The Londum Omnibus Volume Two (The Londum Series Book 12) Read online

  Leaving the park he found himself on Jozsef Attila Street and turned right. A few minutes walk brought him to the intersection with Andrassy Way and he headed along it. It was a fairly broad boulevard with a lane of traffic on each side, with a central island planted with trees.

  Despite the chill, the sun deemed to poke its head out of the clouds and it made for quite a pleasant walk. Jim went past the Budapescht Bank, if this mission didn’t work out, he could always rob that, he figured. Further on he passed the Ungarian State Opera House and the University of Fine Arts, until he finally reached the intersection with Bajza St.

  The Rooskian Embassy was comprised of several large buildings standing in their own grounds. Roads on all four sides made it into a square with buildings on two sides and the rest taken up with a garden, populated with plenty of trees and bushes. There was the actual embassy building, then separately and at right angles to the embassy was what he imagined was the housing block, as well as the stables and outhouses.

  Trying to appear inconspicuous, he took a slow walk around the block of the embassy grounds. There was no serious security that he could see, only railings up to waist height, more to mark the boundary of the embassy grounds it would appear, than to actually deter intruders.

  He found a cafe on Andrassy Way that gave him a good look at the embassy from across the street and sat there for a while as he studied it. He would come back tomorrow for a proper look and begin planning the job but he had just wanted to see it, to get a feel for what was involved. The exhibition would open on the 17th which meant he had two full days to plan it before that. Then there would be the exhibition opening and the secret treaty signing, so probably that night or the next day would be the best time to carry out the robbery. Also security would probably be too tight on the actual opening day as the Ungarian Foreign Minister would be there, but it would have slackened off somewhat the next day. So, on the face of it, daytime during the 18th seemed to be the best bet. He finished his coffee and headed off back to his hotel.

  ***

  That night, as he was still a bit tired from the travelling, he dined in the hotel restaurant. Ungarians were descended from the Magyars and their cuisine was heavy on Paprika, so Jim ordered Paprika chicken and potatoes, with a nice, white, Ungarian wine.

  The waiter offered him the local aperitif, Unicum, while he waited, which Jim accepted gratefully.

  After dinner he took a stroll down to the Chain Bridge and walked along the Danube for a while, musing on the fact that not long ago he had been dancing to the ‘Blue Danube’ at Hetheringham Manor. He watched the boats for a while before returning to the hotel and retiring for the night. He had a few busy days coming up and he wanted to be well rested for it.

  ***

  Next day Jim breakfasted heartily on the local delicacy, smoked sausages. Then, retrieving his overcoat and a sketchpad from his room, set off for a day watching the Rooskian Embassy.

  After walking through the park he caught a carriage to take him down Andrassy Way. He had walked it yesterday to judge the distance but now he had, that he thought he’d save his shoe leather and ride there. He got the driver to take him some way past the embassy and then after the carriage had departed, he walked back to the area. (He didn’t want anyone to report that they had dropped him outside the embassy.)

  He went back to the cafe he had used yesterday, overlooking the embassy and got himself a window seat. After ordering a coffee, he took out his sketchbook and began to draw.

  After a couple of hours he went and found another cafe with a good view of the embassy and did the same from there. By this time the day had warmed up and he was able to sit outside, which gave him greater views up and down the boulevard, enabling him to draw the wide street stretching away in each direction. This helped his cover, as when the waiter came to refresh his cup he could cover the images of the embassy with the drawings of the boulevard, so no one would realise he was actually studying a particular building.

  At lunch time Jim took a walk over to a restaurant he had spotted on the opposite corner to where he had sat in the cafe, so he was able to study the embassy from all angles and add to his drawing until he had a complete picture of all the buildings and what went on in each of them.

  He had been correct in his judgement of where the embassy staff did their business and where they lived. The embassy fronted onto Bajza St., that was the main entrance which was guarded by two Rooskian, Cossack soldiers. According to the plans the Ambassador was the only one that lived there. The other building at right angles to it was the accommodation site for everyone else. He saw domestic staff entering and leaving as well as a few upper-class ladies exiting and climbing into a coach. And then attached to that building were the stables and outhouse.

