Smiley explains that this 1955 operation was the one time that he had met Karla. Karla had been setting-up a radio operation in California, under the cover of 'Gerstmann', but for once the Circus was "ahead of the game. The wranglers broke the code and that's how we got our information. ... As soon as Control had the story from the wranglers, he traded it to the Americans on the understanding that they missed Gertsmann but hit the rest of the Rudnev network in California. Gerstmann flew on to Delhi unaware." At Circus request, Indian police held Karla so that Smiley could try to swing Karla to defect. During his attempt to obtain Karla's defection, Smiley attempted to ply him to defect with cigarettes and promises that they could get any family he had out to the West safely. However, Smiley admits that all this did was reveal his only weakness, his love for his unfaithful wife, Ann. He had offered his lighter, a present from Ann, to light a cigarette, but Karla merely rose and left with it, keeping the lighter as a symbol of his victory over Smiley. Smiley concludes by telling Guillam that as a result of that arrest, Karla has never used radio on an operation since 1955.