《红木》。作者：本·麦金太尔。克朗出版社；416页；售价35美元。维京出版社；464页；售价25英镑。
Redwood. By Ben Macintyre. Crown; 416 pages; $35. Viking; 464 pages; £25 VLADIMIR KUZICHKIN, a KGB spy who defected to Britain after a harrowing escape from Iran in 1981-82, asked for two things: a horoscope and a circumcision.
弗拉基米尔·库齐奇金是一名克格勃间谍。1981至1982年间，他历经艰险从伊朗逃到英国后选择叛逃。他向英方提出了两个请求：一份星象预测报告以及接受割礼。“要找到一名经过安全审查、能够实施割礼的医生已属不易，”历史学家本·麦金太尔写道，“而要找到一位同样具备安全许可的占星师则根本不可能。”
“Recruiting a vetted circumciser had been hard enough,” writes Ben Macintyre, a historian, but “locating a security-cleared astrologer was impossible”.
《红木》讲述了库齐奇金被英国军情六处招募的惊心动魄过程。（“红木”便是他的代号。）这是麦金太尔最新一部以真实事件为蓝本的间谍惊悚小说；此前他还写过关于叛逃至克格勃的军情六处特工金·菲尔比等人的故事。与他的其他作品一样，本书成功地将间谍的心理状态与间谍活动的实际操作细节巧妙融合。书中的每一位主角都在历史的关键时刻发挥了举足轻重的作用。
“Redwood” is the gripping tale of Kuzichkin’s recruitment into MI6. (“Redwood” was his code name.) It is Mr Macintyre’s latest true-life spy thriller: earlier narratives have looked at Kim Philby, an MI6 officer who defected to the KGb, among others. It succeeds, like his other books, in melding spies’ psychology with an up-close look at the tradecraft of espionage. Each of his protagonists has helped turn the cogs of history at a pivotal moment.
库齐奇金便是如此。作为当时驻德黑兰的克格勃高级官员，他恰逢伊朗国王统治瓦解、新政权尚未稳定之际抵达当地。克格勃及苏联政权的腐败与残暴令他深感愤慨。然而促使他叛逃的真正原因却是个人生活：勃起功能障碍以及婚姻的破裂。于是他向军情六处求助。军情六处便给他送去了红色药片——这些不过是维生素制成的安慰剂，旨在安抚这位绝望的克格勃特工。
So it went with Kuzichkin (pictured left). A senior officer of the KGB rezidentura in revolutionary Tehran, he arrived as the Shah’s old order broke down and a new, chaotic regime was taking shape. He was aggrieved by the corruption and barbarity of the KGB and the Soviet regime. But his path to treason was personal, hastened by erectile dysfunction and his failing marriage. He turned to MI6 for help. The service dispatched red pills—vitamin placebos, designed to placate the desperate KGB officer, who later thought circumcision, on an astrologically favourable date, would solve his medical problem.
后来他坚信，只要选个星象吉日接受割礼，自己的健康问题便能迎刃而解。最终，在大量伏特加的助兴下，他正式加入了军情六处。
His recruitment was sealed over gallons of vodka.
间谍活动往往是一场风险极高的博弈，通常需要数百人以及尖端技术来支撑一次行动。然而《红木》一书却向我们展示了这种行动也可能显得业余、笨拙且全凭临时发挥。伊恩·麦克雷迪是负责库齐奇金的军情六处联络官（见右图），他曾试图通过播放波斯语广播并大开水龙头来迷惑伊朗方面的窃听人员。在库齐奇金经土耳其逃走后，军情六处又担心苏联克格勃会派出突击队将其劫走，于是派了一名携带大型黄铜灯的特工，准备用来击退任何袭击者。
Espionage is often a high-stakes game in which hundreds of people and advanced technology might support a single operation. But “Redwood” shows how it can also be amateurish, bumbling and improvised. Ian McCredie, Kuzichkin’s MI6 case officer (pictured right), tried to confound Iranian eavesdroppers by blasting Persian radio and running the taps. As Kuzichkin escaped via Turkey, MI6 worried about the prospect of a KGB snatch squad. Their answer was to send an officer armed with a large brass lamp to thump any assailants.
《红木》还揭示了间谍往往并非人们想象中的那种人。克格勃坚信那位风度翩翩的英国驻伊朗大使尼古拉斯·巴林顿才是军情六处在德黑兰的负责人，而非相貌平平的麦克雷迪。事实上，巴林顿“对军情六处的看法，就跟看待打扫厕所和清扫网球场的工人没什么两样”，他对指挥这些特工的工作毫无兴趣。
“Redwood” also highlights how spies are not always whom you expect. The KGB was convinced that the flamboyant British ambassador, Nicholas Barrington, was the MI6 head of station in Tehran, rather than the dull Mr McCredie. In fact, Barrington “regarded MI6 in much the same light as the people who cleaned his toilet…and swept the tennis courts”. He had no interest in overseeing their work.
库齐奇金提供的情报或许改变了伊朗的历史走向。由于担心苏联支持的共产主义势力会在伊朗发动政变，英美两国决定将库齐奇金提供的有关共产主义活动的情报通报给伊朗当局。随后开展的清洗行动中，约有4000至12000人被处决，大量反对派力量遭到消灭，伊斯兰主义者也借此牢牢掌握了政权。
Kuzichkin’s secrets may have changed the course of Iranian history. America and Britain, worried by the possibility of a Soviet-backed communist coup in Iran, decided to share Kuzichkin’s intelligence on communist activities with Iran’s regime. Some 4,000-12,000 people were executed in the purges that followed, destroying much of the opposition and consolidating the Islamists’ grip on power.
深受这些杀戮事件困扰的库齐奇金于2009年离世。军情六处并未配合《红木》一书的创作，但麦克雷迪却与作者进行了详尽的交流。书中其他仍在世的军情六处特工则使用了较为牵强的化名。他们的坦诚或许令军情六处内部有些不快，但最终呈现给读者的却是一个堪称一流的间谍故事。■ 欲了解最新图书、电影、电视剧、专辑及相关争议话题，请订阅我们的每周独家通讯《情节反转》。
Kuzichkin, “haunted” by their slaughter, died in 2009. MI6 did not co-operate in “Redwood”, but Mr McCredie spoke at length to the author. Other living MI6 officers appear under flimsy pseudonyms. Their candour may have caused some discomfort inside the service. But the result is another first-rate spy story. ■ For more on the latest books, films, TV shows, albums and controversies, sign up to Plot Twist, our weeklyr-only newsletter