The daughter, Tatiana, was unstable and was confined to a mental institution. She also recounts rumours that Karla had a daughter by a mistress whom he had later sent to the Gulag. Smiley consults dying former Circus researcher Connie Sachs, who identifies the second man as Oleg Kirov, also known by the cover name "Kursky". Near the site where Vladimir was killed, he discovers the negative of a compromising photograph of Leipzig and another man with prostitutes.
He recovers a second letter from Maria, who fears for her life.
Smiley takes Vladimir's claims seriously and investigates. Meanwhile, Vladimir is betrayed to Karla and assassinated on Hampstead Heath while on his way to meet a junior Circus contact.Ĭircus head Saul Enderby and Civil Service undersecretary Oliver Lacon, wanting to bury the matter quickly to protect the Circus from scandal, recall Smiley from retirement. The Circus personnel are sceptical and uncooperative. Vladimir contacts the Circus again and insists on speaking to his former case officer, George Smiley, who is also retired. Next Vladimir sends a confidant, Otto Leipzig, to Paris to interview Maria, who identifies "Kursky" in a photograph. Vladimir contacts Toby Esterhase, his old handler in the Circus, but Esterhase, now retired, refuses help. Vladimir realises that Maria was used to provide a false identity for an unknown young woman, a ploy associated with KGB spymaster Karla, and that this is probably an unofficial operation. Maria applies for an exit permit for her daughter then, hearing nothing more, writes to General Vladimir, a former Soviet general and British agent, for help. Maria Ostrakova, a Soviet émigrée in Paris, is told by a Soviet agent calling himself "Kursky" that her daughter Alexandra, whom she was forced to leave behind, may be permitted to join her.
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