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truth.’
    â€˜I hope it is.’
    â€˜Everything I have told you about Major Gale can be checked.’
    â€˜It will be,’ assured Charlie. And would have been already if other people had done their jobs properly.
    â€˜What do you want of me!’
    â€˜An answer to a point I made a long time ago,’ reminded Charlie. ‘How, when you were having to make a panicked move and when travel within the Soviet Union is so closely restricted, could you go at once to the Finnish border?
    Novikov smiled, in reluctant admiration. ‘You really have lived in the Soviet Union, haven’t you?’
    â€˜We’ve had that routine,’ said Charlie, refusing another deflection.
    â€˜I had been granted travel permission to visit Leningrad, before the suspicion arose,’ said Novikov.
    â€˜Why?’
    â€˜A vacation.’
    â€˜You were planning a vacation at a time when you believed your people suspected you?’
    â€˜I did not plan it after I believed they suspected me,’ said Novikov. ‘I applied and was granted permission before I became alarmed. It was the ideal opportunity.’
    â€˜Yes it was, wasn’t it?’ agreed Charlie. He’d achieved a great deal already, he decided, contentedly.
    â€˜You think I am a liar!’ erupted Novikov, goaded by Charlie’s sarcasm.
    â€˜I don’t know yet whether you are a liar or not,’ said Charlie. ‘You’re the defector. You have to convince me.’
    â€˜I am telling the truth!’
    Impatient with any continued defence, Charlie said: ‘Tell me how you got to the Finnish border.’
    â€˜I was lucky,’ admitted Novikov. ‘The visa to visit Leningrad was already in my internal passport. I did not remind anyone in the cipher department that Friday that I was going on holiday. Nor did I go back to my apartment when I left. I went directly from headquarters to Vnukovo airport, without bothering with luggage. It was late when I arrived in Leningrad: I intended to go to my hotel, the Druzhba on the Ulitza Chapygina, and not move on until the morning but when I approached it I saw militia cars everywhere. There was no one else they could have been looking for. I just ran. The arrangement I had made with Major Gale was to cross into Finland near a place called Lappeeranta: it’s just a few miles inside their border. I caught the train to Vyborg and then walked the rest of the way to the border. My passport was checked on the train. The visa only extended to Leningrad so I knew the alarm would be raised. They almost caught me at the border: I only just got across.’
    The Director had talked of a pursuit, at the moment of crossing. Charlie said: ‘Wouldn’t you have attracted attention, trying to book into the Druzhba without any luggage?’
    â€˜You’re very careful, aren’t you?’
    â€˜Yes,’ said Charlie. ‘What about the luggage?’
    â€˜I had my briefcase with me, of course. It was quite large: it would have appeared sufficient.’
    Restricted by the clothing shortages in the Soviet Union, people frequently travelled as lightly as that, remaining for days in the same suit, remembered Charlie. Just like he did, in fact. Time to check Witherspoon’s insistence upon the man’s ability for recall. Charlie said: ‘Your memory is good?’
    â€˜It is excellent.’
    â€˜I’m glad,’ said Charlie. ‘When did you start being denied access to the sort of material to which you were accustomed?’
    â€˜August.’
    â€˜The precise date?’
    â€˜I think it was 19 August.’
    â€˜Definitely 19 August? Or approximately 19 August?’
    Novikov hesitated. ‘Do you consider it that important?’
    â€˜You did,’ reminded Charlie. ‘It was the first signal you had that they were on to you.’
    â€˜Definitely 19 August.’
    â€˜ How can you be so definite?’ pressed