The Darkness Below

Chapter Forty Eight - 1970

Vince Taft aka Agent Skeleton had been keeping a low profile and working away quietly as a photographer at his studio on the short High Street of South Ham.

Vince looked down at his powerful hands and thought of the man he had killed up at the Redoubt. Vince was not convinced that the man, called Smith, was a police officer or not but it made no real different to Vince. As a highly trained operative killing a man with his bare hands was not a challenge or something Vince had to think about. Once Vince was within arm's reach of Smith the actions in snapping his neck were instinctive and Smith's death was certain.

Vince felt no remorse or regret over killing the man, a decision he had been forced to make quickly but was annoyed at its timing. Vince had been making some good progress with a new and intriguing information source in John Wood who worked at the London Underground. The photos he had developed for John had provided Vince with top secret information and Vince felt confident with the right guidance John could continue to find out information that would be of use to Vince and in turn the KGB and Russia.

Vince had copies of the photos, he had developed for John, hidden away and he would normally have left them in a dead drop location to be collected by a KGB handler. However due to the increased risks since he had killed a man Vince had to postpone this.

This lack of activity and having had to cease his regular radio broadcast to the KGB in Moscow would have been noticed by his Case Officer in Moscow. In order to prove and reassure Moscow Centre that he had not become a Double Agent for the British protocol dictated that he would have to meet face to face with a London based KGB handler. The handlers were normally based out of the Russian Embassy and their official role in London would be something low grade like a receptionist or secretary. Vince was not happy about having to meet with a handler as again it only increased the risk of his detection but obviously the rules and protocols were there for a reason and Vince had no choice but to follow them. It was yet another example of the paranoia of the Soviet Establishment creating the risk for more damage to the Motherland than helping.

***

During the weeks of lying low Vince had spent the time plotting his next steps based on the actions of the British Security Services. If the body of Officer Smith was discovered and it was somehow traced back to Vince he would protest his innocence of course. In addition to that he would frame the situation so that it appeared as if John Wood was the Russian Spy and Vince merely a frightened and cowed man who developed the photos under threat of violence from the dangerous John Wood.

Once Moscow uncovered what was going on they would place some misinformation to make it appear as if John Wood was a spy, perhaps transmitting a message that would be 'intercepted' by the British despite the fact that it was intended for them. The message would contain obscure details which if interpreted correctly would make the British believe that John Wood was a key player in a powerful Soviet spy ring. John of course would protest his innocence and refuse to name any of his accomplices which would only further encourage the British to believe him to be a highly trained Soviet Agent. Once the lie had been swallowed and digested it would be too late for any of the British agents to back track if they started to suspect that John Wood was not a spy because then they would look foolish. Pride is rarely useful when searching for the truth.

***

The meeting with a Soviet contact must be done discreetly and in a place where they would not be easily observed but also somewhere in which they could easily spot anyone approaching. This contradiction of course made it hard to find a suitable location. The first step in setting up the meeting would be to collect a coded message from a Dead Drop. The message would be written using code words, in English, that only Vince would understand and by interpreting them he would know the location and time of the meet. Vince hoped that the person he was to meet was a professional and not some bungling old boy kept on because of his contacts or family relationships at KGB HQ. Communism's abiding principal might be that all men are equal but nepotism was rife much to Vince's annoyance. As someone once said: All men are created equal but some are more equal than others!