The Polish Officer (40 page)

“How long will you be gone?”

“Not too long,” Herbert said, rising to leave.

Prideaux had packed in a hurry, forgetting his pajama bottoms, and now wore the top and his underdrawers. Alone in a foreign city, he was terribly bored, by ten in the evening had read, for the third time, his last French newspaper. He was also hungry—the desk clerk had brought him a plate of something that couldn’t be eaten—so smoked the last of his Gitanes followed by the first of a packet he’d bought at the Varna railway station. Surely he couldn’t go anywhere; a nighttime tour of the Varna waterfront with a million francs in a valise was an invitation to disaster. Stretching out on the bed, he stared at the ceiling, tried not to recall his former life, and fantasized about his new one.
Rich and mysterious, he drew the attention of women …

A reverie interrupted by two hesitant taps on the door. Now
what?
Somebody from the hotel; if he remained quiet, perhaps they would go away. They didn’t. Thirty seconds later, more taps. He rose from the bed and considered putting on his trousers but thought,
who cares what servants see?
and stayed as he was. Standing at the door, he said, “Who is it?”

“The desk clerk, sir.”

“What do you want?”

No answer. Out in the harbor, a ship sounded its horn. From the room above, the floorboards creaked as somebody moved about. Finally, whoever was in the hall again tapped on the door. Prideaux opened it. The man in the hallway was slim and well-dressed and not a desk clerk. Gently but firmly, the man pushed the door open, then closed it behind him as he entered the room. “Monsieur Prideaux?” he said. “May we speak for a moment?” His French was correct, his accent barbaric. He looked around for a chair but there was no such thing to be found, not in this room, so he settled at the foot of the bed while Prideaux sat by the headboard.

Prideaux’s heart was beating hard, and he hoped desperately that this was something other than what he suspected. “You’re not the desk clerk, sir.”

Herbert, his expression on the mournful side, shook his head slowly. “No,” he said. “I am not.”

“Then who are you?” But for the whine in his voice, this would have been indignant.

Herbert said, “Think of me as a courier.”

“A what?”

“A courier. I’ve come here to recover something that belongs to us—it certainly doesn’t belong to you.”

Prideaux looked puzzled. “What are you talking about?”

Herbert, no more than slightly irritated, simply said, “Please.”

“I don’t know what you want, sir, I simply got fed up with life in Paris and came down here. How does that concern you, whoever you are?”

Herbert turned toward the window—this was growing tiresome. “I hope there’s no need for violence, Monsieur Prideaux, my associates are downstairs but please don’t force me to bring them up here. Better that way, believe me. I am, as I said, a courier, and my instructions are to take the money you’ve stolen back to Berlin. After that, we don’t care what you do or where you go, it doesn’t concern us.”

Prideaux collapsed very slowly; the hauteur in his expression drained away, his shoulders slumped, and finally his head lowered so that he stared at the floor.

Herbert took no pleasure in this—a show of humiliation was, to him, unbearable weakness. And what might come next, he wondered. Tears? Hysterics?
Aggression?
Whatever it might be, he didn’t want to see it. “I’m sure,” he said, his voice reaching for sympathy, “there was a reason. There’s always a reason.”

Prideaux started to rise, but Herbert stood up quickly, raised a hand like a traffic policeman stopping a car, and a defeated Prideaux sat obediently back down on the bed. Herbert stayed on his feet, stared at Prideaux for a moment, then said, “Monsieur Prideaux, I think it will be easier for both of us if you simply tell me where the money is. Really, much easier.”

It took a few seconds—Prideaux had to get control of himself—then he said, so quietly that Herbert could only just hear the words, “Under the bed.”

Herbert slid the valise from beneath the bed, undid the buckles, and peered inside. “Where are your personal things?” he said.

Prideaux gestured toward another valise, standing open at the foot of the bed.

“Did you put any of the money in there? Have you spent some of it? Or is it all, every franc of it, in here? Best now to be truthful.”

“It’s all there,” Prideaux said.

Herbert closed the valise and pulled the straps tight. “Well, we’ll see. I’m going to take this money away and count it and, if you’ve been honest with me I’ll be back, and I’ll give you a few hundred francs—at least something for wherever you’re going next. Shall I tell you why?”

Prideaux, staring at the floor, didn’t answer.

“It’s because people like you can be useful, in certain situations, and people like you never have enough money. So, when such people help us out, with whatever we might need, we are always generous. Very generous indeed.”

Herbert let this sink in. It took some time, but Prideaux eventually said, “What if I’m … far away?”

Herbert smiled. Prideaux’s eyes were cast down so he didn’t see the smile, which was just as well. “Monsieur Prideaux,” Herbert said, as though he were saying
poor Monsieur Prideaux
, “there is no such thing as far away.” Then he stepped into the hall and drew the door shut behind him.

Herbert left Lothar to watch the hotel, likely unnecessary but why take chances. Prideaux, he thought, had taken the bait and would remain where he was. Herbert then returned to the nightclub, told General Aleksey where to find Prideaux and described him, in his pajama top and underdrawers. Thirty minutes later, as the canvas horse capered and danced to the music of the accordion, Lothar and the Russian returned. Herbert counted out two thousand Swiss francs, General Aleksey put the money in his pocket, wished them a pleasant evening, and walked out the door.

A
LAN
F
URST
is widely recognized as the master of the historical spy novel. Now translated into eighteen languages, he is the author of
Night Soldiers, Dark Star, The Polish Officer, The World at Night, Red Gold, Kingdom of Shadows, Blood of Victory, Dark Voyage, The Foreign Correspondent, The Spies of Warsaw, Spies of the Balkans
, and
Mission to Paris
. Born in New York, he lived for many years in Paris and now lives on Long Island.

Visit the author’s website at
www.alanfurst.net

ALSO BY ALAN FURST

Night Soldiers

Dark Star

The World at Night

Red Gold

Kingdom of Shadows

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States by Random House Trade Paperbacks, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

RANDOM HOUSE TRADE PAPERBACKS and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

This work was originally published in hardcover by Random House in 1995.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Furst, Alan

The Polish officer: a novel / Alan Furst.

p. cm.

1. World War. 1939–1945—Secret service—Fiction 2. World War, 1939–1945—Poland—Fiction. 3. Military intelligence—Fiction. 4. Poland—Fiction. I. Title

PS3556.U76 P64 2001

813’.54—dc21 2001041913

Random House website address:
www.atrandom.com

eISBN: 978-1-58836-100-4