The Titanic Secret (9 page)

‘We’ve asked for copies of the passenger lists from all the Continental shipping lines, and Vernon Kell has made the same request of the British lines. So far, that’s produced no results, partly because the lists are incomplete. Passengers who embark at the port of departure are obviously included on the lists, but the names of those who pick up the ship elsewhere – its second or third port of call on this side of the Atlantic, for example – aren’t known for certain until they actually board the vessel.

‘So although we know that Voss will be on the ship when it leaves Cherbourg, his name is not yet on any of the passenger lists the company has been able to supply to us. Nor, as you might expect, are the names Bauer or Kortig. It’s possible that they’ll both be joining the ship in France as well, but we also have to consider the possibility that they are already in America, in which case we’ll have to make separate arrangements to track them down. But at least we know where Voss is now, and where he’ll be tomorrow, and you two will already be on the ship when it arrives in Cherbourg because it’s sailing from Southampton—’

‘But you still haven’t explained exactly what you expect me – or rather us – to do once we’ve identified Voss,’ Tremayne interrupted.

Mansfield Cumming closed the file in front of him and for a moment just sat there, resting his head in his hands. Then he roused himself.

‘At this precise moment, Tremayne, I’m not entirely sure what orders I should be giving you. As you’ll appreciate, the British government, and especially the Foreign Office, is taking a very keen interest in Herr Voss. I am constrained by what the government wants me to do, by how much they will allow me to tell you and what limits they will be applying to our freedom of action.

‘The one thing that is absolutely clear is that Voss must be stopped. If we are unable to somehow neutralize his plan and prevent this proposed alliance between Germany and America, then there is really only one possible option. One way or another, we will have to prevent him from reaching America.’

‘You mean arrest him?’ Tremayne asked.

Cumming gave a small shrug. ‘That would be difficult. He’s an American citizen, holding an American passport, and as far as I’m aware he’s done nothing that would merit detaining him for any reason. What I had in mind was something rather more
permanent
.’

His last sentence produced a chilly silence in the office, as Tremayne absorbed the implication of what Mansfield Cumming had said. Before he replied, he glanced at Maria Weston, who looked back at him.

‘You mean you want us to kill him?’ she said.

‘I wouldn’t put it quite that crudely. I was thinking more that he might meet with an accident. A few drinks too many after dinner, a stumble on the Promenade Deck, and our problem could be solved with nobody any the wiser. And just so that you’re fully in the picture with regard to Voss and his men, one of my officers in Berlin, a man named Paul Harrington, was following Voss two days ago, and now he’s simply disappeared. We don’t know for certain, but the probability is that Voss discovered he was under surveillance and ordered one of his bodyguards to kill him. These are not pleasant people we’re dealing with here, Alex.’

‘You said Voss was working with two other men on this plot,’ Tremayne said. ‘So are you expecting us to kill them as well?’

Again, Cumming looked slightly pained at Tremayne’s choice of words. ‘Voss is understood to be the ringleader,’ he replied. ‘If he were to meet with an accident, we’re not sure whether or not the other two men would continue with the plot.’

Cumming paused for a moment, then shrugged and continued. ‘But just to be on the safe side,’ he said, ‘three late-night stumbles on the Promenade Deck would probably be advisable.’

9 April 1912
London

Tremayne sat in silence for a moment. To be baldly ordered to execute three men, none of whom he knew or had ever met, was something of a first, even as an agent of the Secret Service Bureau. He had killed before, both on official business, as it were, and also when it was a personal matter. But he wasn’t a paid assassin, and never had been.

What had happened a few days ago with Cumming’s niece in the Essex farmhouse was one thing. Then, Tremayne had known exactly what the three men had done, and he had felt entirely justified in taking the action that he had. What Mansfield Cumming was now ordering him to do was completely different, and he wasn’t sure that he liked it.

‘Just to get this clear, you’re ordering me to carry out three assassinations?’

Cumming nodded. ‘If it comes to it, and if we can find no other way of stopping this plot, yes, that’s exactly what I’m ordering you to do. Do you have a problem with that?’

