“You’ve got to be kidding!”
“Not now, Karo,” snapped Erika. She was getting to be as catty as Laura.
I wasn’t happy about being brought to this flat in Hohenschönhausen. In fact, the only reason I was here was because Steinlein had threatened to arrest me and bring me here in cuffs if I refused. I wished he had just let me go, like he had Schimmel.
“Dobryi vyechyer.”
“You too, Dmitri.” Erika stood erect, breathing easily, refusing to return Dmitri’s oily smile. She wasn’t going to take any shit off this suave KGB officer. “What’s going on?” She was looking at Dmitri but the question was meant for Steinlein.
“The comrade Captain would like to help you.”
“You’re going to help us? How?” I demanded of Dmitri. “You got some secret plans up your secret sleeves?”
“I’d like nothing more than to help.” Dmitri turned his greasy smile on me. “But I’m sure you know there’s not much I can do. What would you like me to do? Shall I surround the Volkskammer with Alpha Group troops? This is not Russia, and I am not Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.”
“So what’s the point of you?”
I was being rude, but Erika didn’t stop me, so I reckoned she was as unhappy about the situation as I was. Then again she may have been distracted by the arrival of yet another person.
“Who’s that?” I asked, but nobody answered.
I didn’t know her, how could I? I’d never seen her in my life, but it felt as if I should know her, and that I should dislike her. She was attractive in a conventional sense, and she knew it. She was the kind of person that would think nothing of using her forget-me-not eyes and her killer smile to get whatever she was after.
“Karo,” another smile from Dmitri, “allow me to introduce an old friend: Evelyn Hagenow.”
***
“You must be Karo?” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, smiled at me by Evelyn.
I threw her the most vicious look I had.
“You’re the one who came to ask my comrades for help when Martin went missing last March?” Another statement. “How brave of you. That’s what real friends are for, and I do hope we will also be friends. After all, we have someone in common.” She still hadn’t switched off the smile, and it was irritating the fuck out of me.
“What do you want?” Erika’s voice made it plain what she thought about Evelyn.
“And you’re Erika?” The smile hadn’t diminished a single watt, she was still beaming away. We were all at a diplomatic reception and she was the gracious hostess. “Martin told me so much about you, he has a great deal of respect for you.”
“Perhaps you could get to the point?” Erika’s tone was as icy as Evelyn’s was false.
Evelyn wasn’t at all flustered by the animosity we were chucking her way, she just danced around the room, wafting her perfume around, picking up ornaments and putting them back, trailing her hands over Dmitri and Steinlein when she swept past them. Evelyn was making sure she was the centre of attention, and I was busy wrinkling my nose at the transparency of her act when a thought struck me.
“Have you been following me?”
Evelyn floated over to the table, focussing on me. She was still smiling, but her eyes were no longer doing that flirty thing. “You were very helpful.”
“What do you mean?”
But Evelyn’s gaze had flicked towards Erika and her eyes softened again. “I have something for you. Or Martin. Yes, let’s say it’s for Martin, because once again it’s about our dear friend.” She took a file out of her handbag and placed it on the coffee table.
I stepped forward, reaching across the table, but Evelyn saw me coming, she placed her fingers on the grey folder and shook her head.
“Patience. You’ll get the file, but first, let’s be civilised. Please, sit down. We’ll have a little chat.”
Erika sat on the sofa opposite Evelyn and I sat next to her. Dmitri remained standing and Steinlein had moved over to the window. He had pushed the mint-green curtains apart to keep an eye on the road, but was actually taking more of an interest in what was going on in the room.
“Where have you been since March?” Erika broke the ice.
“Oh, here and there, working on a case. Truth be told, being on the run wasn’t as much fun as I thought it would be. But I kept myself busy, had a few agents that needed looking after.”
“You’ve been running agents? Here in the GDR?” Erika’s voice had cooled even further, it was now well below freezing.
Evelyn gave one of her smiles and held up a hand. “Yes, here in the GDR. But hear me out before you jump to conclusions.” She gave Erika a chance to nod. “I’ve been after Kaminsky for a long time. Operation Withered Vine was the reason I was so keen to help out earlier this year when you had your little problem with the fascists.”
“Always helping, that’s you, isn’t it, you Stasi sow!” How could I not call her out on her fucking hypocrisy?
Evelyn shifted her attention from Erika back to me, a searchlight on full beam swept along the sofa.
“I had my own agenda, it’s true. But I’m sure we agree on what we think about the fascists.” The spotlight shifted back to Erika. “Kaminsky and the far-right have been in bed together for a long time—it’s not just a recent thing.”
“What’s in it for the far-right?” Erika was hooked, but I was still sceptical.
“Power. What else is there?” Evelyn was no longer smiling, she was serious, her eyes narrowing in concentration. “Kaminsky did a deal with the leaders of all the larger far-right parties and groups. If they help him into power then he’ll give them positions in his government.”
“What kind of help?”
“Well, I assume even you amateurs know about the skins stewarding Kaminsky’s marches and rallies, intimidating counter-demonstrators, that sort of thing?”
“We don’t have to take this shit,” I told Erika, but she just nodded at Evelyn, letting her know she should continue.
