A Colder War

55

At around eight o’clock on Saturday morning, a surveillance analyst watching the live feed from Ryan Kleckner’s apartment in Tarabya began to report that the American was acting strangely. ABACUS had returned home from the airport at 2 a.m. but had not been to bed. Instead, he had spent a significant amount of time at his laptop, drunk an entire bottle of red wine, and Skyped his mother in the United States for more than an hour. The tone of their conversation was later characterized as ‘melancholy and affectionate’, a description that made sense in light of what followed.

Just after eight, Kleckner was observed reading what was assumed to be a text message on his BlackBerry. The American ‘appeared to freeze, as if shocked’ (according to the analyst) and ‘remained still for a considerable period of time’. Kleckner did not reply to the message, but instead proceeded to the kitchen, where he retrieved ‘a passport (origin unknown), a significant amount of money (currency unknown), and a brand new iPhone and charger’ from a Tupperware box ‘hidden behind the pipes and materials beneath the sink’. Alert to the change in Kleckner’s behaviour, the analyst had followed protocol and telephoned Tom Kell at his home in London. Kell had immediately doubled the four-man surveillance team on stand-by outside Kleckner’s apartment building.

Kleckner then spent the next fifteen minutes packing a ‘large black wheeled suitcase’. When he removed the hard drive from his laptop and placed it inside the case, the analyst — who was later to be congratulated for her quick-thinking and initiative — again contacted Kell. Realizing that Kleckner was showing all the signs of a blown agent, he immediately ordered Sirkeci railway station, Atatürk and Sabiha Gökçen airports, the bus terminals at Harem and Topkapi, as well as the Black Sea ferry terminal at Karaköy to be placed under observation by two-man teams, drawing for the first time on Consular staff to make up the shortfall.

Having packed the hard drive, Kleckner was seen to put two framed photographs, two bottles of contact lens solution, ‘a significant amount of clothing’ and a second pair of shoes in his suitcase. He removed the SIM card from the BlackBerry and threw the telephone itself into a bin outside the apartment building. It was assumed that ABACUS had left his diplomatic passport and driving licence inside the safe in his bedroom, though the analyst was not able to confirm this.

A block from the front door, the American was observed making a call from a public telephone box close to the branch of Starbucks in which Javed Mohsin and Priya were waiting for him. Kell assumed that the conversation, which lasted ‘no more than ten seconds’, was an agreed signal to Minasian indicating that ABACUS was on the run.

It was not yet six o’clock in the morning in London. Looking at a map of the region in his flat, Kell deduced that Kleckner’s most likely route to Moscow was across country by bus or rented car into eastern Anatolia, where he might attempt to cross the border into Georgia. An SVR exfil team might also attempt to pick him up at Samsun, or one of the other ports on the Black Sea, taking Kleckner across to Odessa or Sebastopol by ship. A route north into Bulgaria was also an option, though ABACUS would know that the border could more easily be controlled by the Americans. If he trusted his alias, he might risk a commercial airliner, but would assume that all direct flights to Moscow, Kiev, Tashkent, Baku and Sofia — indeed any of the former Soviet satellite countries — were compromised.

Kell was completely reliant on the surveillance team. Lose ABACUS and, chances are, the next time anyone in SIS saw Kleckner’s face would be on the front page of the Guardian. Track him to his arranged exfil point and there was a minute chance that ABACUS could be grabbed before an SVR team got to him. Kell telephoned Amelia at the house in Chelsea to update her on developments. Both were aware that Kell’s relationship with Rachel had most likely triggered Kleckner’s exit: Minasian had trawled through the data and concluded that ABACUS was blown. Amelia arranged to meet Kell at Vauxhall Cross, reassuring him that Rachel would immediately be pulled out of Istanbul. Kell doubted that he would have the opportunity to see her before he was obliged to leave London.

That instinct proved correct. The surveillance team successfully tracked ABACUS to the ferry terminal at Karaköy, where Kleckner was observed making enquiries about joining one of two cruise ships docked on the northern side of the Golden Horn. Javed Mohsin housed the American on to an Italian boat — Serenissima — obtained a copy of the timetable and remained in the terminal building until the vessel had departed, two hours later, making sure that Kleckner did not double back on to dry land. As luck would have it, he was then photographed walking on the deck of the ship as she sailed north towards the Black Sea. An enterprising surveillance officer had rented a water taxi and followed Serenissima as far as the Bosporus Bridge.

‘Kleckner is headed for Ukraine,’ Kell told Amelia as soon as he heard the news. ‘Unless the ship is intercepted and he manages to get off, he’ll be in Odessa in forty-eight hours.’

‘We’d better call the Americans,’ she replied.

Kell was bewildered. ‘Why? ABACUS is our catch. Our triumph.’

‘You know why, Tom.’

They had taken themselves into a small conference room on the first floor. Door closed, blinds down.

‘You let Chater interfere with what I want to do, we will lose ABACUS. No question.’

‘You can’t assume that.’

‘The Cousins will swarm all over Odessa,’ Kell told her. ‘Flood the port. Minasian will know they are coming twenty-four hours before the ship even docks. Jim doesn’t do this stuff as well as we do it.’

Amelia nodded in agreement, though Kell could see that she was still conceding to the political argument. Exclude Langley, and SIS would pay a heavy price. If Kell failed to grab Kleckner, there would be hell to pay.

‘Just let me arrange it,’ Kell said. ‘A small team, low visibility. Minasian won’t want to make a big song and dance. His prize agent is blown. He asks Moscow for back-up, he’s going to lose face. He’s going to get big-footed by a more senior officer, a more experienced team.’ Kell risked a Russian accent. ‘You couldn’t cope, Alexander. We will take over now.’ Amelia almost smiled. ‘Minasian will want to do it quietly. No leaks coming out of Kiev Station, no indication to London or Langley that ABACUS is heading for Odessa. He just wants to get his man off the boat, get him into a car, drive him to the airport, put him on the six o’clock news. That way he’s still the hero. That way he did everything by the book and it was Kleckner who fucked up. That’s what I would do. That’s what you would do, too, right?’

Amelia nodded but did not immediately respond. Kell could see the calculation being made behind the eyes.

Finally, she turned to him.

‘You cannot fuck this up, Tom. We cannot lose Ryan Kleckner.’

‘I will not fuck this up,’ he replied, already walking out of the room. ‘Just give me what I need.’