The Run Around

Chapter Eighteen

Although he was ahead of the time given in the unexpected summons – wanting again to be first – Charlie was in fact the last to arrive in the Geneva office suite where he’d had the initial meeting with the other intelligence officials. They all appeared relaxed and settled, coffee already set out before them and Charlie wondered if there’d been a prior discussion between them from which he’d been excluded.

‘Tried not to be late, too,’ he said.

‘You’re not,’ said the Swiss intelligence chief, smoothly. He smiled, encompassing them all, and said: ‘It would seem, gentlemen, that our immediate problems are over.’ At once he corrected the expression of satisfaction, concentrating upon the CIA supervisor. ‘But that your FBI might have inherited them.’

‘What’s happened?’ asked Giles, at once.

‘There’s been a positive identification,’ declared Blom, triumphantly. ‘A night clerk at a small auberge in the city says the man in the picture booked in on the night of the thirteenth. He checked out on the morning of the sixteenth. His destination was New York.’

Nobody else offered so Charlie served his own coffee, noting the American’s reaction. He decided it was genuine so whatever they’d been talking about before he arrived it hadn’t been this. He said: ‘Identified by name?’

‘Klaus Schmidt,’ disclosed Blom, at once.

‘The ubiquitous Mr Smith, although a Swiss or German variation this time,’ said Charlie. There’d been three Smiths on the London flight. The bastard had tried to be too clever and ended up making another mistake.

The huge Israeli chief shifted in his chair, discerning Charlie’s disbelief, and said: ‘You don’t go along with it?’

‘No,’ said Charlie at once. ‘It can’t be him.’

‘Why not?’ demanded Blom, openly irritated by what appeared almost permanently sarcastic disdain.

‘The passport won’t support the name,’ said Charlie. ‘We know our man had an English passport, right? And can travel without it being examined from London to mainland Europe. But he couldn’t from Geneva to New York because airlines always confirm that the US visa is valid. If it isn’t they get fined and stuck with the expense of repatriating the person back to his airport of origin.’

‘What if there’s a British passport issued in the name of Klaus Schmidt?’ asked Giles. He wished he’d seen the flaw as quickly as the Englishman from whom he’d been warned away.

‘There won’t be,’ said Charlie. ‘But if there is we’ll be in luck because British passport applications must be accompanied by a duplicate photograph, which is kept in records. And it’ll be better than the one we’ve already got.’

Levy was nodding, also admiring. ‘If you’re right then there’s no doubt the man’s a professional.’

‘I’ve never had any doubt that he was but I don’t think this is professional,’ said Charlie.’I think he tried something outside his training …’ He looked to Giles. ‘You’ll have immigration searched, of course. And the applications?’

The American swallowed, uncomfortably. ‘Searched?’ he said.

‘Klaus Schmidt must have a US visa. And those applications have duplicate photographs, too,’ reminded Charlie. ‘I guess there’ll be a lot of them but it’ll give us another comparison. And an entrant into America has to give an address, on the incoming flight.’

Blom appeared to be deflating, like a leaking balloon. He said: ‘I do not think this sighting should be dismissed as cursorily as you are suggesting.’

Charlie frowned at the man. ‘The last thing I’ve been suggesting is that it should be cursorily dismissed,’ he said. ‘I’ve told you how I’m going to have it checked in Britain and suggested a similar way of doing it in America …’ He paused and said: ‘You do have a definite flight?’

‘There was a Klaus Schmidt on the Swissair midday departure, on the sixteenth,’ said Blom.

The man was already qualifying himself, Charlie recognized. He said: ‘What about picture comparison from the aircrew? Or from anyone at Geneva airport?’

‘There has not been time yet,’ said Blom, in further qualification. ‘It is being done.’

‘It should be,’ said Charlie. ‘Although it’ll draw a blank.’ He hadn’t intended the remark to sound as arrogant as it did, but Blom’s attitude from the beginning had been one of reluctance verging upon the obstructive, and Charlie was curious to know what they had been talking about before he arrived.

‘For a moment it looked as if our conference might have proceeded uninterrupted, too,’ said Levy.

