Red Star Falling: A Thriller (47 page)

‘What was the FSB deal?’ demanded Charlie, avoiding the question.

‘If I got you back to Moscow, to be punished for destroying their Lvov scheme, I’d be allowed out with Sasha. If I didn’t, it would be what we’d always agreed could never happen—Sasha would be put into a state orphanage after I’d been put into a camp.’

‘It wasn’t a choice,’ accepted Charlie.

‘It was and I made it,’ contradicted Natalia. ‘I was told to agree to consular access: that was to be my signal that if I were asked I’d do everything to confirm what Irena Novikov and Radtsic were telling their debriefers: as your wife with every reason to defect I would have been believed without question. I refused the access request, once I got here: they would have known I’d reneged. Instead I agreed to do everything I could to get you out. I didn’t expect to be so totally included in the verification of Irena and the Radtsics. Or to be able to identify the code.’

‘If you hadn’t done that, I’d never have been released,’ acknowledged Charlie.

‘It was the best, the only, thing I could do. And I knew you’d withstand whatever the interrogation was. Which you did, didn’t you?’

‘Yes,’ lied Charlie.

‘Will you forgive me?’

‘You know I will.’
I hope,
thought Charlie.

‘Sasha will be waiting,’ said Natalia, finally extending her hand.

Charlie’s hesitation at reaching out to take it was only mental so he knew Natalia wouldn’t have detected it.

ALSO BY
BRIAN FREEMANTLE

Red Star Burning

Red Star Rising

Triple Cross

Kings of Many Castles

Watchmen

Dead Men Living

Bomb Grade

Charlie’s Apprentice

Comrade Charlie

The Run Around

See Charlie Run

The Blind Run

Madrigal for Charlie Muffin

Charlie Muffin’s Uncle Sam

The Inscrutable Charlie Muffin

Here Comes Charlie M

Charlie M

About the Author

BRIAN FREEMANTLE is the author of more than thirty books, which have sold more than ten million copies worldwide. These include fifteen previous novels in the Charlie Muffin series, most recently
Red Star Burning
. He has been foreign editor and chief foreign correspondent for the London
Daily Mail
and foreign correspondent for the London
Daily Sketch
, among others. He lives in England.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.

An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.

RED STAR FALLING.
Copyright © 2013 by Brian Freemantle. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.thomasdunnebooks.com

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Lisa Marie Pompilio

Cover photographs: Kremlin skyline by Steven Weinberg / Getty Images; man © Paul Gooney / Arcangel Images

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Freemantle, Brian.

    Red star falling / Brian Freemantle.

            pages cm

    ISBN 978-1-250-03224-9 (hardcover)

    ISBN 978-1-250-03225-6 (e-book)

  1.  Muffin, Charlie (Fictitious character)—Fiction.   2.  Intelligence service—Great Britain—Fiction.   3.  Intelligence service—Russia (Federation)—Fiction.   4.  Espionage—Fiction.   I.  Title.

    PR6056.R43R33 2013

    823'.914—dc23

2013003987

e-ISBN 9781250032256

First Edition: June 2013