As reunions went, this one was on the awkward side. Of course I would be relieved to see him, but that didn’t really make up for him sticking a gun in my face earlier.
Yet any ill feeling I may have had instantly gave way to mirth when I saw him sitting there in what looked like Annie’s bathrobe.
‘Impressive disguise,’ I said, ‘though you could probably benefit from some lipstick and heels.’
He didn’t seem to find it amusing.
I held out the bag containing his clothes. ‘D’you want these or are you happy with your current attire?’
‘You could be a little warmer with your welcome, Sam,’ said Annie beside me. ‘The poor boy’s been through an awful lot.’
‘He told you, did he?’ I said. ‘Did he also tell you that he threatened to shoot me this morning?’
‘Oh, grow up, Sam,’ she said. ‘I doubt there are many people in this town who haven’t threatened to shoot you at some point or other. I’m just surprised it took Suren this long. I’ve been tempted to do it myself on several occasions.’
Suren piped up. ‘If it is any consolation, I would not actually have done it.’
‘Glad to hear it,’ I said.
‘With you dead, I could not afford the rent by myself.’
Before I could think of a riposte, Annie’s maid, Anju, entered the room with a pot of coffee. I’d asked for something stronger but Annie had deemed that inappropriate for three in the morning.
Suren took the bag and thanked me for the clothes.
‘You OK?’ I asked.
‘I am, as you like to say, still alive.’
‘Want to tell me where you’ve been all day?’
‘Chasing Gulmohamed,’ he said. ‘I tracked him to Howrah but he was in the company of some military officers. I was not able to apprehend him.’
‘Word is you jumped off his train,’ I said.
He stared at me.
‘Did Miss Grant tell you?’
‘No. Colonel Dawson did.’
Suren’s face fell. ‘So Section H are looking for me, then. I had a feeling those were Dawson’s men on the train.’
I took a sip of black coffee.
‘You’re right, those men on the train were Section H, but they weren’t following Dawson’s orders, and they weren’t looking for you. Our friend Dawson appears to have rather fallen out with some of his colleagues in the Section.’
‘Is that good?’
‘It’s good for you,’ I said. ‘He seems to want to help to clear your name.’
‘Why?’
‘Let’s call it office politics.’
Suren scratched at an earlobe.
‘I do not see how he can help me now that Gulmohamed is on his way back to Bombay.’
‘Well, let’s find out,’ I said. ‘He asked me to call him once you showed up.’
‘And you trust him?’
I thought back to my conversation with the spymaster. He could have chosen anywhere for our meeting but he’d picked a location he knew would make me ask questions, which he in turn had answered. I saw now that he’d freely given up some of his secrets in order to win my trust. It was possible he was trying to fool me, but I doubted it. The authorities would eventually catch Suren with or without my help, and it really did seem as though Dawson had an issue with his colleagues. My gut said to take him at his word while my head counselled caution.
‘We’ll play it by ear.’
Suren went to change into something less comfortable and I telephoned the number Dawson had given me.
‘It’s me,’ I said ‘I’ve found him.’
From the other end came a momentary pause before the colonel finally spoke.
‘What’s his assessment?’
‘He’s sticking to his tale. Says our man from Bombay is responsible for what happened down in Budge Budge. But seeing as that bird has flown the coop, he’s not sure what to do now.’
‘I’d have thought,’ said the spymaster, ‘that the logical step would be to go to Bombay. The gentleman in question shouldn’t be too hard to track down once you’re there.’
Dawson was right. Tracking down Gulmohamed in Bombay was the obvious course of action, but the obvious option wasn’t always the smartest. For a start, there were the logistics of the thing. The next train to Bombay wouldn’t leave for another eighteen hours or so, and the journey itself would be close to another thirty-six. Even if the police didn’t stop Suren at Howrah, the passage would be fraught with danger. And if we did manage to make it to Bombay, the city was a thousand miles away, a place where Gulmohamed was a powerful man and where we would have no connections and no allies.
‘It’s a risk,’ I said, ‘putting my friend on a train for a day and a half. If Halifax finds out, he’ll be a sitting duck.’
There came silence from the other end as Dawson ruminated.
‘Let’s see what we can do about that,’ he said. ‘D’you know the ordnance factory at Dum Dum?’
I wondered where this was going. ‘Do you plan to shoot us out of a cannon?’
‘Get to the factory by 5 a.m. I’ll meet you there.’
‘Dawson,’ I said, ‘if this is some ruse of yours to capture my colleague —’
‘Don’t be obtuse,’ he said. ‘There are bigger things at stake here than the arrest of your subaltern. Just get to Dum Dum by 5 a.m. The longer you delay, the harder it’ll be to get him out of the city.’