M= They Ate the Truth 13

I change down into third and say to Bill, "You might want to take
that
cane from him. It's a swordstick. "

Bill gulps and politely takes it from Chesterton. No room for him
to
draw it in here, so he hands it over fairly meekly.

"Good research my boy, " he says, "Though you should be aware that
we
only ever draw it in the defence of women. "

He flutters a handkerchief over his brow, with a magician's light
touch
and puffs heavily. I'm not fooled. This man is quick when he needs
to
be, don't get misdirected by his weight.

"We ought to inform you, " he says, beaming into my rear view
mirror,
"That men far less squeamish than you have tried and failed to
get
information from us. That being the case, you will learn only what
we
want you to learn. "

Bill lets out a nervous laugh and says, "I bet you loved Yoda,
didn't
you? Talk in an odd way we must. "

Unlike me, Bill uses humour as a defence mechanism. I use respect
as
mine. The more nervous I get, the more polite I try to be.

"Mister Chesterton, " I say, taking the cab up a narrow street, "I
am
more than aware of your reputation for resilience. I do have some
questions to ask you about Lorrie. "

He drums two chubby fingers against his cheek and says, "Let us
hear
them. But be advised. The questions you ask may be more informative
to
us than our answers are to you. "

On the radio is Rod Stewart, singing, She moves so fine, like a
flamingo. Music is important, but I lower the volume and slow the
cab
down, because I need to concentrate on this.

"Why did you take away Lorrie's memories ?"

He claps in a way that is almost girlish, "Wrong question. This
journey
has already been worthwhile. "

Damn. How could that be the wrong question ? Wait.

"Did you take away Lorrie's memories ? "

"We are impressed, dear boy. No, we did not take away Lorrie's
memories,
nor did anyone else in our organisation. That, we think, renders some
of
your next questions pointless. "

Although I don't trust Chesterton, I believe him. I have no idea
why,
other than that he has these old-fashioned ideas (coupled with
modern
approach to torture) and I think he would view dishonesty in this
situation as cheap and shabby. He is right about my questions, my
next
batch were about whether the Gentle Bug had really been destroyed
and
what sort of memories had been taken.

He begins telling me a confusing story, "There was once a Chinese
draftsman, the very finest, named Chuang-Tzu. The King asked him to
draw
a crab and Chuang-Tzu told him that he would need five years, a
house
with twelve bedrooms and many servants. The King agreed, and five
years
later arrived at the house to collect his picture. Chuang-Tzu
apologised
and said that he would need another five years. The King
reluctantly
agreed and came back five years later, with soldiers, demanding
his
picture. There was no picture to be found in the house, only
blank
sheets of paper. Chuang-Tzu picked up his brush and in a single
stroke
drew a crab, the most perfect crab the world has ever seen. "

Bill says, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Either everything or nothing. It could be cryptic or it could just
be
intended to confuse, to unsettle. Do you ever wonder if the
crackle
between radio stations might actually mean something, if only you
had
the brains to figure it out? I think he's just trying to throw me
off-balance. I turn the radio up to hear more about this flamingo
and
less about crabs.

I'll make her mine, pretty flamingo.

Think, think hard. "What role did Lorrie have for your organisation?
"

"Oh, " says Chesterton, with mild surprise, "So she remembers
something
about working for me then ? We weren't aware of that. "

He's getting far more out of me than I am out of him. Bill busies
himself with the swordstick, he's never come across one before. I
can
tell that he is imagining having the opportunity to draw it and
become
valiant, maybe to draw it in court and defend his client's reputation.
A
dreamer, him.

"She remembers you. She remembers a party, lots of people from
the
office."

"Her own leaving party, " says Chesterton, "Yes, we suppose that
would
be one of the few guilt-free memories she had. She had certain
talents,
particularly for deceit. Do you really want to ask us this
question?"

Do I? I'm not sure. Do I want to know that Lorrie was a spy, a killer,
a
blackmailer, someone who lured men and wrecked their reputation? Or do
I
not want to know and always suspect it anyway.

"What was her last job for you?"

Another clap. "Another splendid question. It commenced after her
leaving
party. "

Deep cover. She never really left the agency, just made her
colleagues
believe she did.

"Answer the question, " I say as we swing the cab round to the
left.

"We were somewhat concerned about Mister van Gibt. We weren't
entirely
sure what he was working on and to what end. Lorraine put herself in
his
path and then was supposed to report to us. "

Lorraine? I prefer Lorrie.

"Let me ask you a question, " he says, "Why did you take Alastair
to
your office?"

