The Cipher

Chapter 10-2

* * *

Porter leaned in to them, almost trying to project his argument even more by the crowding of his body. He looked the exact opposite of the debonair agent-runner who existed in the current spate of spy movies or indeed the adventure novels of fiction.

He was neither youthful nor attractive to women. He was mid-fifties, bumbling, with a mop of dark curly hair flecked with grey and settled above a frayed, three-piece pinstripe suit. His speech came in a staccato machine gun fire that people sometimes found hard to decipher.

“The Constellation Network started as a small mission to disrupt Russian operations in Europe. Nothing fancy, nothing too technical, just a simple smoke and mirrors operation. Things that we do all the time to make the Russians look one way while we do devilish things the other. This was post-Philby.”

The name "Philby" still sent chills around the corridors of SIS and Porter hurried on with his briefing, lest the name should stir up evil ghosts from the past.

“We had been decimated by his betrayals and we had to start from scratch, rebuilding networks, operations and planning. Constellation was a part of that, small at first as I say, but it quickly grew. Its overall aim was to spread disinformation into the Russians" backyard.”

Porter cleared his throat and continued. “Our head agent is CIRIUS. British Army Major stationed in Germany after the war and later when the wall went up. He has a lot of experience in Berlin. We worked it so that he got himself involved in a s*x-trap and therefore, at least in the eyes of the Russians and East Germans, had compromised himself. We also added in his frustrations with post-war British colonial policy, lack of promotion, a shortage of cash and we had a nice little "dangle" for the Russians to bite at, which is exactly what they did. The Major himself is a very brave man, a true patriot and is the longest serving agent in Constellation.”

CIRIUSAll eyes looked over the transcript once again as if to confirm that the man that Porter spoke of was the same person mentioned in the report. Porter continued with his briefing, his pace slowing, so as to ensure that each man understood the gravity of the situation they were dealing with.

“With our head agent in place, our aim then was to slowly integrate more operatives into the KGB"s line of sight and set about building a network. Want the run down on who the rest of them are, within reason of course?”

Murmurs of agreement rose from around the table and a confirming nod came from the Chief to carry on. Porter counted each of the agents off on his fingers, holding onto each respective one like a man holding onto a rope in a sea storm.

“So,” continued Porter, “we have ORION, a Dutch citizen who has risen to be a senior executive with the AGIG Bank in Zurich. He passes the information to Moscow about IMF funding and advises the KGB on the moving of monies for its agents and operations in the West.”

ORION“CIRIUS we know, and then we have LYRA. If CIRIUS is our longest serving agent, then LYRA is our star agent. LYRA is a former Italian Member of Parliament and currently Special Advisor to the UN. British mother, Italian father: she was married to an American businessman who had close ties to the current US Administration. He died several years ago. Moscow believes that she is the KGB"s eyes and ears inside both the UN and the White House. Her importance to the network can"t be overstated.”

CIRIUSLYRACIRIUSLYRALYRA“Next we have SCORPIUS. I know, that codename sounds very dramatic doesn"t it, but it belies his commitment to destroying the KGB and the Communist regime. He"s a former Nazi engineer, a protégé of Van Braun no less, who currently works at the Weapons Research facility in Hampshire, where he is part of a team heading the next phase of submarine delivered nuclear missiles. He passes his KGB control "doctored" technical information about missile guidance and propulsion systems.”

SCORPIUS“Finally, we have PYXIS, a junior officer at the Government Code and Communications Headquarters outstation in Cyprus. He"s of the post-war intake. He had family at Bletchley during the war. The Russians seem to trust him as the KGB is more and more interested in not only new technical code developments, but also who is listening to whom in the Middle East. Plus, there is the whole stable of sub-agents, couriers, safe-houses, de-briefing teams and of course the agent handling team. Not to mention the policy making and disinformation unit that provides the intelligence that we feed to the KGB. All in all, that"s a pretty big operation to risk.”

PYXISPorter leaned back in his seat, spent after delivering the revue of his agents. But it was only a brief pause. He shrugged and continued with the outline of his operation.

“From the KGB"s point of view, the agents of Constellation were perfect, high access, low maintenance. The only thing that concerned them was that not one of them was a thoroughbred, Russian born communist; they were all Western turncoats, and were therefore, by default, classed as completely untrustworthy and totally unreliable. But that"s the Russian psyche for you; they see conspiracy and intrigue everywhere. They could have Stalin himself providing the intelligence and they"d still think he was a traitor. It"s who they are.”

There were several discreet rumblings of laughter from around the table. All the men recognized the truth in Porter"s statement. He pulled a wry grin at his own wit before carrying on.

