“Where’s your friend Ziggy today? I thought you were going to get together with him again.”
“I was. He was meant to call on me at your place this morning. I told him nine o’clock. I waited till ten and there was no sign so I gave up on him. He is a funny chap.”
Sonia raised herself on an elbow. “How so?”
“He seems to have a bee in his bonnet about something. He’s got a real temper too and watch out if he takes against you, I’d say. I’m not aware of anyone picking on him, although there are a couple of officers he dislikes intensely. He’s an obsessive sort of man. But he’s a very brave pilot and a good drinking companion and that’s all that matters to me.”
Sonia rose to her feet. “Well. I really must go now. Are you staying here?”
Jan sat up and watched a group of young office girls walk by. “You know, I think I might.”
Sonia punched him lightly on the shoulder and then leaned down to kiss him. “You are going back to the base tonight?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so. I’ll get my bag from your place in a couple of hours. Do you want me to leave the spare key somewhere or shall I keep it?”
“Oh, keep it, that’s alright.”
“You don’t think your policeman might need it?”
Sonia punched his shoulder again. Then her eyes suddenly filled with tears. “Please take care. You don’t have to be too heroic, you know.” Jan laughed and rose to hug her. She walked away briskly and his eyes lingered on her until she disappeared from sight at the park gate.
Chapter 3
Wednesday, September 4
Merlin woke in his Chelsea flat at just after 4am. It wasn’t the noise of aircraft or guns that woke him, as it had the night before, but the pain in his shoulder. The foreign radio station he had found just before he went to sleep was still broadcasting and he recognised the lilting voice of one of his favourite singers, Charles Trenet. He got up, put on the new black slippers Sonia had bought him and padded to the small kitchen at the other end of the apartment. Returning to his bed ten minutes later with a steaming hot cup of cocoa, he retrieved from under his sheets the book he had been reading before he fell asleep. It was part of the small library of Spanish books left to Merlin by his father, which had travelled around with him for years in a battered old trunk. He didn’t have much time to read, but when he did he often delved into this collection, sometimes reading books for the third or fourth time, pleased to find that his command of the Spanish language remained as fluent as ever. The book now in his hand was a particular favourite. The Conquest of New Spain was the story of Hernan Cortes’ defeat of the Aztec Empire in the 1520s, written by one of his soldiers, Bernal Diaz del Castillo. Merlin was fascinated by this tale of adventure, bravery and cruelty at a time when the Spanish Empire was at its height. He turned to the page he had fallen asleep at five or so hours ago, in which the great Montezuma, Emperor of the Aztecs, was taken prisoner by Cortes and read on, enthralled, until his alarm clock rang to tell him that it was time to get up and make his way to the Yard.
*