Free Red Star Falling: A Thriller by Brian Freemantle

than what might help Charlie,’ responded the woman. ‘It was she who mentioned Radtsic but only to make her point of Charlie knowing or having discovered something during the lost week. And let’s not overlook what else she said: that MI6 could have been the only source for Charlie’s information, whether it was Radtsic by name or just a mysterious “something,” which is my interpretation.’
    ‘An MI6 source doesn’t fit with what we know,’ protested Smith, turning to the other man. ‘I need our three back. What’s happening to them?’
    ‘Neil Preston’s booked on this morning’s direct Sheremetyevo flight to Heathrow. Peter Warren’s at the airport, to see if he makes it. In last night’s diplomatic bag to Moscow I sent a new passport, with all the necessary documentation for Wilkinson. It’s in the name of Paul Mason. If Preston gets out, we could put Wilkinson on the lunchtime flight: we’ve already made a reservation. If Preston’s intercepted, Wilkinson’s on the eleven A.M. express to Poland. The flight from there will get him into London at 2300 tonight.’
    ‘I wanted him here today,’ reminded Smith, in his customarily flat voice.
    ‘ Safely here tonight,’ qualified Passmore, heavily. ‘This route is the quickest and gives us that safety.’
    ‘Does it ensure it?’ questioned the Director-General.
    ‘No,’ conceded the operations director. ‘I judged it our best chance.’
    ‘What about Warren, either way?’ asked Jane.
    ‘I’m keeping him there, whatever happens,’ said Passmore. ‘I’m briefing our man for Charlie’s access delegation later today: the entire group is being assembled in readiness from here. The Foreign Office want as little connection as possible with the compromised Moscow embassy to avoid the Russians pulling another trick to exacerbate our embarrassment. Moscow’s finally agreed to a delegation meeting with the Manchester tourists, too: they’ll all go from here, distanced from the embassy for the same reason. I’ve got one of ours in that group. Warren will be the dedicated conduit for both our officers.’
    ‘And despite all the distancing efforts, every single move of both delegations will get maximum media exposure to be relayed around the world to stoke the pressure upon us,’ anticipated Smith, objectively.
    ‘Has Moscow actually agreed to diplomatic access to Charlie, after delaying over the Manchester group for so long?’ asked Jane.
    ‘No,’ admitted Passmore. ‘It’ll obviously depend upon how much humiliation they’re determined to achieve. I’m guessing we’ll get to Charlie more quickly to provide footage of a sorry trail of British diplomats getting on and off aircraft.’
    ‘Are we thinking clearly enough?’ asked Smith, rhetorically. ‘We suspected Monsford was planning something but didn’t know what it was; told Wilkinson to warn Charlie. But before Wilkinson opened his mouth, Charlie told him he wasn’t working with his assigned MI6 group. Which makes Natalia’s suggestion that MI6 was Charlie’s source absurd: downright impossible.… Or does it?’
    The others remained silent, waiting.
    ‘Go back through Charlie’s file,’ Smith picked up. ‘Jacobson and Halliday made up the MI6 rezidentura in Moscow. Did either of them overlap Charlie’s Lvov assignment there?’
    ‘The Lvov assignment that Gerald Monsford went practically insane trying to take over,’ reminded Jane. ‘Maybe it really is that, a genuinely insane preoccupation.’
    ‘Jacobson brought Radtsic out,’ said Passmore, in further recollection. ‘Presumably he’s still babysitting the man in a safe house somewhere.’
    ‘We’d never get near him in an MI6 house, any more than we’d let them get within a million miles of Natalia,’ said Jane.
    ‘We’d be close enough if Jacobson were called as a witness before the committee,’ said Aubrey Smith.
    ‘There’d need to be a reason for calling him,’ said Passmore. ‘You think the