Run Around Read Online Free PDF

to one side and as he walked towards the carved oak door he wondered what the reaction of the British taxpayer would be to knowing how much they shelled out each year, maintaining places like this. Charlie had carried out defector interviews in at least six, all in different parts of the country but all equally grand and expensive. The need for the Establishment always to be well established, he decided, particularly if some other unsuspecting bloke is picking up the bill. Shit, thought Charlie, reminded too late: he’d forgotten to get a receipt for the pub lunch.
    The door opened before he reached it but Hubert Witherspoon did not come forward to meet him.
    â€˜There you are!’ greeted Charlie. ‘I was worried about you: thought you’d done a header wearing your best trainers.’
    â€˜What are you talking about?’ demanded Witherspoon. He was a tall, languid man who had trouble with a flick of hair that strayed permanently over his left eye. He wore an immaculate grey suit, hard-collared shirt and a school tie. Stowe, Charlie recognized.
    â€˜Nothing,’ dismissed Charlie. ‘So you’ve been debriefing?’
    â€˜Took over a month ago. And very successfully,’ insisted the man. ‘I asked who was coming down today but London didn’t reply.’
    â€˜Perhaps they wanted it to be a surprise.’
    â€˜Are you to take over now?’
    â€˜Nope,’ said Charlie. ‘Just the assassination.’
    â€˜London has got all there is on that,’ said Witherspoon, in further insistence. ‘There’s nothing more.’
    â€˜That came out at one of your sessions?’
    â€˜I said it was a successful debrief, didn’t I?’
    â€˜What did you do about it?’
    â€˜Told London immediately, of course.’
    â€˜That all?’
    â€˜What else would you expert me to do?’
    Not behave like a prat, thought Charlie. It wasn’t worth an argument; be unfair in fact. Instead of replying, Charlie said: ‘Tell me about Novikov.’
    â€˜Everything points to his being genuine,’ said Witherspoon. ‘Handled a lot of important stuff, right up to Kremlin level. And he’s got a damned good recall, so he’s going to be a very productive gold-mine for a long time. Hates Russia, for the reasons set out in the report, so he’s anxious to co-operate. There’s already been a request for access, from the CIA.’
    â€˜I bet there has,’ said Charlie.
    â€˜How long do you think you’ll be?’ asked Witherspoon.
    â€˜How the hell should I know?’ said Charlie. ‘As long as it takes.’
    â€˜Thought I might cut away for a round of golf,’ said Witherspoon. ‘There’s a jolly good course the other side of Pulborough.’
    â€˜You don’t want to sit in?’ asked Charlie, surprised the man entrusted with the overall debrief didn’t want a comparison with Novikov’s replies, against those to another questioner. Charlie would have jumped at the opportunity, in reversed circumstances.
    â€˜I told you, I’ve already covered the assassination,’ said Witherspoon.
    â€˜So you did.’
    â€˜Unless you’d like my assistance, of course.’
    â€˜I’ll manage,’ assured Charlie. Some people were beyond help, he thought.
    Vladimir Novikov was waiting in what Charlie supposed was called the drawing room. It was very large and at the side of the house, with huge windows and French doors leading out on to a paved verandah beyond which was a view of lawns and long-ago planted trees whose branches now drooped to the ground, as if they were tired from holding them out for such a long time. An intricately patterned carpet protected most of the wood-tiled floor and the furnishings, two long couches, with six easy chairs, were all chintz-covered. There were flowers on two tables and an expansive arrangement in a fireplace the mantelpiece of which was higher