‘I’ll need to be certain that there’s no alternative, that there’s nothing else we can do. As far as I can see, Mansfield, all the evidence you’ve got is circumstantial at best. There could be other reasons Voss was in Berlin, meeting officials there, and the other two men might just be his friends, nothing more. If they really are orchestrating this plot, I’ll have no qualms about eliminating them, but I won’t spill innocent blood unless it’s unavoidable.’

‘That’s another reason I’m sending Maria with you.’

Tremayne glanced at the woman. ‘You mean she’s going to stiffen my resolve, and make sure I do the right thing?’ he asked.

‘That, and to take over from you if necessary. Don’t let Maria’s gentle smile fool you. She’s a fully trained American agent and she’s often worked in the field. Her boss was somewhat vague on the details, but he did say her knowledge of combat wasn’t purely theoretical. He implied that she’d killed in the line of duty, maybe more than once. That’s the other reason why she’ll be on the ship with you.’

Tremayne stared at Maria, a somewhat startled expression on his face, and she smiled back at him.

‘They were all people I didn’t like very much,’ she said defensively.

Tremayne nodded. ‘I’ll try and remember to keep in your good books then,’ he murmured.

Cumming pulled open one of the desk drawers and took out two polished wooden boxes which he placed in front of him. He turned a small key in the lock of one of them, lifted the lid and took out a compact, black semi-automatic pistol.

‘This is the new Browning 1910 model,’ he said. He pulled back the slide to check that the chamber was empty, pressed the catch at the base of the butt to release the magazine, and passed the weapon over to Tremayne.

‘I have two of them here, both identical and chambered for the 7.65 Browning cartridge, with a seven-round magazine, and a suppressor. These weapons are intended for your personal defence, and I expect you to return them to me, along with any unused ammunition, when this mission is over. But I’d like to emphasize that it would be preferable if you found some other way of disposing of Herr Voss and his associates – assuming it comes to that, of course – than by shooting them. It’s difficult to pass off a death as an accident if the corpse is full of bullet holes.’

Tremayne examined the pistol closely. It was a neat, slim design, which would slip easily into a pocket, or a woman’s purse. On the rear of the butt was a feature that particularly impressed him – a grip safety, meaning that the weapon would not fire unless it was being held in the hand. He was familiar with Browning’s earlier pistol design, the 1903, but this latest model seemed a huge improvement.

He passed the weapon over to Maria, who handled it with an easy competence that implied a long familiarity with pistols, and then she passed it back to Cumming, who replaced it in the wooden case.

‘Mrs McTavish has the appropriate papers for you to sign in her office, so please ensure that you do that before you leave the building. She will also provide you with your tickets and a cash advance in sterling for your expenses on board the ship, and another in dollars for your use in New York when the ship docks there. She also has new passports for you both, issued this morning here in London in the names of Alex Maitland and Maria Maitland. They’re absolutely genuine, so you should have no trouble using them. We decided to use your real Christian names because we thought it would make it more natural in conversation.’

Cumming paused, as if considering his next words with some care. ‘I know you’re not happy about this mission, Tremayne, but I cannot overemphasize how important it is. I have no doubt at all that the information David Curtis obtained from the German clerk was accurate, and that there is a very real threat to the security of Great Britain and her Empire. We believe that this plot is being orchestrated by Gunther Voss for his own selfish desires, and as far as I can see the only sure and certain way of stopping it is to dispose of Voss and his cronies. That is not a course of action that I’m comfortable with, any more than you are, but at this moment I see no possible alternative.’

Tremayne still looked unhappy at what he was being asked to do.

‘And if Voss is an entirely innocent party?’ he asked. ‘If all the evidence you think you’ve found is actually circumstantial, and I kill these three men, what then? How do you think the American government will react to a British agent popping up and executing three prominent US citizens? The diplomats will have a field day, on both sides of the Atlantic. And it probably wouldn’t be a lot better if Maria pulled the trigger, so to speak.’

Cumming shook his head. ‘If it comes to that, we’ll do our best to protect you, protect you both, obviously.’

‘That’s easy enough for you to say. You’ll be safely ashore here in London while Maria and I are dicing with death on the high seas.’

