‘Yes, yes,’ said Orlov, impatiently. ‘The American spy-plane can fly high and fast, we know that. It was fortunate for the Americans that we were not prepared for such an intrusion. It would have been a different matter if they had met any of our MiG–31 interceptors.’
‘No doubt, Vladimir, no doubt,’ Richter said. Orlov looked at him sharply, but Richter wasn’t smiling. He couldn’t smile. He didn’t think, the way his face felt, that he would ever smile again.
He covered the diversion of the Blackbird to Lossiemouth, and dealt with the insistence of the Ministry of Defence on seeing the films shot by the aircraft cameras. Up to that point, he hadn’t really told Orlov anything of importance, or anything he hadn’t already known or hadn’t guessed. The difficult bit was just about to start.
‘So,’ Orlov said, ‘what did your so-called experts think of the films?’
‘They were puzzled,’ Richter replied, which was true. ‘And they still are.’ Which wasn’t quite true. ‘The only significant feature on the films shot by the Blackbird was the removal of a small hill which had been on previous satellite films of the area.’
Richter saw Orlov stiffen almost imperceptibly. ‘So?’
Richter tried to inject a little puzzlement into his voice. ‘The Americans believe the hill was the test site for a new type of nuclear weapon, but that’s not our take. Our experts’ reading of the seismograph records suggests that the weapon test was just a blind, using a conventional medium-yield weapon to conceal what you’ve really been up to.’
‘Which is what?’
‘We still aren’t sure, but we believe that the hill wasn’t a hill at all. We think that it was a camouflaged site, covering some sort of covert installation, which you have since decided to remove. Then you detonated a surplus nuclear device to cover up the fact that the hill – or rather the installation – had vanished.’
Richter could see Orlov start to relax, so he spun him the rest of the yarn that he had been working on ever since the lights had come on in the bedroom. He told him that SIS suspected that the installation had been a test site for a portable phased array radar unit, designed for early warning of either orbital or sub-orbital missiles or intruders. He expounded on the potential of such a device to avoid detection by reconnaissance vehicles, its value to Russia and the possible illegality of such a radar under the terms of the SALT agreements.
Orlov started nodding before he got halfway through the tale, and Richter hoped it was to convince him that he was right rather than an expression of his appreciation for Richter’s ingenuity.
‘We obviously don’t know any more than that at the moment, but we’ll find out, I promise you,’ Richter concluded.
‘I don’t think you will, Richter,’ said Orlov, speaking the absolute truth. ‘You, personally, certainly won’t.’ He paused for a moment. ‘Why are you so certain that the hill was a camouflaged site?’
‘We aren’t, but we applied simple logic,’ Richter said. ‘You’ve very rarely carried out above-ground nuclear weapon tests, and only then after a lot of preparation and work. We saw no signs of such preparations near the site. No, what happened in the tundra had all the hallmarks of a hasty cover-up, using a bomb blast to remove the evidence of what you were doing up there previously. It’s the only scenario that makes sense.’
Orlov nodded slowly. ‘Very good, Richter, very good. Your logic is impeccable, but the premises upon which you based your argument are wholly invalid. But, you are almost right, and you may take that comfort with you to your grave. What I will say is that it wasn’t a phased array radar, but something much more interesting.’ A careful man, Orlov, giving nothing away even though he knew that within minutes Richter was going to be in no state to ever tell anyone anything. The Russian glanced behind Richter. ‘Yuri, he’s all yours,’ he said.
Richter looked round and Yuri smiled at him. Richter didn’t need any prompting to know why he was smiling. He turned back to Orlov. ‘I’ve told you what you wanted. If you’re going to kill me can’t you just shoot me?’
Orlov shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Richter,’ he said in a tone which made it quite clear that he wasn’t, ‘but I promised you to Yuri, and he’s been looking forward to tonight ever since the day you visited JARIC. And anyway,’ he added, ‘we don’t want gunshots echoing out over the Home Counties, do we? Lowers the tone of the area.’
