Quietly he said: 'Croder mentioned that, yes. And you mentioned it yourself.' 'Got a good memory,' but it was all I could do not to walk away and leave him the whole bloody mess to look after because he'd used the same tone as Croder had, and looked at me in the same way, wondering if I was getting too old now, too scared. What were they trying to do, push me over the edge? 'We're all of us quite aware,' he said in a low voice, 'of how much we're asking of you.' 'Look, it's no big deal, Bracken, I took on the job when I knew I wasn't ready for it and that was my fault but I need to work alone so that I can be absolutely sure that no one's going to Judas me into Lubyanka without any warning, you can't expect anyone to work like that.' I turned and started walking through the trees and he had to come with me, I needed movement, I was frozen stiff standing there picking over the bits of a broken mission, I wasn't used to it and I didn't know how to handle it and neither did Bracken. 'I'd agree to get Ignatov for you and pull out afterwards but the streets are too dangerous now: I would have asked you to meet me at the safe-house but I'm not even sure it's safe any more.' We tramped together through the snow, the blind leading the blind. The trees were darker here and I felt less exposed. 'I have another safe-house for you,' Bracken said and I thought oh Christ he's not going to give up. 'I would also guarantee that in future your only contract in Moscow would be myself.' I didn't say anything. I wasn't interested. 'If there's a Judas in the local network,' Bracken said, having to make himself say it, make himself believe it, 'we have to find him.' 'You do. I don't. He's your pigeon.' The snow kicked up from our shoes. Men over there, three men over there, keep an eye. 'You know where to find him,' Bracken said. 'We don't.' 'I can't look for him. Not in the streets.' 'Don't you have his address?' 'No.' The looked like businessmen, officials of some kind but not in uniform. They were walking towards the frozen pond and I watched them. 'They're all right,' Bracken said. 'Don't worry.' 'Those people?' 'Yes. They're all right.' He walked closer to me, protectively. 'You think I'm paranoid or something?' I moved away from him, bloody nursemaid, I'd got the wrong director, I should have been given Ferris. 'If you've just come out of Lubyanka,' Bracken said, 'under your own steam, you'll feel a bit paranoid for a while. We can accommodate that.' The three men were moving away from us towards the gates of the park. They hadn't even seen us. 'You'll accommodate anything I do,' I said, 'even if I shit down the chimney, as long as I get Ignatov for you, right?' 'That's right.' He moved closer to me, and got into step. 'No go,' I said. 'You'll have to get him yourself. What I want from you is a ticket home and I don't care what plane it is.' I said it to give him something to think about instead of thinking about Ignatov. He couldn't get me on a plane out of the city: they'd lost Schrenk and they'd lost Kirov and they'd lost one of their colonels and they'd be looking for me under every stone. 'I can't do that,' Bracken said. His voice was low and steady and I'd been thinking he'd got over the worst of the shock but I wasn't sure now; he could be containing it and bulldozing his way to some kind of terrain we could operate in. A man like Croder wouldn't call in a man who buckled at the knees at the first blow. 'You have to stay in Moscow,' he went on reasonably, 'until we can get you dear without any risk. That might not be for some little time.' He was walking more slowly. 'How do you feel about Schrenk?' 'How do I feel?' 'He was Croder's only argument, wasn't he? You wouldn't have agreed to take this one on for someone you didn't respect. You have a lot of respect for Schrenk, and Croder knew that.' I slowed and said, 'Not that way.' 'I'm sorry?' 'This way. Bloody children.'