
    â€˜I couldn’t bring myself to get my neck free of a noose by putting another man’s neck in its place,’ Blackstone said.
    Vladimir nodded, as if Blackstone had simply confirmed what he already knew.
    â€˜That has always been your greatest weakness,’ he said ponderously,