The Human Factor Read Online Free PDF

good.’
    Daintry watched him with envy. He envied him in the first place for his position. He was one of the very few men outside the services ever to have been appointed C. No one in the firm knew why he had been chosen – all kinds of recondite influences had been surmised, for his only experience of intelligence had been gained in Africa during the war. Daintry also envied him his wife; she was so rich, so decorative, so impeccably American. An American marriage, it seemed, could not be classified as a foreign marriage: to marry a foreigner special permission had to be obtained and it was often refused, but to marry an American was perhaps to confirm the special relationship. He wondered all the same whether Lady Hargreaves had been positively vetted by MI5 and been passed by the FBI.
    â€˜Tonight,’ Hargreaves said, ‘we’ll have a chat, Daintry, won’t we? You and I and Percival. When this crowd has gone home.’
    2
    Sir John Hargreaves limped round, handing out cigars, pouring out whiskies, poking the fire. ‘I don’t enjoy shooting much myself,’ he said. ‘Never used to shoot in Africa, except with a camera, but my wife likes all the old English customs. If you have land, she says, you must have birds. I’m afraid there weren’t enough pheasants, Daintry.’
    â€˜I had a very good day,’ Daintry said, ‘all in all.’
    â€˜I wish you ran to a trout stream,’ Doctor Percival said.
    â€˜Oh yes, fishing’s your game, isn’t it? Well, you might say we’ve got a bit of fishing on hand now.’ He cracked a log with his poker. ‘Useless,’ he said, ‘but I love to see the sparks fly. There seems to be a leak somewhere in Section 6.’
    Percival said, ‘At home or in the field?’
    â€˜I’m not sure, but I have a nasty feeling that it’s here at home. In one of the African sections – 6A.’
    â€˜I’ve just finished going through Section 6,’ Daintry said. ‘Only a routine run through. So as to get to know people.’
    â€˜Yes, so they told me. That’s why I asked you to come here. Enjoyed having you for the shoot too, of course. Did anything strike you?’
    â€˜Security’s got a bit slack. But that’s true of all other sections too. I made a rough check for example of what people take out in their briefcases at lunchtime. Nothing serious, but I was surprised at the number of briefcases . . . It’s a warning, that’s all, of course. But a warning might scare a nervous man. We can’t very well ask them to strip.’
    â€˜They do that in the diamond fields, but I agree that in the West End stripping would seem a bit unusual.’
    â€˜Anyone really out of order?’ Percival asked.
    â€˜Not seriously. Davis in 6A was carrying a report – said he wanted to read it over lunch. I warned him, of course, and made him leave it behind with Brigadier Tomlinson. I’ve gone through all the traces too. Vetting has been done very efficiently since the Blake case broke, but we still have a few men who were with us in the bad old days. Some of them even go back as far as Burgess and Maclean. We could start tracing them all over again, but it’s difficult to pick up a cold scent.’
    â€˜It’s possible, of course, just possible,’ C said, ‘that the leak came from abroad and that the evidence has been planted here. They would like to disrupt us, damage morale and hurt us with the Americans. The knowledge that there was a leak, if it became public, could be more damaging than the leak itself.’
    â€˜That’s what I was thinking,’ Percival said. ‘Questions in Parliament. All the old names thrown up – Vassall, the Portland affair, Philby. But if they’re after publicity, there’s little we can do.’
    â€˜I suppose a Royal Commission would be appointed to shut the stable door,’