A Spy by Nature - Charles Cumming [131]
‘Didn’t you ever worry that Cohen might have gone to security at Abnex, that he might have asked them to keep an eye on you?’
I have to give him something. Lithiby won’t let this go until I tell him at least some of what he wants to hear.
‘I did, yes. I admit it. But I didn’t put that in any of my reports because I thought you’d write it off as paranoia. I’m under constant CIA surveillance. You would have said it was just American interference.’
‘That was a considerable supposition, Alec. We could have looked into things for you. A simple phone call to David.’
I try to defend myself, try to erase the slim look of betrayal that has appeared on his face.
‘It was too risky. It wasn’t worth it. And they only took my rubbish away a few times. It could have been the CIA doing that. In fact, looking back over what Cohen said last night, it probably was.’
This does not console him. It appears only to make things worse.
‘They took your rubbish away? When?’
‘Three or four times. It would just vanish.’
‘And you thought it might have been Abnex doing this and you said nothing?’
‘Because I wasn’t sure. It didn’t seem important enough.’
‘Does it seem important enough now?’
I am tired suddenly of his persistent scolding, the claustrophobia of Lithiby’s disappointment.
‘John, I don’t want to sit here and be reprimanded by you. I have been out there twenty-four hours a day for the last eighteen months trying to do a job, not knowing where surveillance is coming from, not knowing who I can trust, not knowing what I can or cannot say. Sometimes little things get away from me. I make judgements, good and bad. In this instance, yes, I fucked up. And because of that Harry Cohen has threatened to turn me in.’
‘Threatened?‘ Lithiby says, seizing gratefully on semantics. ‘You mean he has done nothing so far?’
‘I don’t know,’ I say. I can hear myself in the room, the exasperation in my voice. But it is beyond me now to try to be calm. I resent Lithiby for extracting so much of the truth from me. ‘I don’t know what he’s done. But I’m worried. Cohen’s fiancee works at The Times. If he leaks the story to her I’ll end up on the front cover of every fucking newspaper in the western…’
‘Oh, let’s not be drawn into melodrama, Alec.’
My visible sense of panic has seen him slide once more into condescension. This irritates me.
‘It’s not melodrama, John. This is a very real situation. I am not keen to become my generation’s Kim Philby.’
At the mention of his name Lithiby’s face folds up. I am over-reacting and he knows it.
‘It won’t come to that. You’ll be protected,’ he says. His voice has slowed to a stall: it is almost as if he is ridiculing me. I stand up from the bed, my back stiff from inactivity. The hotel room feels dark and musty and I walk to the door to flick on an overhead light. Lithiby squints.
‘Is that necessary?’
I do not answer, but switch the light off.
‘This is the situation, John.’ I start to move around the room, pacing the narrow corridor that leads from the door to the bedroom, gesticulating, sweating. ‘Harry flew to Baku this morning on a three-week working trip. When he comes home he expects me to have discussed things with somebody, to have cleared my name.’
‘So you think no one else at Abnex knows what he knows?’
Lithiby has latched on to this as though it were a sign of hope, and I have no intention of deflating that.
‘I’m convinced of it. I wasn’t until last night, but I am now. Cohen was very specific about it.’
‘And you believed him?’
‘What reason would he have to lie?’
Lithiby looks at me and smiles with appropriate disdain.
‘What reason would he have to tell the truth?’
‘He’s basically a decent guy, John. He snoops around because he’s a company man. He does it out of loyalty to the firm. But I trust him to stick to his word. We made an agreement. Now I have three weeks in which to come up with a way of convincing him that I am not an industrial spy and I need your help in that.’
‘And what do you suggest we do?’
Lithiby asks this in a tone that suggests he is prepared to do very