◆ SpookStack

wo The riddle of Burgess and Maclean despondency. For almost a year he had been briefing Communists on allied policy . and strategy, atomic Installe- tions, Air Force strengths, points of Anglo-American {ric tion. But gradually information windied to a trickle. wantea to see his wife and jldren. He told the authori- s, ‘I could do much better if Pontecorvo.’ ‘The request went through channels and struck & security shag. Mrs, Maclean was an American and a non- Communist to boot. Only a high official could authorise her entry. Tne decision was postpones “Then in August 1953 came the thermo-nuclear explosion on the Aksu. River which shook the world. “Pontecorvo, nero of the hour, was asked jn true Oriental fashion to name his wish. "One of the things closest to his heart, he said, was the reunio: of the Maclean family, “Thus the drama moved into its . final act. \ Maclean for the first time since 1951 wat able to send a long. handwritten letter by special courier to his wife, velling her he, want join bi done. ted her to m and how it could be Melinda had to face the gravest decision of her life. aot hesitate. She dj She agreed meet a Russian contact Majorca where they worked ot details for her flight.” q had my family around like oo’