The Scarlet Papers by Richardson Matthew

Author:Richardson, Matthew [Richardson, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

THE SCARLET PAPERS

1992

1992

The Archivist

They were the words she dreaded. Four words, a mere six syllables. But they changed everything.

‘I think he’s credible,’ said the Head of Station.

She tried not to react. This was it. This very moment. ‘You’re sure?’

‘As far as I can be. Everything he’s said checks out so far. I’ve made some calls. He is who he says he is.’

Scarlet King listened intently on the secure line. The dip-tel had arrived twenty-four hours earlier. The sort of urgent, priority message that arrived once in a blue moon from Moscow Station. Not the standard plea of a former KGB grunt to defect, but the promise of serious treasure. This was the first chance to speak to H/MOSCOW without being overheard.

‘And he’s really just a walk-in? There was no pitch or hard sell from our side?’

‘None whatsoever. Rumour is he tried the Americans first and got turned down. That’s why he came to us.’

‘Any chance this could be a dangle?’

‘Honestly, I’m not sure there’s any agency left to set a dangle in motion. It’s every man for himself out here. But it’s your call, ma’am.’

Scarlet paused. She looked out of her corner-view office at Century House. It still surprised her when they said things like that. Stupid, of course. But she had toiled for so long in the foothills that reaching the summit was a giddy, almost airless experience. She sometimes stopped as she saw the plaque on her office door: C/ECE.

Controller, Central and Eastern Europe. She was now in charge of all operations within Russia and beyond, the master of Sovbloc.

‘Why Riga?’

‘It’s safer than Moscow. And it’s also his current bolthole.’

‘What about the source’s claims?’

‘The job description checks out, as far as I can tell. I have two sub-agents confirming that the source did work as a librarian and archivist for the First Chief Directorate. Takes time without blowing his cover.’

‘He’s still claiming he has all the files? Not just some of them?’

The Head of Moscow Station checked something, flicking through the pages of a notebook. Then he came back on the line. ‘He claimed to me, and I’m paraphrasing here, that he had every file on every mole and penetration agent ever run in the West.’

‘Birthday and Christmas at once. Sounds too good to be true. There’s still nothing further on why the Americans passed on this?’

‘Nothing concrete. They’re slashing all Sovbloc budgets and personnel. The past doesn’t interest them as much as the future. They were so scarred after Angleton and the mole-hunt before, I think they’d rather not know.’

Yes, Scarlet thought, that sounded right. The pillars of her life smashed to pieces just like those chunks of the Berlin Wall; every shibboleth called into question. The Americans were drunk on their victory, Moscow disintegrating with defeat. And now, just when everything was over, old ghosts returned to haunt them all.

‘I need to meet him,’ said Scarlet. ‘Say we need to see as much material as possible. We can’t give a firm answer until we’ve verified some of the material.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.