Читать книгу Unconditional Surrender онлайн

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"I don't suppose Stalin will wear it on a baldric."

"Maybe not. But I was certainly surprised at your College of Arms passing it. Well, I'll be seeing you around."

"Around" was the right word.

"Pretty fair cheek that young American finding fault with the sword," said Jumbo as they left the restaurant. "What's more he didn't discover the mistake. There was a letter about it in The Times weeks ago. I'll drop you back at your office. Can't have you using public transport on your birthday. I haven't anything much on this afternoon. That was the best lunch I've had for three years. I may take a little nap."

* * * * *

In the autumn of 1943 Hazardous Offensive Operations Headquarters was a very different organization from the modest offices which Guy had visited in the winter of 1940. The original three flats remained part of their property--an important part, for they housed Ian Kilbannock's busy Press service--as did numerous mansions from Hendon to Clapham in which small bands of experts in untroubled privacy made researches into fortifying drugs, invisible maps, noiseless explosives and other projects near to the heart of the healthy schoolboy. There was a Swahili witch-doctor in rooms off the Edgware Road who had been engaged to cast spells on the Nazi leaders.