Colonel Sun

by Kingsley Amis

  ‘From what you’ve been saying, this man sounds exactly the opposite of someone who’d help your side.’

  ‘It’s also your side for the moment, remember. And he’s very pro-British. And although he’s always been mad at me for joining the Communist Party I think he’s continued to be fond of me, because he loves my father. And there’s something I know about the other side which may help if he becomes obstinate.’

  Litsas turned and saw them. He was tanned to a rich brown by years of sun and salt air, a remarkably handsome man in his mid-forties with thick black hair just starting to go grey, neat pointed ears close to the skull, sad and watchful brown eyes, a jutting nose, and a mouth that at the moment looked good-naturedly sensual, though Bond imagined – rightly – that it would harden to a fierce line in times of action. The belly showed no trace of fat and the shoulders and upper arms bulged with muscle. Bond put him down as a loyal friend and a totally implacable and ruthless enemy. He trusted him on sight.

  After an instant’s pause, strong white teeth showed in an unreservedly warm and welcoming smile. ‘Ariadne, khrisi mou.’

  ‘Yassou, Niko, ti yinese?’ The two embraced affectionately. Then the watchful eyes moved to Bond.

  ‘This is James Bond, Niko, an English friend of mine.’

  ‘How do you do, Mr Bond.’ The handclasp was strong and warm. ‘You’ve picked a good time for your visit. I’m just finishing before I go over the road for a drink. I hope you’ll join me. Let me manage these two idiots first. They know as much of carpentry as I know of … knitting.’

  Apart from a few falterings (no doubt from lack of practice) this was said in a manner approaching that of a middle-class Englishman – above all, with less of the difficulty with ‘ch’ ‘sh’ and ‘j’ than most Greeks experience. Litsas now moved back to his workmen. Despite his gay, friendly tone, his brown eyes had not for a moment ceased their discreet but careful appraisal of Bond.

  The boat under discussion was a twenty-footer with an unusual pointed stern, broad in the beam, a fishing-boat or perhaps lifeboat part-way converted into a pocket-size cabin-cruiser. Two bunks had been completed, also the skeleton of the superstructure in slender pine beams. Bond guessed that the final result would look grotesque to a yachtsman’s eye, but fetchingly ‘quaint’ to the French or German tourist interested in a not-too-expensive hire.

  No doubt feeling that words were inadequate to express his disgust, Litsas put out one large brown hand and, seemingly with a mere flick of the wrist, broke one of the vertical members away from the gunwale as if it had been fixed there with stamp-paper. The two workmen put on exaggerated expressions of guilt and self-reproach. With a final sweeping gesture of contempt, Litsas turned away. He winked at Bond and Ariadne.

  ‘They’re children,’ he said, making a herding motion towards the steps. ‘Nice children, but children. Not just lazy and careless: they cannot see the idea that very much effort is required if you want to make something even a little good. When I tell them that the deck-housing would fall when the first decent wave hits it, they want to say, “Perhaps, but be nice, Mr Litsas. See how beautiful we have made the bunks.” That’s Greece for you, I’m sorry to say: people that don’t try hard enough. But I mustn’t bore you with this grumbling. What brings you to Greece, Mr Bond? You’re on holiday?’

  ‘No, I’m afraid not.’

  Litsas caught the tone at once. ‘I hope there’s no trouble? If I can –’

  ‘There’s trouble all right. We desperately need your help, Mr Litsas.’

  ‘We? Love trouble?’

  ‘I wish it were. Ariadne and I are fighting an international conspiracy which is threatening England and Russia and probably Greece too. I’m sorry to sound melodramatic, but –’

  ‘I don’t care what you sound, Mr Bond.’ Litsas had stopped dead on the pavement opposite the café. His eyes and voice were full of hostility. ‘I’ve finished with politics altogether, and in any case I would never help the … faction you represent. Now you must excuse me.’

  He started to move away. Bond stepped into his path. ‘I swear to you I’m not a Communist. I’m on your side.’

  ‘Several Communists have said to me almost those exact words. The last one tried to kill me ten minutes afterwards.’

  Ariadne intervened. ‘Niko, I promise you that if my father came here and knew what we know he’d ask you to do all you could to help us.’

  This increased Litsas’s anger. ‘My dear young lady, it’s most wrong that you bring the major into this business. And stupid. I don’t admire you.’

