Brian Freemantle - See Charlie Run

He entered into the performance with the map again and this time her reaction was more hesitant. Irena dropped the contents into the same bag as the passport and said: ‘What is that?’

‘Your airline ticket,’ said Charlie. ‘At six o’clock tonight there’s a Japanese Airline flight from Osaka to Hong Kong …’ Charlie glanced at his watch, glad once more that she had got on at the beginning of the tour. ‘You’ll make it easily. There’s a Bullet train at three: the reservation is with your airline ticket …’

‘But …’ the woman started to protest, and Charlie was immediately doubtful about the confidence, after all.

‘But nothing,’ stopped Charlie, in turn. ‘Yuri is going to the Americans today?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘They’re taking him out too,’ announced Charlie.

‘I have not packed,’ groped the woman.

‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ said Charlie. ‘You didn’t think you were going to walk out of the Soviet embassy carrying a suitcase!’

‘Small things. Personal. Mementoes …’ she tried.

Charlie shook his head. ‘It’s over, Irena. New life for the old: No mementoes, no nothing.’ It was astonishing, how often they asked.

‘I thought we’d go from here, from Tokyo. A military plane.’

‘This way is better,’ insisted Charlie.

‘You’re coming with me?’ she said.

Charlie shook his head. ‘The Americans haven’t left me, from the moment I arrived. You know they’re behind, now. That’s how they expect to identify you, through me. Then snatch. Get the train, go to the airport and catch the flight. You’ll be met in Hong Kong by a man named Anthony Sampson. He knows your assumed name and what you look like. Just go with him.’

‘Where?’

‘To England.’

‘I thought I would be escorted.’

She meant protected: maybe the confidence was not so assured as he’d imagined. ‘You will be, from Hong Kong,’ he said. ‘A whole squad of men, all trained.’

‘When will I see Yuri again?’

‘A month,’ said Charlie. That’s the agreed arrangement, isn’t it?’

‘I didn’t expect …’ She stopped, unhappy with the word. ‘Think,’ she picked up, ‘that it would be like this.’

‘It’s important to do what no one expects, for it to succeed,’ said Charlie. ‘Didn’t Yuri warn you that the Americans would try to cheat?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘That’s what I am insuring against,’ he said.

‘Yuri will be protected?’

‘The Americans are ready.’

‘Yuri didn’t expect it to be as quick as this.’

‘The important thing — the only thing — is getting you both safely across,’ said Charlie.

‘I know that,’ she said.

‘And this is the way,’ he insisted.

‘You’re sure what the Americans intend?’

‘Positive,’ said Charlie. It wasn’t an exaggeration. Preparing the ground for later, he said: ‘I tried to explain to Yuri he would be safer if both of you came across to us, in the first place.’

‘We talked about it: it was a trick,’ she said dismissively.

‘I know what Yuri has done,’ said Charlie. ‘Don’t you think it’s naive, expecting the Americans to take no action?’

‘I will be his protection,’ she said. ‘That’s how we planned it.’

Charlie decided any further pressure would be wrong at this stage.

‘I never imagined it would be like this: the moment, I mean.’

‘It will be all right,’ insisted Charlie, encouraging now. ‘A train ride, a short flight and you’re safe. No one, apart from Sampson and myself, even knows the cover name.’

She sniggered, a nervous reaction. ‘Rose Adams,’ she said. It’s … it’s …’

Not big enough, thought Charlie, looking at her. ‘Easy to remember,’ he reminded. ‘And you will remember it; the name that took you out to a brand new life.’ He wished it hadn’t sounded like a commercial for soap powder or a laxative.

‘Thank you,’ she said, suddenly. ‘It’s a sensible arrangement: clever, too.’

‘And simple,’ Charlie said, as he’d agreed with Sampson. For an operation that in London had risked being one of the most difficult it had, in the event, turned out to be one of the easiest. He said: ‘In the wallet, with the airline ticket, there is some money. You shouldn’t need it. Just in case.’

‘You’ve been very thorough,’ she said.

