The Bear's Tears Read Online Free PDF Page A

—
    Crackle of static, and nearer than their own men…
    Radio - two-way?
    Aubrey took a step towards him - footsteps as Wilkes drew nearer.
Other footsteps, a small party of men. Wilkes hurried close to Aubrey.
    What —?
    Where the hell had Kapustin gone? Hyde hadn't even watched him leave
the gardens of the Belvedere. Damn —
    Hyde's hand reached into his coat.
    "Sir Kenneth? It's Andrew Babbington —" one of the approaching knot
of men - four, no, five of them - called out.
    "Babbington?" Aubrey replied confusedly, moving towards the group.
"Babbington - Andrew, what are you doing here?"
    Hyde remained on one knee, his hand gripping the butt of the Heckler
& Koch the embassy had issued him that afternoon. Its shaped
plastic was warm from his body. He could not ignore the crackle of
static.
    Then Aubrey said: "It is you - what is it?"
    Crackle - legs, there, beneath the trees. He saw them through a
diseased, thinned part of the hedge. Wilkes and the others had closed
up now, forming a group of men in dark overcoats and light trench
coats, surrounding Aubrey. Must be an emergency —? The legs he could
see through the hedge rose to a dark, bulky coat. He could not see the
man's face. Aubrey had been joined by the Director-General of MI5 and
the Vienna Head of Station. It had to be an emergency - highest
priority.
    The legs remained still. Did the body have a familiar shape —?
    Another pair of legs arrived silently.
Two
watchers. Hyde
got to his feet and moved slowly and quietly off the gravel path. His
hand held the recorder and its lead and the earpiece. He thrust the
recorder into his pocket and the plug back into his ear.
    "… it's extremely embarrassing, Sir Kenneth," someone was murmuring
deferentially. Parrish, Head of Station in Vienna.
    "I simply do not understand why you are here, Andrew," Aubrey
snapped as Hyde again bent low by the hedge. The two watchers had not
moved. Their stance betrayed their interest in the group on the path.
They were unaware of him.
    "Mr Babbington - I'm sorry, Sir Andrew has given me very precise
instructions, Sir Kenneth. I'm very sorry…" Why wasn't Babbington
speaking for himself? Why the hell was Babbington in Vienna anyway? MI5
was internal security, not intelligence. He was on Aubrey's patch. "I
must ask you to accompany us, Sir Kenneth."
    "Why, may I ask?" Aubrey asked waspishly. "And why won't you speak
for yourself, Andrew? What is it? What is the matter?"
    Hyde slipped along the grass verge, his back brushing the tall
hedge. A statue loomed, and the hedge opened in decay behind it. He
slipped through into the deeper darkness beneath the trees.
    "… this is very awkward for me, Sir Kenneth," Parrish was
protesting. "Very awkward for all of us…"
    "Where is your man Hyde?" Babbington suddenly asked. Hyde was
chilled by the tone of command, the sense of urgency. It was a palpable
threat. He
knew
it as such and was unnerved by disbelief.
Ahead of him, he could see the two watchers beneath the trees. They
were perhaps thirty yards from the group on the path. Who were they —?
    "I - have no idea where Hyde is," Aubrey said cunningly. "He was
here a moment ago… What do you want of me, Andrew?"
    "You'll return to London in our company, Kenneth - and there you
will remain incommunicado at your flat until such time…"
    "What?"
    Hyde was rigid with shock, almost unaware of the watchers even
though they were now moving in his general direction.
    "Kenneth —" Babbington warned.
    "What is it, man? What in the devil's name are you talking about?"
Aubrey stormed.
    "Treason, Sir Kenneth," Babbington replied coldly. Hyde gasped with
incredulity.
Aubrey
—?
    "What did you say?"
    "Sir Kenneth, I must warn you that there are grounds for the
strongest suspicion - there are matters which
must
be
investigated…"
    Footsteps to Hyde's left, coming through the trees. Noises on
gravel, farther off.
    Kapustin… Kapustin…
    He recognised the man. He had been the first watcher he had