“But – and it took a long, long time – the Russians began to see the merits of using these agents. They proved themselves again and again and again. Oh, not in the big things, but in the small details of intelligence. A piece of gossip that turned out to be factual, a sub-agent who allowed himself to be recruited, a shred of information that confirmed a piece of intelligence. The usual things. It was an operation within an operation. First to get the network recruited and then to establish their bona fides. And eventually the Russians started to have a little faith, and then a bit more trust, until eventually someone in Moscow was having a nice little career promotion on the back of Constellation"s intelligence product. And that was when we knew that they had bought into us hook, line and sinker.”

Porter could see Sir Richard, C, nodding in silent agreement. He knew that Sir "Dickie" had been on the front-line of the espionage war during the second round of unpleasantness, running German agents first in Europe before 1940 and later running them back as doubles, and he knew the pitfalls from first-hand experience.

“Constellation has been able, over the past few years, to influence Soviet policy on political decision making, strategic armed forces, missile strength and a wide variety of technical capabilities. At times we"ve made it appear as if the West is weak and at other times as though we are strong. Our aim is to keep the Russians off balance and thus far, we have been quite successful.” Porter sighed and looked at his hands; sadness had descended over him and C had recognized it immediately as the melancholy of the agent-runner. “They"re my boys and gals, you see. I"ve borne them, carried them, bullied them and fretted over them in some of their darkest days.”

Another pause for breath, then Porter once again hammered out his theory on what not to do, to save his beloved network. “Now to our options, as I see it, in my role as their controller. Simply removing those agents from danger, oh, were that it was at all possible. That would be the easy option, certainly, but I fear that even the slightest hint of something out of the ordinary would cause ripples throughout Russian Intelligence. The KGB is nothing if not suspicious of everything, even its own agents. We move them, and remember that"s a whole network, questions will be asked by the Russians. Why are you all going to ground? What is this, a group holiday?”

notThere was no laughter this time. They were into serious territory and they all knew it.

Porter became more earnest, his voice taking on more authority. “If we alert them, again it will cause them to act out of character. Something they"ve spent many a year building up, to gain the trust of Russian Intelligence. A scared and frightened agent begins to do silly things, takes risks, and acts like a bloody nightmare. What we need to do is keep them operationally unconscious for as long as we can about this assassination team. Apart from anything else, one of Constellation"s agents, LYRA, before she was widowed, was married to a very influential American citizen with close personal links to the hierarchy in the White House…the current President"s Chief of Staff no less. Links she still retains to this day!”

LYRAMasterman, who so far had shown very little interest in the whole briefing did, however raise an eyebrow at that. This portly, slovenly man must be one hell of an agent-runner to have such a prize of an agent, he thought to himself.

This portly, slovenly man must be one hell of an agent-runner to have such a prize of an agent,“She"s a very clever lady who believes that cooperation between Europe and America is essential for dismantling the Communist regime. If we declared the details of Constellation"s work to the CIA, it would mean bringing forth details of American citizens working indirectly for us,” said Porter.

“And knowing the CIA, they"d want to take over the whole shooting match,” said Harper, who knew from bitter experience how the Agency had a reputation for running roughshod over someone else"s show.

“Not to mention the considerable embarrassment that it would cause, not only between services, but also on a political level. We spy on our friends as well as our enemies. It would bring the whole house of cards down,” said Barton.

“What about agent PYXIS? Why doesn"t he make their list?” asked C.

PYXISPorter nodded as if he had been expecting the question. “PYXIS is our new boy, Chief, and has only been active for a little over a year. Wherever the original intelligence came from, it appears to have been before he was recruited.”

PYXISbefore“I see,” said C. “Well, that"s good luck for him – shame it can"t be said for the rest of the network. Poor buggers.”

“But that"s not the most surprising thing about this recording. Far from it,” said Porter.

“Well, what is Bernie? Come on man, speak up,” said Barton.

“Well, Sir, it"s the fact that only four of the targets mentioned are a part of Constellation. The remaining names don"t have anything to do with us. They appear to be legitimate Soviet agents!”

“Good Lord!”

“Yes, the Diplomat and the Quartermaster. We seem to have run into a genuine Soviet intelligence operation,” said Porter, amused at the irony of it all.

“And what do we make of the seventh target, this so far unnamed Russian Intelligence officer?” said C. “Surely if we go around bumping off each other"s spies, it will cause no end of chaos between services.”

Barton took out his pipe and lit it. He waved the match like a man with recently numb fingers and then ceremoniously tossed it into a nearby ashtray. “That is harder to manage I agree; after all there isn"t much of a description of the man. More importantly, why do they want him dead? Agents, well alright, I can see how that may be expedient, we do the same ourselves from time to time,” he said flicking a brief glance down to Masterman"s end of the table. “But it"s a little extreme to start eliminating a fellow professional, even if he is a bloody Russian.”