The Red King of Helsinki

by Helena Halme

  ‘Actually yes, her mother asked me to...’ The man still had the madly worried look, but he did relax a little. He wasn’t that bad looking, quite tall, with wavy slightly grey hair. His ears were frozen and pink. He’d catch the death of cold here if he stood in this place for much longer. The temperatures had plummeted the night before. The thermometer outside her kitchen window had read -19°C that morning. Leena herself was wearing a fur-lined coat and a matching fur-trimmed hat. A 40th birthday present she’d bought for herself.

  ‘Ah, she’s been detained, I’m afraid.’ Leena lied.

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Pia has extra gym class tonight. For the Friendship Tournament, you know.’ Leena wondered if this would bring a reaction from the man. She might as well get straight down to business, she thought. Besides, Leena was sure she could talk him into understanding how important a win would be for the Lyceum.

  ‘Why don’t we go and wait for her at the café? She’ll be another hour yet.’ Leena nodded towards the Rixi Bar. Its rickety red neon sign shimmered in the half-light of the late afternoon. She smiled at the man and took hold of his arm. Leena had to hurry. Pia could appear at any moment.

  ‘Oh, yes, of course,’ he said and started walking beside Leena.

  As they moved away from the Lyceum, and crossed the road to the Rixi Bar, the man glanced backwards. As if he was waiting to see if Pia would appear after all. Leena hurried into the café. Normally she wouldn’t dream of frequenting this little shit hole, where she knew most of the students spent their breaks and often lessons too. But she needed somewhere warm to talk to the man sensibly about the matter. Vadi was obviously worried about Pia, so Leena would find out if there was anything untoward about this foreigner. There was no harm in using a little initiative when the opportunity presented itself. Besides, Leena hadn’t heard a word from Vadi since he left in such a hurry the night before.

  There was a shock of silence when they walked into the café. She spotted three or four sixth formers smoking and drinking the low-alcohol beer establishments like this were allowed to sell. Most of the children were underage – she should really report both them and the management of this place to the authorities. But she didn’t care to think about that now. She chose a table in the corner and said, ‘Would you mind if I had a coffee?’

  The man went and got two coffees. He started stirring his, while looking at Leena, saying nothing.

  ‘Now, why is it you want to sabotage our chances in the Friendship Tournament?’ Leena said.

  * * *

  Iain didn’t see Pia until the afternoon when she stepped out of the Lyceum building and ran to the tram stop. He was standing on the other side of the building and the girl didn’t spot him. Just as well, he didn’t want to attract attention to himself. Being accosted by the gym teacher was bad enough. The Colonel would not be pleased.

  Iain had to run to catch the same tram as Pia. Luckily the group of youngsters from the Lyceum had entered the long Russian tram through the front. He could hide in the back without being spotted. He queued up behind two men talking to each other about an ice-hockey match. It seemed Finland had come very close to beating Russia last night. The Russians had won in the last minute with a penalty shot. ‘I suppose it would have been a diplomatic incident had we won,’ the younger man said, laughing bitterly as he stepped onboard the tram. Once inside the carriage, Iain tried to see Pia. The two joined carriages were fairly full, and it was difficult to see past people standing in the aisles. But when the tram climbed the hill towards Erottaja, Iain spotted Pia’s blonde hair resting against the colourful scarf. She was sitting with her back to him on a seat at the front. Next to him, the two men from the tram stop were still discussing the ice-hockey match. The younger one was convinced that the game and the winning penalty in particular, had been fixed. ‘No way was that tackle a penalty! The Russians can do what they want with us, can you ever see the Finnish officials complaining to the Big Eastern Brother? Mutual co-operation and friendship my ass!’ he said. The other man gave Iain a worried glance.

  ‘Don’t be stupid,’ he said, his eyes on Iain while talking to his friend. ‘You’re just being bad a loser.’ He nudged his friend and nodded towards Iain. Iain hadn’t realised he was staring at the two men. They must have thought he was a Soviet informer and would report them. He tried to smile reassuringly at them and moved slightly forward in the carriage.

  But as he stood there, thinking about how this country was gripped at all levels by the necessity to keep diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union sweet, Iain suddenly thought about the Friendship Trophy.

