Brian Freemantle - See Charlie Run

The Director didn’t waste time with comment. The moment Charlie finished, Wilson said: ‘Harry Lu needs resolving first.’

‘I don’t really blame him, in the circumstances,’ said Charlie. He owed the man that at least, from their past friendship.

‘Him, his wife and his child?’

‘English residency,’ confirmed Charlie.

‘You really believe he’d do it?’

‘To get to America instead of England, as a second choice, sure he would,’ said Charlie. ‘Wouldn’t you?’

‘Yes,’ agreed Wilson, at once.

‘Is it possible?’ asked Charlie.

‘It’ll have to be made possible,’ determined Wilson.

‘I can tell him it’s fixed then?’

There was a hesitation from London and then the Director said: ‘Yes, you can tell him it’s fixed.’

‘He’ll want more than a promise.’

‘Everything will be available, at the High Commission.’

‘Which leaves the Americans,’ said Charlie, moving on.

‘Who insist they haven’t got Kozlov,’ said Wilson. Now it was Charlie’s turn to listen without interruption as the other man recounted the exchanges at Director level. Wilson did so in complete detail, even setting out the inconclusive analysis he and Harkness had attempted, afterwards.

‘Nothing about this makes any sense at all,’ said Charlie.

‘We’ve got the woman,’ reminded the Director. ‘That’s the one positive fact. And we’ve got to keep her.’

‘US military, with transport as well as CIA,’ said Charlie.

‘We’ll send another military pick-up, right away.’

‘The Americans will go for her,’ forecast Charlie. ‘That’s why they’re here!’

This time the pause was longer than any before. Finally Wilson said: ‘Hong Kong is too diplomatically sensitive, with the Chinese take-over so close, for a major incident.’

‘What about a naval boat: get her away at sea and transfer her later on, somewhere where the Americans couldn’t interfere?’ suggested Charlie.

‘There soon won’t be a department of the British government you haven’t involved in this!’ said the Director.

‘You plan to give her up then?’

‘Of course I don’t intend to give her up!’ said Wilson. ‘A ship is a possibility: I’ll check if there are any in the area.’

‘Anything more from Tokyo, on the plane explosion?’

‘Forensic reports will take days,’ said the Director. ‘So I think Cartright should come down to you: we can monitor the Tokyo investigation through the Air attache.’

‘I think he should come down, too,’ said Charlie. ‘And more people this time on the military aircraft.’

‘There’ll be enough,’ said Wilson. ‘This time there’ll be more than enough.’

‘We might have to move from Macao,’ warned Charlie. ‘There should be an established contact point.’

‘Harry Lu?’

‘How about through the station here?’

Wilson detected the doubt and said: ‘You unsure about Lu now?’

‘He’s well known in the colony,’ avoided Charlie. ‘There could be an intercept: I’m just minimizing risk.’

‘Composite Signals is way beyond my jurisdiction,’ said Wilson. ‘There’s going to be a hell of a row as it is.’

‘I’ve been told,’ said Charlie. ‘It’s still the most secure.’

‘I’ll try to fix it,’ sighed Wilson.

‘And the documents for Lu and his family?’

‘I’m hardly likely to forget, am I!’

When Charlie emerged, the escort and the duty officer were waiting, as the man promised. Charlie grinned and said: ‘Thanks again. We might be cooperating further.’

‘There’ll need to be specific instruction from London,’ said the man, at once.

‘Of course,’ said Charlie. He wondered if rules-and-regulation men like the duty clerk and Witherspoon screwed by numbered decree and then thought no; they probably didn’t screw at all.

‘Entry documents for a man on the suspect list!’ Harkness’s usually pink face was deep red now, flushed with outrage.

‘We don’t have any alternative.’

‘It’s blackmail!’

‘Yes,’ agreed the Director, evenly. ‘That’s exactly what it is.’

‘Muffin was specifically precluded from involving the man.’

‘He didn’t have any alternative either.’

‘It’s going to take months, placating the Foreign Office and the electronic surveillance division and clearing up the mess that the confounded man has caused,’ insisted the deputy.

‘Charlie’s got Irena Kozlov,’ pointed out Wilson. ‘That’s what he was sent out to do.’

‘There’ll need to be a lot of explanation, when he gets back.’

‘He’s got to get back yet.’

Harkness put his head to one side, in sudden thought. ‘The Foreign Office could always rescind Lu’s entry permission, once we got Irena Kozlov here, couldn’t they?’

‘I suppose so, if someone could show proper cause why he shouldn’t be allowed to stay,’ agreed the Director.

The planning meeting was convened, naturally, in Fredericks’ suite, everyone there except Jim Dale, who drew the first shift monitoring the commercial flights out of Kai Tak airport. In addition to the CIA men, Fredericks brought in the Special Forces colonel commanding the army group which had been brought in on the C-130, a hard-bodied, stiffly upright man named Jamieson who appeared vaguely uncomfortable in tropical civilian clothes and looked out of place in them anyway.

‘Well?’

The CIA supervisor directed the question to Winslow Elliott, the liaison with the local informants and stringers and the man coordinating the ongoing check of hotels.

Elliott shook his head. ‘Nothing, so far. We’re still checking out Kowloon …’ He looked needlessly at his watch. ‘Should be starting on the island any time.’

‘The bastard can’t just have disappeared: it’s not possible in a place as small as this!’ protested Fredericks. ‘What about cars? He must have used a vehicle!’

‘Nothing there either,’ said Elliott. ‘Still checking obviously.’ He was as anxious as the supervisor to nail Charlie Muffin but he didn’t like the way Fredericks appeared to be panicking.

‘There should have been something by now!’ said Fredericks.

‘We’ve only just started,’ reminded the reasonable Takeo Yamada, who was also concerned at their controller’s knee-jerk attitude.

‘Time we don’t have!’ insisted Fredericks, mouthing the much repeated injunction. He guessed he had three days before Langley began burning his ass: four at the outside. To the Green Beret colonel, he said: ‘What about leaving a minimum out at the airport and bringing in your guys, so we can section up the goddamned place grid-fashion?’

Jamieson made a doubtful rocking gesture with his hands. ‘I know Hong Kong: R and R’d here a lot, from ‘Nam. It’s not built that way. Cover all the obvious hotels more quickly than you are at the moment, maybe, but what if he’s holed up with her in some apartment? Don’t forget to the Chinese we’re “gweilos” — white ghosts or devils — not people they should help. House-to house stuff is never going to work.’

‘We’ve got to do more than just sit around and wait!’

‘The airport is the place and we’ve got that blocked,’ said Jamieson, positively.

Fredericks looked around at the assembled men and smiled, an expression that surprised them. ‘What’s the one edge we’ve got? Small, but still an edge?’ The smile stayed, at the shoulder-shrugs and head shaking. ‘Numbers,’ announced the huge man. ‘We’ve got numbers and Charlie Muffin is by himself. So what’s he got to do?’

‘Call in local help,’ accepted Levine.