Kisses From Satan

by George B Mair

  He dabbed the sweat from her brow and felt her relax against his legs.

  But her dancing had been dangerous and he saw it as a safety valve. The girl was fighting mad about this Paris business. And although she knew as well as he did that what H.Q. said was always final he guessed that he would hear more about it before morning.

  The storm broke long after they had gone to bed, when the surge of giving had been satisfied and they were lying limply sleepy, looking through the great window to black waves beyond, black waves crested with silver moonlight which surged restlessly beyond the olive groves. ‘You must stay, David.’

  He held her close. There was no choice. It was another job, but with a bit of luck he might even be back before her month was up.

  She shrugged her shoulders. That was rubbish and he knew it. There was more in life than even dancing. More than spying or killing men. Why not a house somewhere, a white box on a Greek island, or a villa in Madeira away from it all? And a flat in Vienna when they wanted to mix again with the world.

  He shook his head and kissed her cheek. ‘Impossible.’

  ‘Why?’ She sat up abruptly and grasped him by the hair of his scalp. ‘Why impossible? For us nothing is impossible.’

  ‘Except the ordinary things which other people have.’ Grant’s voice was flat calm. ‘And stop pulling my hair.’

  She stared at him coldly. ‘I’d like to pull it out.’ And as she suddenly tugged viciously he broke her grip and turned her across his knees. ‘Do I smack you or will you behave?’

  She wriggled like a mad thing and then sank her teeth into his calf. ‘Snack if you like. Do anything you like. But stay with me. Please, David. Stay with me.’

  He lifted a cigarette and lit it for her. ‘Relax, sweetheart. You know that I can’t.’

  Her eyes narrowed and she drew thoughtfully at her long ivory holder. ‘Then take me with you. H.Q. can’t object to that. Let’s stay somewhere quiet. In your own flat. And when the time comes for you to go I promise I won’t be a nuisance. Please, David.’

  He smiled broadly. ‘Why not!’

  She watched a smoke ring lose itself in darkness. ‘I didn’t like what you said about them maybe watching us.’

  Grant hesitated. Once she might have been important to the Russians and they might have killed her on the way to Yalta. Or even after they arrived in Turkey, but now life was different. She had made her mark. She was idolised in fifty countries and television had brought her into millions of homes. She could have no enemies and the Russians had now risen above petty vengeance. The new men were realists and Maya was a Russian. In a way they would be proud of her as they still were about Nureyev. The world thought of her as a Russian and some argued that she had promoted the Soviet image . . . even in exile. ‘No,’ he ended. ‘They won’t wish you any harm. I spoke without thinking and why should they bother even to have you watched? You have the security of fame to keep you safe.’

  ‘You think so?’

  ‘Why not?’

  She looked at him steadily. Surely he, of all people, ought to know the answer to that one. Everyone who mattered knew that she was his mistress. And he had to fight people from more places than Russia. Any enemy who had his dossier would know her name. Probably know every night he had stayed with her. She could never be safe so long as he was at war with the underworlds of political intrigue.

  He rippled his fingers along the line of her high cheek bones and tilted her chin upwards. Both of her maids were judo experts and one was handy with a knife. Her dresser was above suspicion and rated among the top fifteen female revolver shots in Western Europe. All had been provided by H.Q. itself after her escape from Russia and nothing more could be done. In fact H.Q. was kicking at the loss of three good staff members and unless evidence of real danger turned up she might have to find other people to maid her.

  Maya’s face snuggled against his chest and she tickled the flat firm pads of recti below his ribs. He could feel that she was smiling now and gradually he allowed her to lead him into that special heaven of delight which was always his reward for doing something which pleased her. Her hair tumbled across his thighs and he could feel her breath coming in swift short gasps as he swirled round on the bed and kissed her with the same abandon which made them almost wish to die at the final moment of truth.

  She smiled wickedly as they lay, at long last, motionless together. ‘If I am to come with you at seven we had better pack. And I’ll feel better if I have a shower.’

  He carried her to a bathroom which was larger than the average sitting-room. Turquoise tiles and a pinkly marble floor sparkled under the glare of fluorescent lights laid flush with the wall on either side of a vast mirror heated from below to avoid condensation. The shower was in one corner and for a long five minutes they cooled off under a spray of tepid water.

  ‘And now cold, David. I must waken up.’

  The stinging jets shook them back to reality. Five hours before breakfast! But with packing to be done for at least a month.

  There was a shot from outside and Grant winced as he saw Maya blench beneath her tan. ‘Bird shooting or something,’ he said quietly. ‘It was a double-barrel shot-gun. Nothing to worry about.’

  Her voice was uncertain. ‘They do it every night. Sometimes the shots waken me. And sometimes I dream they are killing you.’

  He kissed her again. ‘It is your Slav blood. Omens went out years ago.’

  She shook her head. ‘David. There was another thing. A man with a motor scooter. He has passed here five times since we arrived. He is dangerous. And he looks through the gate as if he was watching for something.’

  ‘Spain is full of men on motor scooters who look dangerous. Probably a local workman.’

