Bomb Grade Read Online Free Page A

Simpson, warming to his argument. ‘Wouldn’t there even be a legal difficulty …?’ And then to Pacey. ‘… As well as a political one …?’
    â€˜I still think …’ began Williams, anxious to continue his objection, but Dean cut the man off. ‘There are obvious advantages to your living separate from the embassy.’
    Push it as far as you can when you’re on a roll, Charlie told himself. ‘Crime makes Moscow astronomically expensive. My cost of living allowance will need to be proportionately substantial. Considerably more than might normally be accepted, even in the high-cost diplomatic postings like Tokyo or Washington. And the justifiable out-of-pocket expenses will undoubtedly be larger as well. I’m going to have to go where the Mafias go … clubs … restaurants …’ Charlie was close to enjoying himself: certainly he was enjoying Gerald Williams’ obvious anguish.
    â€˜I don’t think all this needs to be discussed today,’ attempted the accountant, blinking nervously at the prospects for gain Charlie was working to establish.
    â€˜I think it’s important to discuss and agree everything here today that might affect the success of what I have to do,’ said Charlie, equally anxious.
    Charlie was aware of the Director-General momentarily regarding him with what could have been a bemused smile. Then the man turned to Williams and said, ‘I think things should be put on the highest scale. This is a new role that has to succeed, to stop the political sniping that the country doesn’t need intelligence services any more. So I don’t want anything endangered by penny-pinching.’
    â€˜I am to liaise with the Russians and whatever the FBI arrangement is there?’ Charlie hurried on.
    â€˜Yes.’ Dean resumed charge of the conversation.
    â€˜They know we’re sending someone over specifically for the purpose?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜Just someone? Or has my name been put forward, for approval?’
    â€˜To the Russians, yes: more formal and official arrangements obviously had to be made with Moscow. With the Americans everything was left open, until today’s meeting.’ The Director-General paused. ‘Is there a problem?’
    If Natalia had transferred at the rank she’d occupied in the former KGB it was possible she’d even know he was coming! Nodding yet again towards his dossier, Charlie said, ‘There will be an extensive file on me, both in Washington and Moscow.’
    â€˜The KGB is defunct. And their records, too. There obviously hasn’t been the slightest association with what you once were and what you once did.’
    â€˜I don’t think I’m particularly popular in America, either.’
    â€˜What you did, you did to the CIA, not the FBI. Each hates the other. The Bureau would probably approve, not criticize: find it amusing, even. And it’s very ancient history, anyway,’ dismissed the Director-General, showing how extensively he, and therefore everyone else in the room, had studied Charlie’s file.
    â€˜Your sole primary concern is not making mistakes,’ warned Johnson.
    â€˜I won’t,’ promised Charlie, carelessly.
    â€˜No more than once,’ said Pacey. ‘I’ve already told you that.’
    â€˜I like him,’ judged the Director-General. It was a remark addressed more to his deputy than anyone else: Charlie Muffin had been Peter Johnson’s recommendation.
    â€˜He’s a liar and a thief,’ insisted the financial controller, seething at Charlie’s easy success with allowances and accommodation.
    â€˜Isn’t that why he’s being sent: poacher turned gamekeeper?’ reminded the cadaverous deputy.
    â€˜There are others who could have gone, without the uncertainties that always surround this man,’ argued Williams.
    â€˜Costing as much as possible is all part of