Debut for a Spy Read Online Free

!”
    He pulled the handle as I threw the grenade, skimming it off the desk and barely making it through the door. Hammond slammed it shut and we both dived flat onto the floor. I stuffed fingers into my ears and opened my mouth.
    The explosion lifted the safe off the floor, blowing the door clear across the room. But it had contained the blast and the shrapnel, saving our lives. Thank God it had been a delayed fuse.
    Despite the ringing in my ears I heard shouts from outside and shots being fired – two singles, then a burst from a submachine gun. More shouts.
    “Look alive! There's another!”
    A longer burst from the SMG. Silence.
    The door flew open and a squad of regulars hurtled to the window, weapons ready. The sergeant knelt by Colonel Hammond.
    “ You all right, sir?”
    “ Yes, I think so. A bit cut, but nothing serious. That was close. Captain Baird, how are you?”
    “ A couple of nicks and my ears are ringing, but that seems to be all. What happened? Who threw it?”
    “ I expect we'll have some answers shortly. Is the situation in hand, sergeant?”
    The NCO looked toward the window.
    “Wot's 'appening, Corporal Miles?”
    “ There were two of 'em, sergeant, from what I can see I think they've got 'em both.”
    “ Then let's get out of here and down to the first-aid detachment,” said Hammond.
    *
    Twenty minutes later I was holding another cup of tea, but this time laced with brandy.
    “ For medicinal purposes only,” winked the medical orderly when he handed it to me.
    Alone in a small sitting room, I sipped with a trembling hand, spilling much of it into the saucer. The grenade incident had left me shaken, and the brandy wasn't working. Hammond and I had been cleaned off and patched up before he left me to find out what had occurred. He wasn't gone long. Subdued when he returned, he sat down wearily.
    “We've been having some roof repairs done. It's a contract with a carefully vetted firm. The two roofers who have been here all week didn't arrive today, and two other characters showed up instead. They were checked out, and the contractor confirmed he'd taken them on as temporary labor. He didn't know they were IRA.”
    I considered this.
    “Were they after you, colonel?”
    “ I expect so. I've been responsible for a good number of them being caught and sent up, and they would like to pay me back, I'm sure. I must tell you that that was the closest I've ever come. Quick thinking on your part, Captain Baird.”
    “ I didn't think at all, sir, I just reacted. We were both lucky the safe was there. I don't understand why the damned thing didn't go off sooner. Most grenades in my experience have a four second pyrotechnic train. That one had to be longer, or we wouldn't be here talking about it.”
    “ Fortune smiled, Captain Baird. The grenade was an old one of ours, a type 36. Several weeks ago a box of these disappeared in an ammunition depot break-in. But the fuses they took were 7-second delay, normally used when the grenade is rifle-projected. It's not like the IRA to make mistakes like that.”
    “ What happened to the roofers, sir?”
    “ Both dead, unfortunately. The security detail kept a sharp eye on them. They only had time for one grenade. They were carrying four more in their tool kits, and two hand guns.”
    A long period of silence ensued before Hammond spoke again.
    “This rather precipitates what I wanted to talk with you about. I said these two chaps were IRA. Much of the funding and the covert direction of the IRA's activities in Britain comes from the Soviets. Are you aware of the KGB?”
    “ Yes, sir. Isn't it the Soviet counterpart of the CIA and your own MI6?”
    “ Roughly speaking, yes, but much larger, and completely ruthless and unscrupulous.”
    I figured they were all like that, but thought better of saying it.
    “I don't see how any of this concerns me, sir.”
    He regarded me blankly.
    “We need your help because of someone you've met.”
    My mind raced to come