See Charlie Run

Chapter Thirteen

There was a shoving pressure from behind, pushing him further into the bus, and Charlie moved, hollow- stomached. He took a seat on the side furthest from the hotel entrance, instinctively hiding from any pursuit, spreading his shoulder bag across the adjoining place to prevent it being taken. Don’t panic, he thought; another Charlie Muffin Survival Rule. A mistake to expect her to be sitting there, waiting. He’d chosen the tour bus because of the intermediary stops, knowingly adopting Kozlov’s own pattern. More than possible she’d use it, like her husband. No alternative but to take the ride and hope to Christ she didn’t string out her moment of boarding too long: there wasn’t much flexibility. In fact, if she waited …

Irena Kozlov came unhurriedly on to the bus, ensuring she was the last, muttering what had to be an apology to the guide and making her way further inside. She didn’t look in Charlie’s direction or take the available spot next to him, instead settling three seats in front and on the opposite side. Charlie felt the anxiety go from him, a physical release, annoyed at the quickness of his unnecessary concern.

The commentary began from the guide as the bus descended the now familiar ramp, the palaces to the left being individually identified. Charlie closed his mind to the litany, concentrating upon Irena Kozlov. The first and most immediate impression was of her size: she was clearly visible above the high-back seats, dwarfing everyone around her. Quickly there followed an admiration for her expertise; she actually appeared to be listening, twisting and turning to the land-marks, covering herself brilliantly. Irena didn’t make her move until the tour got to Shinjuhu Gyoen Garden and then still brilliantly, because the garden was on the right-hand side of the bus, enabling her to pretend difficulty in seeing and to look obviously around for a better vantage point. Even the approach, when it came, was absolutely right: a polite enquiry if the seat were free and smiled thanks when Charlie moved the place- keeping bag. She was big, he decided, pulling himself towards the window to allow room: her bum was tight against his. She went through the charade of looking at the park, justifying her move, and entered into the necessary conversation by offering Charlie the map she carried, as if she were pointing out a place he couldn’t locate on his own guide.

‘I was worried, when you weren’t on the bus,’ he said.

‘I needed to be sure,’ she said.

‘I lost them,’ he said.

‘You didn’t,’ she contradicted at once. ‘There are two. One is named Levine, the other Elliott.’

Charlie curbed the impulse to swing around, to examine the other tourists. ‘Where!’

‘Not here; following,’ she said. ‘It’s a dark Nissan, blue I think.’

Charlie realized he’d overlooked Kozlov’s boast that they knew every CIA officer on station in Tokyo. He said: ‘I did not agree or plant it. They followed me to the airport.’

‘They were panicked at the hotel,’ said Irena. ‘They only located you aboard at the very last moment; I saw their reaction.’

‘No one on the bus?’ insisted Charlie, using her knowledge.

‘If there had been, I wouldn’t be here,’ she said.

Charlie swivelled in his seat. The Nissan was four vehicles behind. From where they were, the Americans wouldn’t be able to see with whom he was sitting: it still meant he had to hurry, before the first stop. Charlie employed his own map, for the benefit of those in the bus whom the Americans might later question, apparently consulting her. Irena responded superbly, taking from within its folds the passport and dropping it into her own bag.

‘Rose Adams,’ he said. ‘That’s the name.’

‘Easy to remember,’ she said.

Charlie thought he detected an arrogance about the woman. He hoped it would translate into confidence; she was going to need a lot of that in next few hours. He said: ‘That’s why I chose it.’

He entered into the performance with the map again and this time her reaction was more hesitant. Irena dropped the contents into the same bag as the passport and said: ‘What is that?’

‘Your airline ticket,’ said Charlie. ‘At six o’clock tonight there’s a Japanese Airline flight from Osaka to Hong Kong …’ Charlie glanced at his watch, glad once more that she had got on at the beginning of the tour. ‘You’ll make it easily. There’s a Bullet train at three: the reservation is with your airline ticket …’

‘But …’ the woman started to protest, and Charlie was immediately doubtful about the confidence, after all.

‘But nothing,’ stopped Charlie, in turn. ‘Yuri is going to the Americans today?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘They’re taking him out too,’ announced Charlie.

‘I have not packed,’ groped the woman.

‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ said Charlie. ‘You didn’t think you were going to walk out of the Soviet embassy carrying a suitcase!’

‘Small things. Personal. Mementoes …’ she tried.

Charlie shook his head. ‘It’s over, Irena. New life for the old: No mementoes, no nothing.’ It was astonishing, how often they asked.

‘I thought we’d go from here, from Tokyo. A military plane.’

‘This way is better,’ insisted Charlie.

‘You’re coming with me?’ she said.

Charlie shook his head. ‘The Americans haven’t left me, from the moment I arrived. You know they’re behind, now. That’s how they expect to identify you, through me. Then snatch. Get the train, go to the airport and catch the flight. You’ll be met in Hong Kong by a man named Anthony Sampson. He knows your assumed name and what you look like. Just go with him.’

‘Where?’

‘To England.’

‘I thought I would be escorted.’

She meant protected: maybe the confidence was not so assured as he’d imagined. ‘You will be, from Hong Kong,’ he said. ‘A whole squad of men, all trained.’

‘When will I see Yuri again?’

‘A month,’ said Charlie. That’s the agreed arrangement, isn’t it?’

‘I didn’t expect …’ She stopped, unhappy with the word. ‘Think,’ she picked up, ‘that it would be like this.’

‘It’s important to do what no one expects, for it to succeed,’ said Charlie. ‘Didn’t Yuri warn you that the Americans would try to cheat?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘That’s what I am insuring against,’ he said.

‘Yuri will be protected?’

‘The Americans are ready.’

‘Yuri didn’t expect it to be as quick as this.’

‘The important thing – the only thing – is getting you both safely across,’ said Charlie.

‘I know that,’ she said.

‘And this is the way,’ he insisted.

‘You’re sure what the Americans intend?’

‘Positive,’ said Charlie. It wasn’t an exaggeration. Preparing the ground for later, he said: ‘I tried to explain to Yuri he would be safer if both of you came across to us, in the first place.’

‘We talked about it: it was a trick,’ she said dismissively.

‘I know what Yuri has done,’ said Charlie. ‘Don’t you think it’s naive, expecting the Americans to take no action?’