Honeytraps were a favourite KGB tactic for keeping Russia’s enemies on their toes. But Knox didn’t know of any instance when an aborted trap had resulted in the death of the agent involved. They usually just faded away, disappearing overnight to pop up again somewhere else with a different identity and new deal to make. The only reason Knox could think the Soviets would have for killing Kuznetsov was if he really was a defector.

Manning’s claim that all his information was false also didn’t ring true to Knox. The best chicken feed always had at least some truth mixed in with it. Working in counter-intelligence, Manning of all people would know this.

To Knox, Manning’s insistence that he should be the one to run the Kuznetsov case didn’t look like healthy ambition and dedication to duty. It looked like someone acting very swiftly to remove a threat.

None of this amounted to hard proof that Manning was secretly working for the Russians, but Knox couldn’t completely dismiss the possibility. He’d looked back through Manning’s record again with different eyes. Suddenly all the little mistakes looked like part of a much larger pattern. He’d started to see connections between events separated by years, and Manning’s whole career turned into a grand narrative of subtle manipulations.

Knox became convinced that Manning had played a very long, very calculated game. And now it felt like he was playing one with Knox. He knew Manning wouldn’t have dangled the carrot of finally finding a solid link between him and Russia without being able to pull it away whenever he wanted. But Knox was determined to grab it before he did.

He needed to move fast, because he knew the longer Manning was acting director general the harder it would be to get him thrown out of Leconfield House, even with evidence that he was a traitor of the highest order. It was also very likely Manning had sent his own inquisitor hunting through Knox’s records for a reason to get rid of him permanently. And if they looked closely enough they’d find one. Because in his files was the secret of why he hadn’t shown up at Holland’s house for dinner on Sunday. The old deep secret that bound Knox and Holland together. The secret that Knox knew could so easily be twisted to make it look like he was the traitor in MI5’s midst.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Another morning in Povenets B, another relentless sequence of sirens. But this morning Valera wasn’t running late. She was early. By the third siren, she’d already hurried Ledjo out of the house and halfway to school.