A Spy by Nature
For all fans of TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY comes this masterclass in suspense about a spy caught up in his own web of deception…Alec Milius is young, smart and ambitious – with a talent for deception. When a chance encounter opens the door to a career with MI6, he is desperate to make his mark.But life as a spy begins to take a terrible toll on himself and those around him, and soon Alec is chasing not just success but survival. Forced to work alone, he spins a web of deceit that traps him centre stage in a game of global espionage.In this new job, the difference between truth and a lie can be a matter of life and death. And for Alec, it’s getting harder to tell them apart…A Spy By Nature is the bestselling novel with which Charles Cumming announced his arrival as heir apparent to masters like John le Carré and Len Deighton; compellingly told, utterly authentic and heart-racingly intense, it will grip you till the very last page.
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Charles Cumming
A Spy By Nature
Copyright
HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street,
London, SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by Penguin Books Ltd. 2001
Copyright © Charles Cumming 2001
Extract from The Sportswriter copyright © Richard Ford.
Published in Great Britain by Harvill Press 1986
Extract from The Uses of Enchantment copyright © Bruno Bettelheim.
Published in Great Britain by Thames & Hudson 1976
Extract from Rabbit Redux copyright © John Updike.
Published in Great Britain by André Deutsch 1972
‘Fake Plastic Trees’ Words and Music by Thom Yorke, Edward O’Brien, Colin Greenwood, Jonathan Greenwood and Philip Selway © 1994 Warner/Chappell Music Ltd., London W6 8BS.
Reproduced by permission of International Music Publications Ltd.
Charles Cumming asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007416912
Ebook Edition © 2017 ISBN: 9780007416905
Version: 2017-06-27
Dedication
For Melissa
Epigraph
I remember, in fact, the Lebanese woman I knew at Berkshire College saying to me, after I told her how much I loved her: ‘I’ll always tell you the truth, unless of course I’m lying to you.’
Richard Ford, The Sportswriter
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Author’s Note
Part One
1995
One
An Exploratory Conversation
Two
Official Secrets
Three
Tuesday, 4 July
Four
Positive Vetting
Five
Day One/Morning
Six
Day One/Afternoon
Seven
Day Two
Eight
Pursuit of Happiness
Nine
This is Your Life
Ten
Meaning
Part Two
1996
Eleven
Caspian
Twelve
My Fellow Americans
Thirteen
The Searchers
Fourteen
The Call
Fifteen
Tiramisu
Sixteen
Hawkes
Seventeen
The Special Relationship
Eighteen
Sharp Practice
Nineteen
Seize the Day
Twenty
Creating Justify
Twenty-One
Being Rick
Twenty-Two
Plausible Deniability
Twenty-Three
The Case
Twenty-Four
Final Analysis
Part Three
1997
Twenty-Five
The Lure
Twenty-Six
The Approach
Twenty-Seven
The Sting
Twenty-Eight
Cohen
Twenty-Nine
Truth Telling
Thirty
Limbo
Thirty-One
Baku
Thirty-Two
End of the Affair
Thirty-Three
Caccia
Thirty-Four
Think
Thirty-Five
Fast Release
Thirty-Six
West
About the Author
By Charles Cumming
About the Publisher
Author’s Note
Were the events of this story entirely true, they would inevitably breach clauses in The Official Secrets Act. Nevertheless, members of the intelligence community both in London and in the United States may find that they catch their reflection in the account which follows.
–C.C.
London, 2001
PART ONE
1995
If we hope to live not just from moment to moment, but in true consciousness of our existence, then our greatest need and most difficult achievement is to find meaning in our lives.
—Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment
ONE
An Exploratory Conversation
The door leading into the building is plain and unadorned, save for one highly polished handle. No sign outside saying FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE, no hint of top brass. There is a small ivory bell on the right-hand side, and I push it. The door, thicker and heavier than it appears, is opened by a fit-looking man of retirement age, a uniformed policeman on his last assignment.
‘Good afternoon, sir.’
‘Good afternoon. I have an interview with Mr Lucas at two o’clock.’
‘The name, sir?’
‘Alec Milius.’
‘Yes, sir.’
This almost condescending. I have to sign my name in a book and then he hands me a security dog tag on a silver chain, which I slip into the hip pocket of my suit trousers.
‘Just take a seat beyond the stairs. Someone will be down to see you in a moment.’
The wide, high-ceilinged hall beyond the reception area exudes all the splendour of imperial England. A vast panelled mirror dominates the far side of the room, flanked by oil portraits of grey-eyed, long-dead diplomats. Its soot-flecked glass reflects the bottom of a broad staircase, which drops down in right angles from an unseen upper storey, splitting left and right at ground level. Arranged around a varnished table beneath the mirror are two burgundy leather sofas, one of which is more or less completely occupied by an overweight, lonely-looking man in his late twenties. Carefully, he reads and rereads the same page of the same section of The Times, crossing and uncrossing his legs as his bowels swim in caffeine and nerves. I sit down on the sofa opposite his.
