For the Good of the State

‘We didn’t—you were absolutely right—’ Harvey almost stuttered over his agreement ‘—right to give them Audley instead of Viking, that is.’

That wasn’t how Jaggard wished to remember his decision. ‘That wasn’t quite what we did.’ It was on the tip of his tongue to remind Harvey that he’d backed Audley against Panin himself. ‘But go on, Garry—?’

Harvey nodded enthusiastically. ‘So we didn’t tip him off But the Americans did—right?’ Another nod. ‘ Their man in the Embassy tipped them off… And they sent down the 7th Cavalry—or the daughters of the 7th Cavalry—to look after him. And thereby blew their man—do you see, Henry?’

Henry Jaggard saw. And also saw many beautiful advantages from his vision, like a flower blossoming in slow motion, as Viking obtained a longer lease of life from the CIA’s error. But, at the same time, his less-sanguine self saw innumerable predators and parasites attacking his flower. ‘Oh yes? And just where—where exactly— do the “Sons of the Eagle” come into this? I grant you they weren’t Irishmen, Garry. But whoever they are, they are now extremely dead. So who were they, then?’

Garrod Harvey nodded. ‘Ah! That’s the really clever bit—the pure Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State bloody-minded Panin bit! Because the “Sons of the Eagle” are the deal Panin made with General Jaruzelski’s Fifth Bureau, which provided him with both his hit-men and his cannon-fodder, and all his window-dressing—like the passports and the forged Solidarity literature. Because the Fifth Bureau was only too pleased to kill Zarubin for him—the general knew too much about their involvement in the killing of the priest, and they could close that file when they closed his file… And they dreamed up the “Sons of the Eagle” as a bonus, as well as a cover, so that they could hang a terrorist charge on Solidarity into the bargain.’

‘And have their men massacred?’

‘Oh… they weren’t in on that part of the deal, Henry: the so-called

“Major Sadowski” wasn’t a Fifth Bureau man—he was pure KGB, with a Polish accent. . a bear in eagle’s feathers. All he was doing was killing Poles, which is an all-the-year-round sport for Russians. And for Panin it was merely making sure that there wouldn’t be any inconvenient witnesses around, just in case we had the place staked out after all—’ Once again Harvey caught a shrug just in time ‘—I mean, he wasn’t keeping his promise… so why should he expect us to keep ours?’

‘Hmm…’ Jaggard was still captivated by the Viking bonus. Until this moment he hadn’t given the man more than another month, before he’d have to be extricated. But now, if he was run cautiously… or even allowed to lie fallow for a few months… his working life might be greatly extended, and perhaps even all the way back to Moscow. ‘So the Americans have lost their man, then?

A pity…’

Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State

‘Oh, they got him out in time. I rather think they guessed he was already on borrowed time in there. But they have lost him, in effect

—yes.’

Jaggard felt generous. ‘Well, it wasn’t any of their business. But we owe them one now, nevertheless.’ Then a thought struck him.

‘They weren’t the originators of the Polish joke by any chance, maybe?’

Garrod Harvey shook his head and winced. ‘I think not, actually.’

‘No?’ Jaggard saw that Harvey’s ‘thinking not’ was only the brown wrapping covering certain knowledge. But then he also saw that if this ingenious and circumstantial account of the Exmoor Massacre was neither Audley’s nor the CIA’s work… then maybe Viking wasn’t so safe after all, damn it to hell! ‘You’re not about to suggest that this is all KGB disinformation I hope, Garry?’ He heard his disappointment roughen the question. ‘Yet still substantially true?’

Garrod Harvey held his head steady. ‘It does rather look that way, I’m afraid.’

‘Why—’ Jaggard controlled his voice ‘—why should they want to give us so much?’

‘It’s a very good question—I agree.’ Garrod Harvey was genuinely uncertain now. ‘But what I think is… everything didn’t quite go the way they planned it, you see…’ He trailed off.

But Henry Jaggard saw once again, and all too well. Because no plan, however good, ever survived the cold plunge into reality still warm and dry.

Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State Harvey met his scrutiny. ‘It’s possible that the shot we took at Audley unsettled them—’ He held up his hand.

‘It had to be clone, Henry. Because we had to concentrate his mind… for our purposes. But they didn’t know about that—just as we didn’t know about Basil Cole. And the Americans turning up must have unsettled them even more.’

Jaggard waited.

‘But the real balls-up was when Audley ordered Tom Arkenshaw to go after Major Sadowski—and Tom obeyed his order. Because it seems that Panin was going to put a stop to that, only Audley threatened to shoot him on the spot, himself.’ Harvey drew a breath. ‘So Tom saw Sadowski giving the sniper a friendly “hullo”

when they should have been shooting it out.’ Harvey almost smiled. ‘The irony of which is that Sadowski was probably only trying to get close enough to make sure his bullet went in the right place. Whereas the sniper had a rifle, and didn’t need to do that—

so Tom knew at once how the land lay: that they were in it together. And, of course, they both went after him then. And finally, to clinch it, when they had him at their mercy Sadowski obligingly shot his sniper-friend first.’

‘Why did he do that?’

‘Ah… well, Sadowski was a real pro, whatever else—or whoever else—he was. He hardly said a word in front of Tom, so it’s possible that he recognized him from somewhere, and didn’t want to risk his Russian-accented Polish in front of him. But if he was a slow talker he was a fast thinker, Tom reckons. So he wanted the sniper’s bullet in Tom, and his bullet in the sniper, for the autopsy.’

Price, Anthony - For the Good of the State