EXTRACTS: The Modesty Blaise Companion Expanded Edition © 2018 The Book Palace (425 PAGES in Full edition)

T H E M O D E S T Y B L A I S E C O M P A N I O N STORY No. 5 DRAWN BY JIM HOLDAWAY START DATE OF STORY 7th December, 1964 (Monday) END DATE OF STORY 9th, April, 1965 (Saturday) V. N. Korzon, uses his cover as an osteopath to conceal his real activity as a Communist spy. Known as The Recruiting Officer, he uses a psychometrist, Mrs. Drake, to identify possible candidates who might be suborned for espionage. One of his victims, in the Ministry of Defence, is on the verge of confessing his treachery. Korzon kills him. Sir Gerald Tarrant had been watching Korzon and deduced Mrs. Drake’s role. In an effort to break up the spy ring he sends Jeannie Challon, one of his agents, to see Mrs. Drake and pose as a possible traitor. Jeannie’s father, Roger, now blind, is an ex-agent and she is afraid she will fail both Tarrant and her father. She uses Modesty as a confidante and they become friends. Mrs. Drake spots Jeannie as one of Tarrant’s agents and reports this to Korzon who then, and unknown to Mrs. Drake, kidnaps Jeannie. Realising that Tarrant is on to him, Korzon plans to escape and take Mrs. Drake with him. Just before he is about to leave, Modesty visits Mrs. Drake and uses Jeannie’s broach for psychic contact. It reveals to Mrs. Drake both the kidnap and that Modesty is an enemy. Korzon forces Modesty to go with them when they start the escape, Modesty gets free but Korzon and the others get away. Korzon gives the order for Jeannie to be killed. Modesty and Willie Garvin are too late to save her but kill the murderers. Korzon is nowhere to be found. Using his own methods against him Modesty consults another psychometrist and this one reveals that Korzon is hiding in a circus. It is surrounded but when a police officer tries to arrest him he is shot. Mrs. Drake tries to surrender to the police and Korzon kills her. He and his men are chased through the circus and take refuge in the Haunted House where they turn off all the lights. The darkness is no disadvantage to Roger Challon and using the heightened senses of the blind he helps, Modesty and Willie flush the gang out. They are either caught or killed, Korzon himself is being killed by Challon. Other members of the gang try to make a break outside and are subdued by Tarrant and the police with fire hoses. Roger Challon is suicidally depressed by the recent events. To try to help him, Willie takes him climbing, then poaching and starts teaching him to play golf. Tarrant wistfully wishes that someone would help him with his depression. I I 210