“Of course I do.”
“He tell you himself?”
“He didn’t have to. Pavel did.” And could have been killed for doing so, Charlie thought.
“Did he tell you Guzov’s a general? Sits on the top floor?”
“No, he didn’t,” admitted Charlie. There’d only be the night-duty officer at the embassy this late, Charlie calculated. He’d have to wait until tomorrow to find out anything more.
“Guzov will use you, in each and every which way he can,” warned the American.
“As I’ll use him,” said Charlie. “We all know the rules, Bill!”
“You’re here all by yourself. You really think you can compete with the resources he’s got?”
“I’ll do my best.”
“You know why Pavel got whacked?”
“You got any theories?”
Bundy shook his head. “The most obvious is that he had something. And from your hugger mugger press conference performance and how Svetlana spun her piece tonight, the even more obvious inference is that if he did have something, you’ve got it, too. Which I’d say makes you target numero uno, wouldn’t you?”
“It’s crossed my mind.” And was now very firmly fixed in the forefront of it, threatening the determination not to panic.
“You’re not impressing me with all this flip talk, Charlie. You’re in the crosshairs and you know it.”
So did Natalia, Charlie knew. And would think so even more if the accident was reported in any media. “Like I said, we all know the rules.”
“I also know we didn’t hit it off in the past to become friends. But I’m talking to you now at least as a colleague in the same business. . a concerned colleague.”
“I appreciate that,” said Charlie, keeping the disbelief from his voice.
“But I didn’t come here tonight to tell you that. Or about the accident.”
It had taken the American long enough, thought Charlie. “What then?”
“You didn’t call me back.”
“I was getting round to it.”
“You heard from London today?”
“No,” said Charlie. Which he’d expected to, after Pavel’s killing.
“My people at Langley have officially approached yours-MI6, too-with an offer to help in any way we can. Let’s face it, Charlie, you need all the help you can get.”
And probably a lot of protection, Charlie thought. “I don’t like armies. People get in other people’s way and mistakes happen. I’ve never liked the phrase ‘friendly fire.’ ”
“It was Langley’s idea. I just thought you should know before being told officially.”
Charlie was disappointed Bundy didn’t lie more convincingly. “You going to show Guzov the same consideration?”
“You know as well as I do how well-and how much-we’ve worked with the Russians in the past. As you have. But that’s not the game plan this time.”
“What is the game plan this time?” Charlie echoed.
“We work through you.”
“Without telling Guzov?”
“This investigation has become too public. The FSB couldn’t risk the embarrassment of it becoming known that we’re on board too. Let’s face it: this thing is leaking faster than the Titanic.”
“Much faster,” accepted Charlie, at least recognizing his way out of an American involvement, even if there were an official edict from Aubrey Smith.
“That’s another good reason for the linkup. You could transfer everything to the leak-free security of our embassy here: cut that problem out of the loop.”
For linkup read takeover, thought Charlie, astonished at the unashamed hubris. “You seem to have thought it through to the end.”
“We’re offering help, Charlie.”
“I’m sure London will appreciate that as much as I’ve already told you I do.”
“I look forward to talking more tomorrow.”
“I guess we will.”
Bundy, who hadn’t bought a drink, fingered the till receipts of those that Charlie had purchased. “You need these for your expenses?”
“Be my guest,” invited Charlie.
“Remember what I said about taking care. . physical care, I mean,” said Bundy, pocketing the slips.
“I will,” promised Charlie.
It was very easy after an almost sleepless night for Charlie again to be at the embassy by seven the following morning, sitting low but alert in the back of a taxi he’d insisted draw right up to the Savoy steps. The overnight duty officer didn’t know anything more than Bundy, the previous night, nor was there any further information on the Tass slip, which Halliday had left in his original office, inscribed with his name and a lot of question marks.
To fill in the time, Charlie coordinated the advantage of his early arrival with the time difference between London and Moscow to reach the Director-General the moment the man arrived at Thames House, and sat unspeaking for thirty minutes listening to Aubrey Smith’s account of Whitehall and American embassy meetings the previous day. When Smith finished, Charlie bluntly declared: “No!”
After a moment’s surprised silence, Smith said, “Bringing in MI6-despite my personal dislike and suspicion of MI6’s Director Gerald Monsford-and the CIA are convincing arguments. We get a lot of extra manpower without risking any more from our own department. We get out of a leaking embassy, to which I’m sending Robertson back to finish the job he clearly hasn’t. And if it ends up in a disaster, which there’s every indication it will, we offload a hell of a lot of responsibility on to the Americans and our doubtful MI6 friends across the river at Vauxhall Cross.”
“It’s a bullshit argument that scarcely stands examination,” rejected Charlie. “It’s an attempted takeover of an investigation that has to remain under our control. Were you told at the American embassy that Langley wants to work unofficially, without telling the FSB?”
From the silence Charlie knew the Director-General hadn’t been. “Not in as many words.”
“Let me spell it out without any inference,” demanded Charlie. “Okay, I know Guzov will cheat on me just as I’ll cheat on him if it’s necessary or advantageous for either of us. But at the moment we are talking as fully and properly as we can expect: Harry Fish tells me the material Guzov made available hadn’t been tampered with or doctored in any way. If the Russians learn we’re letting Washington in by the back door, the slamming of the front, right in our faces, will make a noise you’ll hear all the way over there. There’s a 101 percent chance I’d be expelled, along with a diplomatic Ice Age that will take years to thaw. And Moscow will be in the position they’ve wanted to be from the beginning of this, in charge of everything, able to fudge everything and anything they want, particularly the bugging of the embassy in which there’s still an undetected informer. And Washington will lie, insist we’d asked for unofficial help on the side, and come out squeaky clean. Which is probably their intention from the beginning: my guess is that the Russians would learn about it from Washington. And from, what you’ve inferred about Monsford, Christ knows what MI6’s contribution would be!”
“You lost me about three turns back,” complained Aubrey Smith, although without any irritation.
“What reason is there for America getting involved in something that has nothing to do with them? The CIA and the American administration aren’t charities, for Christ’s sake! Try this scenario. We accept the American offer, they leak it to Moscow claiming we sought their help, which they refused. Russia gets full control, we get frozen in the new and personal Cold War, and in a matter of months a new Russian president-a new Russian president who seems to be the only item on the agenda of the American embassy here-gets sworn into office. Who do you think’s going to be invited to form a new special relationship, London or Washington?”
Almost reflectively, Smith said. “This all began with the shooting of a one-armed man in a?20 suit and cardboard shoes.”
“The First World War began with the shooting of an Austrian Archduke by a student in a?5 suit and cardboard shoes,” reminded Charlie. “It’s not the perfect analogy but it’s the closest I can think of, so it will have to do.”