Read Online See Charlie Run by Brian Freemantle - Free Book Online Page A

recognized diplomatic department of the embassy,’ he said. ‘No one likes that. Why didn’t you bring one from London?’
    Because it didn’t occur to me until I was on the plane and thinking of all the possible ways of getting her out, thought Charlie. ‘Couldn’t do it for me as a favour, I suppose?’
    Precisely the sort of thing Harkness had alerted him to report, realized Cartright. He didn’t like spying on his own side. He said: ‘Not without London finding out. Have to be Foreign Office clearance. You know what they’re like about official documents.’
    â€˜Don’t I just!’ said Charlie. He wondered if that security complaint had been squashed or merely postponed.
    â€˜Sorry,’ said the Tokyo Resident.
    â€˜Not your fault,’ accepted Charlie. It was actually unfair to ask the man.
    â€˜Sensitive?’ asked Cartright.
    â€˜What?’ replied Charlie, intentionally misunderstanding.
    â€˜Whoever you’re getting out?’ Harkness’s instructions were to test the other man. Dislike it as he might, Cartright saw himself as someone trying to establish a career, and if he were going to do that it required a ruthlessness beyond his upbringing scruples.
    Nosey bugger or primed? wondered Charlie. In fairness, he supposed the passport request made it obvious. Still wrong; wrong to ask and wrong to respond at any length. He said: ‘Could be.’
    Cartright noted the reservation and felt embarrassed. Trying to cover the awkwardness, he said: ‘I could ask London about a passport issue. Ambassador won’t like it, I should warn you. He doesn’t believe decent chaps read other chaps’ mail and actually uses words like rotter. He’d have to be consulted, of course.’ If he did it that way he would have complied with the orders from London and still not betrayed a colleague.
    â€˜Do you know the American head of station?’
    â€˜Art Fredericks,’ identified Cartright, at once. ‘Met him a few times at embassy things … receptions, stuff like that.’
    â€˜What’s he like?’
    â€˜Huge man …’ began Cartright, but Charlie said: ‘I meant as a person.’
    â€˜Came here six months after me,’ started Cartright again, pausing momentarily for the calculation. ‘Just over three years then. Takes part in most of the sports events the US embassy puts on. Word is that he’s ambitious.’
    â€˜What’s the full CIA complement here?’ asked Charlie.
    â€˜Three, including him,’ said Cartright, at once.
    â€˜Sure?’
    â€˜Positive. I like to know the competition, even if it’s friendly.’
    â€˜ Is it friendly?’ demanded Charlie.
    â€˜Amicable,’ said Cartright, in qualification. ‘Depends if they’re asking or telling.’
    Charlie realized he was lucky that Cartright was so certain of the CIA staffing: it gave him a figure to work from, when it came to calculating the opposition he was facing. ‘What if they’re telling?’ pressed Charlie.
    â€˜Not easy,’ said Cartright, quickly again.
    Which made the Kozlov operation like he imagined it to be, bloody difficult. He said: ‘Any other names, apart from Fredericks?’
    â€˜Harry Fish and Winslow Elliott,’ said Cartright. ‘Fish is a nice enough guy but Elliott seems upset he was too late to wear a six gun and ride off into the Wild West sunset.’
    â€˜So the Agency is the next best thing?’ said Charlie. Like Cartright, Charlie liked knowing as much as he could about competition, friendly or otherwise.
    â€˜Something like that,’ said Cartright. ‘They going to be with you or against you?’
    It was another intelligent if rather obvious question, after the passport request, but Charlie had the impression it was more than a surface query. He said: ‘At the moment, I’m not quite