For the Good of the State dda-16, page 35
part #16 of Dr David Audley Series
A pity…’
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State
‘Oh, they got him out in time. I rather think they guessed he was already on borrowed time in there. But they have lost him, in effect
—yes.’
Jaggard felt generous. ‘Well, it wasn’t any of their business. But we owe them one now, nevertheless.’ Then a thought struck him.
‘They weren’t the originators of the Polish joke by any chance, maybe?’
Garrod Harvey shook his head and winced. ‘I think not, actually.’
‘No?’ Jaggard saw that Harvey’s ‘thinking not’ was only the brown wrapping covering certain knowledge. But then he also saw that if this ingenious and circumstantial account of the Exmoor Massacre was neither Audley’s nor the CIA’s work… then maybe Viking wasn’t so safe after all, damn it to hell! ‘You’re not about to suggest that this is all KGB disinformation I hope, Garry?’ He heard his disappointment roughen the question. ‘Yet still substantially true?’
Garrod Harvey held his head steady. ‘It does rather look that way, I’m afraid.’
‘Why—’ Jaggard controlled his voice ‘—why should they want to give us so much?’
‘It’s a very good question—I agree.’ Garrod Harvey was genuinely uncertain now. ‘But what I think is… everything didn’t quite go the way they planned it, you see…’ He trailed off.
But Henry Jaggard saw once again, and all too well. Because no plan, however good, ever survived the cold plunge into reality still warm and dry.
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State Harvey met his scrutiny. ‘It’s possible that the shot we took at Audley unsettled them—’ He held up his hand.
‘It had to be clone, Henry. Because we had to concentrate his mind… for our purposes. But they didn’t know about that—just as we didn’t know about Basil Cole. And the Americans turning up must have unsettled them even more.’
Jaggard waited.
‘But the real balls-up was when Audley ordered Tom Arkenshaw to go after Major Sadowski—and Tom obeyed his order. Because it seems that Panin was going to put a stop to that, only Audley threatened to shoot him on the spot, himself.’ Harvey drew a breath. ‘So Tom saw Sadowski giving the sniper a friendly “hullo”
when they should have been shooting it out.’ Harvey almost smiled. ‘The irony of which is that Sadowski was probably only trying to get close enough to make sure his bullet went in the right place. Whereas the sniper had a rifle, and didn’t need to do that—
so Tom knew at once how the land lay: that they were in it together. And, of course, they both went after him then. And finally, to clinch it, when they had him at their mercy Sadowski obligingly shot his sniper-friend first.’
‘Why did he do that?’
‘Ah… well, Sadowski was a real pro, whatever else—or whoever else—he was. He hardly said a word in front of Tom, so it’s possible that he recognized him from somewhere, and didn’t want to risk his Russian-accented Polish in front of him. But if he was a slow talker he was a fast thinker, Tom reckons. So he wanted the sniper’s bullet in Tom, and his bullet in the sniper, for the autopsy.’
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State
‘He could have told the sniper to kill Tom, surely.’
This time Garrod Harvey forgot not to shrug, and paid the price for shrugging. ‘If you want a thing done properly… And what Tom Arkenshaw also thinks is that the Major liked his work. And in his own line of work he’s met one or two of the breed, I shouldn’t wonder.’
Jaggard remembered his duty belatedly. ‘He’s all right, is he—
Tom?’
‘All right?’ A shadow crossed Garrod Harvey’s face. ‘Sir Thomas Arkenshaw has a badly-broken ankle and a heavy cold—for both of which David Audley is more or less responsible. But he thinks Audley’s quite a man, nevertheless.’
‘Yes?’ That had always been a danger, on the debit side of the special connection Arkenshaw had with Audley which had made him the man for the job. ‘But you haven’t any doubts about his report, Garry?’
‘Oh, no.’ Harvey managed a carefully-controlled nod. ‘It’ll be as full and honest as you could wish for, Henry—right down to Audley’s continued insistence on going it alone whenever Tom advised him against it.’ Another controlled nod. ‘Audley behaved exactly as I predicted, in fact.’