Charlie was categorizing everyone more completely now, with the benefit of this second encounter. Blom was obstructive. Also, to a degree, frightened and therefore clutching at the smallest sprig of straw. Possibly, too, resentful at being expected to deal on what appeared an equal footing with a subordinate, which Charlie recognized himself clearly to be. And not just a subordinate, a street-working subordinate who’d blown a fair-sized hole in what the man had obviously considered a major detection breakthrough. Charlie decided there were similarities with Giles’s hand-on-the-nose attitude, which Charlie guessed from the advice that Sir Alistair Wilson had included in the diplomatic bag to be Langley’s ordered response to his presence. And to which he’d become resigned, after the episode with their Director. Which left David Levy. Neither hostile nor friendly: neutral, like the country they were in was supposed to be. Except that Charlie had never considered the Israeli neutral in anything. His assessment was more that Levy was at this stage quite comfortable upon the fence between them, gauging advantage against disadvantage, the only consideration the benefit to David Levy and the country he represented. In matching circumstances it was the way he would have behaved. Insistently he said: ‘It’s still got to be the most likely target.’

‘You’ve no justification at all for saying that,’ rejected the American. ‘You seem determined to substantiate a theory unsupported by any facts.’

He didn’t have to take any shit from the American, Charlie decided. He said: ‘Your people buggered up the debrief, mucking about with that silly lie detector machine. But about one thing you got the same answer, word perfect, as everyone else – Novikov insisting that the target is to be public and political.’ He paused, further advised by the material from London. ‘And the most dramatic, high profile political event in the calendar for November is the Middle East conference to which your President is personally committed … a President who seemingly just by chance is going to be here, in Europe, with the American Secretary of State. Just how does that look to you?’

‘I’m not aware of the President’s personal commitment,’ said Giles. He was unhappy at Langley’s insistence that there should be no co-operation between them.

‘Then you shouldn’t be here,’ said Charlie, going at once for the weakness. ‘I’m aware of it and I’m not even a member of your service!’

If you had been – and done what I know you to have done – then you’d be six feet under in some unmarked grave, thought Giles. Anxious to escape the pressure, he said: ‘I’ll agree its potential.’

To Blom, Charlie said: ‘I would like to interview the hotel clerk.’

‘A copy of the statement will be made available.’

‘Interview him myself,’ insisted Charlie.

In the intervening hesitation, Charlie was conscious of the look that passed between the Swiss counter-intelligence chief and the CIA supervisor. Blom said: ‘There was a clear understanding from the outset that the Swiss service were to remain in control of this investigation.’

‘I am doing nothing to contravene that understanding,’ soothed Charlie, sure of his argument. ‘I’ve had the advantage of closely questioning the one man in our service in England actually to see the person we’re seeking. There is surely an obvious benefit in my being able to compare his impressions with those of your witness?’

‘I would have thought so,’ came in Levy, supportively.

‘Absolutely everything would be shared with you, of course,’ assured Charlie. ‘Exactly the same as our making Vladimir Novikov available to you.’

‘The Bellevue,’ identified Blom, reluctantly.

‘Thank you,’ said Charlie. Although the remark appeared to be general, Charlie looked directly at the American when he continued: ‘And naturally I’ll let you know if anything comes from the check on the passport records,’ he said.

‘The run-through on the visa applications might take a while,’ said Giles, trying to obey headquarters instructions. ‘Like you said, Schmidt isn’t a particularly unusual name in the United States.’

‘But it’ll be made available?’ pressed Charlie.

‘Yes,’ said Giles, tightly.

‘I really wish I could contribute more,’ offered Levy. ‘All I seem to be doing is sitting here taking advantage of everyone else’s efforts.’

‘Nothing at all from your records search?’

The Israeli shook his close-shaved head. ‘Nothing from either the picture or the physical description that was specific enough. There was one man who looked a possibility for a while but he turned out to be a Syrian terrorist we already had in custody, serving ten years.’

‘Are there still hotels to be questioned?’ Charlie asked the Swiss.

‘Some,’ conceded Blom. He was pink with irritation but Charlie didn’t think it heightened the albino impression this time: the man looked more like a doll badly decorated in the Christmas rush.

‘And they will be?’ persisted Charlie, careless of annoying the man further: he was going to remain an awkward bugger whether Blom was offended or not.

‘Of course!’

‘You could always publish the photograph,’ prodded Charlie.

‘I thought I had made it abundantly clear that publication is not considered an appropriate option.’

