A Spy by Nature. Charles Cumming

      Charles Cumming

      A Spy By Nature

      Copyright

      HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street,

      London, SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by Penguin Books Ltd. 2001

      Copyright © Charles Cumming 2001

      Extract from The Sportswriter copyright © Richard Ford.

      Published in Great Britain by Harvill Press 1986

      Extract from The Uses of Enchantment copyright © Bruno Bettelheim.

      Published in Great Britain by Thames & Hudson 1976

      Extract from Rabbit Redux copyright © John Updike.

      Published in Great Britain by André Deutsch 1972

      ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ Words and Music by Thom Yorke, Edward O’Brien, Colin Greenwood, Jonathan Greenwood and Philip Selway © 1994 Warner/Chappell Music Ltd., London W6 8BS.

      Reproduced by permission of International Music Publications Ltd.

      Charles Cumming asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780007416912

      Ebook Edition © 2017 ISBN: 9780007416905

      Version: 2017-06-27

      Dedication

      For Melissa

      Epigraph

      I remember, in fact, the Lebanese woman I knew at Berkshire College saying to me, after I told her how much I loved her: ‘I’ll always tell you the truth, unless of course I’m lying to you.’

      Richard Ford, The Sportswriter

      Contents

       Cover

      Title Page

      Copyright

      Dedication

      Epigraph

      Author’s Note

      Part One

      1995

      One

      An Exploratory Conversation

      Two

      Official Secrets

      Three

      Tuesday, 4 July

      Four

      Positive Vetting

      Five

      Day One/Morning

      Six

      Day One/Afternoon

      Seven

      Day Two

      Eight

      Pursuit of Happiness

      Nine

      This is Your Life

      Ten

      Meaning

      Part Two

      1996

      Eleven

      Caspian

      Twelve

      My Fellow Americans

      Thirteen

      The Searchers

      Fourteen

      The Call

      Fifteen

      Tiramisu

      Sixteen

      Hawkes

      Seventeen

      The Special Relationship

      Eighteen

      Sharp Practice

      Nineteen

      Seize the Day

      Twenty

      Creating Justify

      Twenty-One

      Being Rick

      Twenty-Two

      Plausible Deniability

      Twenty-Three

      The Case

      Twenty-Four

      Final Analysis

      Part Three

      1997

      Twenty-Five

      The Lure

      Twenty-Six

      The Approach

      Twenty-Seven

      The Sting

      Twenty-Eight

      Cohen

      Twenty-Nine

      Truth Telling

      Thirty

      Limbo

      Thirty-One

      Baku

      Thirty-Two

      End of the Affair

      Thirty-Three

      Caccia

      Thirty-Four

      Think

      Thirty-Five

      Fast Release

      Thirty-Six

      West

       Keep reading...

      About the Author

      By Charles Cumming

      About the Publisher

      Author’s Note

      Were the events of this story entirely true, they would inevitably breach clauses in The Official Secrets Act. Nevertheless, members of the intelligence community both in London and in the United States may find that they catch their reflection in the account which follows.

      –C.C.

       London, 2001

      PART ONE

      1995