Misery Loves Company: The Life & Death of Bruce Gilden Page #4

Might help you, Mr. Jack.

What'd you see?

Sasha went

On previous trip

To meet with Starik,

A trip in 1972

To nova Scotia.

Do you know this place?

Yeah.

I know nova Scotia.

I check files.

Starik went on trip

In autumn of 1972.

You see if perhaps dates

Match ip

Your man in custody took.

You check files.

Thanks.

I'll check the files.

Angleton, you bastard!

Get me food and water

In here now!

Good cop?

No.

He's genuinely upset.

He still believes

He's innocent.

If he'd just

Accept the truth,

He'd be wringing

His neck right now.

Listen to me.

This doesn't have to end

With you spending the rest

Of your days in prison.

???

Mmm.

It's delicious.

Cold.

Do you believe it?

Do you believe Im Sasha?

We know it, Leo.

I'm here to offer

You a deal.

How do you know

I'm Sasha?

We have

A Russian defector--pinnacle.

And has pinnacle

Identified me by name?

He said,

"Leo Kritzky's Sasha"?

He said that Sasha's last name

Begins with the letter k.

He said he speaks

Fluent Russian.

He said that the Russian

Spymaster Starik

Was just in the south of France

Visiting an agent.

In September of '72,

Sasha met Starik

In nova Scotia.

I was on a bicycle trip

With Adele in nova Scotia

In September of '72.

You know that.

Yes, Leo.

Did it ever occur to you

That Starik was feeding you

A phony defector

With phony information?

It would be easy to look

At my daily schedule

And concoct some kind

Of scenario.

No.

There are

Too many coincidences.

Did you flutter him?

We will flutter him when

We get him over for good.

Pinnacle will never take

A lie detector test.

He'll be run over by a car

Or mugged in an alleyway

Or whisked back

To mother Russia

??? That sounds plausible,

But he won't be fluttered,

Because he will

Never be brought in.

He won't be brought in,

Because he's a phony defector

Sent to convince Angleton

That Im Sasha.

If you're not Sasha, Leo,

That means

He's still out there.

Yes.

If that's true,

Then why hasn't pinnacle

Been put on ice by the KGB?

???

And Sasha, if he exists,

Knows it.

??? L init--

Starik, the defector,

Sasha--

And they're all

Manipulating the mind

Of one paranoid dinosaur--

James Jesus Angleton.

Who do you believe?

I was your damn crewmate!

I believe pinnacle, Leo.

Leo,

Look at the mess

That you're in.

Think about your family.

Admit it,

And we'll double you.

We will turn you

Against Arik.

The only way Im leaving

This room is in a bag

Or walking out that door

A free man.

Jack,

???

there's no reason

To think he was coerced

Into getting on the plane.

E bastard

Just up and le

??? Ban

And demanded

Political asylum.

The fact that he didn't

Speaks for itself.

He was going

Of his own free will.

Yes. Well, that's the way

It was supposed to appear.

The safety of his wife

And daughter

Was being held over his head

As a threat.

He had to go back...

Yeah?

Or else he would

Lose his family forever.

Our informant

At Moscows airport

Has positively

Identified Kukushkin.

So he's in Moscow

For certain?

Not only that,

The informant says

That two men grabbed him,

Brought him to a car and placed

Him inside none too gently.

Oh, god.

We were so careful.

We have Sasha locked up,

So how did they know?

How in the hell

Did they know?

"traitor Kukushkin trial--

Spied for Americans,

Betrayer

Of the motherland."

You'd think

It'd get easier over time.

What would?

Losing people...

People

Who trusted you...

People you cared about.

What should

We do now, jack?

There's nothing

We can do.

Let it go.

Can you do that, Manny?

McAuliffe.

I thought you'd want

To know, jack.

We just got word

That Kukushkin

Was executed this morning

By firing squad.

Okay, Manny.

Thanks.

Whew.

What the hell, Harvey?

I didn't know

You took up golf.

It's one of the things

You do

When you're about

To be retired.

Have a seat, kid.

Get yourself a drink.

Get one for me, too.

It's 11:
00

In the morning, Harvey.

I love the fresh air.

Ha.

I'm getting' healthy.

So...

What brings you to my little

Retirement community?

Something woke me up

Last night

Out of a sound sleep.

It was two things

Actually.

First, Angleton

Hasn't broken Leo.

What else?

Well, number two is actually

Something Leo said to me

That--that stuck with me.

He said, "pinnacle

Would never be polygraphed."

He said Kukushkin

Would be hit by a car

Or mugged in an alley

With some excuse

That seemed reasonable.

So Leo was right.

Yeah.

And now this thing is--

Is eating' away at me

Night and day.

Was Kukushkin

Really sent to me

Just to convince Angleton

That Leo was Sasha?

To keep the heat

Off the real Sasha?

Yeah, was i an insect

To one of these orchids

That--that Angleton

Talks about,

Lured by pinnacle

To finger the wrong guy?

Ugh.

I think it stinks.

So now what?

You want to know if Kukushkin

Was really executed

Or if the whole thing

Was a sham.

How do we know

It even happened?

All--all we have

Is "Pravda" to tell us.

And if Kukushkin

Is still alive?

Kukushkin was

A disinformation agent

Sent to frame Leo,

And Leo is innocent.

Then the real Sasha's

Still out there somewhere.

Exactly.

I got to go talk

To the rabbi.

these photographs

Are Kukushkin,

His wife and his daughter.

And here's

His last known address--

Safe house in Moscow.

But if he

Was not executed,

If this whole thing

Was... Theater,

There ought to be

A Kukushkin

Out there somewhere.

If your people

Can find out anything,

My people would be

Very grateful.

How grateful, Harvey?

Would the whereabouts

Of Klaus Barbie

Be of any interest

To you?

Ooh.

the rabbi's people

Used a tried-and-true method.

They got the forwarding address

Off a letter sent

To Kukushkin's old address.

Quite simply.

Starik knew i was getting close to Sasha,

So what does he do?

He gives us what we believe

Is a genuine defector.

And just when Im getting close,

He pulls the rug out from under me.

Makes me believe

That Ive got the wrong Sasha,

That the real Sasha is still out there somewhere.

So, of course,

We put Leo Kritzky back to work,

And Starik has got his mole back in operation,

Created and executed

By a grand master spy.

Absolutely brilliant.

Jim,

Leo Kritzky will be released.

Leo Kritzky...

Is Sasha.

Leo,

Angleton... All of us

Have made a horrible mistake.

Does that mean i get to go home?

Yeah, buddy.

Home.

What the hell were you guys doing?

They were protecting the company

From its enemies.

All right. All right.

Leo Kritzky's devotion to duty,

His loyalty to the company and his grace under fire

Have set standard for all of us

And for future Generations of CIA officers.

Now it's the nature of things that only a handful of us

Are aware of the details of your ordeal, Leo,

But all of us owe you a debt of gratitude.

When i came on board as a young man,

It was with the intention

Of serving the country whose system of governance

Seemed to offer the best hope for the world.

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