“None at all, sir.” Shaw added rather diffidently, “Just his… well, I can only call it his sincerity.”
“Ha bloody ha!” Latymer said with heavy sarcasm. “My dear Shaw, you’re going soft in the head!”
“I don’t think so, sir.” Shaw leaned forward again, earnestly. “Look, sir. There was a bit more homespun philosophy, as a matter of fact. If you don’t mind listening to it, it may make you see it the way I do. May I go on?”
“Yes. But be brief.”
“Yes, sir. Well… he went on a bit more about humanity. This may sound naive, but — he had a humanist look about him, sir. He spoke of the effects of nuclear war. He said that personally, having been much in the West, he didn’t necessarily share his leaders’ fears of Western hostile intentions. He said that, like the Russians themselves, we were simply frightened. He said he was seeking to prevent a terrible tragedy, not only involving us but in the long run his own country too if the extremists should gain and keep power. Then he said that there are many people inside Russia who see things in much the same way as he does, some of them even more so. Intellectuals mainly, people who still think for themselves and whose thoughts are not controlled by—”
“And the man himself, Shaw? Didn’t you say he was a Party Member and a convinced communist?”
“Yes, I did.” Shaw hesitated. “Somehow I got the impression that he wasn’t quite so convinced as he said, though. To that extent, and that extent alone, I’d agree he may have got his wires crossed. I’d say he’s had a shift of beliefs, maybe as a result of what he’s told me about. Anyway, these people, these liberals for want of a better name, sir — they don’t like the way things are shaping and they realize that Russia can’t always be in the right, so they tend to disbelieve what they read in their papers, even in Pravda — perhaps particularly in Pravda. And they have a deep horror at the mere thought that the world may go up in a mushroom-cloud one of these days. What they want to see is peaceful Soviet expansion, and they believe it can be done. Then he said something else — after I’d asked him what he expected us to do about his story.” Shaw hesitated, choosing his words. “He suggested that if we tried what he had failed to do, that is, to find out what the threat is in concrete form and then take steps to prevent it, sabotage it perhaps, then these liberal-minded men and women would actually help us.”
Latymer’s eyebrows went up. “God bless my soul, Shaw — you didn’t believe that, did you?”
“Well, I don’t know, sir. Could be possible — don’t you think? He said that if we succeeded, Russia, the real Russia, as well as the West, would have reason to be grateful both to him and us.”
“Us? Naval Intelligence? He suggests we actually handle it right through ourselves, does he?”
“Yes, sir. He said it wouldn’t be easy—”
“No! Did he?”
“ — but that Russia isn’t as impregnable as is popularly supposed. There’s spies in plenty inside the frontiers — we know that’s true, sir — and many of the people are illiterate and stupid and a determined man can go a very long way, at least in normal circumstances. He admitted it would be more difficult just now.”
“Very perceptive of him. Now then: this blow is to fall during the Conference — right? So we’ve got thirteen days in which to get something done… five days before the Soviet man gets here, and eight while he’s actually in London.” Latymer puffed at his cigarette, staring across the room. “I think the first thing to do is for me to see Comrade Rudintsev myself.”
“No, sir.” Shaw was definite. “He’s quite firm that he won’t repeat tonight’s work. It’s far too dangerous for him, and slipping away from his Embassy tonight was risky enough.”
Latymer nodded. “He’s got a point. But am I expected to alert the Government on your version of what he said? Use second-hand information?”
Shaw grinned tightly. “We’re always doing that, sir. I’ve got by quite nicely on tenth-hand stuff before now.” Latymer splashed more brandy into his glass and nodded. “True, true… Now, look, Shaw. I’m not doubting your assessment of the man. All Russians aren’t like the big bears put on show to impress the West, I know that. But I don’t like this. Rudintsev’s a big name himself — not one of those you hear much about, but still high up in the Kremlin’s confidence. If he doesn’t know the whole story, how the ruddy hell are we going to find anything out?”