‘Well, that’s all right, then—’ But Jaggard saw that it wasn’t ‘—
isn’t it?’
‘He also told Audley everything that happened, after he’d gone after Major Sadowski.’ Garrod Harvey’s lips compressed. ‘And he admits that he also told Audley that he was reporting back to you, Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State Henry.’
‘He—?’ In that instant Sir Thomas Arkenshaw’s name moved from the black to the red side of the tablet in Henry Jaggard’s mind, marked now for No further promotion. But then he knew that he wanted to know more about the fatal admission. ‘How did he come to admit that? You pressed him—?’
‘He volunteered it of his own accord.’ Something close to approval was in Garrod Harvey’s voice. ‘Sir Thomas Arkenshaw is a medievalist, like David Audley. And I may be wrong, but… it was almost like a formal act of defiance—or whatever the old medieval Arkenshaws did, when they renounced their feudal allegiance, and moved from one side to the other, in the old days.’ Garrod Harvey didn’t shrug, but rather twisted himself uncomfortably for a moment. ‘You also have to remember that he’s half-Polish, Henry.
They’re an unpredictable lot, in my experience.’ Harvey raised an eyebrow. ‘Eh?’
There was something damnably not right with Garrod Harvey this afternoon. And, as Jaggard trusted Harvey more than he trusted most men, that was much more worrying than Sir Thomas Arkenshaw’s medieval Polish practices. ‘What are you trying to tell me, Garry?’
The eyebrow came down. ‘Tom Arkenshaw isn’t very pleased with us, for having done what we did to him. And he’s also deeply humiliated—professionally humiliated—by what happened… “I ran like a rabbit” , is how he put it.’ Another controlled nod, ‘And he has been trying to protect people like Audley—and Zarubin—
from people like Panin and Sadowski… maybe for too long.’
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State Another nod. ‘We worry about all the killers there are loose in the world, who can pick and choose their killing-grounds at leisure.
But we don’t give much thought for the poor bastards who are expected to out-think the killers—or put themselves in the way of the bullet when they don’t.’
That simplified the message. ‘It’s called “battle-fatigue”, Garry.’
Jaggard nodded wisely, without pain. ‘We’ve just got to rest him up, that’s all.’
‘It’s too late for that.’
‘How is it too late? Has he resigned?’ That, at least, would simplify this problem. Though Garrod Harvey was right, of course, in his general thesis; and that would bear further inquiry in the future. ‘He’s resigned—?’
The same shadow which had crossed Garrod Harvey’s face before now recrossed it. ‘He’s asked for a transfer to Research and Development, Henry.’
‘He’s what—?’
Another controlled nod. ‘Colonel Butler knows about it. And he says that he’s very ready to give Sir Thomas Arkenshaw a try.
Because he’s one down on his establishment, since last year.’ Then Garrod Harvey held his head very steady. ‘He already has the necessary endorsement from his Selection and Recruitment Adviser. And I don’t need to tell you who he is.’
In a perverse way Henry Jaggard felt himself warming to David Audley, and not for the first time: it would have been disappointing if the man had let himself be beaten too easily, with no unexpected Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State tricks in his bag. Yet also he was glad because such tricks made what had to be done that much easier—because before there had always been a nuance of regret, that he had to break someone useful and loyal because cruel necessity had overtaken him. But now, by his actions, Audley had not only deprived him of any real certainty about Viking, but had also ruined Sir Thomas Arkenshaw, who had been marked for promotion. ‘Well, if Audley thinks that’ll save him he’s about to learn otherwise, Garry!’
