The Big Breach - Index of

The Big Breach; From Top Secret to Maximum SecurityCompliments of http://www.192.comthe lift of one eyebrow and the hint of a friendly smile showed that,to my unease, he still remembered me.I was displeased to see Goldstein not because I disliked him, far fromit, but the last thing I needed at the moment was to meet someone whoknew me as Richard Tomlinson. This accidental encounter might mean thatI would have to call off the operation and return embarrassingly emptyhandedto London. Russel, Bidde, P5 and C/CEE had taken a lot ofpersuading that I was the right person to go to Moscow to exfiltrateSOU's notebook. Eventually they had been swayed by my argument that asI had researched the Huntley cover for just such a job, I was the bestperson to take it on. They reluctantly allowed me, a relativelyinexperienced officer, to make the trip that was not without risks -risks that Goldstein, intentionally or inadvertently, could make veryreal.The first day of the `1992 Conference on Doing Business in the NewRussia', organised by the Financial Times, and held in the opulentsurroundings of the recently refurbished Hotel Metropol in centralMoscow, was a roaring success. Registering as Alex Huntley of EastEuropean Investment, I fitted in smoothly with the mixture of foreignbusinessmen, diplomats and civil servants who paid œ1,500 to attend thethree-day symposium. The opening day's lectures having just finished,we retired to the elegant Mirror Room to relax and socialise over a fewglasses of champagne. Siberian industrialists chatted with officersfrom the World Bank and the IMF, angling for capital investment torebuild their out-dated factories. Newly wealthy oil barons fromKazakhstan rubbed shoulders with representatives of British Petroleum,Shell and Amoco, discussing the terms of joint ventures to exploittheir oil and gas reserves. Armenian and Georgian commodity tradersingratiated themselves with British diplomats and trade officials,anxious to get their hands on the cheap credit and expertise availablethrough the British government-financed `Know How Fund'. Russianpoliticians flitted about with interpreters, earnestly persuadinganybody who would listen that their country was a safe investment,despite the continuing political uncertainty. Journalists hovered onthe edges of the conversations, anxious for a titbit that mightconstitute a story.Only a few years earlier under the old Soviet communist system, suchfreedom of trade, information and friendship would have beenunthinkable. Now in the new proto-capitalist Russia, the pace of changewas so fast that it verged on chaotic. For the clever, entrepreneurial,dishonest or greedy, fortunes could be made overnight. For thecareless, unlucky or unfortunate, they could be lost just as quickly.Inflation was rampant, destroying the salaries, savings, pensions andlives of the millions of state workers who did not have the skills orwit to move with the times. Manufacturing and engineering jobs in theformerly state-funded military-industrial complex were being lost bythe tens of thousands. In their place were springing up new professionsintrinsic to capitalism and commerce - banking, management consultancy,import-export businesses, accountancy and, unfortunately, organisedcrime on a large scale.Through this chaos, however, some things remained constant. The world'stwo oldest professions were still steadily pedalling their wares. Theprevious evening the mini-skirted representatives of the first hadpage- 81 - To purchase the original limited edition hardback version of this bookplease call 08000 192 192 or go to http://www.192.com