Brandenburg (36 page)

Rosenharte looked away. He had no option. ‘Her name is Ulrike Klaar. She works in the Youth Research Institute in Leipzig. As you know, she’s heavily involved in the liberation and peace movement based around the Nikolaikirche. I believe it’s only a matter of time before she’s arrested for these activities.’

‘Right. What do you make of the information? Do you think it’s likely she has access to Abu Jamal?’

Rosenharte thought for a moment. ‘She says Abu Jamal will be in Leipzig from Monday the ninth onwards. They have kept him out of the country until after the fortieth anniversary is over. He will be staying at the villa in Clara Zetkin Park.’

‘How’s she getting this information?’

Rosenharte shrugged and lit a cigarette. ‘I think she has been his mistress at some point, but I’m not certain. There’s a part of this thing that I don’t understand. When I asked about certain gaps in her story - certain inconsistencies of behaviour - she answered vaguely and said that everything she had given you so far had proved to be true.’

‘She’s right but—’

‘You think there’s some kind of trap?’ said Rosenharte.

‘That’s about the sum of it, yes. Do you like her? I mean do you get a good feeling about her?’

‘It’s hard to say. I like her, but I don’t trust her. There’s too much that’s unexplained. However, I do believe she’s sincere about the peace movement. She has a genuine religious faith, too.’

Harland absorbed this. ‘I think we should move. We’ve got nothing to lose. What about the Annalise side of the operation? Are they buying it?’

‘So far, but I saw Colonel Biermeier in Leipzig. It doesn’t make sense that a member of the foreign intelligence service was there. I also saw Zank. And that worries me. I mean, maybe one or the other is onto Kafka.’

‘And they saw you?’

‘No, no.’

‘Good. I wonder what the hell’s going on.’ He stopped and looked back down the road. Idris was playing with the boys while the Bird and Else watched. Harland called out to the Bird. ‘Okay, Cuth, you can go ahead!’

‘Righty-ho, but I’m afraid I can’t do a new passport for King Melchior. He’s going to have to sort himself out.’

‘That’s fine,’ Harland called out. ‘He wants a lift to somewhere near Prague and that’s what he’s going to get.’

The Bird lifted the tailgate of the Volvo and started taking pictures of Else, Florian and Christoph against a dark blue cloth that he hung from the car. Harland’s eyes returned to Rosenharte.

‘I’ve now given you everything you asked for,’ said Rosenharte. ‘It’s now time for us to discuss when you’re going to bring Konrad out. I’ve been wondering whether it will be possible to combine it with the Abu Jamal operation.’

‘Too complicated,’ said Harland briskly. ‘They’re entirely different kinds of operation.’

‘What are you going to do with the Arab?’

Harland ignored the question and looked away. A fine sheen of water from the mist had covered their hair and clothes. Harland brushed his shoulders and shook droplets from his hands. Rosenharte did not move. ‘My brother is currently in the hospital wing, as you know. But that situation is not going to last and they will take him back to the main interrogation centre whether he has recovered or not. We have to move soon or he will be lost.’

‘I’ll do all I can, but something like this is very out of the ordinary for us. We never have more than ten people in the Berlin Station. It’s a minute operation compared to the Stasi. This is a big thing for us, even if we use some help from the Americans.’

‘I’ve found some help. I can get you two good quality passes: a vehicle pass and a docket authorizing the collection of Konrad by the KGB.’

‘Jesus, where from?’

‘From a friend. Things are unravelling in the GDR. I can get this from the beginning of next week. All you need is a van like the ones they use, a couple of men with good German and a way out of the East. And with the Stasi totally distracted by the demonstrations, it shouldn’t be too difficult.’

‘But one check and our men are lost and your brother never gets out.’

Rosenharte looked back down the road at Else and Idris. ‘That’s true,’ he said, ‘but that’s the deal we struck. Anyway, I believe I may be able to get someone to call ahead on the day to say that Konrad is going to be transferred.’

‘The Stasi won’t fall for that.’

‘No one fears the Stasi more than I do, but I’ve seen them at very close quarters over the last week or so and they are flawed. They are making mistakes. Those people who marched in Leipzig two days ago are not going to be deterred. There is a real sense of revolution in the air and the Stasi are worried. They’ll try to put down the demonstrations with force. I’m sure of it. Then we’ll see whether the people have it in them to continue.’ He paused. ‘What I’m saying is that the Stasi are preoccupied by these events.’

