Conspiracies -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories; England -- Fiction
"I know all about Bulsaid," he said, speaking slowly and quietly, as
was his fashion when he was outlining his thoughts aloud. "But
Bulsaid isn't the Triangle by any means! There are men in the
Triangle who've been brought in to serve the ends of the Triangle,
but who've become its masters. Not openly--that's not what I mean.
But work's got to be found for them, and money's got to be found for
them, or else they'll turn on their leader. Bulsaid started the
Triangle, and now Bulsaid's the unconfessed slave of the men he
leads."
It was a curious thing that, although it was Teal, acting on the
suggestion of Joe Blaythwayt, who had revealed to Storm the identity
of his father, the relationship had never since then been mentioned
between them.
"Here's the list," said Storm, indicating the notes he had made, "of
the crook emigrants into this country, as supplied to us by the
American, French, and German police. I'll bracket them off: Con
men"---he ticked one group with his pencil--"yeggs ... whizzers ...
knockers-off ... blackmailers ... dope merchants ... jewel thieves
... and so forth and so on. All the usual bunch who come over in the
season--and the numbers are about average. But look at these, who
generally stay at home: eleven killers from Germany; sixteen ditto
from Paris, Toulon and Marseilles; twenty-seven synthetic American
gunmen. That makes fifty-four criminals who value the life of a man
at approximately two cents---all in, or 'believed to be in,' London.
Tell me why, Teal! Here's the report of the Chief of the _Sûreté:
'Sans doute, quelqu'un a causé...._' Sorry, you don't talk the
lingo, do you?
"Undoubtedly, someone has been talking of the opportunities which
presents violent crime in England. We have been able to trace some
of the movements of this unknown, and we are convinced that his words
have induced numbers of our criminals to quit our shores.
That's a literal translation. In England, old Lafleuve means that
some coot's been touting for thugs!" He turned over other papers.
"Much the same from Germany. New York says:
"Knowing the rarity of violent crime in England, and the efficiency
of the police in suppressing such as exists, we beg to suggest that
you search for an organisation which contemplates an attack on London
which might easily have disastrous consequences by reason of its very
unexpectedness. Our information leads us to suspect the existence of
some such organisation, since there is abundant evidence of the
persuasive suggestions of some agent, whom we have been unable to
trace and identify, and since it is unlikely that men such as those
we name on the enclosed list would leave in a body without a definite
plan in mind.
Teal, who said respectability was dull?"
"I'll put through an all-station call for these men--you've got the
descriptions," said Teal conventionally.
Storm lighted a cigarette with a grace which he contrived to make
inexpressibly cynical.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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