Natalia felt Popov go forward, to respond, but quickly spoke ahead of him. ‘I’m sure we would welcome any worthwhile contribution.’ Charlie was far too clever to be ignored: besides which, the idea of virtually having Charlie work for her appealed to Natalia. She hoped he’d interpret it that way, too. Beside her Aleksai was doodling squares within squares along the edge of his blotter. She’d indulged herself, Natalia conceded, enjoyed too much the unexpected ease of meeting Charlie again and of proving to everyone – herself most of all – that she was the person to whom they all had to defer. Which she’d proved enough. Now it was time to defer herself, to let Aleksai take over. Things were still strained between them and she wanted to make amends, not worsen the situation by dominating everything. She pulled back, physically withdrawing, and said, ‘Mine is, of course, the overall responsibility. Colonel Popov is the operational director.’
The renewed introduction appeared to surprise Popov, who hesitated for several moments, once looking at Natalia as if for guidance before coming back to the two men. It was Kestler who responded to Popov’s invitation for any further questions. Charlie decided, quickly, the American’s mistakes had come from the younger man being over-impressed at the echelon with which they were dealing. He’d adjusted now, probing generally to begin with rather than snatching isolated points out of the air and Charlie withdrew, too, letting the meeting briefly move away from him. His apparent attention upon Popov, as the man spoke, hid his absorption upon Natalia. She, too, deflected to Kestler and occasionally to the two government officials, but a lot of the time she remained looking directly at him.
Where was the sign? Charlie accepted, as the anxious thought came to him, that it was ridiculous to expect her to behave in any way other than with strict formality – just as it was impossible for him to do anything else in front of the men by whom she was surrounded – but he wanted something from her, a signal or a hint. A signal or a hint about what? That she was glad to see him; that everything was going to be all right? That wasn’t just ridiculous. That was downright bloody madness; the utter delusion of a rambling mind. He was being irrational. Fantasizing, like a lovelorn schoolboy. Charlie didn’t like being irrational or letting himself fantasize and most certainly not thinking like a schoolboy, lovelorn or suffering any other sort of dementia.
The reflection was shattered by Popov’s revelation of the size of the intended haul. Charlie was so startled he exclaimed, ‘How much?’ and didn’t give a damn that his shock was obvious.
‘250 kilos,’ repeated Popov.
‘A bomb the size of that which killed 40,000 people in Nagasaki can be made from five kilos of plutonium,’ recited Charlie, dead-voiced. ‘Which means 250 kilos could kill about 2,000,000. And mutilate and injure millions more.’
There was echoing silence in the room for several moments before Popov said, ‘We’ve had the same estimate from our nuclear experts. We know why we’ve got to stop it.’
‘I think we all do,’ said Charlie.
‘And we will,’ insisted Popov. ‘I will contact both of you, in advance of the final planning meeting.’
Charlie wrote hurriedly on the provided notepad while Popov talked. As the man finished, Charlie slid the sheet of paper across the table more towards Natalia than her deputy. ‘My home number here in Moscow, if it has to be out of embassy hours.’ It wasn’t good – in fact it was bumping along at schoolboy level again – but it was the best he could think of.
‘I’ve already got that, too,’ reminded Popov.
‘Then we don’t need it again, do we?’ said Natalia, picking up the note and crushing it into a discarding ball.
Charlie remained annoyed at the American’s gaffes but the fury-of-the-moment had gone and there wasn’t any benefit in further belittling the man who apologized anyway the moment they got into the car.
‘Just wanted to get things clear,’ said Kestler. ‘And I was told to make the technology offer.’
‘No damage done,’ dismissed Charlie, who wasn’t dismissing the experience entirely: he really would have to be careful he wasn’t caught by the fallout of anything the other man might do.
‘I was right, wasn’t I?’ demanded the relieved Kestler.
‘I owe you $5,’ accepted Charlie.
‘This is going to be commendation stuff! Bureau performance medal even!’
‘Let’s hope.’
‘We’ve got a problem, though. What about Balg and Fiore? You think we should tell them?’
‘No!’ said Charlie, immediately alarmed. ‘They start feeding stuff back through their own agencies it could leak out to whoever the customers are in Europe and completely screw the cooperation we’ve been offered today. And keep us permanently on the outside in the future.’
‘So what are we going to tell them?’
‘Bugger all!’ determined Charlie. ‘We were told Moscow had heard of the Ukraine business and were in contact with Kiev. We’ll let them know if we hear anything more and in the meantime we’d like to be told whatever else they get from their sources.’
Kestler frowned. ‘That’s pretty shitty.’
‘Life’s pretty shitty,’ insisted Charlie.
‘They’ll know we lied to them, when it all comes out.’
‘You want to risk losing two hundred and fifty kilos of weapons graded nuclear explosives!’
‘Of course not!’
‘Then the Germans and the Italians don’t get told.’ He very definitely had to guard against Kestler, Charlie decided again.
‘You debriefed him, all those years ago?’
‘Yes.’
‘He didn’t show any sign of recognition.’
‘I scarcely recognized him.’
The ministry observers had agreed it was a good meeting but Natalia welcomed the private review between herself and Popov. He was still aloof, restricting himself to the examination of the earlier conference. She still hadn’t received his threatened dissenting memorandum but Natalia was determined not to ask if he still intended to submit one. Just as she was determined not to be the first to cross the line into their personal relationship in anything she did or said. It had been more than a week now since their argument.
‘You even identified yourself, by name!’
‘It was hardly likely he’d draw attention to himself and to what happened in the past, was it?’ Aleksai’s curiosity was entirely understandable.
‘He must know we’d have a file!’
‘Not necessarily. A lot of the KGB files went with the end of the organization. He didn’t know until today it would be me he was meeting.’ Which was true, Natalia thought. He’d handled the surprise very well, professionally. It was personal situations he’d been incapable of dealing with. Not her problem any more. Natalia had been surprised at herself; surprised how easy it really had been for her.
‘I don’t think he’s very good!’
Charlie’s best trick, Natalia remembered: getting people to despise him. ‘He’s only observing. He can’t cause any problems’
‘I didn’t expect you to accept his contributing, at the planning sessions to come.’
‘Why not? He can contribute. We don’t have to act on anything he suggests. It’s simply giving them the impression of involvement.’ Was there any point in letting the distance remain between herself and Aleksai? She’d imposed her will and he had every right to be offended. But it wasn’t a game between them, a contest with a winner and a loser.
‘We can’t guess what the American would be like under pressure: he could be unpredictable,’ said Popov.
Natalia wondered what description Aleksai would have chosen for Charlie if he’d known the man as well as she did. ‘They’ll both be totally under our control, at all times. They can’t disrupt anything at Kirs.’