"The bugs, " I say, "I was hoping the bugs would eat the answers to
some
of these questions out of him. "

"Interesting, " says Chesterton, "But as you know now, Alastair
knew
very little of what was going on. His role was simply to watch
Lorraine,
to see if she ran or see if anyone came running after her. After
Johann
vanished, we were most concerned. "

He sounds as though things had got out of control, as though
Lorrie
hadn't been doing her job of watching Johann, her fake husband.
Maybe
the marriage hadn't been fake at all, maybe she'd fallen in love
with
him.

"Almost time for the next cab, " says Bill, reminding me of the
plan.
The idea put forward in the letter I'd sent to Bill is that he
and
Chesterton would change cabs three times to throw the trail. That
would
never work, Chesterton's people would be far too smart, although
the
final change at Kings Cross was a good one ? Bill and Chesterton
would
have to queue for an unpredictable amount of time and it would be
difficult for anyone else to follow closely enough, or to wait on such
a
busy road for their cab to emerge.

My plan was to make the fake plan look strong, and then undercut it
by
being the driver of the first cab, whereupon I explained the new plan
to
Bill. He and Chesterton would get out after our talk, and wait for
the
next cab, and of course those watching would never think of
following
the cab driver.

There's something else in Chesterton's last answer, what is it?

"Listen, " says Chesterton, "No more games. We tell you this because
you
may be more helpful if you know it. Lorrie was supposed to be
telling
us what van Gibt was up to, but she went over to the other side.
Van
Gibt has gone, we have no idea what he's up to. He destroyed his
records
and his work, so we need to find him. He took her memories before
he
left, to make sure she wouldn't talk, even if we pressed hard. We're
not
sure if he sent the sniper to kill her, or if it is someone else's
work
entirely. We need to find him and our only link is his wife. And now
you
come along and smuggle her away. "

"You thought, " I say slowly, "That my bugs had taken the secrets out
of
Alastair. You didn't know that someone killed my bugs, my fellows.
"

The handkerchief comes out again. "Were they still cased? "

He knows the questions to ask. "No, they'd been freed, then squashed.
"

"There's nobody capable of doing that, " he says, "Only five
bug-handlers have the guts to take them out of the case. You're one
and
the other four work for me. None of them were involved. "

"There's no time for this, " he says, "You need to tell us where
Lorrie
is. We don't want to hurt her, but we need to find van Gibt,
urgently.
He has something that we would like to have returned to us."

This is a really bad time to reveal that in order to protect Lorrie,
I
didn't want to know where she was or how to find her. There's a way
she
can contact me, but no way I can contact her. I reveal it anyway,
just
to spite him.

We're at the point now, I indicate and start to slow the cab
down.

"Why do you need to find van Gibt? What are you scared of?"

He indicates that this is a question he's not prepared to answer, and
I
have no lever on him. Damn.

There's something in his face though, he seems to be wanting me to
ask
something else. The expression is the way Una Stubbs used to look
on
Give Us a Clue when someone was near to the answer. There's a
question
to ask that he will answer. I just need to hit it.

Bill realises that Chesterton ought to have the swordstick as they
get
out, so hands it back to him, saying, "Don't do anything fancy with
it.
"

"Sir, " Chesterton says, with great drama, "We have informed you
earlier, that the blade is only used in defence of a lady. "

They both get out of the cab and Bill makes a pretence of paying
me,
while I watch Chesterton, to make sure he's not signalling to the
people
who have been following us. They are now to stand and wait for
sixteen
minutes before getting another cab.

I can't resist baiting Chesterton before I leave.

"By the way, " I say, starting the engine up, " Alastair's last
words.
God Save the Queen. I've been wondering, until Bill pointed me at
the
Sex Pistols. God Save the Queen. She ain't no human being. All of
my
bugs are male ? my fellows, my boys. They're insects, so there's
just
one female, the Queen. One bug who reproduces to make more. You had
it,
and now van Gibt has stolen her. What's he planning to do with
her?"

Chesterton looks shocked, the first time I've ever seen him pale.
He
just says quietly, "Alastair knew more than I thought. God Save
the
Queen. It's a Grey-Goo problem my boy. "

"How did he get the Queen? " I ask, and I can tell from his face
that
this is the question he wanted to answer, "Wasn't there
security?"

"Oh yes, " says Chesterton, "A great deal. There was no way that
van
Gibt could have taken the Queen from us, himself. We had thought
for
some time that he was not to be trusted, that he had been talking
to
others. We had thought, however, that Lorraine was someone to be
relied
upon. Perhaps we were wrong. "

If I stay here any longer, the goons following are going to
wonder
what's happening. Time to go.