Read Online The Avenue of the Dead by Evelyn Anthony - Free Book Online Page A

for service in Northern Ireland, all undercover stuff. I’ve met the type before; they can’t settle to civilian life and they grouse about everything. I wouldn’t have picked him, though. There must be easier triggermen about.’
    Browning looked at him. ‘Is that what he is? Why send him here for Christ’s sake?’
    â€˜To look out for Miss Graham. I sometimes think my service invented oil and water so they could try and mix them. The sparks’ll fly between those two before long. Come on, let’s shut up the shop and I’ll buy you a drink.’
    Lomax made himself something to eat and settled down to watch the television. American TV offered a bewildering variety of channels and programmes. He poured himself a whisky and distractedly pressed the buttons one after the other on the little control panel.
    He had been hostile to the idea of his assignment from the moment it was suggested. He had argued unsuccessfully that someone else could do the job far more effectively than he, but his own reputation and skills were used against him with Humphrey Grant’s special blend of logic. Davina Graham was one of their most important operatives. A brief outline of her role in the defection of Sasanov had followed. She had to be watched and protected at all times, and by a man who would pass as a member of the embassy Staff and be able to mix in Washington circles, without, as Grant put it, his revolver bulging under his coat. For this particular mission, intelligence as well as muscle was required. It was an opportunity for Lomax to prove to the Service that he was worth more than a desk job in London.
    He hadn’t known what to expect when he drove down to Marchwood to meet her, but the impression gained from Grant had hardly predisposed him in her favour. The affluence of the splendid house offended his stern Presbyterian morality. And from the first sight of Davina Graham he felt antagonized. He liked women to be feminine and uncompetitive; Davina was positive and self-possessed in a way that challenged his sense of masculine superiority. He had reacted by being rude and she was promptly rude in return. There was no give at all, no concession to upper-class concern for appearances; he had shown her no manners and she had treated him not as a man, but as a subordinate striking a stupid macho attitude.
    She didn’t want him in Washington any more than he wanted to be there, and she had made it very clear from the start that she regarded him as an encumbrance foisted upon her by London. His only resort was to annoy her as much as possible, to parry that infuriating chill in her manner by sending up whatever she might take seriously. And this goaded him still more, because it was not what he had been assigned to do. Making her dislike him, if only because it forced her to recognize him as a human being, showed a weakness on his part.
    And Grant had been specific on that point. Unlike the armed forces there was no place for personal relationships in the SIS, either friendly or antagonistic. The more Lomax considered it, watching the glittering Hollywood spectacular on the small screen without seeing anything, the less he felt himself suited to the job or the Service. He finished the whisky and snapped the off button down on the panel. The screen sank to a vanishing point of light. He said aloud. ‘You’ve been given a job to do. Get on and bloody well do it.’ He phoned Hickling’s private number.
    â€˜Listen, I’ve been thinking about what you said. Maybe I’ve been a bit rash – yes, with La Graham. If I’m going to work with her, I’d better know a bit more about her. It may make her a bit easier to take. No promises, mind you –’ He pulled out a cheery laugh for Hickling’s benefit. ‘Can I come round and take a drink off you? Fine, half an hour, thanks very much.’
    He muttered a mild curse and picked up the evening