An hour later the British Embassy called him. He hadn’t given them or anyone else his number at the hotel and he smiled as they asked if they could be of help. He declined the offer, smiling to himself as he waited for their next move. And then it came. A US agency had enquired of the embassy about his status. Could he help them? He told them that he was Foreign Office but merely on holiday. They thanked him politely and rang off. He guessed it would take them less than ten minutes to find his name on the FO list. Then maybe another ten minutes to contact the CIA.
The man with the cool, calm voice called back in sixteen minutes with the good news. They had traced Mr. Grabowski and were putting him through.
He didn’t say much to Grabowski but it was enough to make him agree that he would call on Mr. Carter that evening about eight.
Despite their natural caution and experience Grabowski and Carter sized each other up favourably in the first ten minutes of social chit-chat. They did similar jobs. They were of a kind. Their outward appearance and the image they both projected were of brute force and energy, but they were both not only shrewd but perceptive, and Grabowski found no negative vibes coming from the Englishman. They sat there slowly sipping their whiskies, probing gently for basic information.
“By the way, Mr. Carter, how’d you get hold of my name?”
“The usual way, out of a file.”
“You mean you’ve got my name on one of your SIS files, for God’s sake?”
“I’m sure we have, but that wasn’t where I saw it. As a matter of fact it was an American file. A CIA file.”
“Our people don’t have my name on file over there. I can tell you that right now.”
“Did you have a young guy named Deeming?”
Grabowski shrugged and shook his head. “Not that I know of.”
He died about a week ago. Multiple injuries to the skull. Was doing surveillance on two CIA fellows and reporting to you.”
Carter saw the recognition dawn on Grabowski’s face. He would have plenty of other irons in the fire that could make him not recall the name, especially from an unexpected source. But he obviously recognized the circumstances of his man’s death. It was several moments before Grabowski spoke and Carter made no move to hurry him. Finally Grabowski said, “We’re treading around on thin ice, Mr. Carter. For both our sakes we’d better watch where we’re putting our feet.”
“Maybe I could get us off the ice altogether.”
“I’d appreciate that if it was possible.”
“We found his files. The police know nothing about them. At the moment only three people know what’s in them. And one of the three only knows part of the scenario. But before I go on I’d like an honest answer to a question.” Carter paused and stared at Grabowski. “If I have any doubts about whether you tell me the truth I shan’t make my suggestion to relieve the situation. What I propose would require absolute frankness between us. What do you feel about that?”
Grabowski shifted his backside in the chair. “Mr. Carter, we’re both in the same business. I already assume that if all you had in mind was to cause trouble I shouldn’t be sitting here now. You could have thrown your little bomb in the direction of Langley and that would be that.” Grabowski sighed. “So ask your question. If I can answer at all I’ll answer truthfully. If I would be going too far by telling the truth, then I’ll say so, and leave you to do whatever you choose to do.”
Carter nodded. “I’ve taken some precautions about the documents. If anybody fancied the idea of doing a ‘wet-job’ on me then the bomb would go off in hours. I thought I should mention that.”
Grabowski raised his eyebrows but said nothing, and Carter asked his question.
“Are your responsibilities connected with what I can only refer to as operations outside normal CIA operations?”
Grabowski shrugged. “We might as well say it as it is. Yes. My responsibilities are with operations that the top echelons of CIA could never officially approve but are necessary when the chips are on the table. And in some cases the top echelons don’t even know what my people are doing.”
“Would you be personally sacrificed if any of it came to light?”
“You betcha. A lot of heads would roll, but mine would roll first. And in this particular case I’d end up in jail. No doubt about that. And I guess I’d be there to the end of my days.”
“OK, Mr. Grabowski. We can talk. My responsibilities are much the same as yours. In other words, I and my people do the dirty work that wouldn’t be admitted to by my chiefs. And sometimes I don’t even ask first, I just get on with it, because, for better or worse, I think it has to be done.
“Which brings me to the point of my visit. I want to use the services of your two chaps up north for a few months.”
“How many months?”
“At least six, maybe a year.”
“You’d give them protection and cover in that time?”
Carter nodded. “Better than they’ve had so far.”
“Are you prepared to discuss what you’ll use them for?”
“Sure. You’ve already got a British subject … a girl … under control. I want to use her in Northern Ireland against the IRA.
