Quiller Meridian

We don't know — Ferris — that they might not have already finished what they came here to do. They could be leavingNovosibirsk tomorrow morning. Or tonight.

They might have gone by now, and I waited to hear Rusakov say precisely that. He didn't.

'General Chudin and General Kovalenko are at present the guests of my commanding officer.'

I span my little top, and watched Meridian start running again.

'Oh really,' I said.' the official guests?'

'No. Not official.'

'But it's known to all ranks that they're at the camp?'

'It would be difficult to conceal it. Rumours are the lifeblood of the barracks. But nothing official has been posted in Daily Routine Orders or anywhere else.'

'You've seen them? The generals?'

'Only once, and at a distance, crossing from a staff car to their quarters.'

I picked up the little top again and span it. 'Have you any plans to wipe those two out as well, Vadim?'

His head came up in surprise. 'Why should I?'

'I wondered if they were party to Velichko's orders to have your father shot.'

'No. It was Velichko's personal order. I know the facts.'

Had been rooting for those facts for four years, perhaps, until he was sure. Then he'd asked Tanya to keep watch on Velichko as best she could, in Moscow. 'Do you know,' I asked him, 'why those two generals are visiting your CO?'

'He himself is in the Podpolia.'

'Has he got any power?'

In surprise — 'He is the commanding officer.'

'Put it this way — if he tried to bring the whole battalion into the Podpolia, what would happen?'

'There would be mutiny. He is known to belong to the hardline Communists, but he daren't come out into the open. That is why the visit of the two generals is not being publicized.'

'There's a security guard around their quarters?'

'Yes. We doubled it, after a man was seen watching the area with field-glasses from a car outside the camp.'

'When was this?'

'Soon after the generals arrived. The observer drove away before he could be challenged.'

Did he really, now.

I put some money onto the table. 'Vadim, I've got to make a telephone call. You want to wait here?'

'I will leave with you.'

We pushed our chairs back and Rusakov said,' thank you for the — ' he gestured towards the table. For the dog soup.

'My pleasure.'

He was at the door first, holding it open for me, and the black freezing air hit us in a wave as we went outside.

'Where's your car, Vadim?'

'Over there, the army jeep. I will wait for you.'

I felt a lift of relief when Ferris picked up the phone at his end, which wasn't reassuring: if there's one thing the executive in the field has to count on it's that his director is always at the other end of the telephone, inviolate. But the Roach thing had changed that.

'Bit of debriefing,' I told him.

'Good.' He didn't give it a cheerful tone, nothing hearty, I'd have.killed him for that and he knew it. He wasn't expecting any kind of breakthrough at this stage of the mission: there was too much stacked up against us, with the executive on the run and a wreck on the river for a safe-house.

But at least there was this: 'The two remaining generals, I said 'are still in Novosibirsk. They're guests of the CO of the Russian Army unit, unofficially and under special protection.' I filled him in with the details.

'This is quite good,' Ferris said when I'd finished.

In point of fact yes, we'd caught up with the objective for Meridian, which was the information buried in the heads of those two men. The problem was that they were behind the wire fence and the sentries of a fully-manned and equipped army battalion, no real case for dancing in the streets when London received Ferris's signal.

'Rusakov,' I said, 'is now an ally.'

'I would think so.'

'I'm going to get him to keep the generals under observation while they're in camp. He's got men he can trust. So I'll need you to move your best support man into the immediate field, as close as you can to the safe-house.'

I could see Rusakov through the grime of the glass panels, sitting at the wheel of his jeep. He could be useful to us, useful in the extreme, but he was a stranger, not of the Bureau, untrained and unpredictable. I was quite sure he'd do very nearly anything I asked him to do, because of Tanya, but simple gratitude doesn't have the high-tensile strength that underlies our neurotic devotion to the Sacred Bull, and the more reliance I put on Captain Vadim Rusakov the more dangerous it would be.

'How far can we trust your captain?' I heard Ferris asking. It wasn't telepathy; we both knew the risk of using strangers.

'I don't know him well enough to answer that. All I can do is be careful. How close can you get your support man to the safe-house?'

'Five kilometres,' Ferris said. He had the map in front of him.

'With a secure telephone?'

'Yes.' He gave me the number.

'All right, and I'll need a mobile radio link.'

'Noted.'

'And a map showing the location of the army camp. When he approaches, he should whistle the Fifth.' then I asked Ferris — hadn't meant to — 'How are things your end?'

'You worry too much.'

Right, you do not ask your director in the field how things are with him; he must be seen at all times to be as secure in his sanctum as is the Oracle in Delphi.

I wouldn't have asked him, perhaps, if Tanya weren't also there. He would know that. Ferris knows everything.

We shut down the signal and I forced the door of the booth back and went across to the jeep and got in.' Vadim, would you be able to keep the generals under covert observation while they're in camp? Use some of your men?'

'That would be quite easy. Their quarters are in a separate building from the barracks.'

'Then I want you to do that. Look, we need to write things down. Is there — '

'Here.' He reached across the seat and got a clipboard from the rear of the car and pulled the pencil out of its slot.

I gave him the phone number I'd got from Ferris and told him to write it down. 'Vadim, that number is classified. Understand that.'

He looked at me in the glow of light from the dashboard. 'I understand. You may trust me. Do you know that?' He waited.

'Of course. It's just that if you found yourself forced at some time to answer questions, it might be difficult — '

'You may trust me in any circumstances.' His eyes held mine.

'Fair enough. So look, if you find anything to report to me on the generals, phone that number and give your name. He'll be our liaison. Your name is also classified, so don't worry. I want to know whenever those people make a move. When they leave camp I want to know where they go. Can you have them tracked?'

Rusakov thought about that, stroking a circle on the lined yellow clipboard sheet with his finger. Muster all ranks, 'B' Platoon, 18:00 hrs, for kit inspection had been written across the top, then crossed out. 'It might be difficult,' he said at last, 'to send out a vehicle at short notice. I'd have to submit an order for it beforehand, and give the destination and purpose — except in an emergency, of course. But it would be difficult, again, to claim an emergency at a time when the generals were initiating transit.'

'Yes, blow the whole thing. Then see what information you can get hold of before they leave camp. See if you can get their destination from the transport section.'