The Matarese Circle Read Online Free PDF Page A

gave it to the Premier.
    He looked at the names.
    Scofield, Brandon Alan.
State Department, Consular Operations. Known to have been responsible for assassinations in Prague, Athens, Paris, Munich. Suspected of having operated in Moscow itself. Involved in over twenty defections.
    Randolph, David.
Central Intelligence Agency. Cover is Import Traffic Manager, Dynamax Corporation, West Berlin Branch. All phases of sabotage. Known to have been instrumental in hydroelectrical explosions in Kazan and Tagil.
    Saltzman, George Robert.
Central Intelligence Agency. Operated as pouch courier and assassin in Vientiane under AID cover for six years. Oriental expert. Currently—as of five weeks ago—in the Tashkent sectors. Cover: Australian immigrant, sales manager: Perth Radar Corporation.
    Bergstrom, Edward.
Central Intelligence Agency—
    “Mr. Premier,” interrupted the man from VKR. “My associate meant to explain that the names are in order of priority. In our opinion, the entrapment and execution of Dimitri Yurievich bears all the earmarks of the first man on that list.”
    “This Scofield?”
    “Yes, Mr. Premier. He disappeared a month ago in Marseilles. He’s done more damage, compromised more operations, than any agent the United States has fielded since the war.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes, sir.” The VKR man paused, then spoke hesitantly,as if he did not want to go on, but knew he must. “His wife was killed ten years ago. In East Berlin. He’s been a maniac ever since.”
    “
East
Berlin?”
    “It was a trap. KGB.”
    The telephone rang on the Premier’s desk; he crossed rapidly and picked it up.
    It was the President of the United States. The interpreters were on the line; they went to work.
    “We grieve the death—the terrible murder—of a very great scientist, Mr. Premier. As well as the horror that befell his friends.”
    “Your words are appreciated, Mr. President, but as you know, those deaths and that horror were premeditated. I’m grateful for your sympathies, but I can’t help but wonder if perhaps you are not somewhat relieved that the Soviet Union has lost its foremost nuclear physicist.”
    “I am not, sir. His brilliance transcended our borders and differences. He was a man for all peoples.”
    “Yet he chose to be a part of
one
people, did he not? I tell you frankly, my concerns do not transcend our differences. Rather, they force me to look to my flanks.”
    “Then, if you’ll forgive me, Mr. Premier, you’re looking for phantoms.”
    “Perhaps we’ve found them, Mr. President. We have evidence that is extremely disturbing to me. So much so that I have—”
    “Forgive me once again,” interrupted the President of the United States. “Your evidence has prompted my calling you, in spite of my natural reluctance to do so. The KGB has made a great error. Four errors, to be precise.”
    “
Four?
”
    “Yes, Mr. Premier. Specifically the names Scofield, Randolph, Saltzman and Bergstrom. None was involved, Mr. Premier.”
    “You astonish me, Mr. President.”
    “No more than you astonished me the other week. There are fewer secrets these days, remember?”
    “Words are inexpensive; the evidence is strong.”
    “Then it’s been so calculated. Let me clarify. Two of the three men from Central Intelligence are no longer in sanction. Randolph and Bergstrom are currently at theirdesks in Washington. Mr. Saltzman was hospitalized in Tashkent; the diagnosis is cancer.” The President paused.
    “That leaves one name, doesn’t it?” said the Premier. “Your man from the infamous Consular Operations. So bland in diplomatic circles, but infamous to us.”
    “This is the most painful aspect of my clarification. It’s inconceivable that Mr. Scofield could have been involved. There was less chance of his involvement than any of the others, frankly. I tell you this because it no longer matters.”
    “Words cost little—”
    “I must be explicit. For the past several years a covert,