  * * *

  ‘She came to talk to you?’ The Colonel said.

  ‘Yes.’ Iain was once again standing in the urine-smelling telephone box on Kasarminkatu. Opposite, a small kiosk selling tobacco, magazines and sweets was busy with people stopping to buy the evening paper. A newspaper placard outside read, ‘Charlie’s Angel actress to visit Finland’. Iain was cold. He’d been walking around Maija’s block since four-thirty. At six o’clock he decided to make the call.

  ‘And our friend?’ The Colonel asked.

  ‘Not seen him, Sir.’ Iain had a sudden urge to say ‘all quiet on the Eastern Front’ but knew the Colonel wouldn’t appreciate the joke. Instead he stamped his feet while he listened to the Colonel’s breathing.

  ‘And she knew who you were?’

  ‘No, Sir, she thought I was from the International Gymnastic Committee.’

  ‘Hmm. The civilians all there?’

  ‘Yes, the daughter came home at four and the mother five-thirty-six.’

  ‘Ok. But the situation with the gym teacher is not good. She is heavily involved with our friend. They were seen in the city together. Go home and I’ll let you know tomorrow how to proceed.’

  ‘Sir, there’s something else.’

  * * *

  As Iain made his way from Ullanlinna to the harbour, he pondered on a feeling that Kovtun was playing a game with MI6. It had been too easy to get rid of him last night at the Linnonmaa apartment. And why had he held both Pia and the Linnonmaa family hostage for so long? As some kind of a warning to them? It didn’t seem as though he’d planned to take Pia, but then told the girl to listen to Miss Joutila and even mentioned the Tournament.

  As Iain saw the outline of the Geordie Gunboat, a dull grey bulky shape against the white frozen sea behind it, he knew he shouldn’t visit the ship again, the Colonel had been quite clear about that. But this was urgent. He hoped the old man would see it that way too. He’d have to convince the Colonel that his theory on what Kovtun was planning was feasible. He’d use what he had found out from Miss Joutila as an indication that Pia was in grave danger during the Friendship Tournament. After listening to the two men in the tram, Iain was convinced his theory was right. At Monday’s competition the cat and mouse game Kovtun had them in would come to a close.

  * * *

  The Colonel was puzzled, Iain could tell that much. But he didn’t want Iain to see that he had no idea what Kovtun was planning. He muttered something about, ‘Helsinki and Moscow, eh.’ The Colonel told Iain Kovtun used the Tournament as decoy to keep his comrades at the Soviet Embassy off the scent, but Iain wasn’t convinced. Neither was he convinced by the assurances from their Finnish contact that the Linnonmaas were now safe.

  ‘It isn’t for us to question our host country’s word.’ the Colonel said dryly.

  If only Iain could talk to the Finnish contact directly. But naturally the Finns weren’t able to have any detectable links to the disappearance of such a high-ranking KGB officer from Helsinki. Iain understood that. The Colonel assured him, ‘There is no resistance, nor effort to stop the defection from the Finnish side. Seems they’re glad to get rid of the chap.’

  ‘How do we know Heikki and Sasha are KGB informants? From our Finnish contact?’ Iain asked

  The Colonel looked at Iain over his glasses, but said nothing. They were sitting in his cabin. The Colonel’s supper tray
stood on the table between them. The bastard, Iain thought. He knew absolutely nothing about Heikki or Sasha! ‘Need to know, is it?’ Iain said sarcastically. Too sarcastically.

  ‘Look here, Collins. Sometimes we have to take a whisper, or a hint, seriously. It is quite possible…’

  Iain got up. ‘And what about Pia’s involvement in the Tournament? Kovtun is keeping an eye on her, we know that. There must be a connection. Only a fool would not see it!’ Iain shouted. He was fed up with the pretence he now saw from the Colonel. As if he knew everything and divulged just as much as he was willing to Iain. He suspected the Colonel knew almost as little as he did.

  ‘Collins, that’s enough.’ The Colonel got up and was standing close to Iain. ‘Your job is to see to it that the Russian is delivered to us safely. We’ve known about the Tournament for a while now. We know Kovtun is planning some kind of procedure during it.’ The Colonel inhaled deeply.