‘We’ll be in regular radio telegram contact with you, and I’ll ensure you’re kept abreast of all developments.’

‘So it has a Marconi Office, does it, this ship? And what vessel is it, come to that?’

Cumming smiled slightly. ‘I was saving that piece of good news until the end. You’ll be travelling in a First Class suite on board the
Titanic
, on her maiden voyage.’

‘So at least we’ll be comfortable while we’re plotting how best to kill these men.’

Cumming looked somewhat pained at Tremayne’s expression. ‘Well, good luck to both of you.’

The briefing was clearly complete. Mansfield Cumming stood up, handed over the two boxes containing the Browning pistols, then strode across to his office door and pulled it open.

‘Good luck,’ he said again as they filed past him. ‘And God help us all if you fail.’

10 April 1912
Southampton

For over a minute, Alex Tremayne just stood still and stared. The overwhelming first impression he had of the
Titanic
was simply its scale, as he and Maria stood on the dockside at Southampton facing a seemingly endless wall of painted steel. He marvelled that anything so big could move under its own power. It dwarfed and dominated the harbour, and all the other ships moored anywhere near it.

When it was launched on 31 May 1911, the RMS
Titanic
was the largest passenger steamship in the world, and in fact the largest man-made moving object ever created. The ‘RMS’ abbreviation, rather than the more usual ‘SS’ meaning ‘Steam Ship’ – stood for ‘Royal Mail Ship’, meaning that the vessel was contracted to transport international post, a designation issued only to ships operated by the largest and most important lines.

Tremayne knew nothing about that. He just knew the vessel was huge. It was almost 900 feet long, 175 feet in height, from the keel to the top of the four funnels, and displaced over 52,000 tons. With a full complement of over 3,500 passengers and crew, the ship was designed to cross the cold Atlantic waters at a speed of twenty-one knots, driven by three massive bronze propellers. A triumph of British engineering and an indication of the enormous power and wealth of the Empire.

Looking up, Tremayne could see wisps of smoke rising from three of the four enormous funnels and the mighty vessel was clearly already a veritable hive of activity as it prepared to sail.

And it wasn’t just the ship itself. The harbour was thronged with people: passengers waiting to board, ship’s officers and members of the ship’s company, stevedores and porters, officials of the White Star Line, administrative and other staff from the port of Southampton itself, and even a few police officers. And, of course, crowds and crowds of spectators, drawn by the unique spectacle of seeing the biggest ship in the world set sail on her maiden voyage. Tremayne found himself looking at a sea of upturned faces, all clearly marvelling that anything so big and heavy, a man-made and steam-powered leviathan fabricated from steel and iron, could possibly even float on the surface of the ocean, far less move under its own power.

‘It’s massive,’ Maria gasped, craning her neck to stare up at the huge vessel.

‘It is that,’ Tremayne replied. ‘The biggest ship I’ve ever been on up to now is a cross-Channel steamer, and that’s like a rowing boat compared to this.’

They’d caught an early train out of Waterloo down to Southampton. Passengers had been instructed to board the vessel between nine thirty and eleven thirty that morning. Their train had arrived a little before ten, allowing them plenty of time to get down to the dockside.

He looked around at the scene of organized, or possibly disorganized – it was difficult to tell – chaos. Various gangways linked the starboard side of the huge ship to the dockside, and there seemed to be a constant stream of people both embarking and disembarking, or at least streaming up and down the gangways. The massive vessel seemed almost to be alive, as if it had a beating metallic heart buried somewhere below the waterline which, Tremayne supposed, wasn’t really that bad an analogy. The engines and the generators were almost certainly already running, pumping warm air through the vessel’s ventilation system, and sending electricity through the tens of miles of cables to illuminate the cabins and public rooms. And those same engines would then provide the motive power to drive the mighty vessel through the worst weather the Atlantic Ocean could throw at it, all the way to New York, whilst keeping the passengers warm and safe inside. Not for the first time, Tremayne marvelled at the march of technology, and how man’s ingenuity and engineering know-how were beginning to conquer even the most inhospitable environments on the planet.