The headquarters of SMERSH is a very large and ugly modern building on the Sretenka Ulitsa. It is No. 13 on this wide, dull street, and pedestrians4 keep their eyes to the ground as they pass the two sentries5 with sub-machine guns who stand on either side of the broad steps leading up to the big iron double door. If they remember in time, or can do so inconspicuously, they cross the street and pass by on the other side.
The direction of SMERSH is carried out from the 2nd floor. The most important room on the 2nd floor is a very large light room painted in the pale olive green that is the common denominator of government offices all over the world. Opposite the sound-proofed door, two wide windows look over the courtyard at the back of the building. The floor is close-fitted with a colourful Caucasian carpet of the finest quality. Across the far left-hand corner of the room stands a massive oak desk. The top of the desk is covered with red velvet7 under a thick sheet of plate glass.
On the left side of the desk are IN and OUT baskets and on the right four telephones.
From the centre of the desk, to form a T with it, a conference table stretches diagonally out across the room. Eight straight-backed red leather chairs are drawn8 up to it. This table is also covered with red velvet, but without protective glass. Ash-trays are on the table, and two heavy carafes9 of water with glasses.
On the walls are four large pictures in gold frames. In 1955, these were a portrait of Stalin over the door, one of Lenin between the two windows and, facing each other on the other two walls, portraits of Bulganin and, where until January 13th, 1954, a portrait of Beria had hung, a portrait of Army General Ivan Aleksandrovitch Serov, Chief of the Committee of State Security.
On the left-hand wall, under the portrait of Bulganin, stands a large Televisor, or TV set, in a handsome polished oak cabinet. Concealed10 in this is a tape-recorder which can be switched on from the desk. The microphone for the recorder stretches under the whole area of the conference table and its leads are concealed in the legs of the table. Next to the Televisor is a small door leading into a personal lavatory11 and washroom and into a small projection12 room for showing secret films.
Under the portrait of General Serov is a bookcase containing, on the top shelves, the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, and more accessibly, books in all languages on espionage13, counter-espionage, police methods and criminology. Next to the bookcase, against the wall, stands a long narrow table on which are a dozen large leather-bound albums with dates stamped in gold on the covers. These contain photographs of Soviet citizens and foreigners who have been assassinated14 by SMERSH.
About the time Grant was coming in to land at Tushino Airport, just before 11.30 at night, a tough-looking, thick-set man of about fifty was standing15 at this table leafing through the volume for 1954.
The Head of SMERSH, Colonel General Grubozaboyschikov, known in the building as `G.', was dressed in a neat khaki tunic16 with a high collar, and dark blue cavalry17 trousers with two thin red stripes down the sides. The trousers ended in riding boots of soft, highly polished black leather. On the breast of the tunic were three rows of medal ribbons-two Orders of Lenin, Order of Suvorov, Order of Alexander Nevsky, Order of the Red Banner, two Orders of the Red Star, the Twenty Years Service medal and medals for the Defence of Moscow and the Capture of Berlin. At the tail of these came the rose-pink and grey ribbon of the British C.B.E. and the claret and white ribbon of the American Medal for Merit. Above the ribbons hung the gold star of a Hero of the Soviet union.
Above the high collar of the tunic the face was narrow and sharp. There were flabby pouches18 under the eyes, which were round and brown and protruded19 like polished marbles below thick black brows. The skull20 was shaven clean and the tight white skin glittered in the light of the central chandelier. The mouth was broad and grim above a deeply cleft21 chin. It was a hard, unyielding face of formidable authority.
One of the telephones on the desk buzzed softly. The man walked with tight and precise steps to his tall chair behind the desk. He sat down and picked up the receiver of the telephone marked in white with the letters V.Ch. These letters are short for Vysoko-chastoty, or High Frequency. Only some fifty supreme22 officials are connected to the V.Ch. switchboard, and all are Ministers of State or Heads of selected Departments. It is served by a small exchange in the Kremlin operated by professional security officers. Even they cannot overhear conversations on it, but every word spoken over its lines is automatically recorded.
`Yes?'
`Serov speaking. What action has been taken since the meeting of the Praesidium this morning?'
`I have a meeting here in a few minutes' time, Comrade General-R.U.M.I.D., G.R.U. and of course M.G.B. After that, if action is agreed, I shall have a meeting with my Head of Operations and Head of Plans. In case liquidation24 is decided25 upon, I have taken the precaution of bringing the necessary operative to Moscow. This time I shall myself supervise the preparations. We do not want another Khoklov affair.'
