A Division Of The Spoils (Raj Quartet 4) (63 page)

‘Have you seen your brother, Ahmed?’

‘No, but I’ve seen the conducting officer. I thought I’d better warn you. It’s Merrick.’

‘Merrick?’

‘The ex-police officer in the Manners case, the one Pandit Baba’s been pestering you about. I didn’t know Merrick had anything to do with the
INA,
but he was in the army in intelligence when we met him in Mirat. Actually I saw him again in Bombay about three weeks ago. He said he was working in Delhi.’

‘Ah, yes. That Merrick. The one Dmitri told me was badly wounded. You never told me you saw him again so recently.’

‘I haven’t seen much of you since getting back. And the case didn’t seem to interest you.’

‘No,’ Kasim said. ‘But perhaps it will. He knows you know him in connection with that old case?’

‘Yes.’

‘So he will assume that by now I know too. In fact he would probably assume that you would be here with me to meet your brother, which means that he does not in the least mind my knowing who he is. But he must know, mustn’t he, Booby, that he is on the List?’

‘It is clear, Minister. He hopes to ingratiate himself somehow. You could always say you will meet nobody except Sayed.’

‘What is his rank, Ahmed?’

‘Major, I think.’

‘Since you know him it would be a good idea if you went now and brought him along personally. Go with Ahmed, Booby. I shan’t want you again until all this is over. Meanwhile open and read the letter from Bapu so that we can discuss it later. Ahmed – give me one minute, please, before you bring Major Merrick.’

When they had gone Kasim went to the single window, which overlooked the inner courtyard. A policeman with a
rifle was posted nearby facing towards him. There were bars but no glass in the window frame. Kasim closed the inner shutters. The only light in the room now came from the single naked bulb in the centre and from the high fanlight on the wall that faced the front compound. The furniture was sparse: a string charpoy with a mattress, two wooden armchairs and two smaller chairs, a table. He made a move to sit at the chair behind the table but then decided to remain standing.

*

‘Major Merrick? Please come in.’

Ahmed, who had opened the door and stood aside without entering, let Merrick through and then closed it. Kasim offered his hand and felt a twinge of pity for a man with such a badly disfigured face and such an obviously useless left arm, clamped to his body with the cap tucked under it at elbow level and a briefcase suspended from the gloved fingers of an artificial hand. The man said, ‘Actually Lieutenant-Colonel, since I and your younger son last met, Mr Kasim.’

The grip of the right hand was strong, like the voice. Kasim indicated a seat and sat down himself. He now noted the pip and crown on each shoulder tab, the regimental name and the ribbon of the
DSO.
He watched while Merrick dealt with his cap by removing it from under the left arm, placing it on the table, and with his briefcase by removing it from the artificial hand and placing it on the table too, next to the hat. He glanced at the inner side of his right wrist, checking the time.

‘I’m sorry about the few minutes delay, but when we arrived your elder son asked for a few minutes alone before he came in. So I sent the others along and waited near the car. But I assure you his reason was not because he felt unwell as a result of not having had an adequate breakfast –’ Merrick smiled. The effect was strange, lopsided. He continued – ‘Nor as a result of inadequate sleep. We reached the fort early enough yesterday evening to let him rest up after the journey from Delhi. The journey itself was not very taxing. We flew to Ranagunj and came on by road. In fact I believe you’ll be much tireder than he because I gather you travelled down overnight and only got here an hour or so ago. Incidentally, Mr Everett
tells me your secretary may have been upset by the two young officers’ apparently unhelpful attitude over the question of what kind of breakfast your son had. The explanation is that they had no idea what he had, since I breakfasted with him alone. They are only temporary escorts. They reported to me at Ranagunj in exchange for two other officers who came with me on the plane. They have no information about any of us. All they know is that the Indian officer is in custody.’

‘The question of Sayed’s breakfast has already been satisfactorily answered, Colonel Merrick. So far as I’m concerned it is a closed subject. Incidentally, my younger son Ahmed had no idea you were in any way connected with Sayed. Does Sayed know that you know his brother?’

‘The one is a social acquaintance. The other is not. So the answer is, no.’

