The Oslo Affair (Shadows of War, #2) CW Browning (sci fi books to read TXT) 📖

fateful trip to Poland, but perhaps he had. And if that was the case, heaven only knew where it was now. The room in Bern had been searched thoroughly by more than one country’s agency, and no one had found anything.

The man exhaled and peered through the front windshield as the cab slowed to a stop in traffic approaching Whitehall. After taking one look at the stopped traffic, he pulled some coins out of his pocket and passed one over the seat to the driver.

“Here. I’ll walk the rest of the way.”

“Are you sure? It’ll get moving again in a moment.”

“Yes. The fresh air will do me good. Thank you.”

The man climbed out of the car and started up the sidewalk. This whole situation was the result of him trying to make himself indispensable. Given the rash of failures lately, his standing was far from secure. He had thought presenting them with the package would be an easy way to cement himself as the perfect agent. Unfortunately, he hadn’t taken into account Robert Ainsworth and his love of intrigue. It really was infuriating.

The man strode through the afternoon crowds, his lips pressed into a thin line and his umbrella tapping on the pavement imperiously. He had to find the package. The message today had been very clear. He could buy himself a little bit of time, but it would have to be found and passed on to them. The only way he was getting himself out of this without the package was if he managed to land something bigger and more important, and that wasn’t looking very likely at this point. Not with the way things were going in the government at the moment.

No. It had to be the package. And it had to be sooner rather than later. If Ainsworth hadn’t left it in either of his own residences, the only other possibility was that he’d entrusted it to someone else’s care. While that had seemed impossible a few days ago, now the man considered the prospect with new eyes as he crossed a driveway. Who would the old man have left it with? Who on earth would he have trusted enough to leave a package that could have far reaching effects for the security of the British Commonwealth?

The man shook his head and a wave of something like irritation went through him. Who would have thought that, in death, Robert Ainsworth would have the last say? It was really quite ridiculous. The man had played at being a secret agent while maintaining a very successful diplomatic career. He was hardly what one would term a master of espionage.

The man’s lips tightened. And yet, here he was, empty-handed because Ainsworth had taken the secret with him to the grave.

Perhaps Robert Ainsworth hadn’t been such an amateur after all.

Chapter Seventeen

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Stockholm, Sweden

Evelyn stepped out of the lift with Anna and glanced at the busy desk in the lobby.

“I just have to speak with the concierge,” she said. “I’ll meet you in the restaurant.”

Anna nodded cheerfully and went off towards the restaurant while Evelyn turned to cross the lobby. Her elegantly simple blue evening dress and shining blonde hair drew several appreciative glances from men as she went, but she ignored them as her eyes scanned the faces of everyone she passed. Oslo may be over two hundred miles away but she knew how easily she had got here. Others could do so just as easily, and that kept her eyes moving even as a smile curved her lips.

Walking up to the desk, she stood waiting for the concierge to finish with a customer. When he had, he promptly came over to her with a smile.

“How can I assist you?”

“I’d like to send a telegram, please.”

“Of course.” He turned to the back counter and opened a drawer, pulling out a pad. “We can send it over to the telegraph office. It’s just around the corner. Is this urgent?”

“I’d like it sent as soon as possible, yes.” Evelyn picked up a pencil and began to fill out the form. “It’s to my editor in London and I’m afraid I forgot to do it earlier.”

“I understand. I’ll have it sent immediately.”

Evelyn wrote out an innocuous message in a her neat, precise hand informing the reader that she had arrived at the hotel and was looking forward to a successful stay. She would have the article ready for transmission soon. She kept it short and generic, handing it to the concierge a moment later.

“Thank you so much.”

He nodded and raised a hand to summon an employee over. “Of course, miss. I’ll send it right away. Enjoy your dinner.”

“Thank you.”

She turned away as he handed the telegram to the employee who joined him, speaking to him rapidly in Swedish. As she crossed the lobby to the restaurant, the telegram was on its way to being carried out the door.

A few moments later, she was shown through a very busy restaurant to a table where Anna was just being seated.

“That was quick,” Anna said as Evelyn joined her. “Were you able to send it?”

“Yes. In fact, it’s already on its way to the telegraph office.” Evelyn accepted the menu from the attentive waiter and smiled. “I’m absolutely famished.”

The waiter said something in Swedish and Anna replied before he turned to leave. Evelyn looked across the table.

“Something about drinks?” she asked.

“Very good! You’re learning. I ordered us some wine.”

“Very little, I’m afraid. Only bits, here and there. Some of the words are very similar to Norwegian, which I was starting to get used to.”

Anna grinned. “You have a good ear. I suspect if you stayed for a few weeks, you wouldn’t need me at all.”

Evelyn smiled and lowered her eyes to the menu, scanning it before giving up and setting it aside.

“And that’s where my cleverness ends,” she said. “I can’t make head or tail of it. Do they have any beef?”

“Yes. A beef tenderloin in what looks like a delicious wine and shallot sauce,”