Richter tried again, leaning forward in the chair as far as his roped arms would allow. ‘Orlov, please. Hasn’t he hurt me enough?’
Orlov’s smile turned to a sneer of contempt. ‘Our conversation, and your life, is at an end. Yuri, take him away. Try not to make too much of a mess downstairs.’
As a sentence of death it left a good deal to be desired, Richter thought.
Moscow
Dmitri Trushenko glanced around the apartment for what he knew would probably be the last time. He had packed enough clothes and toiletries for a couple of weeks into a lightweight suitcase which was standing by the apartment door, and he had just made a final check of the contents of his briefcase. As well as the portable computer with its built-in modem, he had his mobile telephone with a spare battery and charger, plus the Ultra Secret classified Podstava file. He knew that simple possession of the file would be enough to justify his immediate arrest, and he was relying upon his credentials as a government minister to avoid problems.
He had left a brief note for his manservant on the dining table, confirming that he would be away, staying with friends in St Petersburg, for the next week or so, and adding that he would telephone when he knew the date of his return. The note was virtually a duplicate of the one on his secretary’s desk at the Ministry, except that his secretary had also been given his contact address in St Petersburg. It was all perfectly normal – a part of the routine that Trushenko had carefully established over the previous seven months.
There was a brief knock at the door. Trushenko opened the door and handed his suitcase to his chauffeur, then picked up his briefcase, locked the apartment door and followed him into the elevator.
The drive to the station took only a few minutes in the light early-morning traffic, and Trushenko arrived in good time for the express to St Petersburg. The chauffeur took the suitcase out of the boot of the limousine and accompanied Trushenko into the station. Trushenko handed over the ticket – purchased for him by his secretary – to the railway official, who removed the top copy and handed the rest back. He took the suitcase from his chauffeur, walked on to the platform, and climbed on to the train without a backward glance.
Orpington, Kent
Yuri and the anonymous thug released Richter’s arms, and he slumped forward out of the chair on to the floor. His one hope was to convince everyone, and especially Yuri, that he was in no state to resist anything. That might, just might, make them a little careless.
They picked him up and Yuri twisted Richter’s left arm up and behind his back. The second man made to help him, but Yuri shrugged him away with an impatient gesture. ‘He’s mine,’ he growled, in heavily accented Russian. ‘I do not need your help.’
Richter believed him. So did Orlov. ‘Do as he says. Just open the door for them.’
Yuri dragged Richter out of the room and to the top of the stairs. Richter wondered briefly how he was supposed to get down them. He found out. Yuri simply gave him a hefty shove. Richter stumbled off balance, grabbed for the banister and missed, then tumbled. He had enough presence of mind to tuck his head well in as he fell, and he tried as far as possible to roll rather than bounce, but by the time he reached the half landing his body felt as if it had gone over the Niagara Falls in a barrel.
Richter moved cautiously, but nothing seemed to be broken. Yet. He had got to his knees by the time Yuri reached him. The Russian kicked out, his foot catching Richter in the stomach, and he crashed and rolled his way to the bottom of the stairs. From the throbbing agony in his lower abdomen, Richter decided that if Yuri ever tired of being a bodyguard, there was definite
ly an opening for him on the football field. Richter was quicker this time, and he was on his feet before Yuri reached him, but still bent almost double clutching his stomach.
Yuri grabbed Richter’s arm and jerked him upright, and Richter moaned softly. It wasn’t hard to do. It would have been hard not to. Yuri punched him in the stomach a couple of times for good measure, and gave him another shove. Richter reeled across the hallway and fetched up against a panelled door. Yuri grabbed him, twisted him round and smashed him face-first into the panels, then turned the handle and pushed him into the room.
Richter stumbled over something and fell to the floor, knocking the back of his head against a table leg as he did so. What made it worse was that the table leg didn’t move. As the lights came on he looked at it and saw why. It was a billiard table, covered in a dust-cloth that reached down almost to the floor. The one thing Richter needed then was a weapon, any weapon, and he suddenly realized that he might have found one.