Shaw shrugged. “It’ll need a lot of luck.”
“Luck!” Latymer’s shoulders twisted irritably. “By God, Shaw, words fail me!” He blew out a long, hissing breath. “Damned if I can believe all this, you know. To use a Foreign Ministers’ Conference as cover, and perhaps blow up their own delegation — that’s going a little far even for Eastern extremist hoodlums.”
“It’s a nice easy way of getting rid of some of the legal Government, sir. But there is something that’s just occurred to me, I’ll admit. There’s this British naval squadron paying a goodwill visit at the same time as the Conference—”
“The Leningrad visit?”
“Yes, sir. The Russians themselves suggested it, didn’t they?”
“They did indeed. The invitation came from the Russian Defence Ministry in the first place, and once it was official we accepted with alacrity. Why?”
“Well, sir — isn’t it rather fishy? I mean, why should they invite a British squadron right to their own doorstep when the balloon’s due to go up? I know I’m talking against myself, as it were, but it is a point.”
Latymer scratched his jaw reflectively. “Did you take it up with Rudintsev?”
“I’m sorry, sir, no. I’m afraid I—”
Latymer said sourly, “Forgot all about it — what? Every one forgets about the British Navy these days — even, it seems, its own officers. However, I think it’s only a minor point. If we can accept the one — and mind you, I’m not saying I have — we can accept the other. Damn it, one aircraft-carrier, an obsolete training-cruiser and a handful of frigates… the whole ruddy Navy steaming in wouldn’t make ’em lose a wink of sleep these days, let alone our poor little flag-showing effort! If anything, it could be just another blind, neatly arranged by one of the V.I.P. extremists in advance.” He sighed and added, “I wish to God we could get hold of some more precise information before I stick my neck out in Whitehall. I’m bound to get it run over otherwise.” Suddenly Latymer came bolt upright in his chair and jabbed a finger towards Shaw. “Now look here. I’ve a nasty idea that the whole of this could be designed precisely to panic the West into starting something and thus give Russia a cast-iron excuse to counter-attack — an excuse that couldn’t be bettered however hard they tried. Just think of it, Shaw — the West on the warpath on the eve of the Conference — a ruddy Pravda's delight — d’you see what I’m getting at?”
“Of course, sir, and I’ve considered that. It’s not the right assessment, though, I’m sure of it.”
“Just how sure are you?” Latymer stared at him, right into him, the green eyes narrowed dangerously all at once.
Shaw asked, “How d’you mean, sir?”
“Listen and I’ll tell you.” The voice was harsh, almost hectoring now. “If all this is true, I’ve got to alert Whitehall immediately. Half the Government will leap out of their beds. ‘Stand by to repel boarders’ will go out to all commands as an essential precaution. The whole blasted country will gear up for war the moment that signal goes out. And all because of you, Shaw. It’s obvious this could be the most perilous situation we’ve ever been in, any of us, in our lives, and it’s how it’s handled right from the start that may decide the issue in the end. Now — there are two courses of action open to me, Shaw. One, tell the bigwigs to play it down on the grounds that it may be an Eastern trick. They’ll do what I tell them all right, and if I tell them that, they’ll lap it up. No one wants trouble just now. Two, I tell them it’s highly dangerous, that it’s most probably true. Then they’ll fly into a very natural tizzy and at once we’ll be on a war footing with the woolly minded lunatic fringe howling the odds that the Government’s warmongering. Since United States bases in the U.K. will be involved automatically, it also means getting the Pentagon to line up every available missile on the communist bloc so that they can be blasted right off the map the moment there’s a hint of trouble. And — don’t you see — once the Russians get wind of that, the whole thing blows right up into a war anyway! A nuclear war from the start. Shaw, you’ve got to hoist this in: any mistake on your part — in your assessment of Rudintsev is what it boils down to — may start off something that we’ll never be able to stop this side of the hereafter.” His eyes glittered beneath the thick white brows. “Well?”