Mr Searby''s Spyforce

John Cole

Description

In the Cold War era, a Russian spy and his boyhood friend decide to defect to the West by crossing the North Sea to Yorkshire, where their protagonist, Walter Searby, is charged with discovering what lies behind three bodies found on the beach in the same area. Searby is worried about possible infiltration of SIS. He recruits his own spies from guests at a small hotel, a one-time Jewish cockney petty-crook, an ex-colonial police inspector and a widowed author of soft pornography, who develops a crush for the master spy. In liaison with the local police force, which is prepared to turn a blind eye to his methods, the mystery of the three bodies is solved and the landing of iron curtain agents brought to an end.

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
• Date de parution: 30 septembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528910491
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Mr Searby’s Spyforce
John Cole
Austin Macauley Publishers
2020-09-30
Mr Searby’s Spyforce About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgements Main Characters Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 “Battered Beach Body” Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Epilogue Glossary
About the Author
The author is a retired medical practitioner who worked in rural and industrial practices in England, before moving to Australia, where he cared for staff and students at a university. A past yachtsman and bushwalker, today he enjoys carpentry, gardening and is a member of a heritage railway preservation society.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the memory of my grandson,
David John, 10 June, 1990 – 14 Oct, 2016.
Copyright Information ©
John Cole (2020)
The right of John Cole to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Austin Macauley is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity. In this spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers; however, the story, the experiences, and the words are the author’s alone.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528907811 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528910491 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2020)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to Sandra Ball, Marjorie Ridley and Michael Fox for their valuable time spent on proofreading and their helpful suggestions and to my editor, Vinh Tran, for his understanding, patience and advice.
Main Characters
Spyforce S
Walter Searby. Ex SIS agent. Retired bank manager.
Louis Goldstein. Alias Solomon Segelman (Sam Weller).
Norman Page. Ex RSM, E Yorks Regt. The Hibberd’s farm manager.
Pauline Pritchard. Née Sylvia Hayward, Author: pen names, Vera Puttanetta and Aylsa Bryant.
Previously married to Andrzej Lisowski.
Padric Mullen. Alias Michael Molloy (Colonel Chinstrap).
Others
Harry Albright. MI6. Head of European Desk.
Wm. Neville Bartholomew. Present owner of antiquarian bookshop, Inglesby.
Julius Berelkeviche. Alias Svent Jensen. Master of USSR spy ship.
Jack Carter. Vicar of the Parish of St Michael, Ingelsby.
Jacques Clouseau. Sûreté. Detective.
Albrecht Dietrich. Cook at Wilberfoss Guest House.
Barbara Dietrich. Née Stansfield. Manageress of Wilberfoss Guest House.
Seamus Doherty. KGB agent.
Frank Hayward. Superintendent. North Yorkshire Constabulary.
Josephine Hayward. Home office pathologist.
Robert Holmes. (Bobby or Sherlock) Retired police sergeant.
Birgit Jensen. Danish wife of Svent Jensen.
Andrzej Lisowski. Polish diplomat, Deceased husband of Pauline.
Lizabet Lisowski. Andrzej’s sister and Pauline’s sister-in-law.
Countess Lisowski. Mother-in-law to Pauline.
Jules Maigret. Retired Parisian detective.
Christian Petersen. Commodore, Bridlington Bay Yacht Club.
Madeleine Searby. Wife of Walter. Previously married to Le Comte de Balleroy, now deceased.
Igor Ivanovich Timoshenko. Lieutenant Colonel of Militsiya, Senior Moscow Detective.
Moshe Zylberstan. Ex Maquis. Mossad agent.
Chapter 1
Lieutenant Colonel of Militsiya, Igor Ivanovich Timoshenko, head of the Moscow Detective Division, lit a Marlborough cigarette, poured himself a glass of Jim Beam bourbon, perks of his trade, and gave attention to the stack of folders piled up on his desk. A couple of them required his urgent attention.
He looked at the photographs of the dead young woman. This one was likely to produce political repercussions if the senior detective covering the case continued to make little progress. It was three days since the body had been found in Luzhniki Park by an early morning walker. The body had been identified as that of a US congressman’s daughter, on a course at Moscow University. There was no doubt she was the victim of a brutal rape. He telephoned his assistant and told him to fetch Captain Dejevsky in as soon as possible. Did the operativnik really believe all her university contacts were in the clear? Had the dead woman’s lecturer in Agronomics, Lysenko, been completely cleared? The US ambassador was hounding the police minister, and consequently his own future was, to say the least of it, a little dubious.
