Brandenburg Read Online Free PDF Page A

people here to help you at the first sign of trouble.’
    He looked at her without bothering to mask his feelings. ‘My brother Konrad is in jail. They will hold him there until I return to the GDR.’
    She absorbed this without changing her expression. ‘All the more reason to make this work without raising their suspicions.’
    ‘You talk of suspicion. Already your operation is compromised. That man dying out at the pier: the Stasi will know that something is wrong. Why did you ask me to go there?’
    ‘We wanted to see how many people were following you and identify them.’ She smiled again and brushed the back of her hand against his cheek. ‘Let’s order, shall we?’
    ‘The man who died - who was he?’
    ‘We don’t know yet. Look, it would be a lot safer if you were to leave all this to later; these questions are showing in your face. Just keep to the script and begin sweet-talking me, honey bun.’ She winked at him and her hand moved to touch his leg under the table. ‘Relax, Rudi, and tell me about your work.’

    Almost directly above the restaurant there was an ornate first-floor balcony, which ran along four shuttered window bays. Behind these was an exceptionally well-appointed drawing room where Harland had set up his forward observation point. In the room with him were Harp, Griswald and Prelli with two of his assistants. From here they monitored the movement of the Stasi team that had followed Rosenharte from the hotel. Harland listened to the reports coming in. They were now aware of a pair loitering on the bridge nearby, three men in a car parked a little distance from the canal, a couple disguised as tourists who had been sighted on the corniche and two men who had just taken a table at the other end of the pontoon. There were about five others moving up and down the banks of the canal. In short, the area was crawling with East German intelligence officers. Harland knew this kind of close-quarter surveillance was a Stasi speciality. It’d be a miracle if so many eyes did not spot that Jessie and Rosenharte were faking it. Still, as far as he could tell they were responding to each other with a fairly convincing mixture of warmth and wariness. And if it looked good from where he was, then it might just fool others.
    Something attracted his attention to the awning immediately below the apartment and he cursed. ‘Those men - who are they?’
    ‘Which men?’ asked Prelli.
    ‘The men who’re waiting at the maître d’s lectern.’
    Prelli nodded and said something under his breath. A few moments later his watchers confirmed that they were part of the team that had come over the border. ‘It’s a damned shame you don’t have a two-way with the woman,’ said Griswald. ‘You could tell her about those goons.’
    ‘She knows they’re there,’ replied Harland. ‘Rosenharte’s just told her. He’s doing pretty well given the circumstances.’
    There was silence in the room while he listened to the couple talk. He watched the waiter take their order, then turned to Griswald. ‘So what do you make of this thing about his brother being in jail?’
    Griswald’s bulk shifted so that Harland saw his rubbery features and fine blond hair in the small amount of light coming from Prelli’s equipment. ‘They must suspect he’s going to run.’
    ‘They suspect everyone the whole time. That’s the point about the Stasi.’
    ‘And yet it may be to your advantage, Bobby. It means your fellow’s gotta go back East if his brother is in the slammer. And if he does go back, he’s gotta work for you. There’s no way out for him.’
    ‘Yes, but he won’t just be risking his own life. Could be his brother’s too, which will add to the pressure. That way people make mistakes.’
    ‘To me, he looks like the kind of man who can take it. A lot of bearing. A lot of poise. He looks like a damned prince sitting down there.’
    ‘Yes, that’s why they used him as an agent in the seventies.’
    Finally