‘So were you and Yuri,’ said Charlie.

‘It’s very important nothing goes wrong.’

‘It won’t!’ said Charlie. ‘Trust me when I say it won’t!’

‘I could be in England by tomorrow?’

‘There’s quite a wide time difference, but yes,’ agreed Charlie.

‘Will you be my case officer?’

The expertise was reasserting itself over the nervousness, Charlie decided. He said: ‘I’m not sure. Maybe. Maybe not.’

‘You’re normally operational then?’ she asked, appearing to want to prove herself.

‘I do all sorts of things,’ side-stepped Charlie. Tradecraft did not allow him to discuss his status or working life with her. Actually his was a pretty accurate self-description: a general dog’s-body.

‘There won’t be any misunderstandings about the conditions, if it’s someone else?’

It was developing into a rapid recovery. He said: ‘Of course not!’

She seemed to become aware of the tour and said: ‘I need to get off at the first stop?’

‘Yes,’ said Charlie at once. ‘Give yourself as much time as possible.’

‘I’m nervous,’ she admitted.

‘I’d be worried if you weren’t,’ said Charlie. ‘What else can you be? Everything is going to be all right.’

‘We spent months planning this. Now it’s all happening so quickly.’

‘The way it’s got to be done,’ insisted Charlie.

‘Sampson will be waiting at the airport?’

‘I guarantee it,’ said Charlie.

‘There’s nothing else?’

‘All very simple,’ reiterated Charlie.

‘It is,’ she agreed.

Charlie realized she was searching for words, not wanting to end the conversation. It was a symptom he knew, the reluctance to let go at the very moment of cutting adrift. It was fortunate the decision was being taken for her. He said: ‘We’re getting into Shibuya-Ku: the first stop is there, at an Olympic memorial and a shrine.’ With so many shrines, the gods should be on their side.

Irena breathed in, preparing herself, as the coach pulled off the highway into the car park. Remembering, Charlie swivelled in his seat, seeing the Nissan follow. Conscious of his movement, the woman turned too. As the Americans got out of the vehicle, she said: ‘Elliott is the fatter one, with the receding hair. Levine is the one driving, wearing the patterned sports jacket.’

‘Get away from me,’ warned Charlie.

She moved at once, slotting herself in with the disembarking tourists. Charlie waited in his seat, letting everyone else get off ahead of him, managing further delay by carefully looping the strap of the travel bag across his shoulders before getting off. The guide shepherded them into some sort of order and Charlie saw that Elliott and Levine had attached themselves. Irena was at the far side and Charlie recognized again how good she was, remaining with the group until the best opportunity arose and not attracting attention to herself by immediately splitting away. Dutifully they filed towards the Meiji Jingu temple and Charlie moved nearer to the guide, attentive to the commentary, totally ignoring Irena Kozlov. The two Americans closed up, clearly oblivious to her as well, and Charlie felt the jump of satisfaction.

Irena made her break at the huge entrance gate and did it so well that for several moments Charlie himself wasn’t aware she was no longer one of the party. Still outwardly the rubber-necking tourist, he was tightly alert to Elliott and Levine. Both stayed within feet of him, and Charlie allowed the boast and thought, you’ve done it, my son: and come up smelling of violets. It was important for Charlie Muffin always to win: that’s what made him so good. He looked obviously at his watch, aware the gesture would register with the two shadowing men. Twelve forty-five. Sampson would soon be airborne, Fredericks would be linking up with Kozlov, and Irena had more than enough time to catch her train. Frequent as they were, Charlie guessed she might even be able to get an earlier one. He tramped on, experiencing the first twinge of discomfort and accepting that his feet were going to give him hell, after all this walking: no one would ever fully know the things he did for Queen and country. There was the pause for picture-taking at the shrine and Charlie resisted the temptation to sit, adopting instead an eagerness he hoped the two Americans would discern, imagining an anticipated approach. He remembered that Kozlov had selected a shrine, the night of their meeting, and wondered if the two men had trodden any other tourist routes, during the negotiations with the Russian. More than likely, he supposed.