The Midnight Swimmer Read Online Free PDF Page B

Russian?’ said Catesby.
    ‘Not bad.’
    Catesby tested him by asking him intimate questions in Russian about his mistress. Andreas’s Russian was stumbling and schoolboyish, but the answers seemed convincing.
    ‘Right,’ said Catesby, ‘what was the return address on the letter and the postmark on the envelope?’
    Andreas gave the details and they matched up. Catesby was always suspicious that ‘walk-in joe’ intelligence might be fabricated at best – or a disinformation plant at worst. It was certainly not the latter. If the stuff was genuine, it was the last thing that Moscow would want the West to know about.
    Catesby looked away and gave a bored sigh. It wasn’t easy to keep up the act. He wanted the stuff badly. He wasn’t sure what to do if Andreas didn’t hand it over. During Catesby’s initial training at Fort Monckton in the late forties they had all been taught how to break someone’s neck, but none of the SIS recruits had taken the unarmed combat lessons seriously. The marine commando in charge had punished their flippancy with a long-distance run. Catesby now wished that he had paid more attention.
    It was Andreas’s turn to play souk trader. ‘I can see that you’re not particularly interested – I’d better be off.’
    ‘I am interested.’
    ‘Have you got the money?’
    ‘I’ve got half of it – but there are strings attached.’
    ‘What strings?’
    Catesby looked closely at Andreas. ‘In 1951 we ran an agent in Vienna who thought he was a gold mine – and expected a gold mine’s profits. One day he said he could give us a full set of Soviet Army radio codes for fifty thousand US dollars. We paid up – and the codes were genuine and worth every penny. Fine. But the very next day our man turned up at GRU … you know them?’
    ‘Soviet military intelligence.’
    ‘That’s right – and they’ve got lots of cash too. So our man, with a big Viennese smile, says to the Russian in charge, “I’ve got some important news for you – but it will cost you fifty thousand US dollars.” The Russian general agreed because he knew this was a prize agent, and began to count out the cash. As the agent pocketed the money, he said, “I’ve just sold your top secret codes to the British.” What do you think of that?’
    ‘It sounded like a pretty stupid thing to do?’
    Catesby smiled and shook his head. ‘On the contrary. It was brilliant . The Russians were delighted because it meant they could use the compromised codes and radio frequencies to pump tons of false information our way.’
    Andreas looked sceptical. ‘How do you know he did this?’
    ‘We know, because two days later our Viennese friend came back to us with a big shitty smile on his face and said, “I’ve got some very important news for you, but it will cost you fifty thousand US dollars.”’ Catesby smiled at Andreas. ‘Wasn’t our agent a clever lad?’
    ‘Don’t treat me like I’m stupid.’
    Catesby looked at the ground and kicked a stone off the path.
    ‘I think,’ said Andreas, ‘you’ve made your point.’
    ‘No, I haven’t.’ Catesby grabbed the German by the lapel and pulled him close. ‘You don’t know what happened to our Viennese pal.’
    Andreas stared at the trees for a few seconds; three blackbirds were huddled silhouettes on the bare branches of a birch. He finally whispered, ‘Okay, what happened to him?’
    ‘Nothing.’ Catesby let go of Andreas’s lapel and smiled. ‘Nothing … that could be traced back to Her Majesty’s representatives on the Allied High Commission. We used local talent: nothing written down, no names, no dates – just a sack full of used banknotes to pay them off. In fact, it was a pretty gruesome business.’ Catesby paused. ‘Have you ever been in a coal-fired power station?’
    Andreas shook his head.
    ‘Well, I hadn’t been in a power station before that night either. It’s all very efficient and logical. The coal is tipped on to conveyer belts