Cause for Alarm

Zusatztext “An unusually good tale of espionage from a master storyteller.”– The New Yorker “The best spy story in a long time.” —The New York Times “Exciting and authentic. Mr. Ambler has fashioned an excellent novel of suspense that is intelligently crafted.” —Saturday Review “Our greatest thriller writer.”—Graham Greene Informationen zum Autor Eric Ambler Klappentext Nicky Marlow needs a job. He's engaged to be married and the employment market is pretty slim in Britain in 1937. So when his fiancé points out the Spartacus Machine Tool notice, he jumps at the chance. After all, he speaks Italian and he figures he'll be able to endure Milan for a year, long enough to save some money. Soon after he arrives, however, he learns the sinister truth of his predecessor's death and finds himself courted by two agents with dangerously different agendas. In the process, Marlow realizes it's not so simple to just do the job he's paid to do in fascist Italy on the eve of a world war.1 FIRST CAUSES One thing is certain. I would not even have considered the job if I had not been desperate. Early in January, the Barnton Heath Engineering Company decided to close down the greater part of its works. It was the day after I had asked Claire to marry me that the first blow fell. I had walked into my office that morning feeling very pleased with life. Not that, strictly speaking, I had any cause to feel pleased. She had promised to "think about it carefully" and let me know. Still, I felt pleased. A girl like Claire would, I assured myself, have made up her mind immediately if she were going to refuse. She was probably terrified that, if she didn't strengthen her position by reducing me to a state of jittering suspense, I might be tempted to play the dominant male and expect her to give up being a very promising surgeon in order to become a second-rate housekeeper. She has a dangerous theory that, when two persons get married, a court of inquiry ought to sit in order to determine from the available evidence which of the two is better fitted to assume responsibility for the housework--the husband or the wife. I had, however, not the slightest intention of asking her to give up her work. Quite apart from the fact that I did not wish her to do so, I knew perfectly well that, if it came to a trial of wills, she would win. She is very beautiful and very intelligent. Towards lunch-time I was going over a batch of costs with my assistant when I received a message from the head office in London saying that Herrington, the General Manager, would like to see me that afternoon. Summonses from Herrington were rare. Wondering what it was all about and irritated at having to interrupt my work, I caught the two-forty-five at Barnton Station. At half-past three I saw Herrington. At four o'clock I was walking slowly down Queen Victoria Street with a letter in my pocket informing me that "owing to circumstances beyond the control of the Board," my services had to be dispensed with. Herrington's carefully chosen words of regret still lingered in my ears. "Damned unfortunate, Marlow, but there it is. The Barnton Heath works just aren't paying. Nothing to do with you, of course. Labour's too expensive so near London. Felstead has warned us that he can't renew his contract at our price, and things are too shaky at the moment for us to risk keeping your show going. Question of cutting our losses. Hardlines on you, of course. And hard-lines on us, too. Good production engineers don't grow on trees. You won't have any difficulty in getting fixed up. If there's anything I can do, let me know." So that was that. I had a month in which to find another job. And "things were shaky at the moment." Production engineers might not grow on trees; but then nor did jobs. "Trade recession" they called it in the newspapers. As far as I could see the...

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Eric Ambler
• Editore: Vintage USA
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Tascabile
• Pubblicazione: 05.02.2002
• EAN: 9780375726743
• ISBN: 978-0-375-72674-3
• Pagine: 304
• Dimensioni: 130 mm x 202 mm x 16 mm
• Serie: Vintage crime/Black Lizard; Vintage crime/Black Lizard
• Categoria: Narrativa > Gialli