Garrod Harvey’s face was suddenly a picture. ‘Henry—’
‘No!’ He had all that he needed now. ‘There are five men dead—
five dead men to account for. Which is a bloody massacre, by any standards. Or six… if you count the man Cole—’
Harvey shook his head, forgetting his back. ‘You can’t count Basil Cole, Henry. That was Panin making sure Audley didn’t get whatever advice Cole might have given him—’ His mouth twisted
‘—or maybe it was even Panin making sure that Audley would never let go—I don’t know… But Panin would have known that Audley would go to Cole first, in any case. And—’
‘It doesn’t matter what the hell he thought!’ Henry Jaggard was beyond arguing the toss with subordinates. ‘I want Audley out, Garry. And I know Jack Butler will fight for him—you don’t need to tell me that.’ He overrode Garrod Harvey brutally. ‘All the better if he does: we need that. Because Audley’s sacking is what’s really going to pull R & D into line—Audley is the real heart of R
& D, not Butler. If we can get Audley, then we’ve got it all—
Glamis, Cawdor and the whole kingdom—’
‘ Henry—’
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State
‘And I know everyone admires him. You admire him—and Tom Arkenshaw does… And, damn it, I admire him too, Garry— I know!’ Even now, in spite of everything, he knew that he would sincerely regret Audley’s passing: over many years Audley had probably done more good for the state than either he or Garrod Harvey ever would. ‘But he’s got to go. Because it’s not only what I want: it’s what the Minister wants, and it’s what the FCO wants.
And, with what you’ve got, it’ll have to be what Downing Street will have to want this time. Do you understand, Garry?’
‘Yes.’ Garrod Harvey stared at him. ‘But no, Henry.’
‘No—’ Harvey’s uncharacteristic obstinacy took Jaggard flat back.
‘What d’you mean— no?’
‘I do understand.’ The stare was fixed immovably. ‘But it’s not on, Henry. We can’t do it.’
Jaggard opened his mouth to blaspheme, but then he amended the sound. ‘What d’you mean—?’
‘I talked to the Americans—to Colonel Sheldon, at Grosvenor Square.’ Garrod Harvey moistened his lips.
‘He asked to see me. But in any case I had to warn him—that his man inside the Soviet Embassy was at risk. And I also wanted to know why he’d put him at risk, by sending down those two women to tip off Audley, Henry.’
‘Yes?’ Jaggard watched Garrod Harvey touch his lips with the back of his hand, as though he was afraid, and was suddenly afraid himself.
‘Mose—Colonel Sheldon… he’s nobody’s fool. And he knows Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State David Audley—they worked together ten years ago, Henry.’
Jaggard pushed his fear down. ‘I know that. And Sheldon likes him
—’
‘Liking doesn’t come into it. Mosby Sheldon threw away his man, and saved Audley, because the CIA rates what Audley’s doing—
and what R & D is doing—as of the highest importance.’ Nod.
‘The work they’re doing on the Gorbachev “Order of Battle” is considered crucial to the whole nuclear disarmament dialogue: what they’re feeding the President comes from agreed joint Anglo-American intelligence. And R & D is the best part of that, according to Sheldon. Because he’s one of Admiral Stansfield Turner’s fast-track promotions. So he rates analytic intelligence as the most important human function, now that their orbiting satellites can do all the old conventional spy functions.’ Nod. ‘It’s who the new men are, and how they think, that matters—not where the missiles are, and what they are… Liking just doesn’t come into it, Henry.’
Henry Jaggard began to feel old. Up until this instant he had thought of Audley as old. But now he included himself in the same condemnation.
Garrod Harvey seemed to have forgotten his bad back, too.
‘Sheldon knew exactly what was coming—he knew it all: Zarubin and the Poles—and that poor Polish priest— are just water under the bridge to him… the Thames, or the Vistula, or the Moskva—all just water.’ Nod. ‘And he’d heard all the rumours, too—the Irish joke, and the Polish joke… And he wasn’t laughing, Henry.’ Nod.
‘What he told me was that the Americans aren’t going to stand by Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State and see Audley put down—Audley and Research and Development both. They don’t want it—and they won’t have it.’
Jaggard waited for a moment, until he was sure that Garrod Harvey had got all his bad news off his chest, which must have been discomforting him considerably more than his squash-player’s back all this time. But he also used the moment to compose himself, as he sensed the red warning signal of his own anger shining brighter even than the flashing amber of fear. ‘ They won’t have it, Garry? They won’t have it?’
Garrod Harvey swallowed. ‘Sheldon’s a good friend of ours, Henry.’
‘I know what he is. And who he is. But I don’t think he outranks me yet—never mind the FCO… and the Minister—not in this, anyway.’ He watched Garrod Harvey for another moment. ‘So—?’
