Authors: Joseph Kanon
“What the hell is all this?”
“It’s what you promised. If I got the job done.”
“We’re not finished—”
“I am. I gave you everything you wanted. We had a propaganda coup this morning on the radio. Did you hear it?”
“I also heard you used my name to get him out.”
“I had to think fast. Anyway, it worked. RIAS is over the moon. But somebody followed me and tried to kill me. So it’s time to bring me in. It’s all there. Read it. It goes out under your signature, so you should have a look before they code it. I assume you can send cables from here. You have a transmitter?”
“Tried to kill you how?”
“Run me off a bridge.”
“Well, that could—”
“No. I know the difference. I’ve been learning on the job.”
“What happened to them?”
“They went over instead.”
“Then you’re all right.”
“Somebody sent them, Campbell. I can’t go back. Read the cable. You want to get somebody to type up my orders?”
“What’s the rush.”
“Things have a way of not happening with you.”
Campbell glared at him, then looked down, reading the cable.
“Quite a hero,” he said.
“You can tone it down if you like. But why be modest? We’re going to be petitioning the State Department. They’ll want to know I put my life on the line for the Agency, don’t you think?”
“What’s this about a broadcast? The kid’s in Frankfurt.” He looked up. “On my say-so.” Still annoyed.
“This one’s mine. Another propaganda coup. Alex Meier leaves East Berlin for the West. Ferber thinks it’ll make a big noise. None of the other exiles has gone back. Walked away. And I refused to testify at a show trial so we can float some balloons about the bad old days coming back, ’37 all over again, with innocent Germans being put away this time.”
“A man of principle,” Campbell said sarcastically.
“The kind the State Department should take in. In fact, after this it’ll look bad if they don’t.”
“What valuable information?” Campbell said, reading.
“Heavy water plant at Leuna. Saratov before he was announced. Add whatever details you like. I didn’t know what you’d want classified. There’s a second memo, for the files.”
“This doesn’t buy you anything.”
“Invaluable assistance at great risk to himself? Two major propaganda victories, again at risk to himself? Your personal recommendation? Send it and see.”
“I don’t send cables like this.”
“Then they’ll really sit up and notice.” He paused. “You said you would. That’s why I did it. All of it.”
Campbell looked at him. “All right. I’ll go over it, send my own version later. Now, what do we do with you?”
“No, send it now. I want to see the confirmation copy.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. You’re not station chief yet. This doesn’t guarantee anything.”
“There’s something else. Not in the cable. We can follow up later. A one-two punch.”
“What?”
“I know where Markovsky is. I’m going to give him to you.”
Campbell looked up, startled.
“Where?”
“Send the cable.”
“How do you—? Oh, your friend. You got it out of her?”
“As you told me to. Send the cable.”
Campbell looked down at the paper, now little more than an annoyance.
“Alan,” he said, calling one of the clerks. “Have this encrypted. Mr. Meier here wants to see us transmit. He doesn’t trust us.”
“Just careful. It’s important in this business, isn’t that what you always say?” He gave the paper to the clerk. “And could you have somebody type this up on BOB letterhead?” He looked at Campbell. “You decide on the pay grade yet?”
“Don’t take chances.” He scribbled something in the margin.
“And this,” Alex said, handing another paper to the clerk.
“What’s that?”
“My farewell to Berlin speech. A hard copy for the file.”
The clerk waited for Campbell’s nod.
“All right. Now where is he?”
“I’ll take you to him. When we’re finished here.”
“You’re being very cute all of the sudden.”
“Have a smoke. It shouldn’t take long.” He looked around. “Some setup. Are there beds upstairs? Or do you put people in billets?”
“Depends. If they’re at risk outside.”
“So, here. With any luck I’ll be out of your hair in a few days. The speech will make the news and that should move things along at State, don’t you think?”
“You’re so sure about this.”
“When you give them Markovsky, you’ll be able to write your own ticket. So you write two. One for me. That was the deal.”
“Not quite.”
“Well, things happen. And for once we got lucky.”
“She just told you? Like that?”
“She doesn’t know she told me. I figured it out.”
“Figured it—”
“Don’t worry. I know. Anyway, you can always send another cable if anything goes wrong.”
