Free Goodbye to an Old Friend by Brian Freemantle Page A

by genuine,’ countered Adrian.
    â€˜Don’t play with me, Dodds,’ said Ebbetts, irritably. ‘Say what you mean.’
    â€˜I believe the man who defected to our embassy in Paris and whom I have spent two days debriefing in Sussex is Viktor Pavel, who, with Alexandre Bennovitch, forms Russia’s most important space team,’ replied Adrian, formally. He was irritated by the posturing of the other man and determined not to be pressured.
    â€˜What then?’ asked the Premier and Sir William came in with ‘What then?’
    â€˜I am suspicious of the man …’ began Adrian, but the Premier cut him off. ‘I know, I know. I’ve heard from Binns all about your impressions that don’t have an ounce of evidence to back them up.’
    Adrian sighed, feeling that the Premier had made up his mind on a course of action before the meeting began.
    He tried again. ‘In any defector, the impressions, the feelings, if you like, that you are dismissing so quickly are important. Often men who are anxious to get asylum give the impression that their importance is far greater than it is …’
    â€˜For God’s sake, man, Viktor Pavel is probably the cleverest space scientist Russia has ever produced … the cleverest man there’s been for years. He’d make Einstein look like a fifth-former. Bennovitch is important, but even he doesn’t compare. You’ve said that yourself. We can’t begin to challenge Pavel’s knowledge because we haven’t got anyone in this country, or in the West for that matter, on the same level. What the hell’s all this talk about “impressions of importance”?’
    Adrian experienced a wave of nervousness and tried to subdue it. This meeting could decide his future with the department.
    â€˜I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m expressing myself badly, but I meant to go on, beyond that. I’m not questioning Pavel’s brilliance. I’m not questioning, either, the incredible value he could have for Western space advances. I’m unsure of the motives of the man in coming across.’
    â€˜What other motives can a man have when he runs to the embassy of a foreign country and begs asylum?’
    â€˜I don’t believe Pavel wants to defect,’ Adrian blurted out, accepting the stupidity of the words as he uttered them, desperation moving his tongue ahead of his thoughts.
    â€˜Wants to defect?’ queried the Prime Minister and when Sir William echoed ‘Wants to defect?’ the incredulity indicated greater feeling than he usually expressed.
    â€˜What Dodds means, I think,’ said Sir Jocelyn, trying to come to his assistant’s aid, ‘is that some uncertainty has arisen in Pavel since he crossed over. You’ve read the transcripts. The uncertainty is obviously there.’ The nerve irritated under his eye.
    â€˜Any uncertainty that has arisen in Pavel is the direct result of the way he’s been treated, in my opinion,’ snapped Ebbetts.
    â€˜â€¦ way he’s been treated …’ came from Sir William.
    Adrian laid his hands flat on the table, looking down for concentration. The meeting was falling away from him. He was appearing a rambling fool.
    â€˜Please,’ he said, the desperation edging in again. ‘Please let me speak, for a moment, without interruption, so that I can try and communicate completely what I feel.’
    He paused. The other men stayed silent. Even in complete silence, Ebbetts seemed to be challenging him.
    â€˜Certainly it’s possible,’ he began, ‘for a defector – for Pavel – to experience a change of heart. In fact, it is ridiculous for him to expect and for us to expect that some doubt, some homesickness or guilt, won’t arise. Bennovitch said, as you’ll have heard from his recordings, that he felt guilty and had some regrets. But for him it was easy, because he had no