Garrod Harvey touched his mouth again. ‘He’ll go above you, Henry. Or… the Ambassador will. To the top, Henry.’
There had to be more. ‘To the PM?’ There had to be a lot more.
‘To tell the PM that the CIA London Station won’t have an incompetent British officer disciplined? An elderly incompetent officer?’ Much, much more. ‘Who has let the KGB put one over on us, in our own back yard—to our own very considerable diplomatic embarrassment?’ He had to shake his head there. ‘Just because the elderly—elderly and incompetent—officer still does useful work on his good days?’
Garrod Harvey’s chin came up, reminding Henry Jaggard unbearably of his father, who had also been gutsy in a tight corner.
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State
‘No, Henry—you don’t understand. What I mean—’
‘I know exactly what you mean.’ Jaggard’s spirits rose again.
Viking might yet be salvaged, even if only for a few more months.
But, almost more than that, he liked the way Garry Harvey was at last refusing to be overawed. ‘The Americans value R & D. Well, so do I—and I’m not proposing to dismantle it, just to bring it to heel.’
‘But Audley—’
‘I value Audley too, Garry. So I won’t let him be disgraced. I’ll do it decently—damn it, I’ll even get him a “K”, if that’ll satisfy all his friends: he can be “Sir David Audley”. And we’ll make him a consultant into the bargain—tell Sheldon that, Garry.’ But he could see even as he spoke that Garrod Harvey’s bayonets were still obstinately fixed and pointing at him. ‘What the devil do they want?’
‘They want no change, Henry.’
Enough was enough. ‘Well, they damn well can’t have it. And that’s flat. Audley goes. With or without a knighthood.’
Garrod Harvey cocked his head slightly. ‘To please the Minister?
And the FCO?’
‘And to please me.’ Garrod Harvey’s change of tactics wasn’t going to change Henry Jaggard’s mind now: this was one time when he had to fight the Americans.
‘Yes.’ The slight head-movement seemed to remind Harvey of his shoulder again. ‘And it’ll please the KGB too—having you on their side, Henry.’
Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State Jaggard stared at him.
‘And the Minister. And the FCO.’ Garrod Harvey blinked. ‘A pretty impressive Anglo-Soviet alliance, Professor Panin has put together; nothing like it since 1941, Henry.’
Jaggard stared at him.
‘Why did Panin ask for David Audley, of all people?’ Garrod Harvey didn’t wait for an answer. ‘He had a perfectly good plan—
the Polish joke: get rid of Zarubin and flush out a traitor, all-in-one? He could have asked for an office-cleaner from the Foreign Office to take him down to Exmoor. But he didn’t. He asked for a load of unstable dynamite, in the person of David Audley—and then he deliberately primed Audley ready to explode: by murdering one of Audley’s old friends?’ He shook his head slowly. ‘That was one hell of a risk to take, because Audley may be old, but he’s not stupid. So… asking Audley doesn’t make sense, Henry. At least, it doesn’t if the Polish joke was the only one he intended.’ The slow shake stopped. ‘But supposing there was also a Russian joke—a joke he didn’t intend to tell us?’
‘A Russian joke?’ Jaggard wasn’t laughing inside or outside now.
Harvey nodded again. ‘Panin needs to bring off something difficult, for his own sake. Zarubin was no great problem—and if they knew there was a traitor in the London Embassy… that didn’t require Audley us a catalyst— much too dangerous, Audley.’ From nod to shake. ‘Audley’s not a bit of cheese. He’s not a mouse, either—he’s a bloody tiger, Henry: he needs a big tiger-trap, is what he needs.’ Garrod Harvey watched Henry Jaggard make all the final connections. ‘So what happens, if you—and the Minister Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State and the FCO—get what you want? Audley gets thrown out… and, whatever you say, that’ll totally dislocate R & D for at least six months, and maybe even longer. Maybe even for ever, perhaps?
And that really would be a feather in Panin’s cap.’ The slow, irritating shake recommenced. ‘Henry, we were trying to shibbuwich David Audley and R & D with him. But suppose the KGB was trying to do the same thing?’
