Proctor did not directly answer the look, forced into an admission of oversight. ‘No,’ he agreed. ‘You were never suspected.’
‘Always clever!’ said Crookshank, almost petulantly.
Always, echoed Levin, in his mind. He said: ‘I thought I had made it clear how important Shelenkov’s position was regarded. How he had to be protected, at all times.’
‘And we’ve rather drifted away from how we began this conversation,’ came in Myers, appearing irritated at his colleague’s digression. ‘So you’ve told us what Shelenkov looked like and talked about social chit-chat. As it was social chit-chat, where did you meet?’
‘Always in Shelenkov’s office, within the rezidentura.’
‘Never elsewhere.’
‘Certainly never outside of the embassy. Once… no I think it was twice… we had a drink in the embassy mess.’
‘Why?’
‘To pass a period of accountable time. As I said last time, Shelenkov liked to drink.’
‘To go to the mess was his idea?’
‘Everything always had to be initiated by him,’ said Levin. ‘He actually ranked as my superior officer.’
‘What did he drink?’ asked Norris.
‘Scotch whisky, usually. Sometimes vodka,’ replied Levin. He knew none of the questions were as inconsequential as they seemed: obviously they had another source, with which or with whom everything he said could hopefully be checked. Still very much on trial then: and would be, for a long time.
‘What can you remember of these conversations?’ pressed Myers.
‘Even in conversation I had to defer to Shelenkov, of course,’ embarked Levin cautiously. ‘He was a boastful man…’
‘… Tell me some of his boasts,’ interrupted Norris.
‘He would always laugh, sneering. Say he had never been suspected,’ said Levin.
‘He was wrong,’ insisted Crookshank, smarting from the earlier exchange. ‘He was suspected in Canada and came near to arrest in London, before he was transferred here, in 1985.’
‘From which time he successfully ran a spy accorded the highest priority in Moscow without once being detected by you, didn’t he?’ came back Levin. The remark was intended to deflate his constant antagonist but it was Proctor who was embarrassed by the immediately critical attention of the CIA committee. The Russian realized there might be protection in fomenting discord between the representatives of the two agencies: it was something to keep in mind.
‘What other boasts?’ persisted the CIA’s Russian expert.
‘He said something once about Latin America… the Caribbean Basin Initiative…’
‘One isn’t linked to the other,’ argued Norris.
‘Shelenkov linked them,’ insisted Levin.
‘How?’ demanded Myers.
‘Said something about it being inconceivable that you relied upon the sort of people you did in Latin America,’ recounted Levin. ‘Then he said he thought it was madness, the type of people whose word you accepted in the Caribbean. Said they were all drug dealers who only knew how to cheat.’
‘Wait!’ stopped Myers, actually holding up his hand. ‘This is important: very important. “You”. That’s the word you’re using. What or whom did you understand Shelenkov to be talking about? America as a country? Or the CIA, as an agency?’
‘The CIA of course,’ said Levin, as if he were surprised by their need for clarification. He spread his hands apologetically. ‘I am sorry,’ he said. ‘I was paraphrasing and that was wrong. What he said was that he thought it inconceivable that the Company relied upon such people in Latin America. Like I said last time, he used that expression…’
‘… I remember what you said last time,’ stopped Myers. On his own pad he wrote ‘Latin American desk’ and followed it with a hedge of exclamation marks, and Norris nodded back in agreement.
‘He definitely mentioned both: Latin America and the Caribbean?’ said Norris.
‘That is my recollection,’ agreed Levin. ‘You will appreciate that at the time I did not attach particular importance to it. Not as I do now.’
‘It’s important all right,’ said Myers, a personal remark.
‘What about countries: any countries?’ pressed Norris. There were sub-divisions and departments for each geographical unit and island, so without more definite leads it would still be a haystack hunt.
