Still, MI5 offered Nikolai the opportunity to defect with all benefits coming to him from the British government. The resettlement, the house, the car, the schools, and money—it was all there in one package, but Nikolai told them no thanks. His mind was set, and he was going. “We’ll do this at some point. But not yet.”
He was met at the airport in Moscow, almost with a hero’s welcome. Everyone told him he was doing a great job. Luka Solinov, Head of the Third Department, said they’d never seen such outstanding accomplishments by anyone his age. Semenov realized the low-level information he’d been supplying thanks to KGB Moscow Center was paying off handsomely. At a formal ceremony the next afternoon, Nikolai was officially installed as the new London rezident.
His business done for the KGB, Nikolai went home to his flat in Moscow, where his mother was now staying. Since he had no longer any use for it as rezident of KGB London, and with the money coming in from MI5 for her care, they had decided she’d move back to Moscow where Nikolai had grown up and where his mother’s friends still remained.
He entered his flat and hung his jacket and coat on the stand beside the door. He called out, “Mamochka, are you here?”
She stepped into the living area while wiping her hands with a towel. She moved to him and engulfed him in a big hug. She was a thin, wiry woman with fully gray hair and gray eyes like Nikolai’s.
“I am so proud of you, son. The new Soviet Embassy rezident. How did the ceremony go?”
“Good…good.” He took her hand and led her to the sofa, where he urged her to sit. “Listen, Mamochka…I think you should come back to London with me.”
She gasped. “What for, a holiday?”
Nikolai shook his head. “No, to live.”
“But why?” She began to fold the towel in her lap. “My life is here. My home is here. I’m happy now I’m back in Moscow.”
“I just…” Nikolai didn’t know how to word it without raising suspicion with his mother. He didn’t want to add to any grief she might already carry regarding the KGB and his father’s pension. “It’s a good life there—a better life than here. You will be able to buy whatever you want. You can get new clothes and shoes. They have all sorts of appliances you can’t imagine! Magical coffee makers and toasters. You can go to musicals and plays, art that isn’t censored by any government.”
“No, Nikolai, those things don’t matter to me anymore. I was happy when the KGB supplied them when you were younger, but I’m older now, and I don’t need much. I like my routine. I like what I know.”
“Please,” Nikolai begged. Without outright saying she could be in danger, he pleaded with her. “You will live a long life there. There is always hot water and the medicines you need.”
“I don’t speak English. I don’t want to learn English.”
Nikolai saved his most potent artillery for last. “If you come live in Britain with me, you will see your granddaughter grow up. I don’t know when we will be back next. It could be years.”
“Nikolai,” she said sternly. She turned to face him on the sofa and took his hands. “I want to stay and die in my motherland. I will see Sasha before I do.”
He would be going back without her.
Nikolai returned to London, a hero among MI5 ULYSSES agents. They had a party at the safe house in Bayswater at noon. Donovan made a warm, congratulatory speech, and Bolling sat beside him at the table, reminding him several times how proud they all were. Even Cummings attended, solemn, quiet Cummings who held out his hand to shake and told Nikolai that he’d never been so proud of someone at his level before. Nikolai was impressed and just a little embarrassed.
43
Under pressure from President Kennedy to produce ULYSSES in the Oval Office, the CIA made its move on MI5. McEnery cabled London.
WE KNOW ULYSSES. HE READS JAMES JOYCE.
Bolling questioned Nikolai that noon. "Do you keep a copy of Ulysses at your flat?"
"In my father's trunk, there is a copy. It's an impossible book to read. I'll give it over to you if you're interested."
"CIA has been inside that trunk. They found the book titled Ulysses and made the connection back to our code name ULYSSES. Your identity is now known in Langley."
“Then I’m dead!” cried Nikolai. “My name will get back to Moscow.”
"Here's the cable. Reread it. ‘He reads James Joyce.' They know, Nikolai. They have you now."
Bolling returned to River House dejected and full of apprehension. He immediately went to Donovan, the head of the ULYSSES mole team. The feeling was that there was an American spy in their midst. How else did the CIA get the name? So Donovan started an inquiry of the ULYSSES team. Who among you, he asked, might have outed our most precious intelligence resource to the Americans?
Everyone looked at the others. No one blinked.
Donovan told Bolling the same afternoon the cable came, “Big Brother wants to debrief ULYSSES. They want him in Washington to meet with Kennedy."
"That will be impossible," Bolling replied. "Too risky. It could get Nikolai killed."
"Agree. I'll notify the CIA. No dice."
McEnery was adamant. "We need him here tomorrow, Donovan. The Soviets are sailing an army to Cuba as we speak. We need vitals. We need what ULYSSES knows about the army, numbers, armament, all of it. We can't take no for an answer this time."
"Impossible. Nikolai is under constant KGB surveillance now, both for his safety and for his integrity. KGB would know in a heartbeat if Nikolai journeyed to Washington."
Nikolai was told of the stalemate, but he replied, "I can do it. I will advise KGB Moscow that I've been approached by a high-ranking CIA agent who is willing to sell American secrets about the military response to the Cuban crisis that Kennedy is preparing."
"That sounds very risky," Donovan said.
"Trust me. I know KGB. They will jump at the chance, and they will leave me alone to do it."
Nikolai called KGB Moscow that evening. KGB Moscow was astonished. “Seriously?” they asked. They wanted to ask who this person was, but they did not. Field officers were never asked to reveal sources to protect those sources who could be outed by anyone working at KGB Moscow who might have a grudge or a need to make some fast money. So, the KGB didn't press Nikolai. There was a shallow discussion. It took twenty-four hours, but he was cleared to go in the end.
He told KGB Moscow he would be flying TWA so as not to draw attention to himself, rather than another carrier commonly used by the KGB for international flights. That was cleared as well.
Two days later, Nikolai stepped off the plane in Washington and went straight to his hotel, where he checked in. But arrangements for him had been made at the Mayflower Hotel instead, four minutes away.
It was prearranged that he would lose his Soviet tail, check into the Mayflower Hotel under a secret name, and meet with Kennedy that afternoon at four p.m.
It went perfectly.
At 3:45, Nikolai was in the small waiting room outside the Oval Office. John McCone, Director of the CIA, was there with him along with Ansel McEnery. Nikolai was never told McEnery's role in it all. Nor was he told about Stoner. The CIA kept its methods secret, too.