He was taking a hell of a chance, Charlie accepted, with no idea if any of the others remained on the train. It would be safer to stay where he was, next to the door, at least until he cleared the next station.
29
There were audible voices, speaking French, but no picture. The screen flickered, distorted images breaking up, then settled to show Elana and Andrei side by side behind a table, which was how Radtsic was positioned in Hertfordshire by M16 technicians. They’d also covered the entire wall behind him with beige, nonreflective fabric, as the French had also done in Paris, in the same color. The microphones on both tables virtually matched, as well. The water carafes were similar, each oddly set with four accompanying tumblers. Monsford was behind the camera, with earphoned technicians and engineers, hands cupping earphones to his head to hear the simultaneous translation.
“I can…” began Radtsic, uneven voiced, at a gesture from a technician off camera.
Radtsic stopped, clearing his throat, and started again. “I can see you.”
“We can see you, too,” said Elana. She was wearing a vivid red dress, with a diamond brooch pinned close to her left shoulder. Her hair was immaculately coiffured. Her voice was even, showing none of her husband’s uncertainty.
“How are you?” asked Radtsic.
“All right.”
“Andrei?”
“All right.” Andrei shrugged as he spoke. He was wearing an open-neck shirt beneath a sweater, which appeared too big for him. His hair was tousled, uncombed, and he constantly fidgeted, both hands first on the table, then in his lap, quickly back to the table again. Unlike his mother, instead of looking into the camera he seemed to be seeking people behind it.
Radtsic cleared his throat again. Stiltedly, enunciating each word as if reading from a script, he said: “Are you being well treated?”
“Very well,” assured Elana, for the first time glancing behind the camera.
“I am in England.”
“Yes.” Almost hurriedly she said: “We know.”
“I want you both here in England with me. We’re going to live here. You were mistaken, about being kidnapped. They were friends, helping you. You must tell people that: make it clear to people there, so they understand.”
The French transmission began to break up and Monsford came too close to the technician operating the English equipment, jogging him. Abruptly the screen cleared.
“I-” started Elana but Andrei talked over her.
“No!” he declared, loudly. “I’m not coming … not agreeing. You’re betraying us … traitor … you’re a traitor.”
Radtsic visibly clenched his hands, outstretched on the table, and Monsford tensed forward again, anticipating the outburst against which he’d warned the Russian, but Radtsic’s voice was controlled, although still stilted. “I am not a traitor.… I want you here, with me and your mother.”
“I want to come … will come,” Elana managed before Andrei overwhelmed her, shouting now.
“I don’t want to come … don’t want to be with you … see you … dead, that’s what I think … you’re dead to me.”
“Please,” pleaded Radtsic, still controlled although his hands were bunched into fists. “Please, Andrei. Don’t break up the family. I need you here, with me. You can’t stay there … stay anywhere except here with me. You know that-”
“I will come … want to come,” Elana repeated.
“Go with him!” yelled Andrei, turning to his mother. “Go with the traitor. I don’t want to be with you, either of you, not anymore.…” He began to struggle up, physically to separate himself from her.
“Stay where you are!” roared Radtsic, all restraint gone, red faced with fury. “You will come here … do as you’re told…” But the link was cut long before he’d finished.
“I warned you what would happen,” said Monsford, stopping just short of the exasperation that might have antagonized the Russian into worse anger. They’d moved from the room in which the conference link had been established, into a glassed conservatory overlooking the grounds. Radtsic had refused vodka, demanding scotch.
“Disobeying me … actually disobeying me, his father!” struggled Radtsic, disbelievingly, oblivious anyway to what Monsford was saying. “He must come. They won’t let him stay in France. He’ll be taken back … punished.”
“We’re trying to reconnect,” said Monsford, emptily, desperately trying to think ahead. “It was the surprise, of actually seeing you, knowing that you’re already here, after what’s happened in France. He’ll come round when he adjusts to the reality.…”
“He called me a traitor … denigrated me…” remembered Radtsic, overwhelmed in disbelief. “I must speak to him: make him understand.”
“I told you we’re trying to reconnect. There are discussions in France: diplomatic channels opened. Don’t forget Elana is coming to be with you. It’s all going to work out.”
Radtsic shook his head, comprehending what Monsford was saying. “I must speak to Andrei. Make things clear. He’ll come when he understands.… It’s taking a long time to reconnect to Paris … why can’t we go back to where the camera is, to be ready?”
Harry Jacobson appeared at the door, gesturing there was a telephone call.
“Wait here,” Monsford told the Russian. “I don’t want you coming near the television setup. I need to make sure it’s safe for you.”
When Monsford reached him Jacobson said: “Geoffrey Palmer wants you personally. And France is refusing to reestablish the link.”
“Tell them to keep trying,”
“I already have.”
“We’ve seen the replay,” announced Palmer, when Monsford identified himself. “What happened?”
“You saw what happened,” said Monsford, irritably. “Who else watched it?”
“All three of us. Why didn’t you tell Radtsic to hold his temper: to stay calm.”
“I did,” snapped Monsford, the irritation more at knowing Aubrey Smith had seen the transmission than at Palmer’s facile questions. “What is the embassy saying in Paris?”
“They’re still trying to reach someone who’ll talk to them.”
“Elana said she wants to come.”
“I told you we saw it,” said Palmer. “We also saw Andrei refuse and call his father a traitor. What’s his reaction been?”
“He wants to talk to Andrei. He thinks he can persuade him to change his mind if he can speak to him.”
“I’m not. Neither are the others. And even though they haven’t made direct contact, the embassy don’t think it’s a technical breakdown. They’re sure the French-which means the Russians-carried out their threat when Radtsic started shouting.”
“It’s too early to judge,” insisted Monsford, anxious to escape from the Foreign Office mandarin.
“The judgment being made here in London is that the whole episode has been a complete disaster,” said Palmer.
And I know the bastard who’s promoting that verdict, Monsford thought. “I’ve got to get back to Radtsic.”
“What you’ve got to do is sort this mess out,” said Palmer, putting down the phone ahead of the other man.
He’d have to take the risk, Charlie accepted, as the train came into Kurskaya. No one against whom he was tensed appeared during the six-minute journey between stations, which left two suspect MI6 officers unaccounted for as well as Neil Preston, who, from their standard of tradecraft so far, could still lead the MI6 hunters back to him after cell-phone contact with Wilkinson. If, that is, they were still somewhere on the train. Or waiting at one of the intervening stops farther along the line, ready to board.
It seemed a relatively slow entry, giving Charlie a platform sweep, and he didn’t see a hostile face among the waiting passengers. But he was more vulnerable on a train than on a platform with a choice of exits and escape tunnels. The train came to its final halt as Charlie made his decision, abruptly pushing against passengers preparing to get off, ready to run with them if he saw unwelcome faces. Which, from Wilkinson’s instant recognition as he reached the man’s carriage, Charlie suspected his to be. Charlie scarcely paused or bent as he passed, saying, “Follow me, now!”