that the meeting was to take a new turn and for the first time I felt nervous. In some walks of life, such intimacy is only menacing. Patrushev’s presence had raised the stakes enormously. Whatever the reason Finn interested them, it was no longer because they believed they could turn him. Patrushev wouldn’t be taking a personal role otherwise.
But I didn’t see any need to reply beyond tilting my head in uncertain agreement.
‘So. Why do you think he is so interested in giving us his thoughts on how much the West should distrust our president? What is he hoping to gain from this?’ Patrushev then began to answer his own question. ‘Unlike some, I don’t think it was a prelude to him coming over to us,’ he said, casting a withering look at General Kerchenko. ‘You don’t tell your girlfriend you hate her mother before you ask her to marry you, do you? Tell me your thoughts please, Anna, based on your very special position with him.’
‘I’m sure that he never intended to defect,’ I agreed and got cold looks from the General and Yuri. ‘I think he genuinely dislikes the President, however, fears him perhaps, fears what Russia can become under his leadership. I think he is genuine in that.’
‘But why is he so keen for us to know this?’ Patrushev pressed me without a pause. ‘There’s barely a report of yours since New Year’s Eve that doesn’t contain his thoughts on the subject.’
‘I don’t feel that he is really talking to me at all,’ I said truthfully. ‘I believe when he tells me what he thinks about the President it is as if he is talking to his own people. He says it to me because of his frustration that nobody in London will listen to him. I don’t think he has any motive for letting us know his thoughts. I think he’s angry, frustrated, but he’s not trying to give us any kind of message.’
‘Maybe he’s trying to get you to agree with him about our president,’ Kerchenko said, with some accusation in his voice. ‘To subvert you, perhaps, so that you’ll help him get whatever it is he’s after.’
Patrushev gave him a sharp look and then looked back at me again.
‘I agree with you,’ Patrushev said to me. ‘He’s not trying to give us or you any message at all. But now he has finally vented his anger about British policy to his superiors, where he formerly aired it only to you. He’s stepped over the line, and they’ve recalled him to London. Would you agree?’
‘I think he has committed professional suicide, yes,’ I said. ‘I think it’s been coming for a long time. They put up with his increasingly undisciplined behaviour but now he’s gone too far.’
‘A spent force…’ Patrushev said.
‘I don’t think so,’ I said immediately, and I didn’t know why I said it. Perhaps it was Finn’s remark, ‘I’m going feral.’ Perhaps, too, it was the missing element in my conversation with Finn at the Baltschug–his assumption, the fact that he didn’t think it mattered that I wouldn’t go with him, because it was inevitable we would be thrown together again.
‘Oh?’ Patrushev said and there was a clammy silence in the room. ‘A British spy is suddenly taken home for insubordination concerning the most fundamental level of policy and he is not a spent force? What will he do? Write a book, perhaps, exposing the limitations of Britain’s intelligence service? Another David Shayler?’
‘Perhaps the whole thing’s a set-up,’ I said. ‘They want it to seem as though he’s been sacked.’
‘That’s good. Yes, that’s good. But you don’t think he’s another Shayler. Your valuable instincts tell you he’s not.’
‘They do.’
‘Use them,’ he said and leaned over towards me. ‘Think independently. You are a good officer for that reason. Your progress has been noted with approval for some time. Think freely.’
‘Thank you, sir,’ I said, but I was thinking about my conversation with Vladimir earlier in the afternoon and how
But I didn’t see any need to reply beyond tilting my head in uncertain agreement.
‘So. Why do you think he is so interested in giving us his thoughts on how much the West should distrust our president? What is he hoping to gain from this?’ Patrushev then began to answer his own question. ‘Unlike some, I don’t think it was a prelude to him coming over to us,’ he said, casting a withering look at General Kerchenko. ‘You don’t tell your girlfriend you hate her mother before you ask her to marry you, do you? Tell me your thoughts please, Anna, based on your very special position with him.’
‘I’m sure that he never intended to defect,’ I agreed and got cold looks from the General and Yuri. ‘I think he genuinely dislikes the President, however, fears him perhaps, fears what Russia can become under his leadership. I think he is genuine in that.’
‘But why is he so keen for us to know this?’ Patrushev pressed me without a pause. ‘There’s barely a report of yours since New Year’s Eve that doesn’t contain his thoughts on the subject.’
‘I don’t feel that he is really talking to me at all,’ I said truthfully. ‘I believe when he tells me what he thinks about the President it is as if he is talking to his own people. He says it to me because of his frustration that nobody in London will listen to him. I don’t think he has any motive for letting us know his thoughts. I think he’s angry, frustrated, but he’s not trying to give us any kind of message.’
‘Maybe he’s trying to get you to agree with him about our president,’ Kerchenko said, with some accusation in his voice. ‘To subvert you, perhaps, so that you’ll help him get whatever it is he’s after.’
Patrushev gave him a sharp look and then looked back at me again.
‘I agree with you,’ Patrushev said to me. ‘He’s not trying to give us or you any message at all. But now he has finally vented his anger about British policy to his superiors, where he formerly aired it only to you. He’s stepped over the line, and they’ve recalled him to London. Would you agree?’
‘I think he has committed professional suicide, yes,’ I said. ‘I think it’s been coming for a long time. They put up with his increasingly undisciplined behaviour but now he’s gone too far.’
‘A spent force…’ Patrushev said.
‘I don’t think so,’ I said immediately, and I didn’t know why I said it. Perhaps it was Finn’s remark, ‘I’m going feral.’ Perhaps, too, it was the missing element in my conversation with Finn at the Baltschug–his assumption, the fact that he didn’t think it mattered that I wouldn’t go with him, because it was inevitable we would be thrown together again.
‘Oh?’ Patrushev said and there was a clammy silence in the room. ‘A British spy is suddenly taken home for insubordination concerning the most fundamental level of policy and he is not a spent force? What will he do? Write a book, perhaps, exposing the limitations of Britain’s intelligence service? Another David Shayler?’
‘Perhaps the whole thing’s a set-up,’ I said. ‘They want it to seem as though he’s been sacked.’
‘That’s good. Yes, that’s good. But you don’t think he’s another Shayler. Your valuable instincts tell you he’s not.’
‘They do.’
‘Use them,’ he said and leaned over towards me. ‘Think independently. You are a good officer for that reason. Your progress has been noted with approval for some time. Think freely.’
‘Thank you, sir,’ I said, but I was thinking about my conversation with Vladimir earlier in the afternoon and how
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