Free The Flood by John Creasey Page B

few hours. Another – but I needn’t go on. Individuals and syndicates with power lust or with a megalomaniac sense of personal greatness menace us all. Here at home, in the United States, in Russia, in the Far East. So, the Allied Intelligence was extended. We call it by a nonsense key word – Z.5. My job is to co-ordinate. All nations are represented, and all pay into a common pool. The constant need is to seek out and to stop the syndicates and the individuals who have too great a power.
    “If the octi are made, or if they’re controlled by man, we need to know who it is. We don’t yet. We think it might be Sir Gabriel Davos. We could kill or imprison Davos and break up the Castle, and we could go after all his known employees; but we still wouldn’t know what the octi are, how they breed, how many parts of the world are infested.
    You could help us to find out, Woburn. Of course—”
    he gave a little shrug. “You might be killed, but you might also say ‘no’ and go for a walk in a London street and be run over by a bus. Or you may have coronary thrombosis.”
    He stopped again.
    Woburn said slowly, heavily: “If he’s behind this, won’t he guess you’ll be after me?”
    “Oh, yes,” Palfrey said. “Didn’t I say so? He won’t know what’s passed between us, though. You’d have to learn off by heart a variant of what we’ve actually said. You’d tell Davos that we asked you questions by the hundred, but didn’t tell you anything. That wouldn’t surprise him. The essential thing is that you should decide quickly, so that you can get to work at once. You could learn a version of this interview tonight, for instance, for repeating later if necessary. Possibly for repeating under some form of torture. I don’t,” went on Palfrey with great precision, “want to minimise the danger.”
    After a moment, Woburn said: “What exactly do you want me to do?”
    “In general – just find out anything that might help. Will you?”
    There was a long pause, but although he hesitated, Woburn knew that there was only one thing to say.
    “I’ll try,” he said, gruffly, “but don’t get the idea that I’m so tough that I wouldn’t crack under pressure.”
    “We know how tough you are,” Palfrey said, with deep satisfaction, “and we’ve good reason to believe that you’re reliable. At the moment, you’re very nearly our only hope,” he went on, with a cheerfully candid smile. “As for your job – well, some of it you know about. Find out everything you can at the Castle, find out if Davos can control the octi. And find out where the creatures are. I mean,” Palfrey added, and it seemed hardly possible that he meant exactly what he said, “if they can undermine a cliff in Scotland and an island off the Isle of Mull, they could undermine all of this island, couldn’t they? That’s the most frightening question: how many are there, how strong are they, where are they, what damage can they do next and – is there any way of controlling them?” He gave an odd little laugh. “Tall order, but you’ll get help of a kind. The first thing is to play your luck, by going to the Castle. We might wait until morning, to find out if anyone from the place contacts you. If they don’t, it’s reasonable enough for you to call and inquire after Miss Davos, isn’t it? Especially after the message you received.”
    Woburn nodded.
    “Good,” said Palfrey, more briskly. “How I wish we could give you a more precise and helpful briefing. We can’t. Your job is to pick up every piece of information that you can, and try to get it out. Our other agents have had to fall back on the oldest and safest method – carrier pigeons. There should be two pigeon houses, and all the pigeons are marked with red feathers at their necks. Dyed. Ever handled carrier pigeons?”
    “No. But I know the theory,” Woburn said.
    “They’re tame and easy to catch, you’ll find a ring on each bird. Just scribble a message,