Richter looked over at Yuri. He had turned round to close the door and was taking off his shoulder holster, the better to enjoy his work. Richter reached his right hand up, under the cloth, to where the corner pocket was, praying that the balls would be in the pockets and not in a box in some cupboard, because if they were in a box he was dead.
His probing fingers found the mesh of the pocket, and then the smooth round hardness of a ball on the rack just below the pocket. Just the one, but one was all he needed. He closed his fingers around it and dropped his arm just as Yuri turned back towards him.
Yuri had the door key in his hand. He smiled at Richter and slid it into his trouser pocket, then walked over towards the table. He stopped about three feet away and looked down. ‘I’m going to enjoy this, English. My brother was a good man, a good Communist. You are going to wish you had never been born. Get up.’
Richter was leaning against the leg of the billiard table, his right arm twisted round behind him, the ball held tight in his fist. He shook his head. ‘Can’t,’ he gasped. ‘Can’t move.’
Yuri snorted with disgust and stepped closer. Richter hoped the Russian wanted him on his feet first, so that he could have the pleasure of knocking him down again. Most thugs preferred that, in Richter’s experience. Yuri reached down and seized the lapels of Richter’s leather jacket in both hands. ‘I told you up, English bastard.’
Yuri was strong, and Richter knew that he was only going to get the one chance. If that failed Yuri would break both his arms and then beat him to a pulp. Yuri began to pull. Richter could feel his weight coming off the floor. He looked at the Russian’s face, judging distance, keeping his right arm and shoulder low. As Richter planted his feet flat on the floor, he moved.
His right arm was still below the level of his knees, and he brought it up, up with every ounce of strength that he possessed, straightening his legs as he did so. Richter’s right fist, holding the heavy ball tightly, swept up between Yuri’s arms and caught him under the chin, hard. The Russian’s head snapped back, and he crashed to the floor.
Moscow
Fifteen minutes before the St Petersburg express was due to leave, Trushenko climbed down from the carriage and hurried back along the platform. At the barrier he explained that he had to make an urgent telephone call and was directed towards the far wall of the station.
Twenty-three minutes after that, Trushenko was in another railway station, sitting in a carriage on a train that was going to an entirely different destination.
Orpington, Kent
Richter didn’t wait. As Yuri tumbled backwards Richter kicked his right foot up into his groin as hard as he could, then went for the head. He wasn’t thinking, by that stage. He was an animal, an animal fighting for its life, and he was going to make no mistakes.
When Richter stopped, Yuri’s head was a red, battered mess, and he didn’t need a stethoscope or a doctor to tell him that the Russian was dead. He had probably been dead after the first blow with the ball that Richter still had clutched in his right hand. A blow like that has a definite tendency to break necks, if it’s delivered hard enough, and Richter couldn’t have delivered it much harder.
Richter staggered, panting, to the nearest chair, and slumped into it. He needed a rest, just for a few minutes. Richter looked at the bloodstained ball in his hand. It was a snooker ball, a red, which seemed somehow appropriate, bearing in mind the political persuasion of the man on the floor. Richter smiled, or thought he did – his face ached so much that it was difficult to tell what the facial muscles were doing – and put the ball into an ashtray.
Then he started thinking again, and picked it up, pulled a handkerchief out of Yuri’s pocket and wiped the ball thoroughly before putting it back into the pocket of the billiard table. Richter pulled the door key out of Yuri’s trouser pocket, still using his handkerchief to avoid leaving prints, and put it in the lock. He took the Russian’s pistol, an Austrian Glock 17 semi-automatic, out of his shoulder rig and without bothering about prints – he would wipe it later – checked it over and made sure that the magazine was full. He found two spare magazines in a pouch attached to the other side of the shoulder holster strapping, so Richter took them as well, though he didn’t think he was going to need them. There was a silencer in Yuri’s jacket pocket. Richter took it and screwed it on to the pistol barrel. With the gun in his hand he felt better, and sat there in the chair for another twenty minutes or so, gathering his strength.
