the committee hearing?’
‘Be on standby from tomorrow. Anything I need to know before seeing Radtsic?’ That would be an easy encounter, Monsford knew, his survival-enhancing approach already determined.
‘There’s been a reconciliation of sorts with Elena: they’re eating together, spending most of their day together, mostly watching television for anything more from Moscow. But she’s still not sleeping with him.’
‘What about the drinking.’
Jacobson looked unnecessarily at his watch. ‘There’ll be less than a quarter of a bottle left by now.’
* * *
It took almost four hours for Ian Flood to go minutely through the Vnukovo Airport shooting in preparation for MI5’s enquiry presentation.
At the finish, Aubrey Smith said, ‘I want to establish a movement pattern. The MI6 back-up split the moment they enter the terminal: Denning and Beckindale stay to one side, Briddle goes at once, on his own, towards Charlie, who’s in the Cyprus flight check-in line, unaware of their arrival?’
‘Yes,’ confirmed Flood, an athletically bodied, controlled man.
‘How long before Halliday entered?’
‘A minute, no longer than two.’
‘Was Halliday with the others?’ came in Passmore. ‘Did you get the impression all four arrived together, in the same car? Or might Halliday have followed separately?’
Flood nodded at the significance. ‘I was only suspicious of one car following us from Natalia’s apartment and assumed they were all in the same vehicle. Halliday could have travelled separately but it would have needed to be directly behind, in which case I think I would have isolated the second pursuit, too.’
‘How long did it take Halliday to orientate himself?’ picked up Smith.
‘Again, minutes. He seemed immediately to see Briddle and simultaneously to locate Charlie from the direction in which Briddle was moving.’
‘Or could he have expected Charlie to be in that particular check-in line?’ asked Jane.
The question, again significant, briefly silenced the Director-General’s Thames House suite. Flood said, ‘Meeting there separately, by agreement, you mean? It would have been a hell of a coincidence for them to have been meeting by prior arrangement at the same time as a separate MI6 discovery of Charlie, wouldn’t?’
‘What did Denning and Beckindale do?’ asked Jane.
‘Nothing,’ said Flood, shortly. ‘I had them in my eyeline the entire time. They had Briddle, one of their own, as a marker. But they didn’t appear to see Halliday. Or, if they did, they’d been ordered against intrusion.’
‘If indeed it was an MI6 operation that had gone wrong,’ qualified Smith.
‘That’s what you identified it to be, an operation?’ followed up Jane.
Once more Flood paused, for thought. ‘Charlie met me the previous night at the Savoy. That’s when he gave me the very specific order against interfering if anything endangered Natalia and Sasha’s extraction.’
‘That previous night,’ seized Jane. ‘Tell us everything about that, in as much detail as you can!’
‘He didn’t give me any details of the Lvov assignment, but he said he’d appeared publicly on Russian television during it and that there’d been a security alert out for him: that he risked being picked up on official CCTV.…’ Flood hesitated, shaking his head.
‘What is it?’ pressed Jane, curious at the man’s gesture.
‘Something I’d forgotten, until this moment. I don’t know if it contributes anything—’
‘Everything and anything contributes,’ persisted the woman.
‘That night, in the hotel bar, when he was talking of being identified, he said it would have been all right if he hadn’t made the Amsterdam switch and got the Manchester people arrested. That none of it had been necessary.’
‘What does that mean?’ questioned Passmore.
‘He didn’t explain. The inference was that it would have been all right if he’d stayed on the original flight. That
‘Be on standby from tomorrow. Anything I need to know before seeing Radtsic?’ That would be an easy encounter, Monsford knew, his survival-enhancing approach already determined.
‘There’s been a reconciliation of sorts with Elena: they’re eating together, spending most of their day together, mostly watching television for anything more from Moscow. But she’s still not sleeping with him.’
‘What about the drinking.’
Jacobson looked unnecessarily at his watch. ‘There’ll be less than a quarter of a bottle left by now.’
* * *
It took almost four hours for Ian Flood to go minutely through the Vnukovo Airport shooting in preparation for MI5’s enquiry presentation.
At the finish, Aubrey Smith said, ‘I want to establish a movement pattern. The MI6 back-up split the moment they enter the terminal: Denning and Beckindale stay to one side, Briddle goes at once, on his own, towards Charlie, who’s in the Cyprus flight check-in line, unaware of their arrival?’
‘Yes,’ confirmed Flood, an athletically bodied, controlled man.
‘How long before Halliday entered?’
‘A minute, no longer than two.’
‘Was Halliday with the others?’ came in Passmore. ‘Did you get the impression all four arrived together, in the same car? Or might Halliday have followed separately?’
Flood nodded at the significance. ‘I was only suspicious of one car following us from Natalia’s apartment and assumed they were all in the same vehicle. Halliday could have travelled separately but it would have needed to be directly behind, in which case I think I would have isolated the second pursuit, too.’
‘How long did it take Halliday to orientate himself?’ picked up Smith.
‘Again, minutes. He seemed immediately to see Briddle and simultaneously to locate Charlie from the direction in which Briddle was moving.’
‘Or could he have expected Charlie to be in that particular check-in line?’ asked Jane.
The question, again significant, briefly silenced the Director-General’s Thames House suite. Flood said, ‘Meeting there separately, by agreement, you mean? It would have been a hell of a coincidence for them to have been meeting by prior arrangement at the same time as a separate MI6 discovery of Charlie, wouldn’t?’
‘What did Denning and Beckindale do?’ asked Jane.
‘Nothing,’ said Flood, shortly. ‘I had them in my eyeline the entire time. They had Briddle, one of their own, as a marker. But they didn’t appear to see Halliday. Or, if they did, they’d been ordered against intrusion.’
‘If indeed it was an MI6 operation that had gone wrong,’ qualified Smith.
‘That’s what you identified it to be, an operation?’ followed up Jane.
Once more Flood paused, for thought. ‘Charlie met me the previous night at the Savoy. That’s when he gave me the very specific order against interfering if anything endangered Natalia and Sasha’s extraction.’
‘That previous night,’ seized Jane. ‘Tell us everything about that, in as much detail as you can!’
‘He didn’t give me any details of the Lvov assignment, but he said he’d appeared publicly on Russian television during it and that there’d been a security alert out for him: that he risked being picked up on official CCTV.…’ Flood hesitated, shaking his head.
‘What is it?’ pressed Jane, curious at the man’s gesture.
‘Something I’d forgotten, until this moment. I don’t know if it contributes anything—’
‘Everything and anything contributes,’ persisted the woman.
‘That night, in the hotel bar, when he was talking of being identified, he said it would have been all right if he hadn’t made the Amsterdam switch and got the Manchester people arrested. That none of it had been necessary.’
‘What does that mean?’ questioned Passmore.
‘He didn’t explain. The inference was that it would have been all right if he’d stayed on the original flight. That
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