  Satisfied that he had as much information as he needed on the layout, Jim looked at his fob-watch and realised he had an appointment to get to. He finished his lunch and paid his bill.

  Jim walked back to Andrassy Way and hailed a cab. He gave the cabbie a piece of paper on which the address of the cloth-importer was written and climbed into the cab. To Jim’s delight the cabbie took him across the Chain Bridge and off into the Buda part of town.

  They arrived at the importers warehouse and Jim paid off the cabbie. Unable to make the worker who was manning the gate understand his Ungarian, Jim just gave him the business card made out in the name of Michael Lewis and let him go and find the boss.

  The man soon returned and bidding Jim to follow him, led him into an office where he was presented to Mr. Lugosi, manager/owner of the warehouse. The cloth-importer, Lugosi, who fortunately spoke good Albion, was in on the deception and didn’t even attempt to pretend that they were meeting to discuss business.

  Instead, after dismissing the doorman, Lugosi welcomed Jim with a hefty glass of brandy and a cigar. So, for the next hour they smoked and drank and casually discussed the city of Budapescht and Lugosi told him about the best restaurants and places to visit, if his stay permitted it.

  Jim mentioned the Chain Bridge or the Szecheny Lanc Hid, as Lugosi told him it was called locally, Hid meaning bridge and Szecheny being the politician who had commissioned it. Interestingly enough, he added, it had not long been completed and Budapescht was proud of it, as it was the first permanent stone bridge built across the Danube and furthermore it was built by an Albion engineer, Adam Clark. Which was why, when you came off the bridge on the Buda side, you came to ‘Clark Adam Square’ named in his memory. Good old Albion technology, thought Jim, proudly.

  Anyway, the hour passed pleasantly and quickly and Jim thanked Lugosi for his hospitality. Leaving the warehouse he walked around until he found a cab, which took him across the Chain Bridge and back to his hotel.

  ***

  Jim cracked open the bottle of brandy he had got reception to send up to him. Once it had been delivered, he poured himself a drink. He spread the maps of Budapescht, the plans of the embassy and his drawings of the buildings across his bed. Then he pulled up a chair, lit a cigarette and sat down to study them and formulate a plan.

  Starting with the visit of the Foreign Minister, Grenko, and continuing through the duration of the cultural exhibition, he imagined that security in and around the embassy was going to be tighter than normal. Simple! Rob the embassy before the Foreign Minister arrived! he laughed to himself. Only problem was the treaty wouldn’t have been signed by then. Oh well, he was going to have to do this the hard way, then.

  He ran through all the options for a secret, stealthy robbery. First of all, all of the embassy windows had bars across them. They were inside the windows and could only be released from inside, so that would probably mean having to find a way in through the roof. Having done that, fair enough, it might be possible to sneak past all the guards in the dead of night but he had been told what type of safe he would have to break into, a Wittgenstein and Drexler, very difficult to open. There was no way that he would be able to crack that bugger by ear. Which meant he would have to bl
ow it, which put paid to a stealthy in and out. So, he reluctantly concluded, a quiet job was not an option.

  He opened the balcony doors and stood there smoking as he looked out onto the park while he mulled it over. The safe would have to be blown. That meant noise and a lot of it. For no one to notice that, there would have to be a lot of other noise going on as well. A lot of noise and distraction, and if he could have a few people running round shouting as well, that would be even better. He would need something like an explosion or a fire to cause everyone to panic and leave the embassy. Not real ones of course, he didn’t want to hurt anyone but he just needed everyone to believe that there was an emergency of some kind.

  What to blow up though? He couldn’t just blow a hole in the embassy. Who knew what might be on the other side? And supposing he accidentally fractured the gas main, for example? He could end up killing someone. No, no. He was here to do a robbery, not harm innocent bystanders. He would have to be careful.