When Richter’s breathing had slowed to normal, and he felt a bit more of a going concern, he got up and listened at the door. There was no sound outside, so he turned the key slowly in the lock and eased the door open, taking care to use the handkerchief again. The hall was quiet and empty, with the single light still burning. Richter removed the key and locked the door from the hall side, then wiped the key thoroughly and dropped it into a tank of tropical fish that stood beside one wall. Richter knew that immersion in water would certainly not help define any partial prints that he might have left on it.
He walked to the foot of the stairs and listened carefully – there was no sound from above. He hadn’t expected any, but Richter had only lived as long as he had by never assuming anything and never trusting anyone. He could, he realized, have just walked through the front door and got away on the Honda, but he had come for a talk with Orlov, and he intended to have a talk with Orlov.
He started up the stairs, keeping to the side nearest the wall, where any creaks from the treads would be minimized. At the half landing he paused to gather breath and listened again. Still nothing. He continued to the top, and walked slowly over to the door of Orlov’s room.
Pressing his ear close, Richter could hear the soft sound of voices, so he assumed that Orlov and his bodyguard were in conference. Richter slid the pistol into his pocket, wiped the sweat from his palms on a clean handkerchief, took the Glock out again, took a deep breath and opened the door.
Orlov was sitting at his desk, the bodyguard standing to his right and a little behind him. They seemed to be studying something on a piece of paper on the desk, and neither turned round, no doubt because they were only expecting Yuri.
Only a fool gives an enemy an even break, so Richter raised the Glock, took careful aim, and shot the bodyguard in the back. The Russian pitched forward and sideways, smashing into the corner of the desk before sliding sideways to the floor. Richter aimed again and shot him carefully in the stomach, twice, then once in the head.
Then he turned his attention to Orlov who sat, frozen, an expression of stark terror on his face, like some tableau in a waxworks. ‘Hullo again, Vladimir,’ Richter said, his words slurring through his battered lips. ‘I’m not really from British Gas. I’m an ornithologist and I’m collecting new specimens. You’re my little Russian canary, and you’re going to sing, sing, sing.’
Chapter Fifteen
Saturday
Ickenham, Middlesex
‘Just what the hell happened to you?’
Richter tried a grin that turned i
nto little more than a twitch of his facial muscles, and looked across the room into the worried face of David Bentley, Lieutenant Commander Royal Navy, and the current Naval Liaison Officer at Royal Air Force Uxbridge. He and Richter had gone through the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth together, and had kept in touch – albeit somewhat sporadically – ever since. They were less than friends, but more than acquaintances, and Richter knew that he could rely on Bentley to help, and not to ask too many questions.
He had had practically no options anyway. Simpson’s apartment was possibly being watched by then, and Richter knew that his own apartment building had been under surveillance for some time. And after what he’d done to Orlov, the Russian dogs would be out in force. Bentley’s RAF married quarter had been the only place he could think of running to when he’d staggered away from the house in Orpington.
‘I can’t tell you, David,’ Richter said, his words slurred and indistinct. ‘It’s dangerous enough for me – I can’t expose you to the same risks I get paid to take.’
Bentley looked at Richter’s battered tragedy of a face. ‘Whatever they’re paying you, Paul, it’s not enough.’
Richter lifted the mug of coffee cautiously to his lips and took an exploratory sip. The scalding liquid played hell with the cuts and abrasions he could feel inside his mouth, but it was welcome for all that.
‘OK,’ Bentley said. ‘I’ll go and put your motorcycle in the garage, then we’ll see what we can do to make you a bit more comfortable.’
Richter nodded his thanks, and eased back in the chair, wincing as eddies of pain shot through his torso. The journey through London and out to Ickenham had been a slow and painful nightmare. The beating he’d received had left him weak and dizzy and aching in every joint, and twice he’d had to stop the Honda and wait for his head to clear.
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