THE ENEMY

THE ENEMYDesmond Bagley

Desmond Bagley(1923-1983)Desmond Bagley wrote many fast-moving and exciting thrillers. All his novels have been bestsellers, and several have been made into very popular films.

CHARACTERSMalcolm Jaggard-Government secret agent,wants to marry Penny Ashton,works on Ahton's case. Penny Ashton-George Ahton's daughter,works on biological genetics. George Ashton-Russian scientist,spied by the government.Works on genetics too. Gillian-Penny Ahton's sister. Inspector Honnister-The policeman who first came to the acid attack crime scene. Benson-George Ashton's loyal servent for thirty years,works for Lord Cregar and has a job to spy on Ashton. Ogilvie-Malcolm's boss,and the headmaster of department.Lord Cregar-Very powerfull man.Work on genetics,and wants to steal projects from George. Peter Mayberry-The man ho threw the acid on Gillian's face.Religious fanatic.Angry at scientist. Crammond-Police officer who interrogated and arrested Mayberry. Proffesor Lumsden-Penny's boss,works with Lord Cregar too. Archie-Local fisherman from Ullapool.IntroductionOn a beautiful summer evening in the quiet town of Marlow, a young woman is walking home from church. She passes a man who is looking at the engine of his car. He turns round, smiles at her . . . and throws acid into her face. Then her father, the scientist George Ashton, disappears. And her sister, Penny, discovers that her husband-to-be, Malcolm, is a government agent. Why has Ashton disappeared, and why is Malcolm told to hunt for him? Who is George Ashton, anyway? And who is the enemy?

Chapter 1An Interesting womanOn a party Malcolm Jaggard meets Penny Ashton. He invites her to an evening in the theatre, and she accepts. And they start to see each other more and more. She invites him over to meet her father at about the time he was thinking about inviting her to meet his father. The first weekend on the country estate is a success, and they just repeat it the next weekend.

Chapter 2Acid in the eyes Penelope was too tired to goon weekend with Malcolm and herfamily. Malcolm had great time with them, but sth interruptedthat beautiful day. Someone has thrown acid in Gillian eyes, so they had to call the ambulance to take her to the hospital. Malcolm also called the police becausehe realized that this wasnt an accident. An hour later Detective InspectorHonnister came and Malcolm showed him hid ID card . When Penny and Ashton came home, Ashton said Malcolm he wants to talk to him, but not right now. Malcolm talked with Penny, hewanted to ask her to marry him, but this situation didnt let him to.After a while, Benson said Malcolm thatAshton wants to see him athis study. They talked about Malcolm getting married to Penny and that they could go to Australia in two weeks. For Malcolm, this wastoo fast. He didnt know ifPenny would say yes, but Ashton was convinced she would, and he was very nervous.

Chapter 3 The mysterous Gorge AshtonMalcolm was searching sth about George Ashton on the Nelly, the computer in his office. He was confused because when he typed his name, he computer said to try on next level, and he tried that to, but the answer was the same n every level. The day after, he received a phone call from his boss, Ogilvie. He asked him why was he searching information about Ashton on the computer and invited him to come. With them there was an unknown man. They asked him to be their inside man in Ashtons house, and he refused to.

Chapter 4Family problemsIn this chapter Malcolm and Inspector Honnister found out sth more about the attacker- that was a man in mid forties, pale and Gillian has never seen himbefore. That day, she was coming from church when she sawa man banded above the car, looking to the engine. She thought the car had broken so she stopped to help him, but he turned to her and throw acid on her face. When Penny told this to the Inspector, Malcolm and she went to her home. Malcolm asked her to marry him, and she kind of said yes, but she said that she cant marry him until the family problem is resolved.

Chapter 5Ashton disappears

Malcolm accepted Ogilvies task to be inside man in Ashtons family, and he demanded some assistance to help him. While he was driving to Ashtons house he found out from his partner Larry Godwin that unknown man from Ogilvies office was Lord Cregar,a very powerful man. While they were at the hospital they saw Inspector Honnister and he said that they found out that attackers car brand is Blue Ford Cortina. While they were talking ,one of the members of his team reported that Ashton and Benson disappeared and they cant find them.