  ‘He was at the market yesterday and Jeanne says he spoke with an East European accent. She thinks he is from Rumania or Bulgaria.’

  Grant laughed. ‘That’s real detective work. How come she can narrow it down so well?’

  ‘Because he dropped his purse and some money scattered on the floor. Jeanne knows when she sees bani pieces and a ten lei note that the man has been in Rumania: And she knows when she sees a stotinki piece that he has been in Bulgaria. So it frightens me.’

  Grant sighed. Women could be the devil! The Costa Blanca had visitors from darned nearly every country in the world during the summer season. And half of them now came on scooters. After all it was an easy enough trip from Bucharest across to Belgrade, down to Venice and along the Rivieras.

  He finished rubbing her back and lit a last cigar. ‘I’ll have a smoke while you pack. O.K.? And I’ll tell H.Q. when I see them. If there’s anything in this they’ll fix it.’

  Maya studied her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was drooping limp over her shoulders, its deep blackness contrasting with the shadings of her skin, and her body was splashed red where Grant had rubbed her with the thick Turkish towel. ‘One thing I do know,’ she said at last. ‘For a killer you are the most gentle thing in my life. But merde! How I hate your H.Q.’

  Grant smiled. When Maya swore it meant that she was in a devil-may-care humour, but it was two hours before they strapped her last trunk and poured out a final cup of coffee.

  Three nights later they were in Paris, with Maya putting his fourth floor flat to rights in the tall building along Avenue de Villiers. Only Grant knew that a man with a motor scooter had taken his number and trailed them to their first stop-over. He had slept in a hotel on the same street and Grant had discovered that he had tipped their bell-hop to pass on when they had ordered breakfast. But for the moment he would forget that. More important things lay ahead, and it was nine pip emma exactly when he crossed the foyer of Admiral John Silas Cooper’s mansion in Rue Vaugirard.

  The Administrative Department controlling Security against Attack and Defence did not keep office hours, because the work which ADSAD did involved a round-the-clock watch on everything which mattered in the world from Tokyo to Washington by both east and west circuits.


  He could smell the Admiral’s tobacco still lingering in the corridor outside his door. And then he knocked. The voice inside seemed more than usually warm and Grant suddenly relaxed. It was good, after all, to be home.

  Chapter Two – ‘A question of who gets in first.’

  Admiral Cooper greeted Grant with professional formality. He guessed how the younger man felt about his leave being interrupted and knew that Maya was already in Paris. In fact an ADSAD car had tailed them from Spain. Grant had become too well known, and Admiral Cooper rated his survival expectation as nearing a minus quantity. ‘Sorry about all this,’ he said quietly, ‘but first things first, and we’ve hit a showdown with something big.’

  Grant glanced at a pile of papers on the desk but knew that the old man would refuse to be rushed.

  ‘And once again,’ he continued, ‘you seem to be the ideal man to handle it, because it involves American interests as well as the entire stability of NATO. So cast your eyes over this.’ He lifted a memorandum and pointed to the title page.

  To: Admiral John Silas Cooper. Controller of ADSAD.

  From: Director General NATO.

  Subject matter: A conspiracy to promote civil war within the United States of America and to promote anti-American sentiments on a global scale.

  ‘Enough to bring you home, don’t you think?’ The Admiral was studying Grant’s reaction through hooded eyes which never missed a trick. He graded Grant’s immediate assessment of any problem as of more value than his calculated judgement and reckoned that his instinct alone was worth a fortune to the Department. ‘Read on,’ he continued, ‘but take your time. No hurry.’

  Grant thumbed over the first page and scanned the narrowly spaced typescript.

  CIVIL WARS AND SOCIAL REVOLUTION succeed because of the determination and skills of a few men who exploit the grievances of others.

  There is evidence that forces presently manipulating racial problems within the United States of America may finally promote social disturbances on a national scale which may rate as civil war.

  Such a catastrophe would debase the American image throughout the world and re-orientate American policy in other fields.

  Planning by various forces is now advanced, deliberate and hallmarked by co-ordinated professionalism. Civil agitators are infiltrating the South from the North and there has even been some breakdown of U.S. internal security laws caused by rulings of the Supreme Court itself.

  These same forces are also interested to promote racial strife in other fields, and as an example of this we cite a recent decision of the Ku Klux Klan chiefs in Alabama to found a British subsidiary of the Klan.

  The Imperial American Wizard of the United Klans of America has recently claimed support from at least 500 British subjects as soon as an organisation can be started. He has further claimed that most interest has been shown within the larger cities, and especially in London, Liverpool and Birmingham. A proportion of inquiries have also come from Smethwick and he stated that it would be Klan policy to have white-sheeted and hooded Klansmen on the streets of racially disturbed Britain in the immediate future.

  The Ku Klux Klan, however, is only one of these extreme right wing party splinters which is exploiting anti-Negro emotions. Others less publicised are even more active, and of these the most dangerous is led by oil tycoon Charles W. E. Miller Junior who is said to be willing to spend up to ninety per cent of his personal fortune in order to promote American isolationism and maintain the Negroes’ status as second-class citizens.

