Brian Freemantle: See Charlie Run

The Director was predictably up from his desk, propped against the radiator: the artificial leg fitted badly after the battlefield operation and it pained him to sit too long. He was a bonily thin man, with a large, hawkish nose, and when Charlie saw Wilson’s concertina-creased, elbow-patched suit he felt more comfortable about his own shirt and tie. Wilson’s appearance was in complete contrast to Peter Harkness. The deputy director was a small-featured, pink-faced man whose suits were always impeccably pressed, whose shirts were always hard-collared and whose hand-tooled brogues were always mirror-sheen polished. Before entering the service Harkness had trained as an accountant; if he’d had?5, Charlie would have bet Harkness was behind the expenses embargo.

‘Sorry I’m late,’ apologized Charlie, at once.

‘Some enquiry concerning the defector?’ asked the Director, giving Charlie the immediate escape.

‘Yes,’ said Charlie, gratefully. Sir Alistair Wilson was a good bloke, one of the few.

Harkness was sitting neatly in front of his superior’s desk, knees and feet properly together, saucer in one hand, teacup in the other. Charlie wondered if the man starched his underpants like he did his shirt collars: at least they stayed down. Harkness frowned up and said: ‘Are you all right? You don’t look well.’

‘Ate something that didn’t agree with me,’ said Charlie. He looked between the two men, going beyond the immediate impression of complete contrast. They were, he decided, a good combination. Wilson was a former Ghurka commander who specialized in jungle warfare and provided the entreprenurial brilliance and Harkness kept the books and made sure they balanced.

‘How’s that enquiry going?’ asked Wilson, easing himself into a more comfortable position in front of the window.

‘Not too badly,’ said Charlie, immediately cautious. He’d been around too long to say it was practically over and get shifted prematurely from one rotten job to another rotten job.

‘Could someone else take it over?’

Shit, thought Charlie. He said, still cautious: ‘Take a long change-over briefing. But it might just be possible.’ There was always the possibility, of course, that the job might be better and not worse: but that wasn’t the way his luck usually ran.

‘So it can be swapped?’ insisted Harkness, determined on a positive manner.

‘Yes,’ said Charlie, reluctantly.

The Director moved with stiff-legged awkwardness to the desk. Rose growing was the man’s hobby and at one corner was a vase of Pascali. He looked briefly down at some papers laid out in readiness and then smiled up at Charlie. ‘It’s good, Charlie; could be one of the best. But it won’t be easy.’

That was the trouble, thought Charlie: they never were. He said: ‘Another defector damage assessment?’

Wilson smiled, discerning the reason for the question. ‘It’s a defection,’ he said. ‘But definitely not another office job. Asia.’

The last vestiges of Charlie’s headache lifted. Back on the streets: his proper place. Gutters too, if necessary. Whatever, as long as it was operational. He said: ‘Where?’

‘Japan,’ said the Director.

‘Worked Tokyo twice,’ said Charlie. ‘Went well both times.’

‘Let’s hope it does this time,’ said Harkness. ‘It could be spectacular.’

Wilson went back to his papers and said, with dictated formality: ‘Yuri Kozlov is an operative of Department 8 of Directorate S of the KGB’s First Chief Directorate, currently attached to the Soviet embassy in Tokyo. For the past six months he has been negotiating with the Americans, to come over. They want us to share.’

‘Balls!’ said Charlie, at once.

Both men looked up at him, surprised.

‘Like you said,’ continued Charlie, ‘it could be spectacular. If Kozlov is genuine Department 8 then he’s a killer, a trained assassin. He could give details of assassinations that have been carried out and not been detected as such; maybe some indication of future targets. He could detail the training and be used for incredible propaganda, publicly disclosing that the Soviets actually train and despatch people to kill. To get something like that the CIA would think it was Christmas, every day. They wouldn’t let us or any other service within a million miles. And certainly not offer him, openly. It’s wrong.’

Wilson smiled again, at Charlie’s objections. ‘I agree with you, absolutely: on the face of it utter balls.’

‘Then I don’t understand,’ said Charlie.

‘The CIA don’t want to share. I bet they’re as mad as hell at the idea,’ continued Wilson. ‘But they haven’t got any choice. From the caution he’s showing, I think Kozlov is genuine. He’s got a wife, Irena. Also KGB. And also stationed in Tokyo. The deal — Kozlov’s deal — is that he’ll go over to the Americans and the wife comes over to us.’

‘Why?’ demanded Charlie, even more confused.

‘He’s openly told the Americans he doesn’t expect them to keep the promises they’re making, in their eagerness to get them over,’ took up Harkness. ‘The Americans have treated defectors badly in the past: milked them dry and then dumped them. And he knows it. Kozlov is taking out insurance, to see he gets everything. There’s to be no complete re-union until they’ve got all they’re asking for. Which would seem to be quite a lot …’ The neat man coughed, finishing his tea and placing it on the edge of the Director’s desk. ‘If they both went across to the Americans,’ resumed Harkness, ‘they’d only be guaranteed one income. Kozlov is demanding separate payments and pension arrangements, his from the Americans, his wife’s from us …’

‘Which we’ll pay, of course: the lot,’ said the Director.

‘They could be apart for years!’ said Charlie.

‘A further part of the deal,’ expanded the Director. ‘Conjugal visits, every month, on neutral territory, under our joint protection.’

‘I don’t like it,’ said Charlie. ‘It doesn’t feel right.’

‘Kozlov claims to have worked in England,’ announced Wilson.

‘Any trace?’ demanded Charlie. Whatever the uncertainties, it was obviously something they had to go for: go all the way.

‘Not under that name,’ said Wilson. ‘Doesn’t mean it isn’t true.’

‘We’re going to share everything with the Americans: they tell us what Kozlov says and we tell them what Irena says?’ asked Charlie.

‘That’s what the Americans are promising,’ said Harkness.

‘They won’t,’ insisted Charlie, at once. ‘They’re getting the better part of the deal, with Kozlov himself. They’ll just want us to get the woman out. From Kozlov we’ll only get the scraps.’

Wilson smiled, wolfishly. ‘Unless he tells us himself.’

Charlie answered the smile. ‘We snatch him, once they’re both across?’

‘It depends,’ said Wilson. ‘I’d prefer to convince him it would be better for them both to come to us in the first place.’

‘The CIA will try to do the same,’ said Charlie.

‘Of course they will,’ agreed Wilson. ‘I never thought it was going to be easy. That’s why it’s got to be you, Charlie. I want someone who can think dirtier. And quicker.’

‘Thanks for the character reference!’ said Charlie.

‘It’s the game, Charlie,’ reminded Wilson. ‘And there’s to be limited contact with the British embassy …’

‘To reduce any embarrassment if anything goes wrong?’ anticipated Charlie. How many times had he heard that?

‘It’s the same game,’ said Wilson. ‘Embassy for communication, nothing else.’ He slid a photograph of a young-looking man towards Charlie. ‘Richard Cartright. Young fellow, third posting. We’ll advise your arrival …’