Yesterday morning, a body had been pulled out of the Moskva River at the Frunzenskaya Embankment just opposite to the Ministry of Defence. Earlier in the day, a person had been reported having fallen overboard from one of the river excursion boats. At this stage, it was not known if the recovered body was from the excursion boat. Of immediate concern was the presence of an entry wound to the abdomen, and what was apparently an execution-style bullet hole in the skull. The clothing on the body was American which raised the possibility the two cases were related. His day suddenly became worse, and his future prospects dimmer.
He drained his glass, hid the bottle, lighted a further cigarette, gazed at the cloud of exhaled smoke in contemplation, pushed his chair away from the desk and strode over to the window to observe the ant-like behaviour in the street below. Was it just coincidence the two crimes involved Americans so close together in time and space? If the cases were linked together, were both victims despatched for the same reason? Then why the rape? It could be a way to disassociate the cases in the minds of the investigators. Which death came first? The possibility must also be considered the crimes were of a political nature or consequence, and some clandestine agency or agencies involved. Indeed, then the status of the two victims required investigation in case they themselves were agents. He did not believe the CIA would be so stupid as to have one of its agents within the USSR dress in clothes of American origin, unless it was desired to pass the culprit off as an upright and honest, flag-waving, God-fearing American. And yet a search by Internal Security had shown our man had entered Helsinki about a month ago, and then booked into the Intourist Hotel in Leningrad. What must be considered, is the possibility of an, as yet, undiscovered body. Was the body recovered from the river that of the person missing from the river excursion or not? If it was, there must have been time and opportunity to divest the body of all documentation. It was essential the pathologist determine the length of time the body was in the water, and whether or not drowning had occurred. He needed to know whether the forensic medical expert had yet reached a conclusion. A phone call to the institute in Polykarpora Street was needed. This was going to be a very interesting few days. Perhaps in this case, he might possibly make an exception and arrive at a decision which would suit his political masters.
A knock on his door and Captain Vanya Mikhailovich Dejevsky was ushered into his office. ‘Please sit, comrade detective.’ It was Lieutenant Colonel Timoshenko’s practice to seat his subordinates, and then tower over them with a height of almost two metres, rather than have them standing in front of his desk and he himself having to look up at them. Sitting there the thought of him placing the muzzle of his handgun under the jaw, and forcing the head back until contact was made between their eyes, his veritably boring into every corner of existence, was not to be countenanced. It was widely believed to be his favourite method of ensuring complete compliance with his requirements. It was a belief he never made the effort to deny. He had learned over the years he lived in a world in which wolves ate dogs. In truth, the donning of a wolf pelt completely masked his real persona.
‘Comrade Colonel, my forensic team is examining thoroughly the impounded excursion boat, and the crew is being interrogated. A list of all embarked passengers is being compiled for tracing purposes. The tourist guide is adamant there is a missing male, and that she has not made a mistake with the inventory.’
’Having considered all possibilities, it is my belief the two cases, both American, are linked together. It is important to liaise with that fascist capitalist lackey the FBI about any relationship between the two deceased. I expect you and I are coming to the same conclusion, the eternal love triangle, a crime of passion. You have all the resources you need. Get on with it. You, I am sure, are aware, given the status of the dead woman, the Minister of Police can make our lives very uncomfortable. I myself am going to find out, before he arrived within your jurisdiction to cause us such an unwanted burden of work, whether his mode of entry into the country will throw any light on the problem.
‘There is no doubt in my mind her agronomic lecturer is our prime suspect. I am sure you agree. Your solving of these two murders could most certainly produce a rapid advancement in your career. You may be unaware a vacancy as major at The Leningrad Department of Organised Crime Detectives will a