“What made you choose this particular time?”
“I guess old age and the realisation that I had become no more than a kind of court jester. Tolerated but not taken seriously. Khrushchev listened to what I had to say, and I think he sometimes acted on it. But that only made them even more determined to keep me away from him.” He sighed. “It was always like this I suppose but way back I thought I could help change things. If anything things have got worse. And now …” he shrugged, “… enough is enough.”
“Are you sure that they’ll leave you in peace?”
“I shall take precautions but I’m not important enough to warrant any harassment. I asked them to pay me a modest pension and they’ll see the threat of cutting that off as enough to keep me in line.”
“D’you need money, Jakob? We could help.”
Lensky smiled. “No. I put all my money from way back in overseas banks. I’ve got all the money I need.” He paused. “But I wanted to warn you of how things stand. I suggest that if they don’t ask you to go to Moscow in the next couple of months you should go anyway. And if they talk about me just say I called on you and you were not only surprised but rather shocked. Don’t whatever you do try and justify my actions.”
“Do they know about Tania?”
“Yes, but they don’t know that she’s related to me. They’ve got no records on her or her parents, I saw to that.”
“How long are you going to be in New York?”
“A few weeks—just for a rest and to get used to not looking over my shoulder.”
“What will be their attitude to me with you gone?”
“You were just a young man I spotted way back. You should be OK. You’ve got a first-class record and the information that you’re getting for them now about this NSA surveillance organisation gives you all the insurance you need.” He stood up. “I’ll go now but we must meet again so that I can fill you in on all the current rivalries and who to latch onto and who to avoid.”
“Where are you staying?”
“At the Plaza.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow. Let me ring for a cab.”
“I’d rather walk.”
CHAPTER 47
The following weekend they were at Hyannisport but the Kennedy brothers’ talk was of Vietnam. Their main concern was of the efficiency or otherwise of the two key Americans in Saigon. They were sending back optimistic reports. Ambassador Nolting and General Harkins were unknown quantities and the President had stuck to his plan of limiting US aid to advisers and money. They were now pressing for a build-up of the small contingent of American troops already in Vietnam to finish the job. But George Bull was a known factor, reliable and far-seeing. He had contacted the President and predicted that if the commitment was made it would not stay small. He had said that if the troops were sent the USA would be backing into a major Asian war. He went further and said that if more troops were sent there would be 300,000 US troops in Vietnam in five years’ time. When they spoke the President had laughed and said, “George, you’re crazy.” But the prediction stayed in his mind. A nightmare scenario that haunted him.
Kennedy talked briefly with Aarons about the Berlin Wall going up. American and Soviet tanks had faced up to one another at the Brandenburger Tor but neither side had gone further. Aarons’ view was that the real threat was that Moscow would sign a separate peace treaty with the East Germans and that would be an open challenge to the Americans.
Aarons had warned Tania not to let Lensky know about where they had been and never to mention any knowledge of the Kennedys.
He had made two journeys to Baltimore for meetings with Roger Cowley, who had supplied a considerable amount of the information asked for by Moscow but had pointed out the risks he was taking and had asked for a “bonus” payment of 5000 dollars. Aarons reluctantly agreed to the payment and when he had notified Moscow of the demand they had encouraged him to pay whatever was necessary. The information they were getting on the National Security Agency at Fort Meade was worth anything he had to pay. A week later he received a coded packet from Toronto with a list of further information they wanted. There was, however, a complaint from Moscow Centre that there had been a fall-off of general intelligence. They particularly urged him to find a source of information on the movement and deployment of US Navy ships and submarines. He had put Ivan to find out details of the locations of the main naval bases. Much of the information was available from reference books and newspaper files. There were people in the unions who could be used to provide leads to useful contacts, once they knew where the key bases were.
Lensky had decided to extend his stay in New York so that he could have his teeth fixed and a general medical check-up. They had taken him to see the usual New York sights but they had the feeling that Jakob Lensky was more knowledgeable about New York than he let on. But he had obviously enjoyed going to Sam’s club and he got on well with both Sam and Anna, giving Sam a long lecture on that Russian boy named Israel Baline, better known as Irving Berlin, son of Moses Baline, who had come to the United States in 1893 to join the thousands of other Jews who became known as farloyrene menshen, the “lost souls.” According to Lensky all the successful song writers were Russian Jews, not Americans. Gershwin, Berlin and Hammerstein were favourite sons. Sam obviously loved the old man who seemed to know quite a lot about popular music and jazz.
CHAPTER 48
The autumn of 1962
