Chapter One Part Three
Before the gentlemen depart, Sir Melville orders one of his servants to telegram ahead to Calais, where he has a contact waiting. He suggests however that if von Junker manages to leave Dover he could then go anywhere – Calais, Rotterdam, Berlin; the German could even go through Belgium, which would surely lead to a tricky diplomatic situation.
While the group straighten their jackets and put on their hats, Winston Smith remembers his walking bat stick and picks it up, brushing it off with a handkerchief. Von Fersen excuses himself with a delicate yet manly cough as he stoops to seize the dead German’s double barreled shot gun; searching through the lounge coat pockets of the unfortunate man he finds a rather bloodstained and dirty dozen shells. To complete his fearsome war attire he props the umbrella that had recently served him so well against his shoulder.
“Gentlemen,” he starts, “I believe it is time we made haste.”
Wellington and Smith decide to leave immediately, planning to travel on foot at a gentlemanly pace to confront von Junker at Waterloo Station. Sir Melville summons his car, and as these two noble regiments of the King’s finest are about to leave, the infamous spymaster speaks.
“I say old chaps. I shan’t make any further speeches: you know the importance of your task. But I will wish you good luck, and God’s blessing. McGeenyton,” he continues, “I have something that may be of some utility to you.”
He shakes the hand of every gentleman there, and as he shakes that of Mr McGeenyton, he presses something into his palm.
It is an explosive pocket watch.
Item Acquired! An Explosive Pocket Watch.
The Second Battle of Waterloo
Misters William Wellington and Winston Smith leave Sir Melville’s rooms and descend to the street, the late night snow still gently falling, lending a peaceful air to the opening gambit of their vital task.
They head East through London, through Covent Garden and past the magistrates’ court on Bow Street, and around half an hour later they cross the Thames and arrive at Waterloo Station. The time is 10 minutes past midnight, and Smith notes that they have some 20 minutes before Hans von Junker’s train is scheduled to arrive.
He suggests they stop for a cup of tea in the lounge still open inside the entrance.
The Assault on Dover
Shortly after the first group leave to intercept von Junker, the remaining gentlemen are to be found conversing in Oxford Street, weighing up the relative merits of the guillotine cut or the English cut when preparing cigars. The general opinion is veering towards support of the latter, unsurprisingly, when one of Sir Melville’s butlers brings the car around.
It is a fine machine, which the butler explains Sir Melville had commissioned specially and was made by a chap called Royce in Manchester. It gleams silver in the moonlight.
Link, von Fersen, McGeenyton and Wallace climb aboard, and the intrepid gentlemen are driven forth through the night for the port of Dover.
It is around 3am in the morning when they arrive in Dover’s town centre. There isn't a soul to be seen, and the snow lays an inch thick upon the ground.
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Topic: Roll to Be a Gentleman Spy - Chapter Three Part Twenty One. (Read 74889 times)