The Mulberry Bush Read Online Free Page A

want to talk about it, we can talk.”
    Strange tossed the file into his in-basket and said, “Right. We’re done.”
    It took Amzi Strange more than two weeks to read the file. He called Father on a Sunday at seven in the morning and said, in his grating voice, “My office. Now.”
    The chief was already at his desk when Father arrived. He did not invite his visitor to sit down.
    He said, “Have you completely lost your mind?”
    Father said, “I don’t think so, Amzi, but if I have, I guess I’d be the last to know.”
    The Vadim file lay on the Strange’s otherwise bare desk. He tapped it with a forefinger.
    â€œThis is real? It’s not some kind of sick joke?”
    â€œIt’s genuine.”
    â€œYou’ve been meeting a KGB officer clandestinely, in public parks in the middle of the night, and playing along with a recruitment pitch for two fucking months without telling me, without telling anybody what you were up to, with no authorization from Headquarters and without its knowledge?”
    â€œYep.”
    â€œâ€˜Yep?’
Yep,
you frigging imbecile? Why? What in God’s name were you thinking?”
    â€œI didn’t know we acted in God’s name in this business,” Father said. “But to answer your question, I was thinking that we had a good chance to turn this guy—I still think we will be able to do that if we play him right, and that that would be a feather in the station’s cap, inasmuch as we’ve recruited not one single local asset in the year and a half you’ve been in charge here. Or for many years before.”
    â€œThanks for sharing,” Strange said. “You never wondered if this target you found with such ingenuity was a dangle, that this was a KGB operation, a threat to security, a quick feel?”
    â€œWhy yes, Amzi, those possibilities did cross my mind. But there was the other possibility, the one where with a little help from us, he could become a threat to
their
security.”
    â€œPretty fucking slim possibility. So I ask you again, why didn’t you let somebody know that you were singlehandedly putting at risk every single operation we’re running and every single officer in this station, not to mention the family jewels back home?”
    â€œI just did that.”
    â€œAfter the fact. I ask you again, what were you
thinking
? Tell me. Please help me understand.”
    â€œBasically, I was trying to keep busy,” Father said. “You haven’t asked me to do so much as to sharpen a pencil in the months I’ve been here, so I figured you’d be unsympathetic to any project I proposed. On this particular one, you’d tell me to cease and desist.”
    â€œYou’re fuckin’ A I would have.”
    â€œAnd besides that, Amzi, I have no reason to care whether you like this or not. It’s an opportunity to run an asset inside Lubyanka—”
    â€œThere is no Lubyanka anymore, my dear fellow. They’ve moved to the country.”
    â€œWell then, I guess Vadim would have to commute, supposing you and Headquarters have the guts to consider this, to take a chance.”
    â€œWhat chance, you fucking nutcase?”
    â€œAmzi, really. Instead of hurling obscenities at me you should be thinking about the benefits you might reap.”
    â€œBenefits? Like what for example? Dismissal? Disgrace?”
    â€œIf all goes well, admiration of the nation, possibly a medal, almost surely a promotion—branch chief, chief of division, eventually. I’m on my way out. You can run this op, reap the glory, without ever mentioning my name.”
    Amzi Strange locked eyes with Father. Neither man yielded. By his own account, Father was calm, in control, enjoying himself. Strange was red in the face, breathing audibly, teeth clenched.
    Trusting his voice at last, he said, “You’re so fucking right about being on your way out. Get your