On Monday morning, the instruction was for Patricia to take Marina to a meeting in the office soon after 10 am – where she found herself in an interview room, confronted by two MI5 officials. One was a specialist interrogator who introduced himself as Tony, and the other was Tom Spencer, who said he was the senior officer coordinating the inquiry into her relationship with Nikolai Aldanov.
Tony began by explaining that she was not facing any charges but was obviously a key witness in any action which might follow involving Aldanov. In front of him, he had the 100-plus pages of transcripts from their online exchanges, which, he said, had been carefully analysed.
“Did you feel you were being encouraged to share information about your job with him?” he asked.
“Well, not at the time,” she replied. “We both asked questions about each other’s lives, just to get to know each other, I suppose.”
“Do you know now that he was duping you into believing that he was a naval officer in Sevastopol when he was really an intelligence officer in Moscow chatting to you from inside Russia’s secret service headquarters?”
“Oh, no! Are you serious? I am sure you are, of course, but gosh, this is really a shock to me. I suppose I first began to realise that something was not right about it all from things your people said to me in Portsmouth – but not this. Is he really a spy, then?”
“We’ll find out. Do you remember him asking you about the new Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier?”
“Well yes, of course. It had just arrived in Portsmouth when we were in touch, and I could see it from my office – but it was not a secret. All the newspapers had pictures of it – it was enormous and dwarfed everything else around it. We were all talking about it.”
“Did he want to know any more information about the ship? When it would become operational, for example?”
“I don’t really remember now, but I didn’t know very much, anyway. He was obviously interested, and I might have mentioned it again when it sailed off to go on exercises and then visited New York – but that was all in the papers, as well. If you have the transcripts there you probably know more than I can recall.”
“It is pretty clear to me that he was probing for information – in fact, this sort of thing came up quite often.”
“I don’t remember thinking that at the time – we just wrote chatty notes to each other like any other couple might do, and obviously we had the navy and ships as a common interest. But I don’t have any confidential information in my job.”
“Did you wonder why you had to sign the Official Secrets Act, then?”
“It just seemed like something routine to me, but I am sure I was careful.”
Tony shuffled through his file and then asked, “Did you mention that some other British ships were operating in the Med when he told you he would be heading that way?”
“If I did, it was just to show him that I was interested in where he was going. I think we talked about Malta, but I am sure he mentioned the Med first. I know where all our ships are when they are at sea, but I certainly didn’t tell him anything confidential that I can remember.”
“That may well be the case,” said Tony sternly. “But it looks as though he was softening you up and that he thought he was on to a valuable source of information in the long run.”
“Yes, I think I can see that now – but he seemed such an interesting and friendly sort of man, and I was really interested in meeting a Russian. I have always wanted to start finding out more about where my family came from, and I suppose that was the main thing on my mind when I was asking him questions about himself.”
The interrogator then continued by reading extracts from the online exchanges and pointing out the extracts which had been of concern to the security services.
“This was a potentially dangerous liaison between the Russian GRU and the Royal Navy because you were clearly close to the heart of naval operations. We have been analysing all the things you said, and it is probably true that you did not pass on anything specifically confidential, but we can see where he was leading you.”
“I realise that now,” said a rather cowed Marina. “I am really sorry. What happens now?”
At this point, Tom Spencer stepped in. “It looks like we have a good case against Aldanov, and when we are ready, there will be a court case, and we will want you to give evidence against him. That will probably be a month or more away, and we’ll discuss your evidence in much more detail nearer the time. But what plans do you have, Marina?”
“I suppose I just want to go back to work again and live as normal a life as possible – will that be a problem?”
“I think it will be,” said Tom. “We know that the Russian embassy people are anxious to get to you and to your father, perhaps to try to influence your evidence and maybe play on your Russian background in some way. Would you say you still have what I might call Russian sympathies?”
“Not at all,” she replied quickly. “Not in the political sense. It is just the history of Russia that interests me because of the family background – it would be the same wherever they came from. A lot of people are researching their ancestors on the Internet these days and discovering things they never knew.”
“Yes, that’s true,” said Tom. “I’ve been doing it myself. But it is a bit different when the Russian secret service gets involved – and why do you think they want to see your father as well?”
“I’m not sure,” said Marina. “He was not very forthcoming when I asked him about that in Portsmouth last Friday, but I think he was quite worried – and not just about me. I can talk to him again, if you like?”
