Kirov’s face was expressionless. ‘All loose ends have been tied up,’ he replied.
But Liz still wasn’t satisfied. There was another person she wanted to enquire about. She couldn’t forget that all this had started at a seminar years ago when she, a history student, had attracted the attention of a young Russian visiting lecturer. She knew that Kirov must know about the part Alexander Sorsky had played in setting off this investigation, but she hesitated to mention his name in case it somehow made things worse for him. So she said, ‘There was an officer at your Embassy in Geneva who was taken ill and shipped home. Has he recovered?’
‘Ah, yes. Our colleague Alexander Sorsky. I gather you knew him some time ago. At the University of Bristol as I understand it.’
Liz’s heart sank. She knew what Kirov was telling her. Sorsky had been interrogated and had told them everything. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘We met quite by chance many years ago.’
‘And then again, I think, more recently.’
‘Yes,’ said Liz. No point in denying it. ‘That’s true. He is a brave man. He wanted to avoid your country and ours…’ she indicated Fane and Bokus ‘… misunderstanding each other. He was concerned that there was even a risk of conflict. And judging by what happened,’ she said, looking at Bokus, ‘I think he was right to be worried.’
‘That is perhaps true. But he was not authorised to make those decisions or to take the action he did.’
‘Well,’ said Liz, feeling her face flush, ‘I don’t think we will agree on that. Please give him my thanks and my regards.’
Kirov looked at her; his stare was steely. ‘That would not be possible.’
‘What has happened to him?’ she asked, unwilling to let the subject drop.
No one in the room spoke or moved. Then finally Kirov stood up. The meeting was over. He walked to the door, opened it and stood back to let them go through. As she passed him he said quietly to Liz, ‘As I told you, Miss Carlyle, all the loose ends in this affair have been tied up.’
A Note on the Author
Dame Stella Rimington joined the Security Service (MI5) in 1968. During her career she worked in all the main fields of the Service: counter-subversion, counter-espionage and counter-terrorism. She was appointed Director General in 1992, the first woman to hold the post. She has written her autobiography and six Liz Carlyle novels. She lives in London and Norfolk.
By the Same Author
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Secret Asset
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Rip Tide
Open Secret: The Autobiography of the Former Director-General of MI5
Also available by Stella Rimington
When pirates attack a cargo ship off the Somalian coast and one of them is found to be a British-born Pakistani, alarm bells start ringing at London’s Thames House. MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle is brought in to establish how and why a young British Muslim could go missing from his well-to-do family in Birmingham and end up onboard a pirate skiff in the Indian Ocean, armed with a Kalashnikov.
After an undercover operative connected to the case turns up dead in the shipping office of an NGO in Athens it looks like piracy may be the least of the Service’s problems. Liz and her team must unravel the connections between Pakistan, Greece and Somalia, relying on their wits – and the judicious use of force – to get to the truth. And they don’t have long, as trouble is brewing closer to home: the kind of explosive trouble that MI5 could do without…
‘Rimington uses her knowledge of covert spy operations to create powerful story lines that are exciting yet plausible’ Daily Express
‘Rip Tide incorporates the epic sweep and global concerns expected of a contemporary spy thriller’ Irish Times
‘Rimington provides lots of detail of intelligence work used to counter today’s terrorists that seems real – and intriguing’ Financial Times
www.bloomsbury.com/stellarimington
Copyright
First published in Great Britain 2012
This electronic edition published in 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Copyright © 2012 by Stella Rimington
The moral right of the author has been asserted
All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, New Delhi, New York and Sydney
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9781408819661
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
www.bloomsbury.com/stellarimington
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