  ‘Listen to me, Mr Litsas,’ said Bond desperately. ‘Our cause is just and we’re in deadly earnest about it. I give you my word for that as an Englishman.’

  ‘You do, yes?’ Some of the fire left Litsas’s manner. ‘That doesn’t mean as much as it has done, to most people. To me … well, I’m sentimental, I suppose. Very good, Englishman, I agree to hear your story. I promise nothing more.’

  With no more said they reached the café and sat down at one of the little oblong marble-topped tables – plastic had yet to find its way here. The speckled wall-mirrors did what they could to give an illusion of roominess. There, amid a buzz of chatter, among games of backgammon and what looked like gin-rummy, over cup after cup of scalding Turkish coffee, Bond gave the full account, all the way from Quarterdeck to the fire at Thomas’s shop. Litsas’s eyes never left Bond’s face. At the end he sat for a full two minutes perfectly relaxed, without a hint of the fidgeting of hands and feet so curiously common in Greek men. When he spoke his tone was cold and measured.

  ‘So it comes to this. You and Ariadne want me to take you to some island of which the name she won’t say. There, something she calls an event’ – the deep voice grew contemptuous – ‘will take place, if it isn’t prevented by some enemies. A British chief of Security has been kidnapped by the same enemies and may be made use to damage British interests. When you get there you may think what to do next. At the moment it’s clear that you have no plan. And not a very good story either. I’m sorry – I can introduce you to a dozen people who will charter to you a yacht and crew to go to the islands. If you’re so fussy. There are public steamers which –’

  Bond interrupted brusquely. He had settled in his mind on a force of three as an absolute minimum for the task in hand and he felt sure that this man was the best available for making up the number. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘that line of talk won’t get any of us anywhere. What do you imagine is at stake for you in this? Do you think Ariadne and I have told you all this because we’re out to steal one of your boats? What are you afraid of?’

  ‘That’s enough from you, Mr Bond, I won’t stand –’

  It was Ariadne’s turn to cut in. ‘Niko. Listen to me. One fact, or almost certain fact. Von Richter is involved.’

  She got her effect. Litsas snarled like a wild animal. ‘To poústi! To thráko, to … That … savage! The butcher of Kapoudzona! Come on, Ariadne, I must know more. How was this found?’

  ‘He was seen quite accidentally by a guy who was a resistance fighter. The man told the local Party chief, and so on. We got the news yesterday.’

  ‘So? He’s in Greece. Nothing strange in that. Those German bastards are coming back here always, to enjoy in peace the beautiful country they began to love while they were burning our villages and shooting our men and sometimes also our women and children. He was on his way to Kapoudzona to enjoy his pleasant memories.’

  ‘No. He was making inquiries about boats to … the place of the event. Yesterday we hadn’t thrown away the idea that it might be a coincidence. Lots of people go to this place in the summer. But I don’t think now it can be coincidence. Do you?’

  ‘No,’ said Litsas grimly. ‘No, I don’t.’ He took a deep breath and looked from one to the other with the beginnings of a grin. ‘All right. You’ve caught your fish. I’ll do anything you say. It’s time for a change for me. Don’t think I believe completely, though. This sweet girl here
might still be lying when she tells me about von Richter. But perhaps she tells the truth and that’s enough for me. I’d go halfway round the world for a chance in ten of seeing that squarehead in my sights.’

  Bond’s heart lifted in relief, in exultation. He said, ‘How soon can we leave?’

  ‘Soon. We’ll take the Altair. She’s a fifty-footer with a Diesel. Strong. Not easy to be noticed. Do you know anything of boats, James?’

  ‘A bit. I spent a lot of summer holidays years ago in a converted Brixham trawler.’

  ‘You’ll be useful, then.’ Litsas turned authoritative. ‘Right. If things were different you could cross the road and eat clams at Diasemos, but you must put up with what I bring you. The Altair is moored along by the clock-tower. Panamanian flag. Next to a big Yankee thing for millionaires. The two of you go on board now and remain out of sight until we sail. Do you think you were followed from the hotel?’

  ‘Doubtful. In what we stood up in and just carrying a shopping bag we stood a fair chance of not being assumed to be leaving. Our most vulnerable moment was when we stopped for me to wire London and Ariadne to warn her people. But we had to take that risk.’

