Chapter 44
These things were complicated. To expel someone from the Soviet Embassy attracted too much attention and the same would be generally true with the Poles, awkward questions might be asked by the press and there was no need to advertise the lack of intelligence that allowed them to pass off the Stasi men as their own in the first place. No, it had to be an Embassy connected to the Soviets or else there was no point but not too connected. They chose the Czechs.
Of course, the Czechs weren't overwhelmed by the idea but knew how the game was played.
As a result, the Air attaché and an Intelligence Corps Warrant Officer at the British Embassy in Prague were politely told to pack their bags and go home. The former was not long for retirement in any event but the latter was recently arrived and had just moved into a lovely, fully furnished apartment the Foreign Office had found for him, complete with a baby grand piano, majestic sweeping staircase and a view to die for. To say he was miffed was an understatement.
MI5 managed to identify their tea lady. Lack of vetting was blamed. She'd joined the British Communist Party as a teenager under her step-father's surname, using one of her three forenames. When he died, she reverted to her mother's maiden name. Introduced by a BCP colleague, she'd been groomed by the Soviets specifically for use by the East Germans. On the day Kasner took a bus ride, she'd told her friends she was taking a trip to London 'to do some shopping'. The MI5 agent on the bus confirmed she and Kasner had exchanged glances and when she got up to leave, he immediately occupied her seat.
The woman on the bench in Karl-Heinz Gast's park in Swindon was confirmed as Reddington's mistress. She'd been recruited using compromising photographs.
The Cherneys were cremated at a secret Government research establishment in a building referred to as 'the facility'. Their ashes were scattered in woodland.
Three days after their intended flight to Stockholm a man and woman entered the offices of Folkturist, the Swedish Communist Party's travel agency, and purchased tickets for travel to Leningrad in the name of John and Helen Cherney. Routine camera surveillance of the Soviet Embassy by Swedish Security Services recorded the same couple waiting outside. The next day, two MI6 officers returned to London via Oslo.
The Brighton 'lure' turned out to have been just that. The team responsible were never identified, the blonde known as Wendy was never traced and England never won another World Cup.