Brian Freemantle - See Charlie Run

‘Wasn’t the car locked?’

Fredericks smiled, in further grudging admiration at Charlie’s attention to detail. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Kozlov seems to enjoy showing how good he is.’

Don’t we all, thought Charlie. He said: ‘Was the car alarmed?’

Fredericks nodded: ‘That too. He by-passed it. I checked with the guards. No one heard a thing.’

‘What did the note say?’ demanded Charlie.

‘Just that I was to go to the Expo site.’

‘No indication who it was from?’

‘No.’

‘Not even Russian?’

‘No.’

‘So why’d you go?’ said Charlie.

‘Because whoever it was who’d written it had got into a supposedly secure CIA car without anyone knowing about it,’ listed Fredericks. ‘Because whoever it was knew who I was; it was addressed to the CIA Resident. Because the word “Resident” was used, it had to be from someone who was in intelligence.’

‘All of which could have been setting you up.’

‘Wouldn’t you have gone?’

‘The note said something else,’ insisted Charlie. ‘It just didn’t say “Go to the site of Expo ’85”.’

Fredericks felt a renewed burst of anger at how easily the other man appeared to have backed him into a corner. ‘“I have killed and now I want freedom”,’ recited Fredericks. ‘That’s what it said.’

‘That the lot?’ insisted Charlie.

‘That was it,’ said Fredericks. ‘“I have killed and now I want freedom.” Expo site. 27 …’ He stopped and then added: “That indicated the date, February 27. The Swiss reception was on the 24th.’

It was coming, decided Charlie. Slowly — too slowly — but the snippets were there. Would there be enough, though, to build the sort of picture he wanted to see, to be satisfied? ‘Dramatic!’ he said.

‘Good enough to go,’ insisted Fredericks.

‘So it wasn’t at the first meeting you learned he was a killer?’ questioned Charlie. ‘You knew, from the note?’

‘If you want to be picky,’ sneered Fredericks.

‘I want to be picky,’ insisted Charlie. ‘So what happened, in the Hitachi Pavilion?’

‘I just wandered about,’ said Fredericks. ‘That first time he didn’t set out a route, like he has done since.’

More professionalism, recognized Charlie: the note could have been intercepted by someone other than Fredericks if Kozlov had been seen planting it, so the Russian would have needed as many escape routes as possible. He said: ‘Didn’t you have back-up?’

‘Two guys,’ said Fredericks. ‘That was the first occasion we got some photographs.’

‘If Kozlov knows the identity of every Agency person, he would have identified them.’

‘He did,’ admitted Fredericks. ‘He said he was glad I was a cautious person and just that time he would allow it, but in future it had to be one for one. Like I said, he enjoys proving himself.’

‘Has it been?’

‘Of course not.’

‘So you’ve endangered any crossing already?’

Despite the air conditioning, Fredericks was conscious of the perspiration moving down his back, a physical irritation to match the other he was feeling at having to make a further concession. ‘He didn’t tell me until the third meeting that he knew them all and I’m not convinced he does, anyway.’

‘You told me there have been four meetings,’ remembered Charlie. ‘Did you go to the fourth meeting by yourself?’

‘I told them all to be careful.’

‘How about the guy you sent after me?’ said Charlie. ‘Didn’t you tell him to be careful?’

‘Kiss my ass!’ said Fredericks, in a fresh eruption of anger. ‘I’m not answerable to you!’

Charlie was as unperturbed as before, aware of how successful it had been to anger the man and juggle the interview. He wondered if Fredericks realized the importance of what he had just admitted. ‘Let’s go back to the first meeting,’ he said, quietly.

Fredericks blinked again, assembling his disarrayed thoughts, and said: ‘I said he was nondescript and he is. That time he was alongside me before I realized it and it’s happened that way since. He thanked me for coming …’

‘In English …?’

‘He speaks it very well …’ resumed Fredericks. ‘It’s an unusual theatre. It revolves in front of various stages. I’d taken a seat and was just watching the show, thinking the whole thing was some sort of dumb hoax. And then there he was, suddenly beside me. Like I told you, he thanked me for coming …’

‘Just like that? “Thank you for coming”?’

‘Yes.’

‘No!’ said Charlie.

‘What the hell do you mean, no?’

‘You said he knew your name?’

The American began feeling drained. He said: ‘“Thank you for coming, Mr Fredericks.”’

‘Mr Fredericks? Or Art Fredericks?’

‘Does it matter, for Christ’s sake!’

‘Of course it matters,’ said Charlie. ‘Mr Fredericks indicates some subservience: that he was uncertain. Art Fredericks would show that he was proving himself again. Haven’t you ever carried out any in-depth debriefings?’

Fredericks hadn’t, but wished now that he had. ‘He used my first name. He said: “Thanks for coming, Art. That is your name, isn’t it? Art Fredericks?”’

‘Exact words?’

‘Exact words.’

‘What then?’

‘I asked him what he wanted.’

‘How?’

‘This is ridiculous!’

‘How did you ask?’ persisted Charlie.

‘I said: “OK, I’ve come here: what is it all about?”.’

‘You sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure!’

‘You’d gone to an exhibition after a mystery note in a locked car, wandered about for a long time, sat down in a theatre believing you were wasting your time, and suddenly a man sits beside you and says “Thanks for coming, Art. That is your name, isn’t it? Art Fredericks?” And you didn’t ask him how he knew your name!’

‘Of course I asked him!’

‘Then?’

‘Yes!’

‘That wasn’t what you said.’

The drained feeling worsened. ‘I asked him how he knew my name and he said he knew all the names … that he knew the two who were with me that day …’

‘Did he …?’

Fredericks nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘By name?’

‘Yes.’

‘Which was?’

‘That’s not important.’

‘A sparrow you saw pissing in the next field is important. Who were they?’

‘Harry Fish and Winslow Elliott.’

Cartright was right, Charlie recognized. ‘Used them since?’

Fredericks paused. ‘They’re experts!’

‘You’re not!’ accused Charlie, wanting the man’s anger again.

‘There’ve been a lot of places to cover: five or six each time.’

Got it! thought Charlie. If Fredericks conducted the meetings and had an extra man at each, that meant a minimum of six, against him. He would have expected more. ‘You asked him again how he knew?’

‘Yes,’ said Fredericks. Maybe he’d let Elliott loose on this guy.

‘And?’

‘He said it was his job to know. Although his English was very good, like I said, I guessed from the accent he was Russian. I said what was his job and he said he was KGB …’

‘He said that!’ demanded Charlie. ‘He said KGB?’

‘Yes.’

Charlie caught the doubt again and said: ‘You sure? Absolutely sure?’

‘He used a Russian word and I said I didn’t speak Russian and he said KGB,’ recalled Fredericks.

Charlie wondered whether to prompt the other man and decided against it. ‘You can’t remember what it was?’

‘I told you, I don’t speak Russian.’

He wouldn’t give it to Fredericks, decided Charlie. The awkward bugger wasn’t giving him anything without a struggle.