  Looking again at his sketches an idea occurred to Jim. Behind the embassy windows on the ground floor, facing onto the garden, was a row of bushes about waist height. If they were to blow up, they wouldn’t do any harm but would make enough noise and shock to cause a scare. No one would know what was happening at first, it may even appear that they were being mortared or shelled. Factor in a few smoke grenades inside the building and you have a full scale drama on your hands, enough to make anyone flee the building. Okay, a few people would be frightened but no one would actually be hurt.

  He got the suitcase out of the wardrobe and checked the explosives. Yes there was enough for his needs, but the detonators were the wrong kind unfortunately, these were short timed fuses and he needed long timed ones. He would also need some fuse cord that would only take seconds to ignite, for when he tackled the safe. Never mind, his contact at the end of the corridor should be able to supply them.

  Jim got a piece of hotel paper and jotted down everything he thought he would need to be supplied by the local spy network. Then he emptied out everything from the suitcase the porter had given him, the one with the Michael Lewis nametag on it, onto the bed. Placing the ‘shopping list’ inside, he closed it. Letting himself out into the corridor, he made his way to the porter’s room at the end. He found the porter there, cleaning some shoes. Fortunately it was the man who had delivered the suitcase.

  ‘Excuse me,’ said Jim, ‘I seem to be having problems with the lock on this suitcase, it keeps sticking. I don’t have any tools with me or I’d do it myself. Do you think you could have a look at it for me and let me have it back when you’ve done?’

  ‘Certainly sir, I’d be happy to. Just put it down there and I’ll take a look when I’m done with these,’ he held up the shoes.

  ‘Oh there’s no rush. Tomorrow will be fine.’

  ‘Right you are sir, leave it with me.’

  Jim returned to his room and continued studying the sketches and floor plans of the embassy.

  ***

  Jim spent the next day sight-seeing. Once he had the robbery planned out in his head, his next task was to go over it again and again in his head, think it through, think it through, think it through, looking for possible flaws. Rehearsing every action and planning every re-action. If this happens what do I do? Supposing nobody reacts the way I expect them to? It was all brain work now and he could do that just as well walking around the town as he could sat in his hotel room.

  He walked across the Chain Bridge and into Clark Adam Square. From there it was a short distance to the Buda Hill Funicular which went up to Buda Castle. The Funicular was one of those strange vehicles that looks like a train but is built to run up and down the side of a steep hill or slope – although it ran on rails, it was pulled up the slope by a cable (so could technically be called a cable car).

  Jim paid his few coins and rode the Funicular up the hill to arrive at Buda Castle, or as it was better known, Budavári Palota in Ungarian or the Royal Palace, in Albion. The Palace faced out from the front of the hill to a magnificent view across the Danube to the Pescht side of the city.

  After enjoying the view for a time, he made his way along the Royal Palace to find his way into the public areas as the Palace incorporated the National Library and the Budapescht History Museum. He pottered about in the Museum all morning and then taking the Funicular again, returned to the river where he strolled along the embankment until he found a nice restaurant for lunch. There he had Wiener Schnitzel, a Veal cutlet done in the ‘Wiennese’ style. (Which sounds posh but just means that it’s covered in breadcrumbs.)

  After lunch he took a boat trip down the Danube and back, which filled up his afternoon. Walking back to the hotel he took a diversion through the park opposite the hotel, to check it out. He wandered casually through it making sure he knew where all the entrances were, any good places to hide if it became necessary, that sort of thing. One thing he did notice was the abundance of prostitutes hanging around. They strolled through the park or sat around on the benches under the trees, always on the lookout for prospective customers. Once they had them, thankfully they took them somewhere else to consummate their arrangement, as he didn’t see anyone ‘doing the business’ amongst the trees.

  As Jim checked out the cafe where he was supposed to make his rendezvous, he noticed one of the ‘Belle de Nuit’ eyeing him up. She seemed to be taking a special interest in him, ignoring the other passing males. She was an attractive woman, maybe a bit younger than him, and she wore a bonnet with bright yellow flowers in it, but he didn’t have time for any complications like that now. Perhaps if he ever came back to Budapescht but for now he had to stick to business. Their eyes met and she smiled but he shook his head and held his hand up to show he wasn’t interested. She seemed disappointed but nodded her understanding. He turned and made his way back to his hotel.

