The Fourth Protocol
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| The Fourth Protocol | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Frederick Forsyth |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Thriller novel |
| Publisher | Hutchinson |
| Publication date | August 1984 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 447 pp |
| ISBN | 0-09-158630-5 |
| OCLC Number | 59083636 |
The Fourth Protocol is a novel written by Frederick Forsyth and published in August 1984.
[edit] Explanation of the novel's title
The title refers to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which (at least in the world of the novel) contained four secret protocols. The fourth of the protocols was meant to prohibit the non-conventional delivery of nuclear weapons, i.e. by means other than being dropped from aircraft or carried on ballistic missiles. This included postal delivery services or being assembled in secret, close to the target, before being detonated.
[edit] Plot summary
On New Year's Eve 1986, professional thief Jim Rawlings breaks into the apartment of a senior civil servant in the United Kingdom. Out to steal some valuable diamonds, he also, unintentionally, discovers stolen top secret documents. Although one of the most notorious crooks in London, Rawlings is enough of a patriot to send the documents, anonymously, to MI5 so that they might find the traitor.
In Moscow, the British traitor Kim Philby drafts a memorandum for the General Secretary (Soviet president) stating that, if the Labour Party wins the next general election in the UK (scheduled for sometime in the subsequent eighteen months), the "hard left" of the party will oust the moderate, populist Neil Kinnock in favour of a radical new leader who will adopt a true Marxist-Leninist manifesto, including the expulsion of all American forces from England and the country's withdrawal from and repudiation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In conjunction with a GRU general, an academic named Krilov and a master strategist, Philby devises "Plan Aurora" to ensure a Labour victory by exploiting the party's support for unilateral disarmament—although it is noted that Krilov has come up with most of the plan's strategy.
MI5 officer John Preston, who was exploring hard left infiltration of the Labour party, investigates the stolen documents and finds that they were leaked by George Berenson, a passionate anti-communist and supporter of South Africa. Berenson passed on the documents to Jan Marais, a man he believes is a South African diplomat, but Preston discovers he is actually a Russian false flag agent. SIS chief Sir Nigel Irvine confronts Berenson with the truth and "turns him", using him to pass disinformation to the KGB.
Preston is being pushed towards retirement by a senior but younger MI5 superior, who wants older MI5 hands to leave the agency, but Preston is worried about his retirement finances, as he wants custody of his son in a divorce settlement. However, Sir Nigel Irvine is impressed by Preston's work.
As part of Plan Aurora, Russian "illegal" agent Valeri Petrofsky arrives in England under the cover of James Duncan Ross and sets up home at 12 Cherryhayes Close, Ipswich. From there, he travels around the country collecting packages from various couriers who have smuggled them into the country as harmless-looking artifacts.
One of the couriers, disguised as a sailor, is attacked by neds in Glasgow and taken to hospital, where he commits suicide rather than submit to questioning. Preston investigates and finds three out-of-place looking metal discs in a tobacco tin in his gunny sack: two light-coloured, with a darker one between them. He shows the discs to a metallurgist who identifies the outer two as aluminum but the other as polonium, a key element in the initiator of an atomic bomb. Preston reports his findings to his MI5 superior, who ignores them and has Preston taken off the politically embarrassing case. Sir Nigel Irvine, however, suspects that a major intelligence operation is under way, and has Preston work unofficially for him to search for other Russian couriers connected to the Glasgow incident. At the same time, he uses Berenson to pass a deliberate piece of disinformation to the KGB.
In Moscow, the director of operations for the KGB, General Karpov, discovers an operation mounted in England, without his involvement or knowledge. Karpov manages to identify the people involved in devising Plan Aurora, including hints pointing to the General Secretary as the initiator. He blackmails Krilov to reveal the plan, which involves smuggling component parts of an atomic bomb into England—in contravention of the Fourth Protocol to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signed by all the superpowers which bans such activity—and to explode it near Bentwaters Air Force Base a week before the general election. The plan also involves assistance from a disillusioned Israeli nuclear scientist who works for the Russians and a "crisis" that would be created by the General Secretary and then "ended" with all credit going to Labour Party leader Kinnock for resolving the crisis. Evidence would be left that the explosion was an accidental detonation of an American weapon, leading to a wave of anti-Americanism, support for unilateral disarmament and for the only major party committed to disarmament, the Labour Party, to win the election. The day after they win the election, the hard left will take over and basically begin to dismantle the Western alliance in Europe.
Meanwhile, Preston tries in vain to uncover other couriers connected to the operation. A month into the investigation, a bumbling Czech agent under the name Franz Winkler arrives at Heathrow with a forged passport and is followed to a house in Chesterfield. Preston's patience is rewarded when Petrofsky shows up to use the radio transmitter that is located there. He trails Petrofsky to his rented house, where the bomb has been assembled. An SAS team is called in to storm the house, and manage to wound Petrofsky before he can detonate the bomb. Against Preston's express wishes, the leader of the SAS team shoots the Russian agent in the head afterwards. Before dying Petrofsky manages to say one last word: “Philby”.
Preston confronts Sir Nigel Irvine with his theory that the operation was deliberately blown by Philby. Philby did not know Petrofksy's location but instead, sent Franz Winkler, with an obviously forged passport, to the location of the transmitter, and ultimately, to Petrofsky. Sir Nigel admits to sabotaging the KGB's British operation by leaking disinformation through Berenson to General Karpov, that they were closing in on their suspect. In turn, Karpov (and not Philby) sent Winkler, sabotaging Plan Aurora. By sending Winkler, Karpov is thwarting a British publicity victory as Sir Nigel understood the implication, that Petrofsky must not be taken alive or exposed in the media.
At the novel's end, Preston's MI5 superior and adversary is denied a senior leadership role due to his misjudgment in the case and subsequently resigns from MI5 altogether. Preston also resigns, but through Sir Nigel Irvine, finds lucrative private-sector employment that enables him to obtain full custody of his young son. Marais is taken into custody by South African intelligence and begins his interrogation. Berenson's spy work is left unusable to the KGB, as Sir Nigel, using his own spy network, intends to plant the suspicion that Berenson was in fact a double agent, and so his information will be considered suspect.
[edit] Adaptations
- In 1985 The Fourth Protocol was adapted into a computer game for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 home computers.
- In 1987 the book was made into a film starring Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan.