Campbell, disgruntled, looked away and lit a cigarette.
“You might say ‘Nice job’ or something. I never thought we’d get him.”
Campbell sat smoking, watching Alex, as if he were adding up columns of numbers.
“And where has he been all this time?” he said.
“Babelsberg. Out by DEFA. But she’s moving him today.”
“She’s moving—?”
“And we run interference.”
“You’re setting her up,” Campbell said quietly.
“Would you have sent the cable otherwise?”
Campbell looked away.
“Sir? Sign here.” Handing Campbell the authorization letter. The clerk turned to Alex. “Nice to have you with us. We all wondered who you were. The protected source.”
“Not anymore.”
“No, not anymore,” Campbell said. “All right. Now you’re official. What else?”
“We wait for the cable, then we go.” He made a show of checking his watch.
“Alan, get a car. Brady and Davis, I guess. That enough?” he said to Alex.
“She’s only expecting me. Troops might scare her off. It’s just the two of them. I think we can handle it. But your call.”
Campbell thought for a second. “All right. Never mind, Alan.”
“Anything I can do?” the clerk said, eyes excited.
“No. Just start a file on this one. He’s worried about his pension.” He turned to Alex. “And what’s your next bright idea?”
“With Markovsky? He’s all yours. I’d put him on a plane for Wiesbaden. Show him in public this time. Just for the hell of it.”
“Is that what you’d do,” Campbell said, stubbing out the cigarette.
When the cable confirmation came through, Campbell got up to go.
“I’ll get my coat.”
A minute, two. Time enough for Alex to make his calls. An empty office next to Alan’s. Dieter, then Markus. Finished before Campbell got back.
Alex drove. “She knows the car,” he said.
It was a long trip back into town, through Wilmersdorf, then the more crowded West End.
“I don’t think you’re going to need that,” Alex said finally, nodding toward Campbell’s pocket. “They’re not expecting—”
“You’re new to this. You corner a man like Markovsky, you’d better be ready for anything.”
Alex was quiet for a minute.
“New,” he said. “It feels longer. What did you think? When Washington said they were sending me.”
“Think? I thought you’d be a pain in the ass. First timer. In Berlin. You don’t want to be a freshman here. It’s dangerous.”
“But maybe an opportunity for you. Somebody who doesn’t know the ropes. Easier to play.”
“To play.”
“You told me Willy was a leak and I just swallowed it.”
“Willy was a leak.”
“After you said so. And he wasn’t around to say anything. You know, I keep thinking about Lützowplatz. You said it wasn’t supposed to go that way, but how was it supposed to go? I thought they were after me. But what would be the point of setting me up so soon? You hadn’t even run me yet. But I’d make a great decoy if you wanted Willy out of the way. He’d die protecting me. But the others weren’t supposed to get killed. That’s what went wrong. You thought I’d just stand there pissing my pants. No gun. You never thought I’d kill anybody.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Willy said you had a Polish name. Hard to pronounce, so you changed it. You still have family there? Is that how they did it? Use that leverage? You were always interested in whether I had family in the East. You knew how that worked.”
“How they did what?” Campbell said.
“Turn you. So was it family? It’d be easy to check, I guess, now that I know where to look. But maybe something else. Lots of ways to do it. Look at my friend Markus. Anything he can use. But I’d guess family. I don’t see you as the believer type.”
“Turn me. What the fuck—?”
“It was you,” Alex said simply. “Only two people knew I was taking Erich to RIAS. You and Dieter. But I changed things around. And when we got to the airport, what did I find? Howley’s office hadn’t called to clear us. All right, maybe a fuckup. Except everything there’s like clockwork. No fuckups or the planes don’t turn around. And Howley’s office gives us the go-ahead like that.” He snapped his fingers. “Like they would have if you had called. But
you didn’t. Why should you? You knew we were never going to get to the airport. We’d be dead. Or in a holding cell somewhere. Why waste the call?”
“You’re out of your mind.”
“Am I? Then there’s the little comedy with Saratov. Our friend going to Moscow. Not your idea, I think. He just couldn’t resist. Two can play at that game. But how did he know Markovsky wasn’t in Wiesbaden? That we couldn’t just pull him out of our hat and make the Moscow story go away? Only two people knew that. You and Dieter. So we’re back where we started. It was you.”