  There is evidence that the Communist bloc, using its own tactics, is also seeking to exploit racial problems within the United States and to win control over 20,000,000 Negroes.

  These Negroes are not necessarily biased towards Communism, nor are their leaders necessarily Communists, but certain Negro leaders are certainly under Communist influence and so long as Negro disaffection continues on its present scale there will be a fertile ground for seeding national discontent which could, under certain conditions, be blown into civil war.

  And it is with this background in mind that the activities of Charles W. E. Miller Jnr. become especially important.

  NOTE. Miller’s biography is attached in Appendix A.

  Appendix B lists further names of six men who are personally dedicated to Miller and who will stop at nothing in order to obstruct social reforms bearing upon the colour question within the United States of America.

  Appendix C is a synopsised biography of these persons of second degree importance who would probably be rendered impotent if deprived of Miller’s leadership.

  Miller has been marked as the primary force behind all Caucasian civil agitation during the past five years and he is also regarded as the inspiration behind the move to extend activities of the Ku Klux Klan into Europe.

  His influence is now so substantial that Government cannot afford to embark upon a long series of civil actions which would only provide a platform calculated to loose vitriolic propaganda against the Administration and the Establishment. It is also important that left wing and centre forces within the Republican Party view his activities with as much disfavour as the Democrats.

  A firm decision has therefore been taken that Miller must be destroyed and that he cannot be dealt with by conventional means which may later be distorted into a myth of persecution or martyrdom.

  He must also be removed in a way which will expose him as a liar and as a hypocrite. There must also be maximal world publicity in order finally to tarnish his image and leave his party both leaderless and discredited.

  America’s allies within NATO must all be affected by these matters because if Washington is compelled to concentrate resources on a civil war home front then programmes of cultural, civil and military aid will be drastically reduced. The Ku Klux Klan policy to operate in other countries faced with racial problems also implies need for action by France and Britain.

  Similarly, civil actions against those men listed in Appendix B would provide invaluable anti-American propaganda in areas of tension where this can, tactically, be ill afforded.

  The Director General therefore instructs The Director of Administrative Department relating to Security against Attack and Defence to act in accordance with the above.

  A brief outline of a possible method is detailed in Appendix D.

  Grant thumbed over a dozen pages of biographical notes. But Appendix D was brief and succinct.

  APPENDIX D.

  Outline of proposed action against Charles W. E. Miller Jnr. MILLER WILL FLY to Professor Hancke’s Health Clinique in Geneva on June 16th for a course of treatment involving rejuvenation.

  He is believed to be suffering from a male climacteric and arrangements have been concluded for him to remain at the Clinique for over three weeks.

  At an appropriate time the man will be drugged.

  One or more coloured girls will then be taken to his bedroom.

  At that stage he will be killed in his sleep using that toxin which simulates coronary artery spasm.

  The girls will sound alarm after your man has left the field of operations.

  Staff members of the Clinique will find the girl (girls) in a state of semi-undress and half drunk (apparently).

  The girls will give a story guaranteed to sensationalise the Press and your man will personally arrange that both Reuter and Tass are informed.

  Two of the girls will carry photographs of a highly compromising nature. These are the outcome of expert photomontage using pix of Miller taken by telefoto lens beside his own swimming pool. Note that the girls have permission to sell them to the highest bidder and will be allowed to retain the fees involved.

  These photographs are enclosed within the accompanying sealed envelope which may be opened at your discretion: but only using gloves. The contents will be discovered by the Swiss police and Miller’s finger-prints must be onlaid over each of them. This again will be the responsibility of your own agent.

  The girls selected
are wholly reliable but each believes that she is working entirely alone and they are not known to one another. They will remain separate until your man decides how and when best to use them. Each will give a convincing story to the press covering her supposed relationship with Miller, and at times when he is known either to have been alone in hotel bedrooms or living apart from his associates on his ranch.

  It is to be expected that the Swiss Courts will give a final verdict of death from coronary artery spasm, the final attack having been precipitated by a sex orgy with one or more Negro girls, and following upon the stresses of having lived a double life over a period of at least eighteen months during which time he was cohabiting illicitly with coloured women.

  The agent selected for this exercise will be left to your own personal discretion.

  You will also remember that this exercise had been planned by the Joint Committee after paying due regard to all factors and implications involved.

  We shall expect action to be complete before July 1st. Grant glanced at the last line on the final page.

  SOURCES OF INFORMATION. Departmental archives in Paris and CIA Washington.

  ‘And are they on the ball?’ Grant knew that terms of reference which ordered the deliberate assassination of a national from any free country were far removed from the ordinary run of political decisions which normally controlled the Director General.

  The Admiral packed his briar and lit it with studied deliberation, an old standing gambit, as Grant well knew, when he was needing time to figure out a problem. ‘Political decisions of this sort are rarely made anywhere in a democratic world. But from time to time they have been necessary and I seem to recall your own Prime Minister ordering a similar death not so long ago.’ He blew out a cloud of smoke. ‘Miller is a very dangerous man and the only logical thing is to remove him.’