himself as the shining liberator of oppressed Russian Jewry, that sort of thing? Or would you on the other hand say that he's still in full possession of his professional expertise and capable of mounting a sensitive operation with the help of an organized cell? Please consider carefully, because this is important.' They were both watching me in the silence, and I leaned my head back against the wall and shut my eyes, remembering all I could of Schrenk: the ravaged face and the crippled body with its rage contained like a furnace, that strange laughter that had led to those fits of coughing when the force of his hate had threatened to choke him, the chilling diatribe about Detsky Mir and its mechanical toys. When I felt ready I opened my eyes and said: 'I don't think he's unbalanced, in the normal sense. I think he's been given a direction. I've never seen such hate in a man, and he's turned it into a driving force - which is typical of him. I'd certainly say he's in full possession of his talents and could get a cell together. I don't believe he sees himself as a shining liberator, but I'm pretty sure he's capable of liberating Borodinski, for instance, by leading an armed raid on the courthouse and getting him out.' I left it at that. Croder wrinkled his thin brows. 'Did he mention doing such a thing?' 'No. It was just an example.' 'I see.' He studied his skeletonic hands. 'I don't think he's interested in Borodinski, but the rest of the picture you've given me ties in with the information we've received - that he means to assassinate the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, Leonid Brezhnev.' I got off the crate and on to my feet. Bracken came to help me but I said, 'No, I'm all right.' I took a few steps, keeping close to the wall, and began feeling stronger. The thing was, I couldn't just go on sitting there. Not now. I went on shuffling between the furniture, making quite a lot of progress, and when I turned round I saw that Croder was standing up now, watching me. He said thinly 'You think he can do it. Don't you?' 'Yes.' 'You didn't hesitate.' 'No.' Croder looked at Bracken. 'What do you think?' 'I think this is all we needed.' Croder said to me: 'I should explain that we've had various information coming in, some of it to Bracken, some of it by signal to London. That's why I decided to fly out.' He was standing perfectly still, I noticed, like a perched bird of prey; he didn't need to pace up and down or light a cigarette to transfer his tension: he could handle it internally. 'The information we had was from fairly reliable sources but the informants weren't close to Schrenk, as you have been. Frankly I was hoping you'd tell me that he was half out of his mind and a broken reed. Since your considered opinion is quite otherwise, then we shall have to take action.' He looked at me very directly, as he'd looked at me in the airport in Berlin. 'You say you tried to talk Schrenk into pulling out of Moscow and that he refused. Is that correct?' 'More or less.' 'Is it correct, or isn't it?' Standing perfectly still, his shoulders hunched in his oversize military coat, his black eyes fixed on me. 'Yes.' And I waited for it. 'Then why didn't you follow my instructions?' Bracken looked away. I couldn't tell him the truth: that I'd been going to do it. Three paces and a sword-hand to the larynx, a matter of four seconds. I couldn't tell him that because it'd sound like a lie. 'I still thought I could talk him into pulling out.' 'Did you indeed? And what happened?' 'He got to a gun.' 'You let him do that?' The room had begun swinging slightly and I found my right hand on the back of a padded chair. Croder stood facing me with that eerie stillness of his, and I wanted to go and smash his face in. 'You weren't there,' I said to him, 'were you?' 'It makes no difference, surely.' 'Oh yes it does. If you want to know what the executives are up against why don't you come out and do their bloody job for them? You'd learn a lot.'