discover what they could of E-Branch, and to kill its head. Why not? They've damaged the branch before, haven't they? But on this occasion Quint will err and become a fatality of his own strategy.'
‘Good!' said Dolgikh. ‘I'm sure I'll work something out along those lines. And — of course I'll be the only witness.
Light footsteps sounded and Zek Foener appeared on the office threshold. She merely glanced coldly at Dolgikh, then fixed her gaze on Gerenko. ‘Kyle is a goldmine — the sane part of him, anyway! There is nothing he doesn't know, and he's releasing it in a flood. He even knows a
good many — too many — things about us. Things I didn't know. Fantastic things…‘ Suddenly she looked tired.
Gerenko nodded. ‘Fantastic things? I had supposed that they would be. Is that why you think he's partly insane? That his mind is playing him tricks? Believe me, it isn't! Do you know what they destroyed in Romania?'
She nodded. ‘Yes, but… it's hard to believe. I —'
Gerenko held up a warning hand. She understood, felt caution emanating from him. Theo Dolgikh was not to know. Like most of the other espers at the Chateau, Foener hated the KGB. She nodded, and kept her silence.
Gerenko spoke again. ‘And is it the same sort of thing that lies hidden in the mountains beyond Chernovtsy?'
Again she nodded.
‘Very well.' Gerenko smiled without emotion. ‘And now, my dear, you must return to your work. Give it total priority.'
‘Of course,' she answered. ‘I only came away while they were dosing him again. And because I need a break from…‘ She shook her head dazedly. Her eyes were wide, bright with strange new knowledge. ‘Comrade, this thing is utterly —‘
Again Gerenko held up his child's hand in warning. ‘I know.'
She nodded, turned and left, her footsteps a little uncertain on the descending stone stairs.
‘What was all that about?' Dolgikh was mystified.
‘That was the joint death certificate of Krakovitch, Gulharov and Quint,' Gerenko answered. ‘Actually, Quint was the only one who might have been useful — but no longer. Now you can get on your way. Is the branch helicopter ready for you?'
Dolgikh nodded. He began to stand up, then frowned and said, ‘First tell me, what will happen to Kyle when you are finished with him? I mean, I'll take care of that
other pair of traitors, and the British esper, Quint, but what of Kyle? What will become of him?'
Gerenko raised his eyebrows. ‘I thought that was obvious. When we have what we want, everything we want, then we'll dump him in the British zone in Berlin. There he'll simply die, and their best doctors won't know why.'
‘But why will he die? And what of that drug you're pumping into him? Surely their doctors will pick up traces?'
Gerenko shook his walnut head. ‘It leaves no trace. It completely voids itself in a few hours. That is why we have to keep dosing him. A clever lot, our Bulgarian friends. He's not the first one we've drained in this fashion, and the results have always been the same. As to why he will die: he will have no incentive for life. Less than a cabbage, he will not retain sufficient knowledge or instinct even to move his body. There will be no control — none! His vital organs will not function. He might survive longer on a life-support machine, but…‘ And he shrugged.
‘Brain-death.' Dolgikh nodded and grinned.
‘But there you have it in a nutshell.' Gerenko emotionlessly clapped his child's hands. ‘Bravo! For what is an entirely empty brain if not dead, eh? And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a telephone call to make.'
Dolgikh stood up. ‘I'll be on my way,' he said. Already he was looking forward to the task in hand.
‘Theo,' said Gerenko. ‘Krakovitch and his friends — they should be killed with despatch. Don't linger over it. And one last thing: do not be too curious about what they are trying to do up there in the mountains. Do not concern yourself with it. Believe me, too much curiosity could be very, very dangerous!'
In answer to which Dolgikh could only nod. Then he turned and left the room.
As their car drew away from the checkpoint towards Chernovtsy, Quint might have expected Krakovitch to carry on raging. But he didn't. Instead the head of the Soviet E-Branch was quiet and thoughtful, and even more so after Gulharov quickly told him about the disconnected cable.
‘There are several things I not liking here,' Krakovitch told Quint in a little while. ‘At first I am thinking that fat man back there is simply stupid, but now not being so sure. And this business with the electricity — all very strange. Sergei finds and fixes that which they could not — and he does it quickly and without difficulty. Which would seem to make our fat friend at the checkpoint not only stupid but incompetent!'
‘You think we were deliberately delayed?' Quint felt an uneasy, dark oppressiveness settling all around him, like a positive weight on his head and shoulders.
‘That telephone call he got just now,' Krakovitch mused. ‘The Commissioner for Frontier Control, in Moscow? I never heard of him! But I suppose he must exist. Or must he? One commissioner, controlling all of the thousands of crossing points into the Soviet Union? So, I assume he exists. Which is meaning that Ivan Gerenko got in touch with him, in the dead of night, and that he then personally called up this little fat official in his stupid sentry-box of a control hut — all in ten minutes!'
‘Who knew we were coming through here tonight?' Quint, in his way of going to the root of things, asked the most obvious question.
‘Eh?' Krakovitch scratched behind his ear. ‘We knew it, of course, and —'
‘And?'
‘And my Second in Command at the Chateau Bronnitsy, Ivan Gerenko.' Krakovitch turned to Quint and stared hard at him.
‘Then, while I dislike saying it,' said Quint, ‘if there is something funny going on, Gerenko has to be your man.'
Krakovitch gave a disbelieving snort, shook his head. ‘But why? What reason?'
Quint shrugged. ‘You have to know him better than I do. Is he ambitious? Could he have been got at — and by whom? But remember, we did have that trouble in Genoa, and didn't you remark how surprised you were that the KGB were trailing you? Your explanation was that they'd probably had you under constant surveillance
— until we put a stop to it, anyway. But just let's suppose there is an enemy in your camp. Did Gerenko know you were meeting us in Italy?'
‘Apart from Brezhnev himself — through an intermediary who cannot be brought into question — Gerenko is the only one who knew!' Krakovitch answered.
Quint said nothing, merely shrugged again and raised an eyebrow.
‘I am thinking,' said Krakovitch slowly, ‘that from now on I tell no one how I moving until after the move is completed!' He looked at Quint, saw his troubled frown. ‘Is there something else?'
Quint pursed his lips. ‘Let's just say this Gerenko fellow is a plant, a spy in your organisation. Am I right in thinking he can only be working for the KGB?'
‘For Andropov, yes. Almost certainly.'
‘Then Gerenko must think you're a complete fool!'
‘Oh? Why do you say so? In fact he thinks most men are fools. He fears no one, Gerenko, and so can afford to think so. But I? No, I believe I am one of the few men who he respects — or used to.'
‘Used to,' Quint nodded. ‘But no more. Surely he must know you'll work all of this out for yourself given a little time? Theo Dolgikh in Genoa, and now this shambles at the Romano-Soviet border? Unless he himself is an idiot,
Gerenko must know he's for the high-jump as soon as you get back to Moscow!'
Sergei Gulharov had managed to understand most of this. Now he spoke to Krakovitch in a soft, rapid burst of Russian.
‘Hah!' Krakovitch's shoulders jerked in a humourless chuckle. For a moment he was silent, then he said, ‘Perhaps Sergei is smarter than all of us. And if he is, then we're in for trouble.'
