The Assassins by Alan Bardos (best novels in english txt) 📗

If Johnny had been there he might have made a difference, but Breitner doubted it. Everything Johnny knew had been fully documented and passed on to von Wiesner, under Breitner's name, so he'd let Johnny disappear in Vienna. They'd both got what they wanted and Breitner knew that if Johnny's role in the assassination ever came to light it would cause embarrassment to both Breitner and the authorities. Consequently, Breitner had spent much of his time purging any record of Johnny's presence in Sarajevo from the official files.

Under the circumstances, Breitner felt that the report von Wiesner had written was remarkably fair. He hadn't found any evidence of the Serbian Government's complicity in ordering the assassination of the Heir, in training the assassins or providing them with weapons - quite the reverse, in fact.

He did suggest that there was actual proof that the plan to carry out the assassination originated in Belgrade and that elements within the Serbian Government should be held accountable for their role in the assassination. He named Milan Ciganovic, an employee of the Serbian State Railway and Tankosic, a major in the Serbian Army, as the people who’d assisted the assassins and used Serbian frontier guards to smuggle the conspirators across the border.

Von Wiesner suggested that three demands should be added to any ultimatum sent to Belgrade. Firstly, the Serbian Government must end any official involvement in smuggling persons and material across the frontier. Secondly, the dismissal of Serbian frontier officers implicated in the smuggling of the assassins and thirdly, the arrest and prosecution of Ciganovic and Tankosic, by the Serbian Government.

Breitner knew that von Wiesner's report was too meek to pacify the hawks. General Potiorek had already added a paragraph to it stating that there was an 'alternative government' in Belgrade that must be held responsible for the assassinations.

When an ultimatum was finally put to Belgrade, Breitner had no doubt that its terms would be a lot stronger than the ones suggested by von Wiesner. Even Count Tisza had been convinced of the inevitability of a war with Serbia; the only question that remained was on what scale that war would be fought.

Breitner had already started packing up what possessions he had in Sarajevo - it was unlikely that Count Tisza would still be in need of his services if there was going to be a war in the Balkans. However, Breitner was still a reserve officer and was expecting his call up papers shortly. After everything he'd done, it would be the war he couldn't prevent that was going to give him back his career, he realised grimly.

*

Johnny gazed at the vaulted ceiling of Sir George's Swiss bank. This was where everything had all begun. He looked back to the cashier on the other side of the counter; it was the same sober man who'd passed Johnny the recall telegraph from Sir George, triggering the first in his series of rash and cataclysmic decisions.

Johnny smiled and signed the last slip that paid the money back into Sir George's account. It was a lot easier to put money in than to take it out.

'Do stop dawdling, Johnny, we'll be late for lunch. Humpty's expecting us.' Libby had escorted Johnny to the bank, to keep a watchful eye on him and to wire the rest of the money they owed to their creditors.

Johnny shrugged stoically. 'I hope I’ve put everything right, now.’

'That's the spirit. Don’t worry, we still have enough left for a half decent holiday.' Libby led him to a cab and they took the long scenic drive back to their hotel, which was set on a mountain overlooking Zurich, its spires and turrets giving it the look of a fairy tale castle. Libby snuggled up to him on the back seat of the taxi and whispered the rewards she planned to bestow on him for having paid the money back without any fuss.

They had an excellent lunch with Humpty, Libby's nickname for the retired general she'd met at the Ilidza Spa. He'd been in Switzerland as part of his tour of European spas, taking mud baths with innocent chambermaids in the guise of finding the cure for all his worldly ailments. Libby had cabled Humpty to join them, as she felt it only right and proper for him to have a share in the spoils. Part of Johnny had hoped the General would turn out to be his “uncle”; he could have touched him for a few hundred. He should have known that the old duffer would never have gone to any trouble to keep an eye on him. Johnny was, as always, very much on his own.

'Whole thing’s a lot of stuff and nonsense, Swift.' Humpty had decided to share his incisive analysis of the Balkans crisis, over lunch. 'Great Britain will place indirect pressure on Austria through Berlin, as they did during the last bloody mess in the Balkans. Berlin will put pressure on Austria to reduce their demands, and Britain will refuse to support Russia should they intervene. The great powers will then come together and settle things like gentlemen, in another Conference of London.'

Johnny grinned. He liked Humpty and as a former member of the Committee for Imperial Defence, he might be able to further his career. 'The problem is, Humpty, the Germans have given the Austrians a "blank cheque" in how they deal with Serbia. The Austrians are bound to launch some kind of attack.'

Humpty snorted and finished his Riesling. 'So what if they do? Whatever happens on the continent, we're under no written obligation to go to war for our colleagues in the Triple Entente.

Johnny hoped Humpty was right. He knew from the endless dispatches he spent his days copying out that this was a precarious time for British foreign policy, which had traditionally been used to maintain the balance of power, thus