The woman paused. There was girlish conspiracy in the next question.

‘Are you a virgin, Comrade?’

Oh, my God, thought Tatiana. ‘No, Comrade Colonel.’

The wet lips glinted in the light.

‘How many men?’

Tatiana coloured to the roots of her hair. Russian girls are reticent and prudish about sex. In Russia the sexual climate is mid-Victorian. These questions from the Klebb woman were all the more revolting for being asked in this cold inquisitorial tone by a State official she had never met before in her life. Tatiana screwed up her courage. She stared defensively into the yellow eyes. ‘What is the purpose of these intimate questions please, Comrade Colonel?’

Rosa Klebb straightened. Her voice cut back like a whip. ‘Remember yourself, Comrade. You are not here to ask questions. You forget to whom you are speaking. Answer me!’

Tatiana shrank back. ‘Three men, Comrade Colonel.’

‘When? How old were you?’ The hard yellow eyes looked across the table into the hunted blue eyes of the girl and held them and commanded.

Tatiana was on the edge of tears. ‘At school. When I was seventeen. Then at the Institute of Foreign Languages. I was twenty-two. Then last year. I was twenty-three. It was a friend I met skating.’

‘Their names, please, Comrade.’ Rosa Klebb picked up a pencil and pulled a scribbling pad towards her.

Tatiana covered her face with her hands and burst into tears. ‘No,’ she cried between her sobs. ‘No, never, whatever you do to me. You have no right.’

‘Stop that nonsense.’ The voice was a hiss. ‘In five minutes I could have those names from you, or anything else I wish to know. You are playing a dangerous game with me, Comrade. My patience will not last for ever.’ Rosa Klebb paused. She was being too rough. ‘For the moment we will pass on. Tomorrow you will give me the names. No harm will come to these men. They will be asked one or two questions about you – simple technical questions, that is all. Now sit up and dry your tears. We cannot have any more of this foolishness.’

Rosa Klebb got up and came round the table. She stood looking down at Tatiana. The voice became oily and smooth. ‘Come, come, my dear. You must trust me. Your little secrets are safe with me. Here, drink some more champagne and forget this little unpleasantness. We must be friends. We have work to do together. You must learn, my dear Tania, to treat me as you would your mother. Here, drink this down.’

Tatiana pulled a handkerchief out of the waistband of her skirt and dabbed at her eyes. She reached out a trembling hand for the glass of champagne and sipped at it with bowed head.

‘Drink it down, my dear.’

Rosa Klebb stood over the girl like some dreadful mother duck, clucking encouragement.

Obediently Tatiana emptied the glass. She felt drained of resistance, tired, willing to do anything to finish with this interview and get away somewhere and sleep. She thought, so this is what it is like on the interrogation table, and that is the voice the Klebb uses. Well, it was working. She was docile now. She would co-operate.

Rosa Klebb sat down. She observed the girl appraisingly from behind the motherly mask.

‘And now, my dear, just one more intimate little question. As between girls. Do you enjoy making love? Does it give you pleasure? Much pleasure?’

Tatiana’s hands came up again and covered her face. From behind them, in a muffled voice, she said, ‘Well yes, Comrade Colonel. Naturally, when one is in love …’ Her voice trailed away. What else could she say? What answer did this woman want?

‘And supposing, my dear, you were not in love. Then would love-making with a man still give you pleasure?’

Tatiana shook her head indecisively. She took her hands down from her face and bowed her head. The hair fell down on either side in a heavy curtain. She was trying to think, to be helpful, but she couldn’t imagine such a situation. She supposed … ‘I suppose it would depend on the man, Comrade Colonel.’

‘That is a sensible answer, my dear.’ Rosa Klebb opened a drawer in the table. She took out a photograph and slipped it across to the girl. ‘What about this man, for instance?’

Tatiana drew the photograph cautiously towards her as if it might catch fire. She looked down warily at the handsome, ruthless face. She tried to think, to imagine … ‘I cannot tell, Comrade Colonel. He is good-looking. Perhaps if he was gentle …’ She pushed the photograph anxiously away from her.

‘No, keep it, my dear. Put it beside your bed and think of this man. You will learn more about him later in your new work. And now,’ the eyes glittered behind the square panes of glass, ‘would you like to know what your new work is to be? The task for which you have been chosen from all the girls in Russia?’

‘Yes, indeed, Comrade Colonel,’ Tatiana looked obediently across at the intent face that was now pointing at her like a gun-dog.

The wet, rubbery lips parted enticingly. ‘It is a simple, delightful duty you have been chosen for, Comrade Corporal – a real labour of love, as we say. It is a matter of falling in love. That is all. Nothing else. Just falling in love with this man.’

‘But who is he? I don’t even know him.’

Rosa Klebb’s mouth revelled. This would give the silly chit of a girl something to think about.

‘He is an English spy.’

‘Bogou moiou!’ Tatiana clapped a hand over her mouth as much to stifle the use of God’s name as from terror. She sat, tense with the shock, and gazed at Rosa Klebb through wide, slightly drunk eyes.

‘Yes,’ said Rosa Klebb, pleased with the effect of her words. ‘He is an English spy. Perhaps the most famous of them all. And from now on you are in love with him. So you had better get used to the idea. And no silliness, Comrade. We must be serious. This is an important State matter for which you have been chosen as the instrument. So no nonsense, please. Now for some practical details.’ Rosa Klebb stopped. She said sharply, ‘And take your hand away from your silly face. And stop looking like a frightened cow. Sit up in your chair and pay attention. Or it will be the worse for you. Understood?’

‘Yes, Comrade Colonel.’ Tatiana quickly straightened her back and sat up with her hands in her lap as if she was back at the Security Officers’ School. Her mind was in a ferment, but this was no time for personal things. Her whole training told her that this was an operation for the State. She was now working for her country. Somehow she had come to be chosen for an important konspiratsia. As an officer in the M.G.B., she must do her duty and do it well. She listened carefully and with her whole professional attention.

‘For the moment,’ Rosa Klebb put on her official voice, ‘I will be brief. You will hear more later. For the next few weeks you will be most carefully trained for this operation until you know exactly what to do in all contingencies. You will be taught certain foreign customs. You will be equipped with beautiful clothes. You will be instructed in all the arts of allurement. Then you will be sent to a foreign country, somewhere in Europe. There you will meet this man. You will seduce him. In this matter you will have no silly compunctions. Your body belongs to the State. Since your birth, the State has nourished it. Now your body must work for the State. Is that understood?’

‘Yes, Comrade Colonel.’ The logic was inescapable.

‘You will accompany this man to England. There, you will no doubt be questioned. The questioning will be easy. The English do not use harsh methods. You will give such answers as you can without endangering the State. We will supply you with certain answers which we would like to be given. You will probably be sent to Canada. That is where the English send a certain category of foreign prisoner. You will be rescued and brought back to Moscow.’ Rosa Klebb peered at the girl. She seemed to be accepting all this without question. ‘You see, it is a comparatively simple matter. Have you any questions at this stage?’