"Because?"
"Because we already know all of them…but one. They have long been identified and passing disinformation to the Brits. There is only the one we don't know about yet, but we will."
"As an aside, what are you going to do with the known spies?"
"Kill them.”
"Of course."
"The one we don't know is ULYSSES. Why that name?"
Nikolai shook his head. "It makes no sense."
"ULYSSES is one of us. We will find him. How would you like that assignment?"
Nikolai all but gasped. "I would like that very much. Where do I begin?" Did he hear correctly? Was Anchev about to assign to him the task of ferreting out himself?
"I will open all the personnel files to you. You will go from there."
"Why would you do that?"
"You are my chief of political intelligence. It should naturally go to you."
Nikolai managed a stony-face for his superior officer. But inside, he was beside himself. The personnel files of all KGB agents opened to the spy himself!
Anchev's eyes narrowed. His eyebrows lifted. "Just one thing. If ULYSSES is you, Nikolai, I will know that. Do you know why? Because you won't find the mole in all of the other officers. You will come up empty-handed, and then I will know it must be you. So, start digging. Bring me a name to match the bullet in my gun."
Nikolai left Anchev's office and returned to his desk. He was stunned. He put a sheet of paper in his typewriter and typed: Approach to be used to find ULYSSES.
Then he sat back in shock.
He was looking for himself. Suddenly, he needed to urinate and ran for the restroom. After he was finished and washing his hands in the basin, he raised his eyes to the mirror. "You have got to be kidding me," he muttered, a Briticism that fit.
He decided two things must happen, and the identity of Lana was the first. This was because ULYSSES could be identified at any second by a second letter from Lana, and it would be the end for him. He returned to his typewriter. His hands shook to such an extent he could not type. He slowly calmed down and began thinking. How would he identify Lana before Lana identified him? MI5 was the key. They would have to identify Lana from their side of the street.
But Nikolai would also need to generate search results, lists of names, and strategies for the hunt. These would keep Anchev convinced the search was legitimately underway.
28
At lunchtime, he slipped out and called the emergency number. Emma Magnuson was on the other end after one ring.
"What's going on?" he asked her. Then he explained.
Her reply came instantly. "Nikolai, we need to meet."
Randall Cummings, deputy chief of MI5 counter-intelligence, and Emma Magnuson were waiting at the safe house an hour later when Nikolai arrived.
"Is it you?" Nikolai asked. "Wouldn't you tell me first?"
"No, my God," said Cummings. "It's one step away from you, Nikolai. We would never do that!"
"Then who?"
Cummings raised his hand, pledging, "We will get to the bottom of it. I promise you."
"It would be too obvious if you went into hiding," Emma said. "You must continue to show up every day and make advances in your work like before."
"I agree," said Nikolai. "I don't intend on running. Nor defecting. There is too much work to be done yet. How will MI5 proceed?"
"We will find him. We're already working on it," Cummings said. "We know that what he's turned over is political sources. So he's someone on that side."
"What is your timing?"
"Maybe months. We'll need him to repeat, which is your domain. When he repeats, you must be the first to know."
"I don't know. This time, Anchev was excited to show it to me. There are no guarantees he will do that again."
"No," said Emma. "We know Anchev. Extremely emotional and unpredictable. He showed you this time for his ego. He needed to be viewed to be as successful as you are. That's his M.O. He'll repeat."
"He's going to be difficult, Nikolai. Going in, this spy is very highly placed. We know that. No one but the second level has access to those names. That rules out ninety percent of our people right there."
"What are you doing to find him?" Nikolai asked this question partly to assure himself all stops were being pulled out to find Lana and, equally important, to obtain ideas for mole hunting. As of two hours ago, KGB had assigned him the task of finding himself. He decided he wasn't going to inform MI5 of this development just yet. He needed more time to assess and consider. No one could be trusted completely. Not yet.
"What are we doing to find him?" Cummings was thoughtful. "First, we are looking at access to that list. As always, we have three clerical people in the mix. But a clerical person isn't going to cooperate with the KGB."
"Why not?"
"Because they know we will kill them if we find out."
"I thought England didn't have capital punishment. I thought its courts—"
Cummings interrupted. "Did I mention courts? I thought I said they know we will kill them. They have no doubt."
"All right. And upper levels? They aren't equally frightened?"
"They know how we work. They know how to avoid being caught. There are always ways. You know that." He smiled now, and Nikolai got his meaning.
"So, now you've launched your internal mole hunt, and it might take months. Meanwhile, I'm in grave danger. If ULYSSES becomes known, we won't need TINKER. I'll be dead before you know it. All that will remain of me is a memory. They will never announce what happened to me. It's happened many times before on my watch. We go to turn someone, and we get turned instead, instant death."
"Here's why it's so slow going. If someone inside the Soviet rezidentura gets wind of our investigation, they'll know we got tipped off. Now they only need to find out who had access to the case. That might be three people, all within immediate reach of Anchev. KGB would have that person talking in an hour. Or less." It was clear to Nikolai, the way Cummings said this last part, that he respected the KGB's methods, but not in a good way. Nikolai supposed that he did, too, a matter of professional pride. The point was made: the KGB could not know MI5 had launched the hunt.
"Your name wasn't revealed, which tells me the ULYSSES team doesn't include our mole. So, I will use the ULYSSES team as hunters. That way, it remains walled off."
"Smart."
"Exactly," Cummings said. "We have our team, and we have a KGB asset to find. If we keep it to the team, he'll never know we're even after him."
"Nor will the KGB," said Nikolai. "Much better."
"The hunt will be led by Jason Donovan."
Nikolai knew Donovan was highly placed, the director of K4, MI5's Soviet residencies branch.
"He's a ULYSSES member, you will recall."
"Of course, I know Donovan well."
But he still drank too much vodka that night after putting Sasha down.
Steady, he told himself, make your own lists now.