Red Star Falling: A Thriller Read Online Free PDF

weeks.…’
    Monsford drank some water, gazing around the table, an actor’s preparation for his denouement speech. ‘In that conversation Briddle told me James Straughan was unsafe: that he had evidence of a disloyal cell to which David Halliday was also linked. Briddle believed Muffin, who’d spent long periods in Moscow and is, as you’ve been told, married to a high-ranking officer in the FSB, had some information pertinent to it. Briddle wanted to speak to Muffin before he left the country to find out what that information was. He said he’d call me within hours. We all know why he wasn’t able to—’
    ‘This is preposterous nonsense, all of it!’ exploded Jane Ambersom.
    ‘No-one would be happier, more relieved, than me for it all to be dismissed as exactly that, absolute and preposterous nonsense,’ said Monsford, finally turning to look at Rebecca, who was thinking that nothing would make her happier, either, because she knew that what Monsford had told everyone in the room was precisely that, absolute and preposterous nonsense.
    *   *   *
     
    Monsford was sure he’d pushed back the immediate confrontation. Maybe not for long, maybe only for today, but the ceiling and walls were no longer crushing in on him, giving him more time to think. And to listen. That’s what he had to do now, listen and sift everything possible from the settling dust for specks that might strengthen the story he was trying to build.
    ‘Why are you rejecting the Director’s account so vehemently?’ Sir Archibald Bland demanded of Jane Ambersom.
    The woman was flushed, a combination of anger at Monsford’s accusation and embarrassment at losing control. ‘Until a comparatively short time ago I was the deputy director of MI6. As such I came to know James Straughan extremely well. He was someone of extraordinary ability. He was also someone of outstanding integrity and above all else of total loyalty who had become extremely concerned with the management and manner of operations within MI6. That was James Straughan’s burden: that and the strain of personally caring for a seriously ill mother. To suggest he was guilty of the slightest disloyalty, a spy, is not just nonsense, it is a total travesty.’
    Monsford was the first to fill the following silence. ‘It’s gratifying to hear one colleague defend another in such a spirited manner. But I would remind all of us here that the defence used a moment ago is virtually an historical echo of that used to dismiss the initial accusations of treason against Kim Philby and his deeply embedded cell of KGB spies—also within MI6—responsible for the assassinations of dozens of MI6 and CIA officers.’
    ‘Can we bring ourselves to the present and not dwell upon earlier MI6 failures, disastrous though they were,’ hurried in Aubrey Smith, anxious to subdue his deputy. ‘I do not believe at this stage, little more than hours after what’s happened in Moscow, that we can do more than formally open this enquiry, urgent though it is to provide some response to government demands.…’ Smith looked towards the secretariat. ‘To that end I want listed that I will call an MI5 eyewitness to the events at Vnukovo Airport. And also produce all audio, filmed, and written communication between MI5 and its officers in Moscow during this entire operation.…’ The pause now was more determined: concentrating totally upon Monsford, Smith said; ‘I would welcome the positive commitment from the MI6 Director that a full and matching disclosure will be provided by them.…’
    Monsford jerked up almost too theatrically, as if startled by the demand. ‘Of course I give that assurance. But there’s a difficulty. Regulations officially put materiel-release authority beyond me, resting during the internal security examination with those conducting it. That’s why I’ve already consulted with them about Straughan, instead of beginning the enquiry myself. It’s to the internal