“And not Dieter.”
“No. You.”
“And why is that?”
“Because Dieter knows Markovsky’s dead and you don’t. You never would have gone on this little joyride if you didn’t think he was alive.”
“Dead?”
“But you didn’t know that. So neither do the Russians. Or they’d have been all over it.”
“Then what are we doing?”
“I want my life back. And you’re going to get it for me. They won’t say no to the Agency.”
“Because I sent one cable? Wait’ll you see the next one. What do you think you’re worth now? To the Agency. You think anybody gives a rat’s ass about you? Because you gave a speech? You’re not useful anymore, that’s all that matters.”
“I thought you might feel that way. That’s why the cable went first. And the speech is just what State will want to hear. So, now one more piece. A little insurance. To show the Agency how valuable I am.”
“What? By telling stories about me? Who the fuck’s going to believe you?”
“No one maybe.” He turned to glance at him. “I don’t care if you get away with it. I don’t care about you at all. I just wanted you to know I know. Maybe Willy knew too, or suspected. Is that why? Tell me something. How long were you going to keep running me before I was just another Willy? Once Markovsky disappeared, I wasn’t good for much. Gossip. Why were the Russians so interested in him, by the way? One of their own. Let me guess.”
“More guessing.”
“They wanted to get something on him. So Saratov could be the broom. Clean house. Man with a German mistress. This is the West to them. And he’d been here a long time. So a few personal details, for the files, just to make the case look real. Before Saratov came in to save everything. Start putting all those corrupting influences on trial. Jesus, Campbell, how did you feel doing this?”
Campbell was quiet for a minute. “You need to stop now. Before someone starts taking any of this seriously.”
“It was you.”
“Then you’re taking a helluva chance.”
“With you? Only a little one. I think you like other people to do it for you. And I have a gun too.” He looked over. “When you corner a man, you’d better be ready for anything, right? And I wouldn’t think twice. Not now. The last time I was in Lützowplatz I killed a man for you. That was hard. But that was a while ago. This time it would be easy.”
“Corner a man. With what? Some wild story? You haven’t cornered me.”
“No. I’m going to let somebody else do that.”
“What?”
“It’s a pity your Russians don’t share things with the Germans. Who you are, for instance. You should learn to trust them more. Otherwise, you start working at cross purposes.”
“What are—?”
“Here we are.”
“Where?”
“Lützowplatz. You weren’t here last time. You sent me instead. Into a trap. You wouldn’t think it, though. All open like this. So I thought, why not Lützowplatz this time.”
“For what?”
“To pick up Markovsky.”
“Who’s dead.”
“Mm. How are you going to explain that?”
“Me?”
Alex started around the square, listening for a screech of tires, but they swept past the south side of the square in silence, then up the street where his house had been. Where was Markus?
“What are you doing?”
Now the north leg, toward the bridge, almost completing the square. Markus didn’t know they were coming from Dahlem, from the south. Maybe he was waiting on the bridge, with a view of the whole square. Or maybe something had gone wrong. Another turn.
“What the hell are you doing?” Alarmed now. “Get out of here!”
Back to the bottom, about to turn and circle again. Where was he?
Campbell grabbed at the wheel, pulling right, out of the turn, so that they were shooting south out of the square. “Drive.”
Alex yanked back, breaking Campbell’s awkward hold, stepping on the gas.
“Fuck,” Campbell said and lunged now, fighting over the wheel, so that when he pulled it back the car skidded across the street, scraping into a standing wall. Alex stopped.
“Back up. Get out of here.”
But now a car was swerving out of the canal embankment, where it had been waiting, racing toward them, a matter of seconds, the same screech, blocking the car, two men jumping out, guns drawn, yanking the car doors open. Markus looked in.
“Where is he?”
“He’s got him,” Alex said. “Careful. He pulled a gun on me. He’s American intelligence.”
“What the fuck—?” Campbell said.
“Don’t move. Hold your hands out,” Markus said to Campbell. Then, to Alex, “What happened?”