Read Online The Tightrope Men / The Enemy by Desmond Bagley - Free Book Online Page A

in this bloody odd situation in which he finds himself. After recovering from the first shock, he not only manages to deceive Mrs Hansen as to his real identity but he has the wit to ring up Meyrick’s home. But why only Meyrick? Why didn’t he check back on himself?’
    ‘How do you mean?’
    Carey sighed. ‘There’s a man called Giles Denison missing from Hampstead. Surely he’d be missed by someone? Even if Denison is an unmarried orphan he must have friends - a job. Why didn’t he ring back to reassure peoplethat he was all right and still alive and now living it up in Oslo?’
    ‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ admitted McCready. ‘That’s a pointer to his being Meyrick, after all. Suffering from delusions but unable to flesh them out properly.’
    Carey gave a depressed nod. ‘All I’ve had from him is that he’s Giles Denison from Hampstead - nothing more.’
    ‘Why not put it to him now?’ suggested McCready.
    Carey thought about it and shook his head. ‘No, I’ll leave that to the psychiatrist. If this is really Meyrick, the wrong sort of questions could push him over the edge entirely.’ He pulled the note pad towards him again. ‘We’ll have someone check on Denison in Hampstead and find out the score.’ He ripped off the sheet. ‘Let’s get cracking. I want those cables sent to London immediately - top priority and coded. I want those quacks here as fast as possible.’

EIGHT
    Giles Denison stirred his coffee and smiled across the table at Diana Hansen. His smile was steady, which was remarkable because a thought had suddenly struck him like a bolt of lightning and left him with a churning stomach. Was the delectable Diana Hansen who faced him Meyrick’s mistress?
    The very thought put him into a dilemma. Should he make a pass or not? Whatever he did - or did not - do, he had a fifty per cent chance of being wrong. The uncertainty of it spoiled his evening which had so far been relaxing and pleasant.
    He had been driven back to the hotel in an Embassy car after dire warnings from George McCready of what would happen to him if he did not obey instructions. ‘You’ll have realized by now that you’ve dropped right into the middle of something awkward,’ said McCready. ‘We’re doing our best to sort it out but, for the next couple of days, you’d do well to stay in the hotel.’ He drove it home by asking pointedly, ‘How’s your side feeling now?’
    ‘Better,’ said Denison. ‘But I could have done with a doctor.’ He had been strapped up by McCready, who had produced a first-aid box and displayed a competence which suggested he was no stranger to knife wounds.
    ‘You’ll get a doctor,’ assured McCready. ‘Tomorrow.’
    ‘I have a dinner date,’ said Denison. ‘With that redhead I told you about. What should I do about that? If she goes on like she did yesterday I’m sure to put my foot in it.’
    ‘I don’t see why you should,’ said McCready judiciously.
    ‘For God’s sake! I don’t even know her name.’
    McCready patted him on the shoulder, and said soothingly, ‘You’ll be all right.’
    Denison was plaintive. ‘It’s all very well you wanting me to go on being Meyrick but surely you can tell me something. Who is Meyrick, for instance?’
    ‘It will all be explained tomorrow,’ said McCready, hoping that he was right. ‘In the meantime, go back to the hotel like a good chap, and don’t leave it until I call for you. Just have a quiet dinner with…with your redhead and then go to bed.’
    Denison had a last try. ‘Are you in Intelligence or something? A spy?’
    But to that McCready made no answer.
    So Denison was delivered to the hotel and he had not been in the room more than ten minutes when the telephone rang. He regarded it warily and let it ring several times before he put out his hand as though about to pick up a snake. ‘Yes?’ he said uncommunicatively.
    ‘Diana here.’
    ‘Who?’ he asked cautiously.
    ‘Diana Hansen, who else? We have