The Dardanelles Conspiracy Alan Bardos (reading a book txt) 📖

pour the coffee. Talat waited for her to serve them, lighting one of the elegant, gold ringed cigarettes.

‘Tell me, what can I do for the daughter of my old friend Alfred Weisz?’ Talat asked as the little girl left.

‘When I was here with my father, you did me the honour of saying I may call on you again,’ Esther said. ‘As Herr von Jager was new to the city and eager to meet you…’

‘How is your father?’ Talat asked.

‘He’s currently in the Levant, building a section of the Bagdad railway,’ Esther said, maintaining her bearing.

‘I thought all the lines were being constructed by German firms,’ Talat asked, sucking on his cigarette, which was starting to fill the room with a pungent smell.

‘He’s been subcontracted, to build a branch line,’ Esther replied and smiled. ‘We are the poor relations.’

‘And work progresses well, with an engineer of your father's calibre in charge?’ Talat asked.

‘The economic crash since the war started has made it very hard. We are struggling to meet deadlines.’

‘We are all struggling to make ends meet. The war is crippling the country, and how we shall pay for it I'll never know,’ Talat said, pointing his cigarette at Esther. ‘However, I’m not sure what I can do for you that my good friend Enver Pasha has been unable to.’

‘You are very well informed, Excellency,’ Esther said, showing icy calm.

‘Please tell me, Esther Hanim, do you feel that I can be of more service than Enver? Or is it that I can assist you without extracting such a heavy price for my help. I understand he wishes you to marry one of his underlings?’ Talat stubbed out his cigarette.

‘Your government has been more than generous in granting the concession to our company. Unfortunately, the war has placed an unforeseen burden on it, a drain that can be easily ended,’ Esther said calmly.

Talat’s dark eyes twinkled with cunning, ‘I think at last we get to the reason for your visit and why you have brought this person to my house.’

His face took on a savage pallor, as he firmly planted his massive wrists on his desk, and focused on Johnny. Johnny doubted that there was a force in the world that could have moved those wrists.

‘My wife mentioned it also, but I have never seen a German bow in such an artless manner. And when I insulted you and dishonoured Esther Hanim, you chose to ignore it. Any German aristocrat worth his salt would have challenged me. Their overblown sense of entitlement over a weaker ally would have surpassed the need to show respect to a government minister.’

‘Excellency, I am a diplomat, trained to overlook such slights,’ Johnny said, but he had little doubt Talat was right.

‘My sources at the German Embassy have not heard of you and state that you haven’t set foot in the embassy. Yet the policeman on the door tells me you are a fully credentialed courier, Herr von Jager. If that is indeed your name, why is it that you have not delivered any diplomatic papers?’

Johnny exchanged a despairing look with Esther. It was true he had completely forgotten to take the documents he had been given to the German Embassy. He supposed he must have left them at the restaurant in Sofia.

‘That was an oversight, Excellency.’

‘I suggest that we dispense with this childish charade and you tell me exactly who you are, before I lose patience,’ Talat said with an amused look at their naive attempts to deceive him.

Esther coughed. ‘Excellency, you have pre-empted us. Please forgive our subterfuge, the intention was to protect you from any suspicion.’

‘I think you should let him speak for himself,’ Talat said coldly.

‘I am a courier, Excellency, just a British one.’

Talat grunted.

‘The reason for my visit, Excellency, is to ask if you would be willing to enter into negotiations for a separate peace with the Allies.’

‘And they send you to ask me?’ Talat looked genuinely offended.

‘My government has organised a more fitting emissary should you wish to discuss terms and arrange a meeting with their official representatives,’ Johnny said trying to sound deferent.

‘So you are merely a stalking horse.’ Talat spoke menacingly, but his reservations were starting to fade. ‘What makes your government think I would be interested in making an agreement with them?’

‘It is no secret there is little support in your Government for a war that Enver Pasha dragged you into. Your people are tired and long for peace,’ Johnny said.

‘Who is to act as the emissary of the British Government?’ Talat asked.

‘The Grand Rabbi, Haim Nahum,’ Esther said.

Talat looked at her shrewdly. ‘Yes, he is notorious for his Germanophobia. I have had call to reproach him for it myself. A good choice. Bring him here so we can continue this play acting, but I make no promises.’

Chapter 21

Laszlo Breitner pushed his way to the end of the Grande Rue de Pera, through the bustle of Taksim Square and turned right towards the German Embassy.

There was no mistaking the pale yellow edifice, it looked like it would endure against any power that dared challenge Germany's Imperial ambitions.

Breitner went through the embassy gates and was directed to the embassy chancery. He showed his papers to a neat little clerk who led him to a large, dark, panelled office where he was greeted by a bullet-headed mandarin, with matching duelling scars.

‘Yes, I am Graf von Wut.’

‘Good afternoon, sir. I have a request from the Austro-Hungarian Embassy, for access to your shipment records,’ Breitner said, trying to sound like he cared.

Von Wut temple’s flushed under his pale duelling scars. ‘Really, have you nothing better to do?’

Breitner handed von Wut the chit. ‘I believe that one of your diplomats may have mistakenly impounded two cases of champagne, intended for His Excellency