For Kicks - Страница 50

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50

I knew now clearly what I was, and what I could do.

I remembered the times when I had been tempted to give up and hadn't.

I remembered the moment when I held Elinor's dog whistle in my hand and my mind made an almost muscular leap at the truth. I remembered the satisfaction I felt in Kandersteg's scorched enclosure, knowing I had finally uncovered and defeated Adams and Humber. No sale of any horse had ever brought so quiet and complete a fulfilment.

The hour passed. The pigeons defecated on the window and flew away.

Colonel Beckett came back.

"Well?" he said.

"Yes or no?"

"Yes."

He laughed aloud.

"Just like that? No questions or reservations?"

"No reservations. But I will need time to arrange things at home."

"Of course." He picked up the telephone receiver.

"My colleague will wish you to see him before you go back." He rested his fingers on the dial.

"I'll make an appointment."

"And one question."

"Yes?"

"What are the three B's of number ten?"

He smiled secretly, and I knew he had intended that I should ask:

which meant that he wanted me to know the answer. Devious, indeed. My nostrils twitched as if at the scent of a whole new world. A world where I belonged.

"Whether you could be bribed or bludgeoned or blackmailed," he said casually, "into changing sides. "

He dialled the number, and altered my life.


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