  ***

  Jim stood in the crowd outside the Rooskian Embassy waiting for the doors to open. It was the 17th and the exhibition was opening today. He was going to see it for himself as it gave him an ideal opportunity to look over the interior of the building and see exactly how accurate the plans that he had been given of the place, were.

  Finally the doors opened and an official ushered them in. Jim followed the crowd into the foyer of the building. Ahead lay a grand staircase and the crush of people were channelled directly towards this by velvet ropes on brass poles, on either side. Jim could see the corridors stretching away to left and right that led to the offices of the diplomatic staff, the bureaucrats, the clerks and the pen-pushers who kept a place like this running. This was where the everyday workers plied their trade, issuing visas, renewing passports, sorting out customs queries etc. etc. Upstairs was where the real diplomatic business took place, in the Ambassador’s office, the meeting rooms and the ballroom. And that’s where they were headed now.

  As they reached the head of the stairs, the public were channelled around to the left, towards the ballroom; Jim knew that if he turned to the right, it would take him to the Ambassador’s office and his personal apartments. He noticed the two Cossacks in ceremonial dress guarding that corridor, denying access to anyone who wasn’t entitled to be there.

  The crowd were led into a large ballroom and were ushered to the far end where several gentlemen stood waiting, behind a podium. There was a long, red carpet stretching the length of the room from the door to the podium, down the centre of the room, and as the crowd walked down it they could see that on either side, the rest of the room was populated with display cases and the walls were covered in pictures.

  When the crowd had come to a stop, one of the men behind the podium held his hands up and spoke in Ungarian. The crowd settled down and became silent. The speaker behind the podium spoke for a few minutes, occasionally indicating the other men behind him, who nodded in acknowledgement. Jim presumed that this was the Ungarian Foreign Minister, Pudovich. He waffled on for a bit longer, while Jim looked around the room, not able to understand a word of what he was saying
but assumed it was, ‘Welcome to the exhibition and thanks to the Rooskians for showing it to us’. Finally, after a smattering of applause he handed over to another man, Foreign Minister Grenko, Jim presumed, who also proceeded to waffle on at some length in Ungarian.

  As Grenko stood up from his chair, Jim noticed the man standing behind him. It was Count Nikolai Petrov Seretsky, of the Okhrana, the Imperial Rooskian Secret Service. He had changed little since the photograph, a little thicker around the waist and Jim detected some grey hairs in his beard but the cold, dead eyes were the same, as they scanned the room, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Jim wondered why he was there so publicly but then realised that his cover was probably a cultural attaché and it would look odd if he was not present at this important cultural occasion.

  Although Jim couldn’t follow what was being said, he didn’t want to stand out so he pretended to understand everything and made sure to applaud and laugh when the others did. Eventually, Grenko finished his ‘speechifying’ and ended with what was obviously ‘Welcome to the Exhibition!’ Pudovich and Grenko shook hands, photographs were taken and everyone politely applauded. (Jim noticed that Seretsky avoided being in any of the pictures.) Then Pudovich and Grenko left the ballroom followed by the other men from the podium and left everyone to get on with it. This would be the time, Jim figured as he watched them leave, that they would go to the Ambassador’s office and sign the treaty.

  The members of the public who had come to see the cultural exhibition spread out through the room and began to study the Rooskian artefacts. Jim picked up one of the brochures and starting at one end of the room, also looked them over.

  The Rooskians had obviously picked the cream of their treasures to show off their culture to the people of Ungary. There were religious icons, painting of religious leaders and Royals in solid gold frames, sumptuous robes stitched with golden thread, statues carved from precious materials such as jade and ivory. Then there were those Rooskian Nesting Dolls that fit one inside the other, military memorabilia, jewellery and home decor made from semiprecious stones. There were lacquer boxes featuring scenes from Russian folk tales, historic figures, and replicas of famous Russian artwork. Ornate Samovars for boiling water for tea and of course, there was Rooskian Vodka!