‘Please tell me what is the purpose of this preliminary private word?’

‘The purpose is to tell you as much as possible about the charges which Lieutenant Sayed Kasim will probably have to face.’

Kasim hoped that he betrayed no surprise. But he was surprised. He said: ‘I have not asked for this. I’m not sure that I wish to be told anything about such matters. My son must himself have a good idea what charges there may be. What can you tell me that he cannot?’

Merrick said, ‘Naturally, Mr Kasim, it’s entirely up to you whether we have a preliminary word. It wasn’t my own department’s idea, but Government seemed to think it fair.’

‘Fair?’

‘The charges and evidence in these cases aren’t fully prepared yet by any means. But Government feels that your son would be much more at ease if he doesn’t have to tell you everything himself.’ Merrick paused. ‘It could after all be a bit painful for him.’

‘Painful?’

Merrick kept him waiting for a reply. He seemed utterly composed and in command. ‘He has never struck me as being among those who are unrepentantly proud of the situation they find themselves in.’

For the first time Kasim was unable to keep his eyes
unwaveringly on the man. He glanced down and carefully covered his right hand with his left to control the familiar tremor before it began.

‘Very well,’ he said. ‘Tell me what you wish. But as briefly as possible.’

‘A charge of waging war against the King-Emperor is of course going to be the almost unavoidable common charge to be faced in these cases and in your son’s case the evidence is incontrovertible since he was captured fighting in one of the
INA
units that accompanied the Japanese when they tried to invade India in 1944 and got as far as Manipur and Kohima. The unit he commanded surrendered voluntarily and seemed to have been abandoned in an untenable position by the Japanese, without access to any supplies or lines of communication. I’m afraid one often found that. Voluntary surrender or no, however, he was in arms, waging war.’

‘You were in that theatre of war yourself, Colonel?’

‘I was on the staff of one of the divisions that were brought up to mount the counter-attack. As an intelligence officer the
INA
became my special concern.’

‘Were you present when Sayed was brought in?’

‘No, I was out of the line by then.’

‘Wounded you mean, thus?’ Kasim indicated the arm.

‘Yes. Thus.’

‘By
INA
action?’

‘There were
INA
about. Japanese as well. Why do you ask?’

‘The reason is obvious, surely? A man wounded as badly as you could be forgiven for accepting a job that gave him an opportunity to redress the balance.’

‘One does the job one is given. But I take your point. The
INA
were involved in the incident but I was wounded entirely by my own fault.’

‘How was it your own fault?’

‘I was trying to stop a fellow officer acting thoughtlessly.’ Merrick paused. ‘You asked me to be brief –’

‘I know, but I should like to hear about this other matter. It is all relevant to my rather sparse knowledge of the
INA.
’

‘Very briefly, then. I’d gone forward to collect an
INA
prisoner. At that time they were rather a rare species. The sepoys of the Indian Army tended to shoot them out of hand.
This prisoner was originally from the Muzzafirabad Guides. The officer who was on the same divisional staff as myself was also Muzzafirabad Guides. He insisted on going with me and when the man said there were two other
INA
ex-Muzzy Guides soldiers hiding in the jungle near by waiting to give themselves up the officer suggested we went to collect them. I said we shouldn’t, but the next thing I knew was he’d taken our jeep, and the prisoner, and gone forward to do just that. I borrowed another jeep and went after them. When I found them the jeep was under fire and on fire. The prisoner had decamped, presumably to rejoin the enemy, and the officer was burning to death. I pulled him and the driver out but it was too late to save the officer.’

‘Was he a friend of yours?’

‘We knew one another pretty well. At least since I acted as his best man. At his wedding in Mirat. I expect Ahmed will have told you about the wedding. Ahmed, or Count Bronowsky.’

‘The wedding. Ah, yes.’

‘But I think it fair to say I went after the officer only to secure the prisoner, who was my responsibility. The result was hardly the prisoner’s fault, nor was it really the officer’s. I needn’t have followed. He was one of those men with the not uncommon idea that any sepoy who’d been in the regiment would only have to come face to face with one of the officers of that regiment to throw his gun down and return contrite to the fold. I took the less romantic view that guns only got thrown down when the alternative was hunger and no other escape-route.’

