The intense quiet came back into the room. The shock of what Croder was saying had left my head strangely numbed, and I didn't have any particular thoughts, except perhaps, This is an awful lot to handle, even with Croder running things in the field. An awful lot. 'When do you think this idea began,' I asked Croder, `in Schrenk's mind?' Bracken was turning his head, but not to look at me. 'That's hard to say. He'd applied for the post of agent-in-place a few months ago, so it seems that he was then involving himself with the dissidents. I would think that his experiences in Lubyanka not only left him outraged but determined on taking revenge, and finally the Jewish dissident cause provided him with the necessary rationale.' Bracken and I both had our heads turned to listen, and now Croder heard it too. Someone was coming along the passage outside and we waited, our eyes on the door. It would of course be Zoya. It had to be Zoya because if it were anyone else we were wiped out. It's always like this in a safe-house: you'll stop with half the toothpaste on the brush or your shoelace half tied while you listen, facing the door; but tonight our nerves were strung tight because we were the three major components of a mission cooped up together in one small room and we wouldn't stand a chance in hell if we got raided. Knocking on the door. I sensed Bracken jerk his head a degree but he didn't speak. It was Croder who spoke, his cold voice perfectly steady. 'Who is it?' 'Zoya.' 'Come in.' She opened the door and I heard Bracken let out his breath. I supposed he was closer to this thing than I was: he'd been in signals with London and London would be panicking; he'd also had Croder on his back, and the knowledge that unless we could do something the life of the Soviet chief of state could be running out. 'There are two men,' Zoya said. 'Did they give the parole?' 'Midnight red.' 'Please have them come up.' 'They are English,' she said. Croder nodded and she went out. 'We have six people,' Croder told me, 'to support you in the field. I have asked two of them to come here for briefing. They are Shortlidge and Logan. Do you know them?' 'No. Not by those names.' 'Logan was an a-i-p in Bangkok,' Bracken said, 'liaising with the Embassy when you -' 'Yes, got him. Have any of them worked in the field?' 'No.' 'Combat trained?' 'Three of them have been through Norfolk,' Bracken said. 'They're contact and liaison, outside of their post duties.' 'They can tag?' 'Oh yes.' 'Fair enough.' 'I guaranteed you full support,' Croder said. 'I appreciate it.' The bastard meant that he hadn't sold me short despite the fact that I'd let him down by neglecting to kill Schrenk. Or perhaps he didn't mean that; perhaps I was being paranoic, because of the size of this thing we had to handle, and because of the time factor: we had no idea of the deadline, and Schrenk could be going in at any minute, including now. Then they came in, Shortlidge and Logan, both typically nondescript men with quiet voices and poker-face reactions to what Croder told them. All he missed out was the bit about the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet : he used the word 'coup' every time. 'The situation, then, is that we have no idea when the coup is planned to take place, and we have no idea where. What we have to do is to find our way in, and our target for surveillance is of course this man Ignatov.' He looked at Bracken. 'How many are watching for him?' 'Two. The other two are watching the Pavillon building.' 'They never left there, I assume.' 'No, sir.'