“What good would that do?”
“It’ll call the dogs off her. You think you’re the only one who thinks she knows? They’ll think it too and they don’t like to take no for an answer. They’ll try to beat it out of her and then she’s no good to anybody. But do it quick. Today. Let them intercept something—make them think they’re clever. Then back it up with a leak. Whatever you have to do. They’ve already talked to her and they’ll talk to her again. But if they know where he is, then all they want to know is, did she help? That’s a lot easier for her to deal with. And now they’ve got bigger things on their minds—what he’s saying to you.”
“Not bad,” Campbell said, nodding. “Unless he turns up back in Karlshorst.”
“He won’t.”
Campbell raised his head.
“Would you? That’s a one-way trip.” Alex looked at him. “No appeal. He’d have to defect. Sooner or later. So let’s make it sooner. And get him out of Berlin—Wiesbaden, wherever the planes go—so they think he’s out of reach. Otherwise they’ll think they can use her to get to him.” He glanced up. “We want her to ourselves.”
Campbell stared at him for a minute, a cool appraisal. “Good. So we’re back in business?”
“Look at the cards you’re holding.”
“Don’t think like that. We’re doing something here.” He paused. “You have my word.”
Alex ignored this. “There’s more. I need an authorization to fly out of Berlin. Not for me. Someone else. I assume you can do this with a phone call?”
“I can call Howley, yes. Who?”
“An old friend. German POW. He’s like Markovsky—he has to come over or they’ll lock him up. Worse. So we need to get him out.”
“We don’t fly Germans back and forth.”
“He’s paying his way. Radio interview about the mine conditions in the Erzgebirge. They had him working there.”
“The Erzgebirge? That’s nothing new.”
“Maybe not. But it’s the best propaganda story we’ve got. The SED sending its own people to slave labor? Hard to top. And he can throw in an escape story if people start nodding off. RIAS will love it. And after we fly him out, he’ll have a nice long talk with your people. Is that enough for the fare?”
“Where is he?”
“Hiding. Safe. I’ll set it up with RIAS, get Ferber to do the interview. Then we get him out.”
“You’ll set it up? You don’t want to expose yourself like that.”
“Nobody’ll know except Ferber. Isn’t he one of ours?”
Campbell peered at him. “No. But he’s done us a favor from time to time.”
“Well, now we can do him one. But how do we work it? I’ll get him to RIAS. But then we’ll need to move. Fast. Before anyone can grab him. And we don’t want him waiting around Tempelhof for a go.”
Campbell thought for a minute. “I’ll have Howley call the dispatcher. Clear him for any plane going out that night. What’s the name?”
“Von Bernuth.”
Campbell looked up.
“You want her cooperation, this is the way to do it. I save her brother, she owes me. Not to mention trusts. And you get a big story on the radio. And somebody who can tell you all about the mines. You’ll be flavor of the month.”
“After we find Markovsky,” Campbell said evenly.
“Set this up, we at least have a shot. In fact,” he said, pausing, as if it had just occurred to him, “clear two places. Same name. I might need that kind of leverage. People will do a lot if you promise to get them out of Berlin.”
“She’d leave Markovsky behind?”
Alex took a breath, thinking fast. Sasha alive, not in the Spree.
“He has to go to the West eventually. He’s a dead man here,” he said. “She might give him to us if we guaranteed getting him out too.” He paused. “Assuming she trusts us.”
“Which brings everything back to you,” Campbell said slowly.
Alex met his eyes. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“What if the Soviets pick her up?”
“You forget. Markovsky’s already with you. You’re going to say so. They’ll want me to find out what she knows. Just like you.”
“I thought you said it was the Germans who recruited you.”
“They work with Karlshorst, don’t they? And now they’ll have something to make themselves look good. I’ll be considered a catch.”
Campbell considered this for a moment, then grinned, a flash of teeth. “But we caught you first.”
“Yeah.”
“All right, we square here?”
“You’ll set it up? How do I contact you?”
“You don’t. Unless you’ve got a fire alarm. Use Dieter. He’ll tell me when to make the call. I’m not really here,” he said, beginning to step away into the fog, a ghost again. Then he turned. “By the way, who recruited you?”
“Who? Someone I knew from the old days.”
“Yes?” Campbell said.
“Markus Engel,” Alex said, feeling strangely disloyal. “Why?”
“We like to know who’s out there fishing. Hard enough keeping track of the Soviets. Now we’ve got the Germans too.”
“He was K-5. Promoted when they formed the new service. I don’t think he’s a recruiter. He just happened to know me. From before.”
“What was the approach?”
“Like you. He appealed to my better instincts.”
Campbell looked at him for a second, not sure how to respond. “That’s the way,” he said finally, then drifted off.