‘As in Sayed’s case?’

‘I don’t think you’ll find he pretends otherwise. And being an officer he was responsible for the lives of the men in what remained of his unit.’

‘You’ve interrogated Sayed often?’

‘Since joining the department several months ago I have talked to him quite frequently, yes.’

‘Forgive these questions. An old lawyer’s habit. Please go on. He was captured originally by the Japanese in Kuala Lumpur in ninteen-forty-two when the Japanese defeated the British Army there.’

‘The British Army and the Indian Army. Yes. Of course you know he asserts he didn’t join the
INA
until after August nineteen forty-two when he heard of the arrests in India after the Congress Quit India resolution – arrests which included your own. He told you this in his first letter home, after we’d recaptured him. I’m afraid copies of all his letters in and out have had to be made.’

‘Don’t apologize, Colonel. I am used to that sort of thing. In the same letter to my late wife he apologized for having failed in the march on Delhi.’

‘It was probably the same letter. I remember the phrase from my study of his file.’

‘Tell me, Colonel Merrick. How does this apology for having failed in the march on Delhi balance with your view that he is not among those unrepentantly proud of the situation he finds himself in? Which situation do you mean? His situation as a Lieutenant of the Ranpur Regiment, now your prisoner awaiting trial for waging war against the King, or his situation as a Major in the
INA
who failed in his march on Delhi to free India from the British but lives to tell the tale?’

‘It’s more than a year since he wrote that letter.’

‘You mean he has had second thoughts?’

‘Frankly, Mr Kasim, I should say he had had a great number of thoughts. For the past year he hasn’t had much to occupy his mind except the single subject of why he decided to switch his allegiance.’

‘And wage war against the King. Yes.’ Kasim waited, then said, ‘What other charges?’

‘Incitement? Abetment? Bringing aid and comfort to the enemy? As I said, charges aren’t framed. But your son has admitted to helping to recruit other Indian
POWS
into the
INA
and also to helping devise propaganda about the
INA
and broadcasting on one occasion to India, incognito.’

‘Is there any more serious factor that may have to be considered?’

‘More serious factor, Mr Kasim?’

‘One hears gossip, tales, possibly exaggerated, or so one hopes, that recruitment was not always voluntary, that in a
few cases certain methods were used to persuade sepoy prisoners-of-war to join.’

‘You mean brutal methods?’

‘Yes, I mean that.’

‘And what you want to know is whether this is a factor that may have to be considered in your son’s case and might lead to a charge that he used such methods himself?’

‘Yes.’

After some moments Merrick glanced at the table. The one good eyebrow contracted slightly. Kasim wondered whether the full ramifications of the question of brutality were lost on him. They could not be if his reputation from the time of the Bibighar was deserved. But perhaps that reputation was simply the result of rumour too.

‘A factor that may have to be considered?’ Merrick repeated to himself. He looked at Kasim again. ‘The only answer I can give you, Mr Kasim, is that I don’t know. I can assure you it hasn’t arisen yet but it would be quite unrealistic of me to assure you that it can’t arise.’

‘You mean there are indications that such accusations may be made against Sayed?’

‘On the contrary. A lot of evidence has been collected of cases of torture and brutal behaviour and several officers and
NCOS
have been named, but your son’s name has never been among them. In fact the men who surrendered with him have invariably spoken of him with great respect, particularly in regard to his care for their welfare and for the way he stood up to Japanese officers when this was necessary. No, my point is that the men we have access to, those already recaptured, represent only a percentage of the eventual sources of evidence. There are all those still in Malaya for instance. I can’t vouch for what some of them may or may not say about your son’s conduct once we’ve got hold of them. It was a very large army.’ He hesitated, then added, ‘I’m exceeding my brief expressing a personal opinion, but I shall express it none the less since you seem concerned. I should be very surprised if at any time between now and the completion of the collection of all the evidence in all the cases your son is implicated in any charges other than those I’ve mentioned.’