A Divided Spy by Charles Cumming

Author:Charles Cumming
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007467532
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2016-05-09T16:00:00+00:00

36

Less than a minute later, Mowbray walked into the sitting room. He did not knock. Kell turned to look at him, angered by the interruption.

‘Need to speak to you, sir.’

‘What is it?’ he said, walking into the bedroom and closing the door.

‘Time’s up,’ Mowbray told him. ‘Amelia’s sending a car.’

‘When?’ Kell asked.

He felt like a man who had woken up from a deep sleep. He was finding it difficult processing what Minasian had told him. He could not know if the terrorist attack was a diversionary tactic or a genuine threat.

Mowbray looked at his watch. ‘Fifteen minutes? Twenty? Depends on traffic, I guess.’

Kell assumed the vehicle would be coming from Vauxhall Cross. It was still the rush hour, so there was the chance of a delay.

‘What about the film? Did you send it?’

Mowbray nodded.

‘So where does she want to take him? Back to Claridge’s?’

‘Search me.’

Kell reacted quickly. There was no time to guess at Amelia’s strategy. He went back into the sitting room.

‘Tell me more,’ he said.

Minasian frowned.

‘More?’

‘About the attack. About ISIS. What have you heard?’

‘It is just something I was told by a colleague in Kiev.’ Minasian was picking at the fabric of his trousers. ‘I do not know specific facts. The man is a British national from Leeds who has been given a clean-skin passport by elements in ISIS.’

‘That’s it?’ Kell had the strong impression that Minasian was plucking the story out of thin air.

‘We call him by the cryptonym STRIPE,’ he added. ‘We believe that he travelled from Leeds to Syria in order to fight jihad.’

‘That’s all you know?’

‘It is all I can remember.’

When Minasian saw that Kell was dissatisfied by this answer, he moved to reassure him.

‘I will of course endeavour to discover more details so that the attack can be thwarted.’

Though Minasian’s motive to lie was obvious, Kell had to take what he was saying seriously. He had no choice. Besides, if the Russian was making it up in order to play for time, and the threat later proved to be false, Kell would turn him in. Minasian knew that.

‘And how are you going to get that information to me?’ he asked, trying to call Minasian’s bluff.

The Russian reacted quickly.

‘However you wish to proceed.’

Kell felt like a tennis player being pulled around the court by a pro. He knew that he had no more than thirty minutes to arrange every element of his relationship with Minasian: channels of communication; language; crash meetings. Having run Kleckner for more than two years, Minasian would know all of the tricks, all of the pitfalls. In this sense, Kell was lucky to be working with a fellow professional, but it was still not enough time.

‘How long are you staying in London?’ he asked.

‘We leave tomorrow.’

Kell took out a packet of cigarettes. He looked around for Amelia’s lighter and found it on the floor beside Minasian’s chair.

‘You’re going back to Kiev together?’

Kell lit the cigarette and offered one to Minasian, who declined. He could sense that he was reluctant to answer the question.

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