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His superiors were full of praise for an official who did everything asked of him, and whose only flaws were his drinking and tendency to be dismissive of those he considered reactionary or ill-informed.
And all the while, virtually any important document that came into his possession was scrutinised for possible interest to the Soviet Union,
Moscow Centre,
had a code-name for this most valuable of all agents: Homer.
He regularly took work home in a bulging briefcase that became a symbol for his conscientiousness and habits of hard work. Security was lax, and as First Secretary, and so patently in speech and manner a product of the Establishment, Donald Maclean was above reproach.
But there were others who were suspicious, and one of these was Archie’s Russian valet, Yevgeni. He did not like Donald Maclean, and Donald Maclean did not like him.
I’ve heard one or two whispering in the State Department about our internal arrangements
‘Actually, it’s about your valet.’
You know what they’re like, these people. Positively xenophobic, some of them. It’s the Dayton, Ohio view of the world.’
‘Yevgeni would never do that sort of thing. I saved his life,
‘In fact, Donald, I trust him as much as I trust you.’
Each of us has a little bit of history – not much perhaps – into which we can drive off.
If there was one thing that humanity had always been good at, it was finding a reason to distrust or dislike others.
He wanted to do it; the urge to do so was there, and it was what had prompted him to the study of theology and philosophy in the first place, but he was not sure that he had within him the necessary strength, the necessary will.
Pierre, would love to believe but just could not. Not that his disbelief mattered, he thought; you could pretend to believe in things that you knew were unlikely to be true but that you knew offered hope in a damaged and unhappy world.
It was like believing in Santa Claus when you were young;
‘Monsieur Citroën, I have been asked by His Eminence to …’ His voice lowered even further. Now it was not much more than a whisper. ‘… to sound you out about an offer of employment. I believe that you have no firm plans as yet as to what to do after graduation.’
Well, as you may or may not know, we have our own secret service.’
The Holy See is a state.
In view of all that, it makes sense that we should have a secret service as well.’
‘Our secret service
is called the Entity.
‘Of course, we need to recruit, and that is something that we do with great caution.
the candidate embarks on a one-year training programme. This includes cryptology, the trade craft of espionage, electronic monitoring techniques, and theology.
We have a very good dental care programme.
His Eminence, though, would appreciate a decision by next Tuesday, if possible.’
