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Stories from the Verse
Spy Verses
Chapter 107: Brown 143
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Chapter 106: Slade 124
“Please find Colonel Simpkins immediately, and tell him that it is an Ell Red Four See situation. Do you need me to write that down?”
The young man behind the security window looked at him as if it were a joke. With a bit of a laugh, he responded, “Ell Red Four See? What’s that, an American jacket catalogue order number?”
“What it is,” Derek replied, “is an undercover operative emergency code which hopefully Colonel Simpkins would recognize and you would not. Ell Red Four See, deliver it, now, before this situation becomes more serious.” Glancing toward the door, he spied Williams entering. “Which,” he added, “it might be about to do.”
“The old man does not like to be disturbed during Tea.”
“And the Israelis did not appreciate being attacked by the Egyptians on Yom Kippur. We don’t get to pick the moment when our enemies act. Move. Now.”
The young man shrugged, set aside some papers, and rose from his seat. Derek was already scanning the room for Williams. The problem with the advantage of surprise, he thought, was you rarely get it twice. He spotted Williams, now approaching with two uniformed soldiers. This was going to be tricky.
There was little that could serve as cover here, save only the few people milling about the lobby area. The access to the security office was locked, and although he could get through it he could not do so quickly enough; the glass on the window would be strong enough that he would be unable to break through it. His best bet was to be pre-emptive here, to make his move first--but not too soon. Williams would have to be close enough, but not quite close enough.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with twenty other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #265: Versers in Motion. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