`The devil knows we don't. Telephone me after the first meeting. I wish to report to the Praesidium tomorrow morning.' `Certainly, Comrade General.'
General G. put back the receiver and pressed a bell under his desk. At the same time he switched on the wire-recorder. His A.D.C., an M.G.B. captain, came in.
`Have they arrived?' `Yes, Comrade General.' `Bring them in.'
In a few minutes six men, five of them in uniform, filed in through the door and, with hardly a glance at the man behind the desk, took their places at the conference table. They were three senior officers, heads of their departments, and each was accompanied by an A.D.C. In the Soviet union, no man goes alone to a conference. For his own protection, and for the reassurance26 of his department, he invariably takes a witness so that his department can have independent versions of what went on at the conference and, above all, of what was said on its behalf. This is important in case there is a subsequent investigation27. No notes are taken at the conference and decisions are passed back to departments by word of mouth.
On the far side of the table sat Lieutenant-General Slavin, head of the G.R.U., the intelligence department of the General Staff of the Army, with a full colonel beside him. At the end of the table sat Lieutenant-General Vozdvishensky of R.U.M.I.D., the Intelligence Department of the Ministry28 of Foreign Affairs, with a middle-aged29 man in plain clothes. With his back to the door, sat Colonel of State Security Nikitin, Head of Intelligence for the M.G.B., the Soviet Secret Service, with a major at his side. `Good evening, Comrades.'
A polite, careful murmur30 came from the three senior officers. Each one knew, and thought he was the only one to know, that the room was wired for sound, and each one, without telling his A.D.C., had decided to utter the bare minimum of words consonant31 with good discipline and the needs of the State.
`Let us smoke.' General G. took out a packet of Moskwa-Volga cigarettes and lit one with an American Zippo lighter32. There was a clicking of lighters33 round the table. General G. pinched the long cardboard tube of his cigarette so that it was almost flat and put it between his teeth on the right side of his mouth. He stretched his lips back from his teeth and started talking in short clipped sentences that came out with something of a hiss34 from between the teeth and the uptilted cigarette.
`Comrades, we meet under instructions from Comrade General Serov. General Serov, on behalf of the Praesidium, has ordered me to make known to you certain matters of State Policy. We are then to confer and recommend a course of action which will be in line with this Policy and assist it. We have to reach our decision quickly. But our decision will be of supreme importance to the State. It will therefore have to be a correct decision.'
General G. paused to allow the significance of his words time to sink in. One by one, he slowly examined the faces of the three senior officers at the table. Their eyes looked stolidly35 back at him. Inside, these extremely important men were perturbed36. They were about to look through the furnace door. They were about to learn a State secret, the knowledge of which might one day have most dangerous consequences for them. Sitting in the quiet room, they felt bathed in the dreadful incandescence37 that shines out from the centre of all power in the Soviet union-the High Praesidium.
The final ash fell off the end of General G.'s cigarette on to his tunic. He brushed it off and threw the cardboard butt38 into the basket for secret waste beside his desk. He lit another cigarette and spoke23 through it.
`Our recommendation concerns a conspicuous6 act of terrorism to be carried out in enemy territory within three months.'
Six pairs of expressionless eyes stared at the head of SMERSH, waiting.
`Comrades,' General G. leant back in his chair and his voice became expository, `the foreign policy of the U.S.S.R. has entered a new phase. Formerly39, it was a ``Hard'' policy-a policy [he allowed himself the joke on Stalin's name] of steel. This policy, effective as it was, built up tensions in the West, notably40 in America, which were becoming dangerous. The Americans are unpredictable people. They are hysterical41. The reports of our Intelligence began to indicate that we were pushing America to the brink42 of an undeclared atomic attack on the U.S.S.R. You have read these reports and you know what I say is true. We do not want such a war. If there is to be a war, it is we who will choose the time. Certain powerful Americans, notably the Pentagon Group led by Admiral Radford, were helped in their firebrand schemes by the very successes of our ``Hard'' policy. So it was decided that the time had come to change our methods, while maintaining our aims. A new policy was created-the ``Hard-Soft'' policy. Geneva was the beginning of this policy. We were ``soft''. China threatens Quemoy and Matsu. We are ``hard''. We open our frontiers to a lot of newspaper men and actors and artists although we know many of them to be spies. Our leaders laugh and make jokes at receptions in Moscow. In the middle of the jokes we drop the biggest test bomb of all time. Comrades Bulganin and Khrushschev and Comrade General Serov [General G. carefully included the names for the ears of the tape-recorder] visit India and the East and blackguard the English. When they get back, they have friendly discussions with the British Ambassador about their forthcoming goodwill43 visit to London. And so it goes on-the stick and then the carrot, the smile and then the frown. And the West is confused. Tensions are relaxed before they have time to harden. The reactions of our enemies are clumsy, their strategy disorganized. Meanwhile the common people laugh at our jokes, cheer our football teams and slobber with delight when we release a few prisoners of war whom we wish to feed no longer!'