“Sure, you can do that, but I think we will be talking to him as well. There is another problem, and that’s the press. This has all become a big news story in the papers and on TV, and they all want to interview you, and we are anxious to prevent that happening because of your value to us as a witness. You can always say no, of course, but they will be very persistent and can make life difficult, as well as offering you a big fat cheque. One way forward would be to agree to your doing one exclusive interview with someone fairly reliable like the BBC, and we would help you to prepare for this. But that would only create another news story, and everything you said or didn’t say would be analysed and followed up on, and all this could create a wrong impression about you when the time came for you to give evidence at the trial.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” said Marina. “So how can I avoid all this for a month or more?”
“I have a suggestion,” said Tom. “Would you consider moving to work for us in MI5, or at least give it a try? You already work for the Government, and a transfer to the MOD in some capacity would be quite straightforward. Then when the trial is over, you could quietly move from Portsmouth to join us here in this section, perhaps on the Russian desk?”
This unexpected idea made Marina gasp in amazement. And then, for the first time, she sensed that something positive might come from all this – but then she realised that it would also mean returning to London, and she was enjoying Portsmouth so much more.
“Wow – that’s an interesting idea. That would mean moving back to London, I suppose – but where would I be for the next month until the trial?” she asked.
“We have an exchange arrangement with our counterparts in the States – how would you fancy a few weeks in Florida?”
Marina’s eyes lit up even more. “Are you serious?”
“They have a section there which teaches foreign languages”, Tom continued. “And we could probably get you a place there to start learning Russian – perhaps as a future trainee in our section. That could be very useful to you and us in the longer term. No-one else needs to know where you are or what you are doing. In fact, it will be better if no-one knows. Who would you need to tell?”
“My parents and a few friends in Portsmouth would wonder where I was – and then there are the people at the office in the Dockyard. Then there is my flat and the neighbours there
… but that’s about all, I think.”
“Don’t worry about the Navy, we can deal with that. But for the rest, we would need to work out a good cover story with you – and you won’t be surprised to know that we are quite good at that in MI5. Above all else, remember you signed the Official Secrets Act, and the department you will be visiting in America is hush-hush and top secret, not to be revealed to anyone, before or after. You will understand this better when you get there. Anyway, give all this some thought and we will catch up again later.”
The long session ended, and Patricia returned to collect Marina, who was thoughtful and feeling apprehensive as they went to have lunch together in the staff restaurant. Marina was not sure how much to share with her new friend, and the American trip was never mentioned. However, it became obvious that Patricia had been briefed about the plan to offer Marina a job in London at some time in the future, and she was very encouraging and supportive. “We have a great team here, and I am sure you would love it,” she said. And afterwards, she took Marina for a planned meeting with another officer in a different department who began by saying that he had “a bit of experience in arranging cover stories” and had some ideas to talk through with her.
19.
INTRODUCING “MARY”
That evening, and alone for a while, Marina had much to think about. She decided to ring her father and told him she was now in a flat in London. It had been provided by the authorities, she explained, while she was being interviewed about the Russian affair, and she asked whether he had heard anything further.
“Yes,” he replied. “I am glad you called because I have been visited here today by two different reporters. They mainly wanted to find out where you were, and I couldn’t tell them anything.”
“Well, don’t tell them,” interrupted Marina.
“The press also wanted to interview me and asked me things about my background as well as yours. I just told them a few things about your early days in London and then about my business, and luckily, they were not still here a bit later on because a man from the Russian embassy arrived at the house, and that could have been difficult. I didn’t tell the press anything about the calls I’ve had from the Russian embassy.”
“So why are they interested in you, Dad?” she asked. “Have you had any dealings with them before?”
Victor Peters sounded very cautious. “Nothing important,” he replied. “It’s just that they have people there who like to stay in touch with me and my brother because of our background, I suppose. Just in case they can be of any help to us.”
“What did he say about me and my contact with the Russian navy man?”
“Not much. Except that he wanted to know more about it and thought I would have known more from my chat with you at the weekend, but I said that my only concern was to know that you were all right – so are you? What’s happening now?”
“Yes, don’t worry, Dad – and tell Mum I’m OK. I really rang to let you know that I may be away for the next few weeks. The people here are very anxious that I should stay out of sight from the press and the Russians – really out of sight. So I’ve been in touch with an old college friend who now lives in Canada, and I’ll be flying off for a holiday there in the next few days. I’ll stay in touch with you when I get there, so don’t worry, and please, please don’t tell anybody.”
Victor then handed over the phone to his wife, and Marina told her the same story and tried to be as comforting and reassuring as she could.
“I do worry about all this,” said Shona Peters. “Do take care of yourself.”
The next morning, Patricia was up early and over their shared breakfast of cereals and fresh fruit, Marina said she had thought more about a cover story and had worked out an idea about going to stay with an old school friend in Canada, if that would be acceptable to the boss?