‘Never,’ said Levin, at once and unhelpfully. ‘It was a general remark, not specific’
‘What did you infer from what he said?’ came in Crookshank. ‘Could the remark not have been that he knew the quality of our informants from your own Soviet presence in the regions? Not necessarily that he had a source within this Agency?’
‘I do not think that would have been possible,’ said Levin.
‘Why not?’
‘The KGB division of which Shelenkov was then a member – of which I was a member – is limited entirely to the United States,’ lectured the Russian. ‘There is no liaison with other divisions concerned with the Caribbean or Latin America. So therefore no way he could have known. It had to come from somewhere here, internally.’ He was aware of Myers nodding, in agreement again. He would have thought he had by now given them enough to check and to investigate but they gave no indication of wanting to end the session. Levin wished they would. The concentration of remembering the rehearsed disclosures and revelations was physically draining him and he was frightened. Just one mistake, one slip, he thought, the perpetual warning litany.
‘Sure Nicaragua was not mentioned?’ persisted Norris, reluctant to give up.
‘I do not recall it.’
‘Honduras?’
Seeing a way to end the interrogation, Levin shrugged and said: ‘It doesn’t trigger any recollection.’
‘San Salvador?’
‘I don’t think so.’ Levin made himself a bet and won.
Crookshank said: ‘That’s neither a negative nor an affirmative, to the last three questions.’
‘It is difficult to be positive,’ protested Levin. ‘I need time to think, to recall…’
Once more Myers held up his hands in a placating gesture. ‘There’s no hurry, no pressure,’ he said reassuringly. ‘We got all the time in the world.’
‘I’ve been here for five hours,’ reminded Levin. He’d found the helicopter ride easier this time than on the previous occasion: he’d have to describe it in tonight’s letter to Natalia.
‘Let’s break,’ decided Myers, moving his hand again in a halting gesture when Levin started to rise. ‘Think on it, Yevgennie,’ he urged. ‘Try to remember as much as you can.’
‘I will,’ promised the Russian.
On their way back through the Langley grounds to the waiting helicopter, Proctor said: ‘I felt pretty stupid in there a couple of times, Yevgennie.’
‘You know why I held back about what I knew in the CIA,’ said Levin. ‘Nothing I did was intended to embarrass you.’
‘No more surprises about possible mistakes the FBI might have make. OK?’
‘OK,’ agreed Levin. Poor man, he thought.
‘I don’t like it,’ insisted Crookshank.
‘I sure as fuck don’t like it either,’ said Myers. ‘I’m supposed to be head of internal security, don’t forget. This isn’t a can of worms: it’s a whole fucking drum full.’
‘I mean Levin himself,’ argued the lawyer.
‘What’s not to like?’
‘The last time we talked of gossip and rumour, so that we have to drag from him the fact that he was a go-between,’ reminded Crookshank. ‘From what he said today, he was hugger-mugger enough with Shelenkov to be best buddies.’
‘That’s an exaggeration and you know it,’ disputed Norris. ‘I don’t find any difficulty at all in accepting his nervousness, the first time, against what he told us today. Kapalet came back with every confirmation we asked for. And look what more has come out today
…’ The Soviet expert extended his hand, ticking the points off by collapsing his fingers one by one. ‘He said Shelenkov prefers Scotch whisky, which from Kapalet we know he does. He said sometimes Shelenkov shifts to vodka, which from Kapalet we know he does. He said Shelenkov is a boastful son-of-a-bitch which from Kapalet we know he is because that’s how we started this whole affair in the first place. He describes Shelenkov as Kapalet describes him, physically…’ He was aware of Crookshank about to speak but shook his head against interruption. ‘Don’t tell me they’re small, unimportant points. They’re exactly the sort of small, important points which convince me that Levin is genuine and he’s got a lot to tell. And if you don’t like the unimportant points, don’t forget the most positive proof yet to come from Paris. According to Kapalet, Moscow has issued a kill order against the guy. You’re telling me they’d do that if Levin were a plant! Come on, Walt, for Christ’s sake!’