For the Good of the State

Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State

ANTHONY PRICE

For the Good of the State

GRAFTON BOOKS

A Division of the Collins Publishing Group LONDON GLASGOW TORONTO SYDNEY AUCKLAND

Grafton Books

A Division of the Collins Publishing Group 8 Grafton Street, London W1X 3LA

Published by Grafton Books 1987

First published in Great Britain by Victor Gollancz 1986

Copyright © Anthony Price 1986 ISBN 0-586-07296-9

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Collins, Glasgow Set in Times

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This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State binding or cover other than that ir which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

For Fiona Barling

It is by my order and for the good of the State that the bearer of this note hits done what he has done.

3 December, 1627 Richelieu

(From The Three Musketeers by Alexandra Dumas)

PART ONE

The Gentle Art of Shibbuwichee

In the event, it was not Henry Jaggard himself but Garrod Harvey who connected the fate of the Department of Intelligence Research and Development with the projected British Museum Exhibition of the Treasures of Ancient Scythia. However, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had in some sense already pointed the way in its latest signal or the subject of the exhibition, in which the curious request of the visiting Third Deputy-Director of State in the Ministry of Culture had been passed to Jaggard for his attention; and it was Garrod Harvey’s private opinion ever Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State afterwards that Jaggard had already decided to do what he suggested should be done, and had merely been waiting for him to speak up…

‘So it was that fellow Audley who dropped the word to the Prime Minister?’ Typically, although he was far more worried about the situation in the Soviet Embassy, Jaggard embarked on the less pressing matter first. ‘Are you sure, Garry?’

‘Absolutely certain ’ In his role as ‘Creature to the Duke’, Garrod was accustomed to his master’s oblique approaches. ‘But he didn’t do it personally of course. So we’ll never be able to prove it.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because he’s no fool. He’s an interesting man, in fact —I’ve been studying his curriculum vitae for a couple of days, actually.’

Garrod was well aware of Jaggard’s view of the Research and Development Department, so this piece of anticipation had come all too easily, ‘He’s quite a distinguished scholar in his own right, did you know? Apart from his money and his connections— ’

‘Damn his money and his connections! Are you saying that I can’t go and read the riot act about him to Jack Butler?’

‘Yes, I am. Exactly that.’ The good thing about Jaggard was that he expected straight answers to straight questions. ‘It’s his connections which add up in this case, He’s got a great many of them, going back over nearly thirty years, Henry. Both sides of the Channel, and the Atlantic—the Americans think the world of him.’

‘And the Russians?’

Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State

‘And the Israelis,’ Harvey knew then that Jaggard had seen the FCO signal. ‘But in this case it was a woman named Deacon.

Laura Deacon, Henry.’

‘Laura— ’ Jaggard frowned at him. ‘Laurie Deacon’s daughter

— ?’

‘MP for North Wessex.’ He knew also that Jaggard would be making all the necessary‘ connections now. ’She inherited her father’s safe seat when he went to the Lords. And Audley’s always been very thick with the family: it provides his local MP… and one of his routes into the Commons back-benches, when he wants to have questions asked.‘ He couldn’t risk a smile with Jaggard in his present vengeful mood, so he shrugged instead. ’Perhaps we should be grateful he didn’t do that in this instance.‘

‘Oh yes?’ The mood hardened even more. ‘So it was Laura Deacon who spoke to the PM, you’re saying?’

‘They met last Friday. Laura Deacon dropped a name, and she also said that Colonel Butler would know all about it. And the PM

summoned Butler directly.’

‘And he spilled the beans directly, too. Why the hell did he do that?’

Harvey rejected the temptation to agree with him. ‘It was his duty, Henry—be fair!’

‘His duty?’