Smiley's People汉译59
“What else did Vladimir say to you on the telephone, Mostyn?” Smiley asked quietly, dropping one arm into the sleeve.“He said, ‘Tell Max that it concerns the Sandman. Tell him I have two proofs and can bring them with me. Then perhaps he will see me.’ He said it twice. It was on the tape but Strickland erased it.”
“Do you know what Vladimir meant by that? Keep your voice down.”
“No, sir.”
“Nothing on the card?”
“No, sir.”
“Do they know what he meant?” Smiley asked, tilting his hand swiftly towards Strickland and Lacon.
“I think Strickland may. I’m not sure.”
“Did Vladimir really not ask for Esterhase?”
“No, sir.”
Lacon was finishing on the phone. Strickland took back the receiver from him and spoke into it himself. Seeing Smiley at the door, Lacon bounded down the room to him.
“George! Good man! Fare you well! Listen. I want to talk to you about marriage some time. A seminar with no holds barred. I’m counting on you to tell me the art of it, George!”
“Yes. We must get together,” Smiley said.
Looking down, he saw that Lacon was shaking his hand.
A bizarre postscript to this meeting confounds its conspiratorial purpose. Standard Circus tradecraft requires that hidden microphones be installed in safe houses. Agents in their strange way accept this, even though they are not informed of it, even though their case officers go through motions of taking notes. For his rendezvous with Vladimir, Mostyn had quite properly switched on the system in anticipation of the old man’s arrival, and nobody, in the subsequent panic, thought to turn it off. Routine procedures brought the tapes to transcriber section, who in good faith put out several texts for the general Circus reader. The luckless head of Oddbins got a copy, so did the Secretariat, so did the heads of Personnel, Operations, and Finance. It was not till a copy landed in Lauder Strickland’s in-tray that the explosion occurred and the innocent recipients were sworn to secrecy under all manner of dreadful threats. The tape is perfect. Lacon’s restless pacing is there; so are Strickland’s sotto voce asides, some of them obscene. Only Mostyn’s flustered confessions in the hall escaped.
As to Mostyn himself, he played no further part in the affair. He resigned of his own accord a few months later, part of the wastage rate that gets everyone so worried these days.
“弗拉基米尔在电话里还跟你说了什么，莫斯廷？” 斯迈利低声问道，边说边把一只胳膊伸进袖子里。
“他说，'告诉马克斯，这与睡魔有关（欧洲民间传说中的神话人物，向人们的眼睛洒下神奇的沙子，让人们进入梦乡，并做美梦——译注）。告诉他我有两份证据，可以带来。然后，也许他会见我。'他说了两遍。录音带上有。但斯屈克兰把它抹掉了。”
“你知道弗拉基米尔这话是什么意思吗？小声点。”
“不知道，长官。”
“卡片上什么也没写？”
“没有，长官。”
“他们知道他的意思吗？” 斯迈利问道，他的手迅速地指了指斯屈克兰和雷肯。
“斯屈克兰可能知道。我不确定。”
“弗拉基米尔真的没找埃斯特哈斯吗？”
“没有，长官。”
雷肯接完了电话。斯屈克兰从他手里拿回听筒，对着电话说了几句。看到斯迈利在门口，雷肯连忙跑出房间去找他。
“乔治，干得好! 保重！对了，我想找时间跟你谈谈婚姻。开一次没有限制的研讨会。我指望你能告诉我婚姻的艺术，乔治！”
“好的，我们一定要聚聚。”斯迈利说。
他低头一看，雷肯正在和他握手。
本来这次会议是偷偷摸摸的，但会后一个离奇的后续事件却把这个安排搞乱了。圆场标准的操作流程要求在安全屋内安装隐藏式麦克风。特工们由于他们特殊的职业，接受了这一安排，尽管没人告诉他们，尽管他们的主管人员还是装模做样地作记录。在准备与弗拉基米尔会面时，莫斯廷预料老人会来，完全按照规定打开了系统，在随后的慌乱中，没有人想起关掉它。按照常规程序，录音带被送到誊写科，誊写科好心为圆场的有关人员提供了几份文本。倒霉的打折酒科负责人拿到了一份，秘书科也拿到一份，人事、运营和财务部门的负责人也都拿到了一份。直到一份文件落入劳德·斯屈克兰的收件夹里，才掀起轩然大波。无辜的收件人在各种可怕的威胁下宣誓保密。这盘录音带录得很完美。雷肯焦躁不安的踱步声和斯屈克兰的低声旁白都录进去了，其中还有下流话。只有莫斯廷在大厅里慌里慌张吐露实情的话没有录上。
至于莫斯廷本人，他在这起事件中没有起任何进一步的作用。几个月后，他主动辞职了，也正反映最近的人员损耗率很高，人人头痛。
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