The Trinity Six - Charles Cumming [77]
‘I’m afraid I’m here under false pretences, Doctor.’
‘False pretences—’
Meisner sounded confused, defensive.
Gaddis pressed on. ‘I don’t have an underlying medical condition. I’m not looking for treatment of any kind. I wanted to talk to you about your time at St Mary’s. I knew that you wouldn’t see me if I told you who I was or why I was coming here today.’
Tanya tried to imagine Meisner’s reaction. He wore tortoise-shell glasses over lively, expressive eyes, and his broad, tanned face was genial and unassuming. There was a long silence. Somebody sniffed. She could hear a tapping sound and assumed that Meisner was rapping his fingers on the surface of his desk.
‘You were in communication with a friend of mine,’ Gaddis began.
‘Charlotte Berg,’ Meisner replied immediately. All of his bedside bonhomie had evaporated. ‘I must ask you to leave immediately.’ Tanya heard the noise of a chair scraping back on a hard floor. Meisner was getting to his feet.
Gaddis said: ‘Please, just hear me out. I have come here to warn you. My visit is for your own safety.’
‘Doctor Gaddis, please do not let me lose my temper. Do you wish me to call the police? I can either ask you to leave in a civilized fashion or I will have no hesitation—’
‘Charlotte Berg is dead.’ POLARBEAR had held his nerve. ‘She was most probably killed by Russian intelligence.’
The ensuing silence was so pronounced that Tanya wondered if the microphone had failed. She was about to call Des when Meisner responded:
‘And why is this of any concern to me?’
‘You remember Calvin Somers?’
‘As I told Miss Berg, I have no recollection of an individual of that name and, if you insist on making allegations of this kind, I will have no hesitation to pursue libel actions against you in a court of law.’
‘Somers is also dead.’ Gaddis’s reply contained just the right level of threat. ‘He was murdered, again most probably by Russian intelligence.’
She heard Meisner sniff, then a hole of silence. Gaddis spoke into the void.
‘I don’t need to tell you that this only leaves you and the porter still alive.’
‘The porter?’
‘Waldemar. Lucy Forman died in a car accident in 2001.’ This piece of information pushed Meisner back into his chair. Tanya wondered if either man knew that Waldemar had died in Krakow in 1999. ‘I don’t know if the crash was an accident or if it was engineered. All I’m saying is that you need to watch your back.’
‘That is not what you are saying, Doctor.’
Gaddis conceded the point. ‘You’re right. I need your assistance as well. There are things you may know which could help to keep both of us alive.’
Another silence. Tanya scratched an itch at the end of her nose.
‘Do you still retain any links to Douglas Henderson?’ Gaddis asked. His tone of voice had become more conciliatory. ‘Are you aware that his real name is Sir John Brennan and that he is now the Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service?’
Careful, Sam, thought Tanya. Don’t be giving away too many of our secrets.
‘I did not know this,’ Meisner replied. His throat was dry and it sounded as though he took a sip of water.
‘The man whose death you orchestrated was called Edward Crane. He was a double agent for MI6. The Russians wanted him dead, so Brennan made them think that he had died of cancer.’
‘I had always wanted to know the answer to this question,’ Meisner replied quietly.
Gaddis pushed for more. ‘Do you remember anything at all about Crane? Did MI6 give you any indication what would happen to him? Were you ever asked to perform similar duties for British Intelligence at any point in the future?’
‘Of course not.’
‘What about ATTILA? Did anybody ever mention that name to you? Has anybody, apart from Charlotte Berg, ever spoken to you about what happened in 1992?’
‘You are the first person I have ever spoken to about it.’
Without seeing his eyes, Tanya could not tell if Meisner was lying, but the answer sounded truthful enough.
‘Then why