In a little while, however, the noises subsided. Then there was only a long, sustained hissing. Finally only the fire's roar could be heard. Yulian stood there for long moments with his own private thoughts, before finally turning away...

By 11.00 P.M. that same Saturday, Alec Kyle and Carl Quint, Felix Krakovitch and Sergei Gulharov were on a scheduled Al Italia night flight for Bucharest, which would arrive just after midnight.

Of the four, Krakovitch had spent the busiest day, arranging all the paraphernalia of entry into a Soviet satellite for the two Englishmen. He had done this the easy way: by phoning his Second in Command at the Château Bronnitsy — one Ivan Gerenko, a rarely talented ‘deflector' — and getting him to pass the details on to his high-powered go-between on Brezhnev's staff. He had also asked that it be arranged for him to have maximum assistance, if he should require it, from the USSR's ‘comrades' in puppet Romania. They were still an insular lot, the Romanians, and one could never be absolutely sure of their co-operation -...hus Krakovitch's afternoon was taken up in making and answering calls between Genoa and Moscow, until all arrangements were in hand.

Not once through all of this did he mention the name of Theo Dolgikh. Ordinarily he would have taken his complaint to the very top — to Brezhnev himself, as the Party Leader had ordered — but not in the present circumstances. Krakovitch had only Kyle's word that Dolgikh was temporarily and not permanently detained. As long as he remained ostensibly in ignorance of the KGB agent and his affairs, then all would be well. And if indeed Dolgikh were safe and merely, for the moment. ‘secure' -...ime enough later to bring charges of interference against Yuri Andropov. Krakovitch did marvel, though, that the KGB had got on to his supposedly secret mission to Italy so quickly. It made one wonder: were EBranch officials under KGB surveillance all of the time?

As for Alec Kyle: he too had made an international call, to the Duty Officer at INTESP. That had been late in the afternoon, when it had looked fairly certain that he and Quint would be accompanying the two Russians to Romania. ‘Is that Grieve? How are things going, John? he had asked.

‘Alec?' the answer came back. ‘I've been expecting you to give us a ring.' John Grieve had two talents; one of them ‘dodgy', branch parlance for an as yet undeveloped ESP ability, and the other quite remarkable and possibly unique. The first was the gift of far-seeing: he was a human crystal ball. The only trouble was he must know exactly where and what he was looking for, otherwise he could see nothing. His talent didn't work at random but must be directed: he must have a definite target. His second string made him doubly valuable. It could well prove to be a different facet of his first talent, but on occasions like this it was a godsend. Grieve was a telepath, but one with a difference. Yet again he must ‘aim' his talent: he could only read a person's mind when he was face to face with that person, or when talking to him —even on the telephone, if he knew the person in question. There was no lying to John Grieve, nor any need for a mechanical scrambler. That was why Kyle had left him on permanent duty at HQ while he was away.

‘John,' said Kyle, ‘how are things at home?' And he also asked: What's happening down on the ranch, in Devon?

‘Oh, well, you know...‘ Grieve's answer sounded iffy. ‘Can you explain?' What's up? But careful how you answer.

‘Well, see, it's young YB,' came back the answer. ‘It seems he's cleverer than we allowed. I mean, he's inquisitive, you know? Sees and hears too much for his own good.'

‘Well we must give him credit for it,' Kyle tried to sound casual while, in his head, he added urgently: You mean he's talented? Telepathy? -

‘I suppose so,' answered Grieve, meaning probably.

Jesus Christ! Is he on to us? ‘Anyway, we've had tough customers before,' said Kyle. ‘And our salesmen are in possession of the full brief...‘ How are they armed?

‘Well, yes, they have the standard kit,' said Grieve.

‘Still, it's a bit leery, I'll tell you! Set his dog on one of our blokes! No harm done, though. As it happens it was old DC — and you know how wary he is! No harm will come to that one.'

Darcy Clarke? Thank God! Kyle breathed more easily. Out loud he said, ‘Look, John, you'd better read my file on our silent partner. You know, from eight months ago?' The first Keogh manifestation. ‘Our blokes might well need all the help they can get. And I really don't think that in this case standard kit is sufficient. It's something I should have thought of before, except I didn't anticipate young YB's foxiness.' 9mm automatics might not stop him

— or any of the others in that house. But there's a description in the Harry Keogh file of something that will —I think. Get the squad armed with crossbows!

‘Just as you say, Alec, I'll look into it at once,' said Grieve, no sign of surprise in his voice. ‘And how are things with you?'

‘Oh, not bad. We're thinking of moving up into the mountains — tonight, actually.' We're off to Romania with Krakovitch. He's OK — I hope! As soon as I've got anything definite I'll get back to you. Then maybe you'll be able to move in on Bodescu. But not until we know all there is to know about what we're up against.

‘Lucky you!' said Grieve. ‘The mountains, eh? Beautiful at this time of year. Ah, well, some of us must work. Do drop me a card, now, won't you? And do take care.'

‘Same goes for you,' Kyle spoke light and easy, but his thoughts were sharp with concern. For God's sake make sure those lads down in Devon are on the ball! If anything were to happen, I —‘— Oh, we'll do our best to keep out of trouble,' Grieve cut him off. It was his way of saying, ‘Look, we can only do as much as we can do.'

‘OK, I'll be in touch.' Good luck. And then he had broken the connection

For a long time he'd stood in his room looking at the telephone and chewing his lip. Things were warming up and Alec Kyle knew it. And when Quint came in from the room next door where he'd been taking a nap .

one look at his face told Kyle that he was right. Quint looked rough round the edges, suddenly more than a little haggard.

He tapped his temple. ‘Things are starting to jump,' he said. ‘In here.'

Kyle nodded. ‘I know,' he answered. ‘I've a feeling they're starting to jump all over the place. .

In his tiny room in what had once been Harry Keogh's Hartlepool flat, whose window looked out over a graveyard, Harry Junior was falling asleep. His mother, Brenda Keogh, shushed the baby and lulled him with soft humming sounds. He was only five weeks old, but he was clever. There were lots of things happening in the world, and he wanted in on them. He was going to make very hard work of growing up, because he wanted to be there now. She could feel it in him: his mind was like a sponge, soaking up new sensations, new impressions, thirsting to know, gazing out of his father's eyes and striving to envelop the whole wide world.

Oh, yes, this could only be Harry Keogh's baby, and Brenda was glad she'd had him. If only she could still have Harry, too. But in a way she did have him, right here in little Harry. In fact she had him in a bigger way than she might ever have suspected.

Just what the baby's father's work had been with British Intelligence (she assumed it was them) Brenda didn't know. She only knew that he had paid for it with his life. There had been no recognition of his sacrifice, not officially, anyway. But cheques arrived every month in plain envelopes, with brief little covering notes that specified the money as ‘widow's benefit'. Brenda never failed to be surprised: they must have thought very highly of Harry. The cheques were rather large, twice as much as she could ever have earned in any mundane sort of work. And that was wonderful, for she could give all of her time to Harry.