When he went to Ashtons house he saw two envelopes on his study desk. One was for Malcolm and the other one was for Penny.Chapter 6 A bad son-in-lowMalcolm rang Ogilvie and told him that Ashton and Benson disappeared and explained the meaning of the letter. Ogilvie told him that Penny must find out about his secret task. He went home and waited for her. When she arrived he told her everything, and asked for her permission to research the house. She hesitated for a moment but said yes.

When they were researching the house they didnt find to many suspicious things. Only one strong-room and huge railway model.

Chapter 7 Ashton and the Russian scientistMalcolm went to Ogilvies office and he angrily demanded to see Ashtons top secret files. The big problem was that Malcolm was not allowed to see confidential informations.On Ogilvies responsibility he finally showed him files he wanted. From files Malcolm finds out all about Ashtons life.

Secret file George Ashtons real name is Aleksandr Chelyuskin born 1919 in Russia.He was genius mathematician and physicist. He was working for Russian government on building and improving weapons for war.He was dissatisfied with his work with weapons and he escaped from Russia to England. When British government wanted him to work for them he rejected and took the identity of a solider named George Ashton who has died in traffic accident.He started his own business and became very rich.

After his to Ogilvie, he told him to go to the Ashtons house and hes the only one who can see what is inside the strong room. As they were preparing to open the door, Lord Cregar appeared demanding to see whats inside room. Finally when Malcolm sent him away he opened the strong-room but the room was empty.

Chapter 8 The man who threw the acid After a few days, inspector Honnester called him and told him they have a suspect on The acid case. The suspect was Peter Mayberry. Malcolm and other officer named Crammond went to Peters house to interrogate him. While they were questioning him, he finally cracked and admitted the crime. They found out, he is a very religious person who hates and want to stop the scientist to interfere in Gods work. Malcolm finds out that acid was really extended for Penny.Chapter 9Lord Cregar again Malcolm was at the meeting with Ogilvie and they both agreed that acid attack and Georges case has nothing with each other.Then, he went to Penelopes office and told her that acid was intended for her. Then he met Professor Lumsden her boss. He explained to Malcolm about their dangerous work on genetics. Affter few months his relationship with Penny improved. As they were talking, Penny mentioned him about Lord Cregar who was visiting her boss, and that made him very suspicious.

Chapter 10Tragedy in SwedenNext morning Ogilvie showed him two photos of two men. Malcolm immediately recognized George Ashton and Benson. Ogilvie told Malcolm to go to Stockholm where Ashton and Benson are hiding, and spy on them.When he arrived to Stockholm he demanded from British embassy assistants and started to follow and spy on Ashton and Benson. After four weeks Malcolm and his team have found out that Ashton is also being spied by Russian government also.

Ogilvie and Malcolm made a plan how to warn Ashton about Russians following him. Their plan succeed but Ashton and Benson were very upset and they only wanted to escape from Russians so they went towards wood. The only problem was, the wood was the military training area. When Malcolm found out Ashtons life is in danger he started running and screaming towards them. But, when he got close, Ashton was hit. Before his death, Ashton gave him one little paper, and he passed away. On the paper was railway timetable, so he was very confused.

Malcolm found out that Benson is killed too, and the most disturbing thing was Benson killed Ashton for some reason. The Swedish police locked them for four weeks, and then escorted them back to the London.Chapter 11More mysteries and new dangersWhen they came to London, Malcolm had to tell them everything what happened in Stockholm. He went to Ogilvies office and he told Malcolm, he must attend the meeting with people from other departments. When the meeting began, Lord Cregar started to question him and verbally assault. When the meeting was over Ogilvie invited Malcolm for lunch and surprisingly he wanted from Malcolm to continue his investigation on Ashtons case. He went to Ashtons house and found Penny their. They were talking about her job in Scotland and their future marriage.