‘Problem is, options are things we don’t really seem to have,’ reminded Charlie.

Levy lingered in the foyer of the building, obviously hanging back when the American got into the waiting embassy limousine. They both watched the car merge into the traffic and Levy said: ‘Do you drink?’

‘It’s been known,’ said Charlie.

After two streets they found a café tucked away in an alley off the Rue Alcide Jentzer. Charlie chose whisky, a brand he didn’t recognize, and Levy said he’d risk it, too. It turned out to be a risk, harsh to the back of the throat.

‘You didn’t make any friends back there,’ said Levy.

‘Always a problem,’ admitted Charlie.

‘You were very quick to see what was wrong.’

‘It seemed obvious.’

‘Not to me it didn’t. Or the other two.’

‘Fluke,’ dismissed Charlie. What was this hand-on-the-knee stuff all about? he wondered.

‘They’re talking about closing you off,’ revealed the Israeli. ‘The meeting started half an hour before the time you were given.’

So there had been some earlier discussion. ‘They are?’ said Charlie. ‘Not you?’

‘I didn’t express an opinion,’ said Levy, honestly.

‘Express one now.’

‘With Blom it seems to be a matter of personality and I’ve always thought it juvenile to let personal feelings interfere with professional judgements,’ said Levy. ‘As far as the CIA are concerned, you can hardly be surprised by their wanting you out after what you did, can you?’

Still not an opinion, decided Charlie, but revealing nevertheless. If Levy knew what he’d done to the Americans then the Mossad chief had run more than a check on a blurred photograph. And the Israeli records had to be more comprehensive than he’d believed them to be. He said: ‘What was their decision?’

‘They didn’t make one,’ said Levy. ‘And after today they’d be mad to think of doing so.’

‘I think I’ll switch to brandy,’ said Charlie. ‘What about you?’

‘Probably a good idea,’ accepted Levy.

After the drinks were changed, Charlie said: ‘You still haven’t said what you’re going to do?’

‘We wouldn’t be sitting here if that wasn’t obvious, would we?’

The Israeli was still on the fence, able to look into both backyards, Charlie recognized. Sneaky bastard. Charlie felt quite at home. He said: ‘Sounds good to me. Everything shared?’

‘Between the two of us,’ qualified Levy. ‘If they want to cut you out I don’t see why they should get any feedback through me.’

Levy had given the undertaking with a completely straight face, too, Charlie acknowledged. He said: ‘What about a feed-back from them?’

‘We’re not going to be able to sort this out exchanging half of what’s in the picture, are we?’

Levy seemed to have the habit of answering questions by asking others and therefore never openly saying anything, thought Charlie. He said: ‘No. And thanks.’

Levy gestured to the man behind the zinc bar for more drinks and when they came raised his glass in a toast and said: ‘Here’s to a working relationship.’

Charlie drank and said: ‘Let’s start right away. How important does Israel regard this conference?’

‘Vital,’ said Levy, at once. ‘Do you know the state of our economy, from having constantly to remain on a war footing! Getting rid of the Palestinian problem would be to get rid of a lot of others as well.’

‘You’ve warned Jerusalem about a possible outrage here?’

‘Of course.’

‘What was the reaction?’

Levy shrugged. ‘I guess my people are more accustomed to outrages than most. They’re concerned, obviously, but not panicking. The message came back for more proof.’

‘Always the same message,’ said Charlie, wearily.

‘Something else you must expect.’

‘If only the bastard would make a big enough mistake!’ said Charlie, fervently.

‘It’s been almost a week,’ reminded Kalenin.

‘I know,’ said Berenkov.

‘And there’s not been the slightest indication of any increased surveillance on the Bern embassy.’

‘It’s time for Zenin to make the pick-up,’ said Berenkov.

‘And that’s his only moment of contact,’ said the KGB chief, in further reminder. ‘We would still be able to turn him back but it isn’t any part of the training that we contact him at the Geneva apartment.’

‘Let’s hope we don’t have to,’ said Berenkov. ‘What about Lvov?’

‘I hear he’s making quite a lot of the time and effort being wasted in Bern,’ said the KGB chief.

‘He’s right,’ said Berenkov, objectively.

‘Unfortunately he is,’ agreed Kalenin. Would he cut himself off from his friend, if the need for survival demanded it? He hoped he was not confronted with the choice.