Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré

For Jim’s first briefing by Control, Smiley suggested, they had made a rendezvous outside the Circus? They had. Where? At a service flat in St James’s, a place proposed by Control. Was anyone else present? No one. And to get in touch with Jim in the first place, Control had used MacFadean, his personal janitor? Yes, old Mac came over on the Brixton shuttle with a note asking Jim for a meeting that night. Jim was to tell Mac yes or no and give him back the note. He was on no account to use the telephone, even the internal line, to discuss the arrangement. Jim had told Mac yes and arrived at seven.

‘First, I suppose, Control cautioned you?’

‘Told me not to trust anyone.’

‘Did he name particular people?’

‘Later,’ said Jim. ‘Not at first. At first, he just said: trust nobody. Specially nobody in the mainstream. George?’

‘Yes.’

‘They were shot all right, were they? Landkron, Krieglova, the Pribyls? Straight shooting?’

‘The secret police rolled up both networks the same night. After that no one knows, but next of kin were told they were dead. That usually means they are.’

To their left a line of pine trees like a motionless army climbed out of the valley.

‘And then I suppose Control asked you what Czech identities you had running for you,’ Smiley resumed. ‘Is that right?’ He had to repeat the question.

‘I told him Hajek,’ said Jim finally. ‘Vladimir Hajek, Czech journalist based on Paris. Control asked me how much longer the papers were good for. “You never know,” I said. “Sometimes they’re blown after one trip.” ‘ His voice went suddenly louder, as if he had lost his hold on it. ‘Deaf as an adder, Control was, when he wanted to be.’

‘So then he told you what he wanted you to do,’ Smiley suggested.

‘First, we discussed deniability. He said if I was caught, I should keep Control out of it. A scalphunter ploy, bit of private enterprise. Even at the time I thought: Who the hell will ever believe that? Every word he spoke was letting blood,’ said Jim. ‘All through the briefing I could feel his resistance to telling me anything. He didn’t want me to know but he wanted me well briefed. “I’ve had an offer of service,” Control says. “Highly placed official, covername Testify.” “Czech official?” I ask. “On the military side,” he says. “You’re a military-minded man, Jim, you two should hit it off pretty well.” That’s how it went, the whole damn way. I thought, if you don’t want to tell me, don’t, but stop dithering.’

After more circling, said Jim, Control announced that Testify was a Czech general of artillery. His name was Stevcek; he was known as a pro-Soviet hawk in the Prague defence hierarchy, whatever that was worth; he had worked in Moscow on liaison, he was one of the very few Czechs the Russians trusted. Stevcek had conveyed to Control, through an intermediary whom Control had personally interviewed in Austria, his desire to talk to a ranking officer of the Circus on matters of mutual interest. The emissary must be a Czech speaker, somebody able to take decisions. On Friday October 20th Stevcek would be inspecting the weapon research station at Tisnov, near Brno, about a hundred miles north of the Austrian border. From there he would be visiting a hunting lodge for the weekend, alone. It was a place high up in the forests not far from Racice. He would be willing to receive an emissary there on the evening of Saturday 21st. He would also supply an escort to and from Brno.

Smiley asked: ‘Did Control have any suggestions about Stevcek’s motive?’

‘A girlfriend,’ Jim said. ‘Student he was going with, having a last spring, Control said: twenty years’ age difference between them. She was shot during the uprising of summer sixty-eight. Till then, Stevcek had managed to bury his anti-Russian feelings in favour of his career. The girl’s death put an end to all that: he was out for their blood. For four years he’d lain low acting friendly and salting away information that would really hurt them. Soon as we gave him assurances and fixed the trade routes, he was ready to sell.’