Майкл Ридпат - Launch Code

Donna scowled. ‘OK. Pat was an assistant professor at Hunter College. She was also one of the foremost peace activists in New York. She was an organizer of that big Freeze anti-nuclear rally in Central Park in 1982 where a million people showed up. And she was a member of WAND — that’s Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament. I met her at the peace camp outside the Seneca nuclear weapons depot in upstate New York, and I stayed in touch with her when I got back to the city.’

‘Did she show any signs of communist sympathies? Or sympathies toward the Soviet Union?’

‘No!’ said Donna. ‘You guys should get this by now. We were opposed to nuclear weapons whoever had them. We were not opposed to the United States. And we certainly didn’t like Brezhnev — or Andropov I think it was then. I forget, they all died so quickly.’

‘What about the Gorky Trust Group?’ said Agent Watkins. ‘Did she ever mention that?’

‘Yes, she did,’ said Donna. ‘I remember her speaking about them. But they weren’t communists. The whole point about them was they were dissidents. They were a bunch of scientists mostly from the city of Gorky. I think it was a closed city then, no westerners could go there. The point is that they were against nuclear weapons just like we were.’

‘Did you ever meet them?’

‘Pat dealt with them mostly. But a physicist came to speak to us all once. What was her name? Boyarova?’

‘That’s correct. Irena Boyarova,’ Watkins said.

‘OK. Yeah, she spoke to us. She was inspiring, actually.’

‘She worked for the KGB,’ the other, shorter agent said. Agent Macdonald.

Donna just snorted.

‘We suspected it at the time,’ said Macdonald. ‘The KGB archive backs that up.’

‘But you just heard that Donna only met her once, and that was as part of a crowd,’ I protested.

Agent Watkins ignored my comment. ‘That wasn’t all the files said about Dr Greenwald. Mr Guth: did you ever meet Greenwald?’

‘Me? No.’

‘Or Irena Boyarova?’

‘Of course not.’

‘I see.’ Watkins paused. ‘Did you ever tell your wife about what happened aboard the USS Alexander Hamilton in November 1983?’

I hate lying. I might lie for my country; I had no desire to lie to my country. But I had no choice. I had known when I had decided to tell Donna everything that the day might come when a FBI agent might sit me down and ask me the kind of questions he was asking me now.

And I had decided then that if that happened, I would lie.

‘No, I didn’t. I mean, I told her that Lieutenant Naylor died in an accident. She knew Craig; she went to college with his sister. But I didn’t tell her anything else.’

The agent turned to Donna. ‘Mrs Guth. Did your husband tell you what happened on the submarine on that patrol?’

‘Er. I thought he had. He said Craig fell down a ladder and hit his head, but he didn’t die for several days. Was there something else?’

Donna glanced at me, with a look of puzzlement. Her face hardened. ‘Was there a radiation leak?’

I had never realized that my wife was such a good liar.

‘Not that kind of leak,’ said Watkins. ‘Everything that happened on board the USS Alexander Hamilton on that patrol is in the KGB’s files. And it came via Irena Boyarova.’

‘So where did she get it?’ I asked.

‘From an officer on the submarine. An officer who was there.’

‘And it’s not just the order to launch nuclear missiles,’ said Agent MacDonald. ‘There was other information too. About the organization of the submarine fleet in the North Atlantic. About targets. And technical details about the Poseidon missiles themselves.’

‘Do the files say which officer?’

‘No,’ Watkins replied. ‘But given Mrs Guth was then your girlfriend, and she knew Greenwald at the time, and Greenwald knew Boyarova, it seems natural for us to consider that it might be you.’

Donna looked at me in something close to panic.

I paused to think. ‘OK,’ I said. ‘I see that. Let me start by saying it wasn’t me. I never divulged what happened to anyone, let alone a Russian.’

‘OK,’ said Watkins. ‘If you aren’t responsible, do you know who is?’

I had no clue. No clue at all. I could see how I was the most likely spy. So likely, I was surprised they hadn’t already arrested me and bundled me off to some cell in the FBI building in Washington.

I immediately wondered whether I should start by coming clean about what I had told Donna. That she knew about the near-launch. But would that get her into trouble?

For a second I thought that maybe she had given the information to the KGB after all, or maybe just to Pat Greenwald in an innocent discussion about nuclear accidents. That was the most likely explanation.

But even that would be enough to place us both in deep trouble.

I exchanged glances with Donna. She was a smart woman. And by that stage we had been married for ten years. We knew each other very well. She knew what I was thinking.

And I knew there was something she wasn’t telling me.

That scared me.

She leaned back in the armchair. The three of us, me and the two FBI agents, watched her.

She spoke. ‘I told someone about Pat. About her contact with the Gorky Group. One of Bill’s fellow officers.’ She sighed. ‘Through Bill, he knew my politics. He wanted me to put him in touch with a peace activist who had contacts with Russia. I thought he just wanted to join the cause. It never occurred to me he would want to give away secrets.’

‘Who?’ Agent Watkins asked.

‘Commander Driscoll.’

Saturday 30 November 2019, Norfolk

‘So that’s who Pat Greenwald was,’ said Bill. He took a last spoonful of soup, which was cold by now, and sat back in his chair.

‘Wait,’ said Megan. ‘Wasn’t Commander Driscoll the captain?’

‘That’s right,’ said Bill. ‘It’s confusing. The captain of a nuclear submarine usually has the rank of commander.’

‘Didn’t he kill himself?’ said Toby.

Bill breathed in deeply and nodded. ‘Yes, he did. A few months after the near-launch incident. We all thought it was because he couldn’t get over what happened then. But maybe it was because he told the Russians stuff he shouldn’t have. Who knows? It’s very sad.’

‘Did the FBI investigate him?’ said Megan.

‘Probably,’ said Bill. ‘I don’t know. I never heard any more about it. I didn’t ask, and they didn’t tell me. My guess is they dropped it. Nobody wanted to bring up the near-launch, even after the Cold War was over.’

‘What about Pat Greenwald?’ said Megan. ‘Did the FBI investigate her?’

Bill shrugged. ‘No idea.’

‘Does Admiral Robinson know all this?’ Toby asked.

‘Yes he does. I told him at the time. He told me to forget it.’

‘Part of the great cover-up?’

‘What can I say?’ said Bill.

‘Does Prestwitch know?’ said Toby.

‘I’m not sure.’ Bill frowned. ‘Probably not. I doubt that US intelligence would like to share that kind of screw-up with their allies. Why do you ask?’

‘Because I told the police I would tell Prestwitch everything I knew about Craig’s death.’

‘Why would you do that?’ said Bill.

‘To help them find who killed Sam Bowen,’ Toby said. ‘And now Lars. And to get Alice out of jail.’

‘But I told you all about the Hamilton’s last patrol on condition you would keep it quiet.’

‘You made me sign the Official Secrets Act. Which is why I told the police I would talk to MI5. Then they can decide what to tell them.’