Wellington's office rapidly emptied as everyone went their own way. Darjeeling and Assam rushed back to the Tea Garden as to not be late for tea, Patton went to the garage to spend more time with his favourite tanks and Churchill probably intended to go to the library to read a book. Only Monty remained inside Wellington's office, preferring to sink back into the armchair and take a nap. His behaviour was bordering on the absurd. He wasted night hours and slept through the day. It couldn't have been healthy for his brain, but Wellington had bigger issues for the moment. He would talk with Monty after the finals.
"Richard," Wellington called. "Don't forget to try getting us more Comets. And if you get the chance, try to look into Jajka's whereabouts. I got a strange call from her a while back and I'm concerned."
"About her?" Richard asked. Wellington realized how it sounded. He looked his friend straight in the eyes, trying to discern how he interpreted it, but Richard wasn't jesting, instead he had on a perfect poker face.
"I'm not so heartless," Wellington said. "She was crying on the phone, Richard. I want you to find out if it was another one of her manipulative acts or not."
"Why don't you just call her?" Richard asked.
"I did. She switches the subject. That's what leaves me wondering. I need your detective skills on this."
"I'll see what I can do," Richard said. "I have a visit to Roosevelt scheduled this evening."
"And I one to Gordost."
"Peter is awfully friendly lately." Richard raised his eyebrow. Lately, Mr. Saburov got to spend more time with Wellington than he did.
"I have a bad feeling about this one. There's been a lot of traffic between Homer and Lenin," Wellington said.
"Homer? Lenin?" Richard looked puzzled. That was a whole new level of nicknames Wellington reached.
"Maclean? Cambridge Five?"
Richard's face lit up as if a figurative light bulb turned itself on above his head. Wellington was talking about Zhukov, a reference to the codename of a Soviet spy from the Cambridge Five, and Lenin was how he occasionally called Peter. "Why talk in code? Monty's in on it."
"The walls have ears…" Wellington said.
"That didn't stop you last time." Richard rubbed his forehead. "What exactly did they discuss?"
"An argument on Homer's efficiency… or lack thereof." Wellington let out a short sigh. "I don't know how it started. It's been a while since the match. I expected it to happen earlier and blow over by now."
"Just be careful," Richard said. "Last thing we want is to blow the tiger's cover."
