Read Running Blind / The Freedom Trap for Free Online Page B

northern heritage, I see. You couldn’t very well go back to Sweden—and Finland would be even more risky. Too close to the Russian border for comfort.’ He spread his hands. ‘But who goes to Iceland?’
    ‘So the job is in Iceland?’
    ‘Indeed it is.’ He tapped the paper with his fingernail. ‘You take long holidays—three and four months at a time. What it is to have a private income—the Department did very well by you.’
    ‘The Department gave me nothing that wasn’t mine,’ I said shortly.
    He ignored that. ‘I note you’ve been doing very well for yourself in Iceland. All the home comforts down to a love-nest. A young lady, I believe, is…’
    ‘We’ll leave her out of it.’
    ‘Just the point I’m making, dear boy. It would be most unwise if she became involved. It could be most dangerousfor her, don’t you think? I wouldn’t tell her anything about it.’ His voice was kindly.
    Slade had certainly done his homework. If he knew about Elin then he must have tapped me a long time before. All the time I thought I was in cover I’d been under a microscope.
    ‘Come to the job.’
    ‘You will collect a package at Keflavik International Airport.’ He sketched dimensions with his hands. ‘About eight inches by four inches by two inches. You will deliver it to a man in Akureyri—you know where that is?’
    ‘I know,’ I said, and waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. ‘That’s all?’ I asked.
    ‘That’s all; I’m sure you will be able to accomplish it quite easily.’
    I stared at him incredulously. ‘Have you gone through all this rigmarole of blackmail just to give me a messenger boy’s job?’
    ‘I wish you wouldn’t use such crude language,’ he said peevishly. ‘It’s a job suitable for one who is out of practice, such as yourself. It’s important enough and you were to hand, so we’re using you.’
    ‘This is something that’s blown up quite quickly, isn’t it?’ I hazarded. ‘You’re forced to use me.’
    Slade waggled his hand. ‘We’re a bit stretched for manpower, that’s all. Don’t get delusions of grandeur—in using you I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel.’
    Slade could be blunt enough when it suited his purpose. I shrugged, and said, ‘Who is the man in Akureyri?’
    ‘He’ll make himself known,’ Slade took a slip of paper from his wallet and tore it jaggedly across. One piece he passed to me and it proved to be half of a 100-kronur banknote. ‘He’ll have the other half. Old ways are best, don’t you think? Effective and uncomplicated.’
    I looked at the ruined Icelandic currency in my hand and said ironically, ‘I don’t suppose I’ll be paid for this enterprise?’
    ‘Of course you will, dear boy. Her Majesty’s Government is never niggardly when it comes to valuable services rendered. Shall we say two hundred pounds?’
    ‘Send it to Oxfam, you bastard.’
    He shook his head deprecatingly. ‘Such language—but I shall do as you say. You may depend on it.’
    I studied Slade and he looked back at me with eyes as candid as those of a baby. I didn’t like the smell of this operation—it sounded too damned phoney. It occurred to me that perhaps he was setting up a training exercise with me as the guinea pig. The Department frequently ran games of that sort to train the new boys, but all the participants usually knew the score. If Slade was ringing me into a training scheme without telling me I’d strangle the sadistic bastard.
    To test him, I said, ‘Slade, if you’re using me as the football in a training game it could be dangerous. You could lose some of your budding spies that way.’
    He looked shocked. ‘Oh, I wouldn’t do that to you.’
    ‘All right; what do I do if someone tries to take the package?’
    ‘Stop him,’ he said succinctly.
    ‘At any cost?’
    He smiled. ‘You mean—should you kill? Do it any way you want. Just deliver the package to Akureyri.’ His paunch shook with amusement. ‘Killer