  Iain sat down. The Colonel did the same.

  ‘This man is violent. As far as we know he’s killed at least once in Stockholm. And then there’s the suspicious death of his secretary at the Embassy. In Helsinki a death of a civilian, a girlfriend say, would not even be investigated, so how many has he done away with here? This is the man we want in the West?’

  ‘Collins. I hope I don’t have to remind you the significance of the crypto to our navy?’

  ‘No’

  Neither man spoke for a while. Iain calmed down a little. He’d spent a few weeks in a submarine. He hadn’t enjoyed the lack of washing facilities, the cramped conditions, nor the hot bunking. It was strange to see the man who’d slept in the same bunk only fleetingly as you changed shifts. The submariners told him it was comforting to climb into a warm space after a cold night shift on the bridge when the sub wasn’t diving. But when Iain’s ship picked him up, he knew he’d not volunteer for submarines. His time in the sub made him admire the men who did it, tour after tour, spending weeks, even months out at sea, much of it under water. They had a kind of comradeship Iain had not seen before. He knew that if Kovtun delivered the Soviet cryptographic key card to MI6 the subs would be more efficient at plotting the Soviet navy’s paths. And spend less futile time underwater.

  ‘It’ll give us the edge, old boy,’ the Colonel said.

  Iain sighed. He would just have to make sure Pia was safe. He got up, but the Colonel lifted his hand to stop him.

  ‘There is some news from the Soviet Embassy.’

  Iain listened.

  ‘The secretary mentioned in Helsingin Sanomat. She was working for Kovtun.’

  ‘And?’ Had the Colonel forgotten Iain already knew this?

  The Colonel snapped, ‘Don’t you see?’

  Iain said nothing. He’d really had enough. He wasn’t going to play anymore guessing games.

  The Colonel continued, ‘The Finns think she knew that Kovtun was in contact with us. So we must proceed as quickly as possible before his own side gets to him. All we can hope for is that Kovtun got to her before she reported back to Moscow.’

  ‘So you think she found out about the crypto codes he’s been passing onto us?’

  The Colonel raised an eyebrow. On that first meeting at the British Embassy Iain had been told not to mention that Kovtun had been working for MI6. ‘Walls have ears and all that,’ he’d joked. Iain thought that since the Colonel had mentioned it now, the ship was a safe place to talk.

  Eventually the Colonel nodded slowly.

  Iain was silent for a moment. He was thinking that if Kovtun had killed the secretary there was no guarantee he’d got to her, as the Colonel put it, in time.

  ‘And why is the Finnish contact so keen to help us with him?’

  ‘Well, he’s not exactly made any friends here…’

  Iain risked appearing stupid, again, ‘I’m not sure I follow, Sir. If they hate him so, why don’t the Finns just shop Kovtun to the KGB? I presume they know about his, hmm, divided loyalties?’

  The Colonel didn’t say anything for a while. Surely he must have wondered this himself? Iain’s anger was rising again. He was tempted to get up and just leave. Eventually the Colonel took off his glasses. ‘Look, Collins, I know I haven’t always been straight with you, and I cannot tell you much. All I can say is that the Finns want our man in the West.’

  Iain pondered how this was going to affect Pia at the Tournament. Did it have any bearing? ‘The gymnastics teacher, Miss Joutila, would she be worth talking to a little more?’

  ‘On no account are you to approach her!’

  Iain looked up. The Colonel had raised his voice.

  ‘Is that clear? Keep away from anyone apart from the two civilians. From now on you can leave Kovtun and his girlfriends to me.’ After a while he calmed down and continued, ‘I have to also warn you, you are getting very close to your subjects. Personal involvement like that only hampers operations. Makes one misjudge things.’ He was looking at Iain. His eyes looked naked, even vulnerable, without his glasses. ‘Believe me, I know.’ He was quiet for a long time. Then he put his glasses back on. He was already attending to the file on his lap. Clearly the interview was over.

