Helena Halme - The Red King of Helsinki - Lies, Spies and Gymnastics

But as he stood there, thinking about how this country was gripped at all levels by the necessity to keep diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union sweet, Iain suddenly thought about the Friendship Trophy.

‘She came to talk to you?’ The Colonel said.

‘Yes.’ Iain was once again standing in the urine-smelling telephone box on Kasarminkatu. Opposite, a small kiosk selling tobacco, magazines and sweets was busy with people stopping to buy the evening paper. A newspaper placard outside read, ‘Charlie’s Angel actress to visit Finland’. Iain was cold. He’d been walking around Maija’s block since four-thirty. At six o’clock he decided to make the call.

‘And our friend?’ The Colonel asked.

‘Not seen him, Sir.’ Iain had a sudden urge to say ‘all quiet on the Eastern Front’ but knew the Colonel wouldn’t appreciate the joke. Instead he stamped his feet while he listened to the Colonel’s breathing.

‘And she knew who you were?’

‘No, Sir, she thought I was from the International Gymnastic Committee.’

‘Hmm. The civilians all there?’

‘Yes, the daughter came home at four and the mother five-thirty-six.’

‘Ok. But the situation with the gym teacher is not good. She is heavily involved with our friend. They were seen in the city together. Go home and I’ll let you know tomorrow how to proceed.’

‘Sir, there’s something else.’

As Iain made his way from Ullanlinna to the harbour, he pondered on a feeling that Kovtun was playing a game with MI6. It had been too easy to get rid of him last night at the Linnonmaa apartment. And why had he held both Pia and the Linnonmaa family hostage for so long? As some kind of a warning to them? It didn’t seem as though he’d planned to take Pia, but then told the girl to listen to Miss Joutila and even mentioned the Tournament.

As Iain saw the outline of the Geordie Gunboat, a dull grey bulky shape against the white frozen sea behind it, he knew he shouldn’t visit the ship again, the Colonel had been quite clear about that. But this was urgent. He hoped the old man would see it that way too. He’d have to convince the Colonel that his theory on what Kovtun was planning was feasible. He’d use what he had found out from Miss Joutila as an indication that Pia was in grave danger during the Friendship Tournament. After listening to the two men in the tram, Iain was convinced his theory was right. At Monday’s competition the cat and mouse game Kovtun had them in would come to a close.

The Colonel was puzzled, Iain could tell that much. But he didn’t want Iain to see that he had no idea what Kovtun was planning. He muttered something about, ‘Helsinki and Moscow, eh.’ The Colonel told Iain Kovtun used the Tournament as decoy to keep his comrades at the Soviet Embassy off the scent, but Iain wasn’t convinced. Neither was he convinced by the assurances from their Finnish contact that the Linnonmaas were now safe.

‘It isn’t for us to question our host country’s word.’ the Colonel said dryly.

If only Iain could talk to the Finnish contact directly. But naturally the Finns weren’t able to have any detectable links to the disappearance of such a high-ranking KGB officer from Helsinki. Iain understood that. The Colonel assured him, ‘There is no resistance, nor effort to stop the defection from the Finnish side. Seems they’re glad to get rid of the chap.’

‘How do we know Heikki and Sasha are KGB informants? From our Finnish contact?’ Iain asked

The Colonel looked at Iain over his glasses, but said nothing. They were sitting in his cabin. The Colonel’s supper tray stood on the table between them. The bastard, Iain thought. He knew absolutely nothing about Heikki or Sasha! ‘Need to know, is it?’ Iain said sarcastically. Too sarcastically.

‘Look here, Collins. Sometimes we have to take a whisper, or a hint, seriously. It is quite possible…’

Iain got up. ‘And what about Pia’s involvement in the Tournament? Kovtun is keeping an eye on her, we know that. There must be a connection. Only a fool would not see it!’ Iain shouted. He was fed up with the pretence he now saw from the Colonel. As if he knew everything and divulged just as much as he was willing to Iain. He suspected the Colonel knew almost as little as he did.

‘Collins, that’s enough.’ The Colonel got up and was standing close to Iain. ‘Your job is to see to it that the Russian is delivered to us safely. We’ve known about the Tournament for a while now. We know Kovtun is planning some kind of procedure during it.’ The Colonel inhaled deeply.

Iain sat down. The Colonel did the same.

‘This man is violent. As far as we know he’s killed at least once in Stockholm. And then there’s the suspicious death of his secretary at the Embassy. In Helsinki a death of a civilian, a girlfriend say, would not even be investigated, so how many has he done away with here? This is the man we want in the West?’

‘Collins. I hope I don’t have to remind you the significance of the crypto to our navy?’

‘No.’

Neither man spoke for a while. Iain calmed down a little. He’d spent a few weeks in a submarine. He hadn’t enjoyed the lack of washing facilities, the cramped conditions, nor the hot bunking. It was strange to see the man who’d slept in the same bunk only fleetingly as you changed shifts. The submariners told him it was comforting to climb into a warm space after a cold night shift on the bridge when the sub wasn’t diving. But when Iain’s ship picked him up, he knew he’d not volunteer for submarines. His time in the sub made him admire the men who did it, tour after tour, spending weeks, even months out at sea, much of it under water. They had a kind of comradeship Iain had not seen before. He knew that if Kovtun delivered the Soviet cryptographic key card to MI6 the subs would be more efficient at plotting the Soviet navy’s paths. And spend less futile time underwater.

‘It’ll give us the edge, old boy,’ the Colonel said.

Iain sighed. He would just have to make sure Pia was safe. He got up, but the Colonel lifted his hand to stop him.

‘There is some news from the Soviet Embassy.’

Iain listened.

‘The secretary mentioned in Helsingin Sanomat . She was working for Kovtun.’

‘And?’ Had the Colonel forgotten Iain already knew this?

The Colonel snapped, ‘Don’t you see?’

Iain said nothing. He’d really had enough. He wasn’t going to play anymore guessing games.

The Colonel continued, ‘The Finns think she knew that Kovtun was in contact with us. So we must proceed as quickly as possible before his own side gets to him. All we can hope for is that Kovtun got to her before she reported back to Moscow.’

‘So you think she found out about the crypto codes he’s been passing onto us?’

The Colonel raised an eyebrow. On that first meeting at the British Embassy Iain had been told not to mention that Kovtun had been working for MI6. ‘Walls have ears and all that,’ he’d joked. Iain thought that since the Colonel had mentioned it now, the ship was a safe place to talk.

Eventually the Colonel nodded slowly.

Iain was silent for a moment. He was thinking that if Kovtun had killed the secretary there was no guarantee he’d got to her, as the Colonel put it, in time.

‘And why is the Finnish contact so keen to help us with him?’

‘Well, he’s not exactly made any friends here…’

Iain risked appearing stupid, again, ‘I’m not sure I follow, Sir. If they hate him so, why don’t the Finns just shop Kovtun to the KGB? I presume they know about his, hmm, divided loyalties?’

The Colonel didn’t say anything for a while. Surely he must have wondered this himself? Iain’s anger was rising again. He was tempted to get up and just leave. Eventually the Colonel took off his glasses. ‘Look, Collins, I know I haven’t always been straight with you, and I cannot tell you much. All I can say is that the Finns want our man in the West.’