‘I hear you.’

‘Then let us decide on a date.’

‘What about the thirteenth or fourteenth next week? We’d move early and aim to get him through the border by mid-morning. Saturday the fourteenth is probably the best for us.’

‘Can’t you do it any earlier? He could be back in the main interrogation centre by then.’

‘If he’s out of hospital by then, it will be a good sign and besides, if these passes and release forms are as good as you say they are, it won’t matter where he is in Hohenschönhausen will it? They’ll work just as well if he’s in the main interrogation centre.’

Rosenharte had no answer for that.

‘Okay, but no later. How will I get them to you?’

‘We’ll fix a rendezvous in Berlin for the Friday afternoon. You’ll call that day using the same system. Don’t forget the code changes next week.’

Rosenharte turned to face the car. The boys were looking with great interest at the Bird, who was hunched over something in the back.

‘I don’t want Else to know anything about this plan,’ said Rosenharte. ‘She needs all her strength to make her new home.’

Harland nodded. ‘Can you make your own way out of the GDR when this is over? We’re going to have our hands full with your brother.’

‘That will be no problem. I’ll take the same route into Hungary.’

‘Good.’ He paused and looked at Rosenharte. ‘There’s one more thing I want you to do for us.’

‘I have done all you wanted.’

‘I know, Rudi, I know.’ He put his hands up in an attitude of surrender. ‘Can you go back to Leipzig and effect contact between Kafka and our people next weekend? I need you to do this to allay any fears Kafka may have. Will you do that for us?’

Rosenharte nodded. He had to return Ulrike’s car in any case.

‘Right, we’ll fix the meeting for Sunday. You’ll find one of the men from the BND whom you met in West Berlin at the main entrance to the park where the Leipzig trade fair is held - the Altes Messegelände. He will be there at five. We want you to walk from the city along Pragerstrasse. That way we will be able to see if you’re being followed before you get there. They’re the best, these guys. They’re already undercover in the city and they will not fail you.’

‘Do you need me to bring Kafka there?’

‘No. You fix a meeting later. Now that I’m able to give them her name, they can find out exactly who she is and, well, if she’s for real.’

Rosenharte turned to the car. ‘You still have doubts?’

‘Not really, but I am baffled by her.’ He kicked the gravel on the road and looked up at three hooded crows that were trying to rise above the mist. ‘There’s one further thing, Rudi. We’ve got to keep the Stasi off your back, so we’re going to arrange that Annalise makes the final delivery in early November. She will write to you in the usual way and they will intercept the letter. By that time we will have sorted Konrad and the Arab, and we’ll just give them some crap that will foul up their computers for a few months.’

Rosenharte turned and walked back to the others. The Bird was wiping the pictures on the spanking new joint British passport for Else and the boys. He showed them the Foreign and Commonwealth Office seal before using it to emboss the newly laminated Polaroid pictures. He gathered them round, flipped through the passport and pointed out the large mauve-coloured visa in the back indicating that they had crossed the border from Austria into Hungary ten days before. Another visa proved the family’s legitimate presence in Czechoslovakia.

‘You are now indubitably a legal British citizen, madam.’ He held the passport up and began to read. ‘Her Britannic Majesty’s Principle Private Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office requests and requires in the name of Her Majesty . . .’

‘For Christ’s sake, Cuth,’ cut in Harland. ‘We’ve got a long way to go.’ He turned and offered his ungloved hand to Rosenharte. ‘Good luck, Rudi.’

‘Yes, Godspeed old son,’ said the Bird, seizing his hand in an iron grip. ‘We’ll look after this lot for you.’

Rosenharte went to the boys and crouched down. ‘Look, keep good care of your mother for me and your father, eh?’ They nodded solemnly. ‘And I will see you very soon in the West.’

Else kissed him and made him promise to bring Konrad to her. Before he had let her go, Idris had fallen on him and was also kissing him. ‘We will see each other again,’ said Rosenharte, holding his shoulders. ‘I have no doubt of it, my friend.’ His eyes watered: he was unused to such a display.