  16

  Sunday the weather turned even colder. The snow was no longer falling, but there was a bitter wind. Did it really blow all the way from Siberia, Iain wondered. It was the lowest temperatures he had ever known. To avoid having to stand in the harsh weather for too long, he got to the corner of Kasarminkatu and Vuorimiehenkatu only five minutes before Pia was due to emerge from her block of flats. He knew he was cutting it fine, but then he’d made Pia promise she would be at the tram stop at 9.10. Iain glanced at his watch. It was now five minutes past. When he again looked at the entrance to the flats, he saw two women emerge. Damn, he swore to himself.

  Iain now had to run up to Johannes Church to the next stop in order to catch the same tram. He must not be seen by Maija. As he ran up the hill, Iain hoped that Pia was keeping her promise not to tell her mother anything. He agreed with the Colonel. The less people knew about the defection the better, especially as Kovtun was behaving so strangely and with his own side after him. A desperate man was a dangerous man. But if Pia had kept her promise, why was Maija with her? The bank was closed on Sundays. Surely she was not planning to attend the rehearsals with Pia this morning?

  Iain was astonished how tough Pia had been through this affair. Having never had children, he couldn’t imagine what worry a girl like Pia could bring to her parents. The father didn’t seem to be on the scene at all, which must make it all that much more difficult for Maija. Again, Iain felt the pangs of guilt. He was really not cut out for the life of an impartial agent.

  Iain sighed in relief when he saw Maija climb out of the tram on Mannerheim Street. He made his way towards the front part of the carriage and sat down on the now empty seat next to Pia.

  The girl glanced sideways but said nothing.

  Iain took a newspaper out of his pocket. It was yesterday’s Helsingin Sanomat. He spread it out in front of him and whispered to Pia.

  ‘I have to go elsewhere. I’m off at the next stop. Be careful, do not step out of the tram before the school stop, and then walk straight to school. I’ll be outside, opposite the gym hall, at lunchtime.’

  * * *

  Pia was tired. She’d cried herself to sleep. The thought of Anni being held by that awful blond Russian had tortured her all night. Iain didn’t seem to know where she was. Unless he just wasn’t telling her. Poor Anni, she had been so brave in front of the KGB men. She, Pia, had been a slobbering baby. Mr Linnonmaa had said the KGB would not dare to come back, so perhaps the Linnonmaa family had left town for their own safety? If only Pia knew!

  And did Heikki have anything to do with any of this? Sasha? The thought of her and Heikki together made Pia sick. Yet Sasha was always hanging around him. Heikki didn’t seem to be able or willing to stop it. Pia was glad she hadn’t made any plans to meet up with him today. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see him. She couldn’t gu
arantee she’d act normally when she saw him or when he touched her. She needed to be absolutely sure Heikki loved her and no one else. She’d ask him but not until all this was over. Iain had said that by tomorrow the Russian should have gone. Pia couldn’t wait.

  Approaching the school building, Pia spotted two figures standing outside the entrance to the Lyceum. She recognised them immediately. Pia’s throat felt dry.

  Sasha was standing so close to Heikki their heads were touching. What were they doing at school on a Sunday and what were they talking about?

  Pia looked around the schoolyard. She didn’t want to be seen by them. She could hide by the low red-brick gymnastics hall. She stepped sideways and stood with her back to the wall. She heard Sasha’s laughter. She said, ‘So, how long are you going to wait?’

  Pia couldn’t make out Heikki’s reply. He mumbled something in a low voice.

  Again Sasha laughed, ‘Well, I’ve warned you.’

  Pia hurried up the staircase and into the gym hall. It was empty. None of the other girls had turned up yet. There was a light in Miss Joutila’s office. Pia dropped her bag onto the floor of the changing room and took off her boots. It was cold, so she left her jumper on over her costume. She walked along the mats with her legwarmers pulled high up. There were voices coming from Miss Joutila’s office. Pia felt bad eavesdropping on her teacher again. Should she go back to the changing rooms and wait there? But she couldn’t help hear what was being said.

  ‘I told you not to talk to the man! You are mad, mad woman!’

  She would have recognised the voice anywhere. It was Kovtun.

  ‘Please don’t be angry,’ Miss Joutila said. Her voice quivered. She was sniffling.

  ‘Do you understand what you do! You make everything wrong.’

  There was a crash. Something broke as it was flung onto the floor.