Charlie didn’t hesitate on the platform, either, striding on now agonized feet to the linking tunnel to the Metro services’ third, Arbat-designated line, hunched against an identifying challenge, which didn’t come. Charlie pulled to the rear of the platform, satisfied at last with Wilkinson’s following arrival. The man didn’t repeat his earlier recognition but came to the same platform section, close to the wall. Charlie’s concentration was beyond the man, seeking pursuit, relieved at seeing only strangers. He moved toward the first incoming train, bringing Wilkinson with him, but hung back for the man to board first, relieved again that Wilkinson chose a separate, two-person side bench sufficiently isolated from other passengers.
“I’m never going to take another metro,” greeted Wilkinson, as Charlie slumped beside him.
“Nor am I,” said Charlie, gratefully stretching out his overworked feet. He’d got away with it but the Metro merry-go-round had proved more difficult than he’d imagined and the sucked-in street-level pollution was worse than he’d remember, even during his earlier reconnaissance. “I’m relying on guesswork. Start from my plane disappearance.”
What in Charlie’s opinion Wilkinson lacked in tradecraft he more than compensated for in succinct recall and Charlie didn’t interrupt, abandoning his intended train change at the central hub, continuing on instead to the Arbat, where it was quicker anyway to transfer to the south-to-north Sokol’niceskaja route. It still took another ten minutes for Wilkinson to finish. “Smith believes you’re in genuine, physical danger. He ordered me to tell Briddle there’s no longer any partnership: that all cooperation is over. Smith’s trying to get Monsford’s people withdrawn, but there’s no sign of it happening.”
“You let them follow you today. That was stupid,” openly accused Charlie.
“I was sure I’d slipped Beckindale.”
“Denning was with Preston, too. Why bring Preston with you, believing MI6 want me eliminated. Why weren’t Preston and Warren decoys, drawing them away!”
“Smith’s orders are that we provide maximum protection.”
“On today’s showing I’m safer on my own.”
“It was a mistake and I’m sorry.”
Charlie shrugged, dismissively. “Radtsic’s definitely in London, right?”
“Yes.”
“And Elana and the boy are held in France?”
“As of yesterday. I haven’t heard anything new today.”
“Why is Smith so convinced Monsford’s planning a move against me? Where’s Monsford’s gain doing this?”
Wilkinson matched Charlie’s earlier shrug. “Smith doesn’t know, not yet. He might have learned more since we last spoke. But isn’t it about time you told me what the hell you’ve been doing.”
He had to be careful, Charlie knew. Natalia’s extraction value was hugely increased by her secondment to the Lvov investigation but that value would be quadrupled by keeping her in place and using him as a conduit. “Before we get to the details there’s something important to pass on to London. Which means your getting some background. We misinterpreted Natalia’s calls to London: she was interrogated after the Lvov affair. I was identified during it, which threw up something that happened a long time ago: she debriefed me, after I worked a phoney defection. That’s what brought her under suspicion after Lvov. But she’s been cleared. And now she’s been appointed to one of at least eight separate damage-limitation teams to investigate Radtsic’s complete background to discover who turned him.”
“She’s got access to Radtsic’s records?” demanded Wilkinson, incredulously.
Enough, decided Charlie. Now he had to ensure against a London insistence that Natalia remain in place. “She and a lot more, to prevent any one person getting a comprehensive overview: that’s why it’s being split between so many different initial analysts. Anything they find is to be passed on to other groups for further examination. Her secondment is strictly limited: I don’t how short.”
“It’s still an incredible opportunity,” gauged Wilkinson.
“A gold mine,” expanded Charlie, pleased at the reaction. “That’s what you have to tell London, for them to realize how much more important it’s become to get her out.”
“But not before she’s got everything she can: not until she has to leave her group.”
“Of course not,” agreed Charlie, satisfied.
* * *
The train had passed the circle-line intersection without any MI6 presence but Charlie maintained his usual caution, jerking up without warning at Dmitrovskaya, knowing there was a conveniently close although neglected postage-stamp park in which he could end their meeting as well as observe his pursuit precaution.
“There’s not a lot more to discuss at this stage,” he resumed, choosing a bench that kept the Metro’s single entrance and exit in sight. “I met with Passmore after the general session at Vauxhall Cross.”
“I know. The Russian passports were shipped separately, direct to me.”
“Unknown to the three from MI6?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
“Those are the ones I want. As well as twenty-five thousand pounds, all in U.S. dollars.”
“What about tickets?”
“The twenty-five thousand is traveling expense.”
“Traveling about which you’re not going to give me any details?”
“No. But I want you to be overheard by the others discussing the Polish exit.”
“We’re not to be involved at all, are we?”
“No.”
“That’s ridiculous,” protested Wilkinson. “You’re not just an FSB target: I’ve just told you Smith’s convinced our own side might even want to kill you. You spell out how much more important Natalia has become: why it’s imperative she gets to England. And cap the whole fucking thing telling me you’re going to do it all by yourself.”
“I’m still free because I know how to stay that way. And I performed the Amsterdam vanishing trick because Monsford’s involvement stank from the beginning and now we know why.”
“No, we don’t,” rejected Wilkinson. “We don’t know why you’re at risk from Monsford. I accept we fucked up this morning. You’ve got every reason to be pissed off. But you’ll fail, trying to run the extraction entirely alone. And you know it!”
And Aubrey Smith wouldn’t allow it either, Charlie accepted. And could forbid the passport handover. “I don’t intend running the extraction alone: of course that’s impossible. You’ll all be part of it at the very end. It’s the logistics I’m compartmenting, just as the FSB are compartmenting their Lvov investigation. You’ve got MI6 in permanent pursuit: I haven’t. I can move about, make the plans. You can’t.”
“Aubrey Smith still won’t sanction it,” warned Wilkinson.
“He wouldn’t have liked people from whom he believes I’m in physical danger being led to me this morning,” said Charlie.
“How will I get the passports and money to you, if London approves?”
“I’ll call you, personally, at the rezidentura.”
“I might not get a quick response from London, with so much going on elsewhere.”
“Nine o’clock tomorrow morning, as it’s striking,” said Charlie. “And I know you’ll try to follow me when we split up and my feet hurt too much to fuck about losing you, so I’ll come with you back to the Metro to know where you are.…” He took the London-issued cell phone from his pocket. “Did you pick up the tracker signal?”
“After your first call,” admitted Wilkinson.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” asked Charlie, glad he’d followed his instinct.