Charles McCarry [Paul Christo The Miernik Dossier (v5.0) (epu

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Miernik, as I have reported, is about to lose his passport and perhaps his position at WRO.I mentioned these difficulties to Khatar.He waved them away.“I will tell our Ambassador here to give Miernik a Sudanese passport,” he said.Khatar wishes to take Miernik along because the latter, it appears, has a scholarly interest in Sudanese history and culture.Khatar alleges that Miernik has for some time been writing a book on this subject.“He distracts me with his questions about the look of the country, and what he calls social dynamics,” Khatar said.“I hope to shut him up by letting him see it all with his own eyes.5.I asked Khatar when he intended to begin the journey.“The car will be ready in June,” he replied.“We can leave as soon after that as we wish.As soon as we have the Sten guns.” Procuring these weapons apparently is going to be my responsibility.I explained that automatic weapons are not easy to come by.“Oh, it’s not so difficult.Half the zealots in Sudan have them,” Khatar replied.I asked why he was so determined to have machine guns.“It is better to have them just now,” he said.“There are madmen in Sudan.Everyone knows that.” I pressed him for further details.“One of the forms of social dynamism in the desert,” said Khatar, “is banditry.Part of the local colour, always has been.And just now there are a lot of silly bastards who think that they’re revolutionaries.The Russians gave them guns and bombs and told them to go and kill people.Naturally, people in Cadillacs are very desirable targets.I rather like the picture of old Miernik hosing down a bunch of black Communists with a Sten gun out of the window of an American limousine.If we turn up the radio and the air conditioner, it will be quite like the telly, won’t it?”6.Subject to your approval, I agreed to go along on this trip.I should be glad of any assistance you may be able to give in obtaining three or four Sten guns, with ammunition.20.REPORT BY THE AMERICAN CHIEF OF STATION IN GENEVA (26 MAY).1.Search of the apartment of Tadeusz Miernik has discovered an extensive file of information on Sudan.A card file with more than 700 entries lists important personalities in that country, together with detailed information on tribal matters, transportation system, principal public buildings, power stations, etc.2.A large number of books in Arabic were found.It is speculated that Miernik reads and/or speaks Arabic, a fact that he has not disclosed to Christopher or, as far as we can determine, to any of his other friends.21.DISPATCH FROM WASHINGTON TO THE AMERICAN STATIONS IN GENEVA AND KHARTOUM.1.Information from a highly sensitive source in Warsaw indicates that a Polish national will be put into Sudan under joint Polish-Soviet control as principal agent advising an indigenous Communist movement.2.Headquarters believes that the movement in question is the Anointed Liberation Front.3.Headquarters believes, further, that the Polish national in question may be Tadeusz Miernik.(See Geneva’s reporting, this subject.)4.We have arranged for the delivery of an automobile in Geneva as a gift to the Amir of Khatar, head of the Bakhent Muslim sect.The Amir has instructed his son, Prince Kalash el Khatar, who resides in Geneva, to accompany the car to Sudan.5.A trained U.S.agent (Christopher), controlled by Geneva, will accompany Khatar and the automobile.6.Through the intervention of Christopher, Miernik will be invited to join Prince Kalash on this journey.This arrangement will provide for close surveillance of Miernik by Christopher.7.After Miernik’s arrival in Sudan, Khartoum should facilitate his contact with the ALF and keep watch on Miernik’s activities through existing assets within this organization.8.No operation against the ALF will be considered until Miernik is in place and until documentary evidence has been developed by Khartoum that he, as a foreign Communist agent, is controlling the activities of the ALF.9.When the conditions of para.8 have been fulfilled, Headquarters will issue further instructions.22.FROM THE FILES OF WRO.To Mr.MiernikThe Director General has decided not to renew your temporary contract when it expires on 30 June.The Director General has asked me to express his gratitude for the excellent work you have done during the term of your temporary contract, together with his best wishes for the future.2 June N.COLLINSFirst AssistantNote for the fileThe Director General, on 2 June, informed the Polish Ambassador of his decision to let the temporary contract of T.Miernik lapse.The Director General asked for assurances that the Polish consulate will, if so requested, renew the passport of Mr.Miernik.The Polish Ambassador replied that this was “a routine matter” in which he could not intervene.He added that Mr.Miernik would undoubtedly wish to return to Poland, where employment awaited him, and would therefore have no immediate use for a valid passport.If in future Mr.Miernik wished to travel again, his application for a passport would be treated like that of any other Polish citizen.2 June N.COLLINSFirst Assistant23.REPORT BY CHRISTOPHER.Miernik’s distress is complete.His contract with WRO will not be renewed and the Poles will not reissue his passport.He came to my apartment just before midnight yesterday (2 June).I was in bed, reading, when the doorbell rang; it kept ringing until I opened the door.I was not surprised to find Miernik with his finger on the bell.Collins had told me earlier in the day what had happened to him, so I expected that he would turn up to discuss his problem.Although his clothes are faultless—suit pressed and brushed, shirt clean, vest and coat buttoned, shoes shined—Miernik always manages to look disheveled.His thick body, the huge head set crooked on the shoulders, the big sad face with its strange nose and great hairy ears give him the look of an animal dressed up for a child’s tea party.He was sweating a lot and his breathing was audible, as if he had walked very fast up the fire stains.Miernik began talking as soon as I opened the door.“I suppose you know the news,” he said.“Nigel informed me this afternoon.He called me into his office and shuffled his papers, which had my fate written across them.‘My dear Miernik,’ he said, ‘I’m afraid it’s Poland for you.Really, I had to laugh—he seems to think my anxiety is a joke.Your friend Collins has another side you’ve never seen.When he is on duty he is as cold as a fascist.He treated me as a British district officer would treat a native.I asked him—very quietly, very calmly, Paul—if he had any idea what this meant to me.He raised his eyes to the ceiling.‘Really, Miernik,’ he said, ‘you must try not to be so theatrical.The worst that can happen is that you’ll spend a short time in custody, and then you’ll be let out.Things will be back to normal for you in no time at all.’ A short time in custody! Things will be back to normal! His idea of hell is his public school.”“Did he really call you ‘my dear Miernik’?”“Of course he did.What else would he call me? When I lost my papers, and therefore my identity as a functionary of WRO, I crossed over into another existence.Nigel’s friend Tadeusz vanishes.Miernik the statistic takes his place.Before my very eyes I became a dossier.I no longer have blood.I become a paper man.I am what Nigel Collins and the other bureaucrats write on my new paper skin: Take away his passport.Put him in jail.Kill him.”Miernik said all these things before he had advanced far enough into the room to reach a chair.I put a drink into his hand and sat down.There was no point in saying anything to him.He emptied his glass, which contained about four ounces of neat whiskey, in a single gulp—and let a tremendous fart.His face reddened and he clubbed himself on the forehead with his fist.“Aaaah!” he cried, throwing his glass against the wall [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Pokrewne