  ‘You must take the next risk too. It’s not far and nobody’s on board. You have just one gun, James? Yes. Leave everything to me. Be off with you.’

  Within ten minutes Bond and Ariadne crossed the afterdeck of the Altair and made their way into the tiny saloon. Here everything was squared away, the floor scrubbed, the windows polished, and the miniature royal-blue curtains freshly laundered. Bond guessed that the boat had been about to go out on charter, and grinned to himself as he visualized Litsas airily riding over the protests of the party who had rented her.

  They explored briefly. The narrow companion-way led below to a cupboard-sized galley on the starboard side, a head and shower to port. Bond lowered himself from the galley into the engine-room, gasping at the heat and the reek of oil, and looked over the single-drive 163 h.p. Mercedes engine. New condition: clever use of available space; maintenance up to Royal Navy standard. Bond’s respect for Litsas rose a further notch.

  For’ard of galley and head were a pair of cabins with double bunks and, for’ard again, another pair with tiered single bunks. They took the port midships cabin. Ariadne unpacked and stowed away their minimal luggage: changes of underclothing, handkerchiefs, a couple of shirts, toilet gear and, incongruous among these humdrum necessities, eighty rounds of ammunition for the Walther. She smoothed back a tendril of brown-blonde hair and turned straight into his arms.

  With her face against his neck, she murmured, ‘So I have you for a little longer. It seems like it was days and days before I thought I’d have you at all. I don’t care what happens tomorrow. Now. I know I’ll care if you’re taken away from me. So let’s use every moment we have.’

  She drew her head back and desire made her eyes look unfocused, opaque. ‘Don’t shut the door. We’re alone here.’ Her breasts seemed to swell against his chest.

  There on the hard unluxurious bunk Bond made long love to her, both of them taking their pleasure easily, slowly, searchingly, with none of the near-hysterical frenzy of the early hours of that day. The buzz of activity all around them, the shouted orders, the rattle of anchor-chains, the fluctuating hum and roar of engines, lost all meaning and vanished. At last, exhausted, they drew apart and slept.

  Bond was woken by voices and footfalls overhead. He dressed swiftly, his eyes on the uncovered form of Ariadne, fast asleep on her back, one knee raised in an attitude of total abandonment. He stooped and kissed her warm cheek.

  By the time he had moved the few yards back to the saloon Litsas was standing alone, hands on hips among heaps of various stores, and the voices were retreating in the direction of the dockside.

  ‘Ariadne is asleep?’

  ‘Yes.’

  The big man looked directly at Bond with eyes that were sad and pleading now, not watchful. ‘You’ll be good to her, won’t you, James? The way you think, it isn’t my business, but her father’s my best friend and that means very much in Greece. If you treat her bad, drop her suddenly, make untrue promises to her and so on, then I shall come for you and neither of us would like that. Especially you. You understand me?’

  ‘Yes. You won’t need to come for me.’

  ‘Then we shall all be happy.’ Litsas slapped himself on the chest a couple of times and his manner lightened. ‘I envy you, taking a girl on this trip. I couldn’t have found one in the time. Five years ago things were very different. Litsas is not like he was. Anyway, if I bring one, that’s not serious enough. I don’t know any female spies. Honestly, James’ – he shook his head defeatedly – ‘to think little Ariadne is working for the Russian bloody Secret Service is fantastic. I thought she’s just making cups of coffee for the workers and reading Karl Marx in the evening. Instead of this … Oh well, it’s good that the world can still surprise us.

  ‘Now. Fuel and water. Full up. Food. That can wait. Drink. That can wait too, but not so long. Weapons. You’d better look at them now. Here.’

  Bond moved to the table. On it were neat oilskin bundles which Litsas untied to reveal one of the excellent Beretta M.34 9-mm automatics and a couple of boxes of ammunition, four Mills H.E. grenades, and – almost unbelievably – an example of that greatest rifle in the history of warfare, the British short magazine Lee Enfield, with perhaps sixty rounds in clips of five. All the items were in beautiful condition, the metal surfaces of the guns shining dully with a thin film of oil. Bond picked up the rifle and squinted along the V-and-blade sight. ‘You got this little lot together in pretty good time.’