Idris gave him an address in Khartoum, written in English and Arabic, which he produced from inside his coat with a flourish. Rosenharte shook his hand and palmed the two $100 bills he had ready. With a final kiss to Else, he managed to plant $500 in her coat pocket, which he indicated with a wink.

It was time to go. He turned and was moving quickly up the slope before they had even thought of settling into the Volvo. By the time he heard its engine start and turned to look, the road had vanished in the mist.

He re-crossed the border feeling more bereft than he had for a long time, but a part of him also noted his relief at having one less responsibility. If he could get news of their successful flight to Konrad through the Russian, it would certainly do his morale some good as well. He walked slowly, keeping all his senses attuned to the forest around him.

Having climbed over the border at a different point, just in case the damage to the fence had been discovered, he spent some time fighting his way through a dense area of the forest. It was noon before he hit the path, just at the spot where the backpack hung in the trees. Every twenty feet or so he stopped and listened. About one hundred yards up from the stream he realized that while the car could not be seen from the road, it was clearly visible from this side of the valley. The border guards might easily have spotted it from this point.

Heart pounding, he abandoned all caution and raced down to cross the bridge, then crept through the trees. Having checked that the Wartburg hadn’t been immobilized in any way, he went to retrieve the licence plates, screwed them on and pushed the car to a dirt track so he could freewheel down. He jump-started the engine just before the bottom and slipped quietly from the track into the road.

Life was a hell of a lot simpler now. His only purpose was to get Konrad out.

Sonja sat down on the bench beside him. ‘You should look after yourself, Rudi. One sandwich and a piece of old sausage. No fruit, no protein to speak of. You look shit. What’s the matter with you?’

Rosenharte gazed across to the Opera House. It was a beautiful day and he could do without an ambush from Sonja.

‘When did you get back?’ she asked.

‘Wednesday.’ He turned to her. ‘What the hell have you done to yourself?’

‘Oh, this?’ she said, fingering a small silver stud that had been inserted just under her lower lip. ‘Don’t you like it?’

‘No.’

She shrugged. ‘Well, it’s not meant for a man of your generation.’

‘My generation doesn’t come into it, Sonja. You have a beautiful face. It’s a shame to fill it with bits of scrap iron.’

‘It’s silver. My boyfriend gave it to me.’

‘Sebastian?’

‘No. Rikki. Rikki’s my boyfriend now.’

‘What happened to Sebastian? I thought he was the love of your life.’

She shook her head slowly. ‘He was too busy for me. I haven’t seen him since they let him go and he vanished to Leipzig. He’s obsessed with the
events
.’

‘Aren’t you?’

She shrugged again. ‘Yes . . . of course I am.’ She hooked one leg under her bottom. She was dressed artlessly - a short denim skirt, scuffed calf-length boots worn against bare legs, and a grey round-neck sweater that he had given her.

‘So you got back the evening of the big riot at the Hauptbahnhof?’

‘Yes.’ He had seen the trains carrying the East Germans from Prague to the West. God knows how many people had tried to board at the station and on the approaches to Dresden. They had been moving at a tantalizingly slow speed, and from the side of the lines, Dresdeners had been able to see the happiness on every face that was bound for the West and freedom. It was too much for them. Some tried to cling to the outside of the carriages, and in one case a man attempted to scramble through the open door of the driver’s cab. At the station thousands had been arrested and taken away in trucks. The police used their batons without mercy, but those with serious head injuries declined to receive hospital treatment because they didn’t want to be turned in to the authorities.

‘You saw it all? Why were you at the Hauptbahnhof? Where were you coming back from?’

‘Nowhere. I just happened to be there.’

After the journey from the border he had parked the Wartburg in an old goods yard and paid the man to open up at any time of day or night. He wanted to keep the car out of sight so the Stasi wouldn’t make any connections with Ulrike, but he also thought that the Hauptbahnhof was still the best place to lose surveillance when he needed to leave the city.

‘You just happened to be there,’ she said after examining his face. ‘You’re a mystery man, Rudi.’

He ate the remains of his sandwich. ‘Talking of mystery men,’ he said casually, ‘do you remember the man who came to see me? You described him as a yokel - a country boy.’