There were smiles of pleasure and pride round the table. What a brilliant policy! What fools we are making of them in the West!
`At the same time,' continued General G., himself smiling thinly at the pleasure he had caused, `we continue to forge everywhere stealthily ahead-revolution in Morocco, arms to Egypt, friendship with Yugoslavia, trouble in Cyprus, riots in Turkey, strikes in England, great political gains in France-there is no front in the world on which we are not quietly advancing.'
General G. saw the eyes shining greedily round the table. The men were softened44 up. Now it was time to be hard. Now it was time for them to feel the new policy on themselves. The Intelligence services would also have to pull their weight in this great game that was being played on their behalf. Smoothly45 General G. leaned forward. He planted his right elbow on the desk and raised his fist in the air.
`But Comrades,' his voice was soft, `where has there been failure in carrying out the State Policy of the U.S.S.R.? Who has all along been soft when we wished to be hard? Who has suffered defeats while victory was going to all other departments of the State? Who, with their stupid blunders, has made the Soviet union look foolish and weak throughout the world? WHO?'
The voice had risen almost to a scream. General G. thought how well he was delivering the denunciation demanded by the Praesidium. How splendid it would sound when the tape was played back to Serov!
He glanced down the conference table at the pale, expectant faces. General G.'s fist crashed forward on to the desk.
`The whole Intelligence apparat of the Soviet union, Comrades.' The voice was now a furious bellow46. `It is we who are the sluggards, the saboteurs, the traitors47! It is we who are failing the Soviet union in its great and glorious struggle! We!' His arm swept round the room. `All of us!' The voice came back to normal, became more reasonable. `Comrades, look at the record. Sookin Sin [he allowed himself the peasant obscenity], son-of-a-bitch, look at the record! First we lose Gouzenko and the whole of the Canadian apparat and the scientist Fuchs, then the American apparat is cleaned up, then we lose men like Tokaev, then comes the scandalous Khoklov affair which did great damage to our country, then Petrov and his wife in Australia-a bungled48 business if ever there was one! The list is endless-defeat after defeat, and the devil knows I have not mentioned the half of it.'
General G. paused. He continued in his softest voice. `Comrades, I have to tell you that unless tonight we make a recommendation for a great Intelligence victory, and unless we act correctly on that recommendation, if it is approved, there will be trouble.'
General G. sought for a final phrase to convey the threat without defining it. He found it. `There will be,' he paused and looked, with artificial mildness, down the table, `displeasure.'
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1
Soviet
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| adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃 | |
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contraction
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| n.缩略词，缩写式，害病 | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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pedestrians
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| n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 ) | |
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sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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7
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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8
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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carafes
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| n.玻璃水瓶（或酒瓶）( carafe的名词复数 ) | |
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10
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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11
lavatory
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| n.盥洗室，厕所 | |
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12
projection
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| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
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13
espionage
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| n.间谍行为，谍报活动 | |
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14
assassinated
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| v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏 | |
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15
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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17
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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pouches
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| n.（放在衣袋里或连在腰带上的）小袋( pouch的名词复数 )；（袋鼠等的）育儿袋；邮袋；（某些动物贮存食物的）颊袋 | |
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19
protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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liquidation
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| n.清算，停止营业 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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reassurance
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| n.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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28
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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consonant
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| n.辅音；adj.[音]符合的 | |
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32
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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lighters
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| n.打火机，点火器( lighter的名词复数 ) | |
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34
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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incandescence
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| n.白热，炽热；白炽 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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39
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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notably
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| adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地 | |
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41
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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42
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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43
goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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44
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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45
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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46
bellow
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| v.吼叫，怒吼；大声发出，大声喝道 | |
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47
traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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48
bungled
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| v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的过去式和过去分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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