  ‘Oh, it was easy. This is my private store. I’ve had all this stuff for over twenty years. The British gave me the Lee Enfield in 1944. It seemed perhaps not such an expensive gift, since it was made in 1916. Anyway, I made very good results with it, and kept it when they made me an officer. I picked up the other stuff in the same sort of way.’

  Bond nodded. ‘What made you keep it at all?’

  ‘Yes, it must seem rather silly. It isn’t really. Not in Greece. You see, here you can’t be sure. Oh yes, the Communists were completely beaten in 1949, but you’ll agree that Communists don’t give up easily. I must admit that they’re not being violent now. But recently they’ve begun to be active again. Anyway, if they do try again, they won’t get rid of me without some trouble. And it isn’t only the Communists by a long chalk. Only last year I had some trouble down in Crete. Some of them are a bit primitive there, poor chaps. I’ll tell you a story some time. Anyway, I was facing a bunch I had to pacify with this. Just waving it at them was enough, thank God.’

  While he talked Litsas had taken the wooden lid off the starboard-side bench and brought out another oilskin package. This one proved to contain a Thompson MI submachine gun of World War II vintage. It had been as lovingly cared for as the other pieces.

  ‘A present from the USA. It lives on board. Stacks of ammunition. I hope you think now our fire-power is enough?’

  Bond grinned delightedly and slapped Litsas on the shoulder. ‘With what we’ve got here we can take on anything short of a tank.’

  ‘A cruiser tank at least. We shan’t be shooting until the morning, I suppose, so let’s stow the stuff, eh?’

  They had about done so when a light step sounded on the deck outside and a youth of about sixteen, not tall but powerfully built for his age, stepped over the coaming into the saloon. He nodded gravely to Bond.

  ‘This is Yanni,’ said Litsas. ‘Yanni, o Kyrios Tzems … You and I could manage the boat together, but we need a relief for the wheel. Yanni knows boats and he knows these seas. This is all we need. I shall slip him a couple of hundred drachmas and put him ashore somewhere before we begin the shooting. Well, since you like the weapons we can get the gangway up.’

  He spoke to Yanni, who nodded again and slipped away with the same almost noiseless tread. Just afterwards Ariadne joined them.

  She looked coolly desirable
and at the same time impressively businesslike in blue jeans and a man’s fine cotton shirt several shades darker, her hair pinned back close to her head. She looked quickly from Bond to Litsas.

  ‘Well, why aren’t we moving?’

  ‘We’re ready, my dear. But only you know where we must move. Isn’t it time you trusted us?’

  ‘Not until I have to.’ Ariadne, at her most strict, avoided Bond’s eye. Her tenacity in holding on to this information struck him as about equally absurd and admirable. She blinked, came to a decision. ‘Go toward the Cyclades group. I’ll tell you which island when we’re sailing.’

  ‘Very good. Right, James. Let’s go.’

  Five minutes later, a man in a grubby linen suit arrived panting at the quayside, peered after the receding shape of the Altair, turned and ran for the café and its telephone.

  10

  DRAGON ISLAND

  ‘That’s where we’re going.’ Ariadne’s finger came down on the map. ‘Vrakonisi.’

  Looking over her shoulder, Litsas nodded. ‘Fourteen hours at least – I don’t want to make her go more than about eight knots. Longer if the weather’s bad. And it might be.’

  ‘It’s calm enough at the moment,’ said Bond.

  The dark indigo-blue sea slid past almost unwrinkled. Two miles away, the larger detail on shore was still perfectly clear, but its colours were just beginning to change in the approaching September dusk, the white of the scattered buildings losing its glare, the green of the trees fading and turning bluish, the tan and ochre and gamboge of the hillsides seeming oddly to have become more intense. A fishing-boat with a chain of dinghies passed towards Piraeus between the Altair and the coast, all the craft moving as smoothly as if they were running across ice.

  ‘It’s usually calm here,’ said Litsas, ‘but wait till we get past Cape Sounion and leave the shelter of Attica before you be sure. Out there you can meet a norther and it’s often quite bloody. Right. We make over here towards Kea, run south past Kithnos and Seriphos, round Siphnos and sail due east. That part may not be good either, but if it’s rough, we’ll get some shelter from Antiparos and Paros for the last miles. Right. I’ll just go and speak with Yanni.’