"Trevor, Elleston as Hall, Adam - Quiller 17 - Quiller Meridian 1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hall Adam)

There'd be a squeal from that acidic old bitch in the counting house because she's always touchy about passing anonymous funds into Moscow without any explanation, but the rule is that if we damage any property we've got to report it and it's got to be paid for, and in any case this was nothing, the last thing I'd stuck Accounts for was a smashed Mercedes.

'Anything else?' Carey asked me. I said no and we shut down.

This was at 8:44.

* * * It was mid -- afternoon when London came through with instructions.

Medlock was back at the board.

'Zymyanin has booked out on the Rossiya to Vladivostok. Please stand by for Chief of Signals.'

Jane had been typing a report for the embassy, and stopped, leaving the room quiet. The sky in the high narrow window was already darkening toward nightfall even at this hour. The snow had eased off soon after we'd got back from the clothing shop.

I heard Croder's voice on the line.

'Your instructions are to board the train and try to make contact with him.'

With Zymyanin. I asked Croder: 'He signalled you?'

'No. We had his movements monitored. We think he finally decided against making a second rendezvous. Zymyanin is not normally a nervous man, but it seems he was frightened off by the Bucharest debacle.'

It didn't surprise me. You don't need to be nervous to get clear from a blown rendezvous with no intention of trying your luck again: it's simply a logical precaution. This trade's chancy enough without begging for an early grave. But what I didn't like was the idea of forcing Zymyanin into a rendezvous he hadn't asked for, because there were a lot of risks and some of them could be lethal, and if it had been anyone but Croder giving me these instructions I would have turned them down. I've taken lethal risks all my life with the Bureau -- it's built into the business -- but I always need to know in each particular case whether it's worth it.

'What's the situation?' I asked him.

'The situation is that we still think Zymyanin has something of major importance to give us, if we can persuade him. I don't need to tell you, of course, that he may be very difficult to handle by now.'

Yes indeed. It looked as if the Soviet had got clear of the Bucharest thing and was simply unwilling to take any more risks, but that was an assumption, and assumptions are always dangerous.

'You mean," I said, 'he might not have got away clean.'

'Quite so. He may have been tracked from Bucharest to Moscow.'

Tracked by the people who'd killed Hornby.

'He could in effect be still on the run.'

'That is possible.'

I watched the sky darkening in the window.' He could have been caught,' I said, 'caught and turned and given new instructions. Is that what you mean by "difficult to handle"?'

'something along those lines.'

He's got a dry, thin voice, Croder. It's more like the sound of a paper shredder, and if you listen very carefully -- as you should, if you are talking to the Chief of Signals -- you can almost hear those little bright blades in there cutting the words out for you, the sibilants sharp and clear.

Something along those lines. I wasn't going to let him get away with that. I wanted him to know I was quite aware of what he was asking me to do. 'He could,' I said -- Zymyanin -- 'have been told to stay out of contact with London and try and draw me into a trap.'

In a moment,' that is also possible.'