The Game of X: A Novel of Upmanship Espionage Read Free Page A

dangerous situation. It was only a matter of time before his people found out. Now he wants to come over, which is something of a coup for us.”
    I said, “Well, sir, that’s very good news.”
    “But of course, it isn’t quite as simple as that. The thing must be arranged with care, and an agent must be assigned to control the operation and render physical assistance if necessary. In this case, Karinovsky has requested the aid of a specific agent. You.”
    “Me, sir?”
    “Yes, you. Specifically and exclusively you. It is, I suppose, a predictable consequence of our little deception. Karinovsky is in Venice at present, and he needs to get out rather urgently. He wants help from our best man—the redoubtable Agent X. He not only wants it, he expects it. Under the circumstances, I would dislike having to tell him that Agent X is a figment of our imagination.”
    “There’s no reason to tell him,” I said. “I am quite prepared to render whatever assistance is necessary.”
    “That’s very good of you,” Baker said. “I was hoping you would say that. But I think I should mention that there is a certain irreducible element of danger in this assignment. Not too much, I believe; but it cannot be discounted.”
    “That doesn’t alarm me, sir.”
    The Colonel looked considerably cheered. “Actually, it’s simple enough. Karinovsky is in Venice. He has already been in contact with our resident agent, Marcantonio Guesci. All you’ll have to do, really, is fly down to Venice and get in touch with Guesci. He’ll arrange everything, and spirit both you and Karinovsky out of Italy. The entire operation should take no more than a day or two. You would merely have to follow Guesci’s instructions.”
    I was a little disappointed at hearing this. The Colonel evidently planned to use me as nothing more than a figurehead, a sort of imitation of a secret agent. Of course, I hadn’t expected to be in charge of the case this early in my career; but still, I had hoped for a little more responsibility.
    “It’s all right with me,” I said.
    “Excellent,” Colonel Baker said. “I would prefer, by the way, to keep your true identity a secret. Not even Guesci need know the truth about Agent X. I mean, I have full confidence in your abilities, but Guesci might not.”
    “What if Guesci wants to talk shop?” I asked.
    “He won’t. But in case he does, our story is that you’ve just been transferred from Far East Command. No one around here knows what those fellows do. I doubt if they know themselves.”
    “All right,” I said.
    “It’s really quite simple,” Baker said, for the second time. “The only complicating factor is Karinovsky’s former employers. They won’t want to let Karinovsky slip away; that sort of thing lowers morale and looks very bad on the records.”
    “What will they do?”
    “Try to kill him, I suppose. We want to prevent that.”
    “Yes, sir. How many of them are there?”
    “Six or eight, I suppose. You’ll study the dossiers before you go. They’re a ham-handed bunch for the most part. Except for Forster.”
    “Sir?”
    “Forster is head of Soviet Intelligence Operations, Northeast Italian sector. He’s a formidable fellow, a big, powerful chap, skilled with small arms and quite ingenious at planning. Definitely a man on his way up. But I suspect that he’s overconfident.”
    “How am I supposed to handle him?”
    The Colonel thought about that for a while. At last he said, “I think the best plan would be to avoid him entirely.”
    That didn’t sound too promising. Forster seemed to have a fearsome reputation. But then, I had a fearsome reputation, too. His deeds might well be as insubstantial as mine; anything was possible in this line of work. And frankly, the element of danger was intriguing rather than dismaying. It was difficult to become frightened in a snug office on the Boulevard Haussmann; but it was easy to dream of Venice, of the pigeons wheeling over the Piazza