Free The Dark Frontier by Eric Ambler

on the other were three ramshackle houses, one of which Groom had obviously entered. They were, however, all shuttered and apparently deserted.
    He glanced at his watch by the faint light of the lamp. He need not leave for the station for some time yet. Groom, too, had to catch the train. If Groom left soon he might have time enough to discover what brought a director of Messrs. Cator & Bliss to this sleazy alleyway.
    He looked round for a hiding-place. The warehouse providedit. Two heavy double doors, obviously disused since the encroachment of the surrounding buildings had cut them off from the roadway, were set in large stone arches. Carruthers stepped in the shadow of the nearest of the arches and waited.
    For a quarter of an hour he heard nothing but the footsteps of an occasional passerby on the cobbles of the side street. Then he heard the faint murmur of voices and a light gleamed for an instant behind the shutters of a window set high in the end house. Leaving his suitcase where it was, he glided quickly into the next arch. Whoever came out would have to pass close by him. Holding himself flat against the stonework, he listened intently.
    The voices stopped. There came a sound of faint tapping. Straining his ears, he identified it as the sound of feet on bare boards. Someone was coming downstairs. He distinguished two sets of footsteps. They grew louder and then ceased. There was a pause as the feet crossed a stone passage, then the front door opened and two men came out into the alley and started to walk away.
    As they came towards Carruthers he drew back. One of them was Groom, he had seen that much, the other was a slighter man. They were almost level with him and were talking in low tones. As they passed him, a gleam of light from the lamp at the end of the passage lighted for a second the face of Groom’s companion. It was the Ixanian representative.
    He caught a snatch of their conversation. They were talking French. Groom was speaking.
    “You understand. The remainder will be credited to you at the Swiss Bank in Paris as soon as our technical adviser has approved the information.”
    The other mumbled what sounded like a grudging agreement as they passed out of earshot.
    Nothing surprising after all. A bribe offered and a down payment accepted. Evidently Groom had already been makinguse of his “knowledge of Ixanian officialdom.” Yes, the Countess Schverzinski was indeed badly served.
    Suddenly he stiffened and flattened himself against the wall. The door of the house that Groom and his companion had just left was slowly opening again. Then a man stepped out and closed it softly behind him. Although his face was in the shadow it was obvious that he was frightened, for he kept darting rapid glances to either side of him. Then, quickly and furtively, he followed the other two out of the alley. Carruthers caught a glimpse of a puffy, rabbit-like face as he went by. Once out of the alley, however, he turned in the opposite direction to that of Groom. Carruthers heard the footsteps die away, then collected his suitcase and found a taxi.
    Groom was already in the train when Carruthers rejoined it. He handed Carruthers the promised contract letter with the air of a benevolent prince bestowing an honour. The foreign representative of Cator & Bliss was looking pleased.

6
April 21st to 23rd
    T he next thirty-eight hours passed without incident. From the windows of Groom’s compartment, Carruthers watched the mountains of Switzerland and Austria pass in slow review. Then for some hours, they ran across wind-driven plains. On the second night, he again saw the lights of houses gleaming high up as they climbed into the mountain country of Transylvania. They stopped at stations of which he had never heard, but there were some familiar names—Budapest, Cluj, Sinaia, Ploesti. The places differed, however, only in name and in the language in which the advertisements were displayed. He experienced the boredom to which