A Hostile State by Adrian Magson (reading eggs books txt) 📗

I think in the Russian food-chain might have the hots for your man.’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, it could be anyone with access to the resources needed. But an assignment like this, going after one of our people? Not so many. And nobody without connections. Good connections.’ His expression left no doubt where his thinking was leading.

‘That’s what I was afraid of.’

The older man toyed with his glass for a few moments. Then he said, ‘I’m only hesitating because I don’t want to set a fire under your ass merely because I’m old, cynical, experienced and wouldn’t trust this current Moscow cowboy any more than I did the grey men who went before him. They’re all gangsters in smart suits, in my opinion – not unlike some of our own administration, if you get my drift.’

‘I’m listening.’

Hoffman nodded. ‘OK. I take it your man usually has zero profile and keeps his head down?’

‘He’s the best I’ve worked with. His name is known to very few people and even I don’t know where he lives.’

‘Yet his photo is out there.’

Callahan winced at the thought. ‘I thought that was a one-off. The man carrying it in Ukraine wasn’t alive to pass it on.’

‘The argument still holds, though; he’s no longer covert. However, to answer your main question, whoever is after him, we have to assume they have clout and access to manpower and facilities.’

‘Acting on their own initiative? That’s a risky move.’

‘True enough. But some risks pay off. Look at all the guys queuing up to become oligarchs. They all know their turn might come to fall under the hammer, yet they still push themselves forward. And the grey men with all the political and security connections; once they get close to the presidential office and get a taste of power, they usually want more. That includes doing what they think will be approved, even if it isn’t.’ He shook his head slowly. ‘It’s a dangerous ambition.’

‘You think that’s the answer?’

‘It’s certainly one. The only alternative is that the order might have come from the very top.’

Callahan lifted an eyebrow. ‘From Putin? You think he’d really get that involved?’

‘Why not? He’s got the bit between his teeth right now and is riding high on a wave of popularity. The strong man of Russia who wants the position for life – and he’s likely to get it. He’s about as untouchable as it gets over there and he doesn’t give a brass fuck about procedure.’

Callahan smiled at the unusual cuss word. Hoffman wasn’t normally given to bad language. Maybe he was beyond caring.

The older man pursed his lips. ‘On balance, it could be either. If it’s a lone operator driving this, or someone in a small group, he’s got balls, I’ll say that.’

Callahan was unsure. ‘But why would Putin bother? He’d be admitting that one man on our side had got to him – the leader of the Russian nation.’

‘I agree. It sounds unlikely. But who the hell knows how any of them think over there? Pride is important to them and colours a lot of what we think we know. The only ones more inscrutable live in Beijing. How much has your man butted up against Moscow?’

‘A bit, here and there. You know how their influence is spreading; it’s not as if the globe is nicely divided up any more. We bump noses a lot more than we used to.’ He thought about it and said, ‘I can tell you that he pulled a State Department official out of a lock-up in Ukraine a few years ago. That probably didn’t endear him much. There have been other encounters, too.’

Hoffman’s eyes widened. ‘I heard about that. So that was your man? Was there any collateral damage?’

Callahan hesitated before replying. He trusted Hoffman more than most former spooks, but his default position was not to give anything away. ‘There was some. It got messy.’

Hoffman smiled. ‘Messy. I like that. You mean he had to go active. Which I’m guessing wasn’t his first time.’

‘You know I can’t confirm that.’

‘I get it. Well, in that case I’d say he probably got picked as a target by someone with an agenda. Doesn’t matter who or what he did, but if he’s someone who thumbed his nose at them more than once, and they were looking to make an example of him, he’d have been up there on the list.’ He sat back. ‘It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done that. Back in the day they tried a few times to even the scores, to slow us down. It was small scale mostly, designed to unsettle us. But it never lasted long.’

‘Is there any way we can stop it? If we use defensive force how do we know they won’t take similar action against more of our people?’

‘You don’t. It could start a shooting war, and I doubt you want that.’ Hoffman twirled his glass. ‘To be honest I’m not sure how you can stop this particular activity short of putting a bullet in the man who issued the order. But even if you could find him and it was possible it would be counter-productive; there’s always someone else ready to pick up the slack and prove himself more effective.’

‘So what then?’

‘The easy thing? Decommission your asset. For good. Take the knight off the table.’

Callahan shook his head. It made sense, but he wasn’t about to do that without a lot of thought. ‘We’d be losing a good man.’

‘True. But if this is as personal as it sounds, he’s become red-lined and you’ll lose him eventually anyway. Get him to drop out and become invisible. That way he’ll live longer and your conscience will be a lot healthier.’

‘You sound as if you’ve been there.’

Hoffman tilted his head, indicating yes. ‘It was a long time ago. One of our guys thought he’d got blown by East German counter-intelligence. He’d been in deep cover for a couple of years and was nearing the end of his tour. We wanted to extract him but