Chapter 12The secret computerMalcolm went to his office the next morning and after a long thinking he figured out, the key to Ashtons death lay in Bensons life. So, he decided to investigate everything about Howard Benson. After the seven hour of searching the results were amazed. He figured out, the real Benson died from heart disease thirty years ago, and new Benson remained close with George Ashton. But he didnt know why Benson killed him.Next week, Malcolm went to Ashtons house which was being auctioned. He saw there railway timetable and then he remembered when Ashton gave him a peace of paper with railway timetable. He asked auctioneer to stop the auction but auctioneer rejected him. Malcolm has realized, he must win the auction. He bought railway timetable for 31.000 pounds because he realized a railway timetable was really a computer in which Ashton kept his projects.

Chapter 13 Ashtons work and Benson secret After auction he went to see Penny who came from America. They were talking about her job and then she explained to him whats she studying about. She studying genetics, something about P40- its a virus and her father was very familiar with genetic research. He went to see Penny afternoon at University College. He saw Lord Cregar coming out from Professor Lumsdens office. It was very suspicious. Next day Penny went to Scotland and she didnt came back as she was planning. So, Malcolm went to see her boss at her job and spoke with him. Professor Lumsden didnt want to him where Panny actullay is, and why she didnt come home. Malcolm went home angrily and he started searching in Bensons suitcase sent back from Swedeen. After that, he found Bensons wallet. In it was one suspicious letter signed by Lord Cregar. He figured out, Benson was working for Lord Cregar for over thirty years spying on Ashton. Malcolom went to Professor Lumsden and he forced him to call the establishment where Panny was, but they didnt tell him anything.Next day, he went to Ogilvie and told him eveything about Cregar and Benson. He checkedthe number Professor Lumsden called, and he found it, the number was from the island Cladach Duillich.

Chapter 14Trouble in ScotlandCladach Duillish was a hard place to get to. The next morning he went to the nearest fishing village Ullapool. Before dinner he spoke with some local people and they told him, they will drive him to island he was looking for. He told some man named Archie if he doesnt come back in four hours he must the police and Ogilvie. While he was landing on island he saw a notice: GOVERNMENT PROPERTY landing forbidden. When he got to the top a man came running up shouting that this area is forbidden. He wisely avoid his questions and he told him to get him to the boss. He was taken into an office where he saw Cregar. Malcolm asked him where is he hiding Penny but Cregar didnt answered to him. He locked Malcolm in dark room thinking what to do with him. After couple of hours they unlocked him. Cregar showed him the room where Penny was deadly infected by some unknown bacteria. So, Cregar found a way and tried to bribe a Malcolm not tell about his secret genetic experiments. In return he will let Malcolm to take Penny to the hospital. Malcolm didnt come back after more than 4 hours so Archie with local people came at island to help him. While Cregar with the gun in his hand was talking to Malcolm, Malcolm knocked him in his stomach and took his gun. As he knocked him he accidently broke the glass where we bacterias and viruses.

Chapter 15Biological disasterArchie came to Malcolm to help him but Malcolm said to him to not enter, because the whole room was infected by genetical viruses. Malcolm called Ogilvie and told him what happened and told him to send an ambulance with helicopters. Meanwhile Malcolm asked Cregar why is he doing this and Cregar said icely : A man must do something important in his life- something that people will remember. Malcolm stared at him and felt cold to his bones. Cregar carried on talking about power and politics, but he was no longer interested. Finally Ogilvie rang to say there was a helicopter with a specialist medical team on its way to them. The men who came were dressed in plastic clothing from head to foot. They put them in plastic envelopes and carried them away to hospital. Malcolm never saw Cregar again.Chapter 16 My new jobA month later Malcolm came out of the special hospital where he and Penny were. They were feeling much better after hospital. Ogilvie came to visit Malcolm in the hospital and Ogilvie told him that they figured out Ashtons secret computer. British government wants keep as a secret. Oligvie offered him promotion and Malcolm rejected it because he was very angry at department.

After Gillians wedding, Malcolm and Penny went to Ireland a place where mountains are green, sea is blue when the sun shines, and its green when the sun doesnt shine. They have lived there for nine months, and Malcolm during that time, he wrote this story. He wanted people to be able to read his story, to know what is done by governments in the name of the people. There are to many Cregars around in government. Ashtons new work on genetics is still a secret, to be used for whatever purposes some government minister thinks will do him some good. This story and Malcolms life are coming to an end.

This is not a happy story.

We have met the enemy and he is us.