Patricia thought that sounded good as she went to the office, asking Marina to wait for further news about what would happen next. By 9 am, Patricia was back at the flat and surprised Marina by handing over round-trip airline tickets to Orlando, Florida, a new passport in the name of Mary McMasters, documents for immigration and a wallet containing a credit card in Marina’s new name, and a wad of US 20 and 50-dollar bills. There was also a new mobile phone.
“Pack your belongings quickly,” said Patricia. “You have a flight at 11.45 this morning. Can you give me the keys to your flat in Portsmouth, and don’t worry, we will make sure everything there is secure. Feel free to use the credit card and cash for any clothes or anything else you may need. It will be quite warm in Florida still. And by the way, I will take you to the airport and you will be met and looked after by our American friends when you arrive.”
A somewhat bewildered Marina could only go with the flow, and within 20 minutes, a waiting car drove them to Heathrow. Patricia then stayed with Marina until she had checked in, done some essential shopping for toiletries and a current affairs magazine in the departure lounge, and chatted reassuringly as they shared a coffee until the Orlando flight was called.
Marina, now Mary McMasters, was soon trying to relax at last with a glass of orange juice in the new experience, for her, of a comfortable business class seat for her eight-hour flight.
20.
MEANWHILE IN PUTNEY
While Marina/Mary was in the air, Victor Peters had another visit at his home in Putney from the Russian embassy agent, “Jack”. Shona greeted him cautiously, and when he was alone with Victor, he began by thanking him for helping them with information in the past.
“Without your help, we would not have known about your daughter’s job with the British navy,” he began, which rather alarmed Victor. “Jack” then went on to suggest that there could be “substantial rewards” for Victor if he could also get some further help now from his daughter. Victor realised for the first time that he been unwittingly trapped by a conversation he’d had a few months earlier at Embassy reception for expat residents in London. He now recalled saying how proud he was of his daughter and that he may have mentioned what she was doing.
He told “Jack” that he would need time to think about such an important matter, and the conversation turned to the story about the Peters family business. The subject of Marina was not raised again until the Russian was about to leave, with a reminder of the offer he had made. Shona overheard this final conversation at the door and asked her husband to tell her more because she was concerned about his contact with the persistent embassy man; she urged Victor to take care and not get involved. Victor decided to have another chat with his brother, who had already been in touch over the weekend after reading about Marina in the newspapers.
The two brothers were now semi-retired, and their fabrics business had expanded into a chain of six shops in the southeast of England. Marina’s interests had been elsewhere, and since Andrew had no family to follow them in the business, they had now recruited an experienced management team to run Peters Brothers – but they still kept an oversight of their company.
“Have you ever had any contact with the Russian embassy?” he asked Andrew, who was then at the office they shared over their main shop in South London.
“Not recently,” he replied. “There was that one occasion last year when we were both invited to a reception there, but you couldn’t make it and I went with my wife – do you remember that? It made me realise that they knew something about you and me and our background, but I wasn’t sure why we were invited until one of the staff there started asking me about my network of friends in London – what clubs I belonged to, and so on. Did I still speak Russian?”
“They must have us both on some sort of list,” said Victor. “That explains why Shona and I were invited to another party at the embassy a couple of months ago, and this time we were able to accept. I remember now that after a few drinks, one of the officers there cornered me and started asking me about you and then about our business activities and then about my family. It now seems that I must have told him something about
Marina’s new job in Portsmouth. They certainly knew where to find me when this latest business blew up, and I’ve now had two phone calls and a visit today from one of the people there who seemed to be on the intelligence side. Today, he even asked me whether I was interested in helping them, and he seemed to think I could get Marina to pass on information from her job in Portsmouth.”
“I suppose they have to try everything; that’s their job,” replied Andrew. “What did you say?”
“I didn’t want to just say no in case it rebounded on me or Marina in some way. I just said I would think about it. I don’t want to get involved in anything like this. He was really pressing me to tell him where Marina is. What do you think?”
“Just be very careful, Victor. And where is Marina now?”
“As far as I know, she is still helping the police put together the case against that Russian naval man. I don’t know any more than that, except that she called today to say that she was going to be away for a few days – and not to say a word to anyone.”
They agreed to catch up later at the office, and Victor was just preparing to go to the office to join his brother when his phone rang.
“Mr. Peters?” a voice said. “My name is Tom Spencer – I work for the Government security service, and I have been chatting to your daughter, Marina. Do you think I could come to see you sometime today? I can be there in about 30 minutes.”
“Yes, of course,” said Victor. “I’ll be pleased to see you to find out what is going on.”
Shona was curious. “This time it’s someone from the British security service,” explained Victor. “He wants to come here in half an hour, and I hope he can tell us more about everything and where Marina is. Let’s wait to see what he has to say.”
The Russian Lieutenant Page 10