“It goes further, much further than oppressing the proles. Kaminsky climbed the Party ladder by bullying and threatening anyone who might oppose him. And guess who did the threatening part? Once Kaminsky gets his bill passed and disbands the Round Tables he’ll move on to the next target: the other political parties. He’s got dirt on all the major CDU and SPD politicians and he can terrify the smaller parties and the grassroots with his skinhead shock troops. By election-time in October Kaminsky will be the only one still standing.”
Evelyn was painting a much bleaker picture than any of us had even begun to imagine: in the space of a few months Kaminsky intended to take our country back to a pseudo-democracy with all the strings in his hands.
“Some senior figures in the Party tried to stop Kaminsky, there was some talk of special operative measures, but they didn’t even have the balls to come up with a proper plan, never mind carry it out. And anyway, the Party likes the idea of being back in power.”
“Wait!” Steinlein had stopped even pretending to peer through the curtains and was now standing next to Evelyn. “Are you saying the Party never meant to assassinate Kaminsky? What about the attempt on his life at the rally.”
“That was Kaminsky’s plan—a fascist cell carried it out. He got rid of a major opponent, and now he’s playing the martyr card and blaming the government for their inability to keep the peace.”
All the colour had drained out of Steinlein’s face. He slumped onto a chair next to Evelyn and she placed a hand on his knee.
“Oh, sweetie. Bit of a shock, isn’t it? There’s never a good time to find out you’ve been played, is there? You and Martin did everything exactly as Kaminsky planned.”
I wanted to ask Steinlein what he and Martin had been up to, but Erika put her hand on my arm, silencing me.
“Do you know where Martin is?”
Instead of answering, Evelyn turned to Steinlein who had now slumped even further down the couch.
“I tried to get him out last night. I failed,” he mumbled. “I got away but they caught Martin. He’s still in custody, they’ll have him in solitary.”
I had a million questions, but Erika’s hand was still on my arm, and she tightened her grip briefly, telling me to hold my tongue.
“Why was Hanna at the rally?” she asked.
“Blackmail. Before 1989, Hanna’s son was an informant for our lot,” answered Evelyn. “He reported on the peace movement for years. Kaminsky found out and told Krause that he’d make sure everyone found out about her son’s involvement with the Firm unless she endorsed Kaminsky at the rally. An impossible situation—whatever she did she’d lose her credibility. I suppose she hoped to at least save her son from being outed.”
“And I presume you have evidence of Kaminsky and the fascists working together?”
“It’s all here,” Evelyn said, tapping her long fingers on her Get Out Of Jail Free card. “I must say young Karo was very helpful, it’s thanks to her that we found out about Becker and Huber. We did a bit of digging and we’re satisfied there’s enough evidence for a prosecution.”
“So you were following me?” I was getting really pissed off now, half rising from the sofa, but Erika still had her hand on my arm and pulled me back down.
Meanwhile, Steinlein was watching what was happening with greedy eyes, his gaze constantly flicking back to the file on the table.
“You can have the file, but first we need to negotiate. If the authorities get their hands on me I’ll end up in prison again.” Evelyn fixed her baby-blues on Erika. “I need a new identity, new papers. Sort that out and I’ll go into retirement, make a new life far from Berlin. Would Thuringia be far enough for you? Or maybe the Baltic coast?”
“Why don’t you get your friends in the KGB to give you a new identity, you can go and live in Russia!” Her demands were making me even angrier.
“You know, young Karo, I think you and I have a lot in common. Why are you still in the GDR? Why haven’t you left? You could go West: Spain, France, America—world’s your oyster. But you’re still here. Why? Because you want to make a difference. You belong here, in the GDR. Just as I do—I belong, and I won’t go into exile, not to Russia, nor anywhere else.”
“You can’t be trusted,” I threw back. “If we let you stay in the GDR you’ll just carry on working to overthrow this grassroots democracy we’re building.”
Evelyn did her false laugh again, looking around at the men, checking for their approval. “Yes, I’ll carry on working against the fascists, but to be honest, they’re a spent force. If Kaminsky weren’t supporting them they’d have splintered and disbanded by now. As for your Round Tables, if Kaminsky doesn’t manage to get his bill through tomorrow then they’ll be unstoppable. As dear Dmitri never tires of saying,” she beamed in his direction, “decentralisation is the best defence against power grabs from the likes of me and my Chekist friends.”
“You know we can’t provide you with a new identity.” Erika said as Dmitri bowed his head in acknowledgement of Evelyn’s words.
“Naturally. However, you do know the right people,” Evelyn shifted her attention back to Erika and Dmitri was left in the shadows again. “You know people who can organise a new life for me.”
Erika nodded, thinking about Evelyn’s offer. After a while she turned to Dmitri.
“Have you seen this file? Does it have what we need?”
“I’ve seen it.” Dmitri held his hands out, embracing the whole room, grateful to be at the centre of it all, if just for a moment. “There are one or two gaps, a few empty spaces on the stage, that’s to be expected in a case like this. But there’s enough in there: photographs, phone records and transcripts. Kaminsky is canny enough not to trust the fascists, but foolish enough to have made written contracts with them. That file will save Martin, and quite probably your country too. Take the offer, it is the right time—Martin wouldn’t hesitate for a single moment and I urge you to do the same.”
More silence while Erika thought about this. I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know whether accepting Evelyn’s bargain would be the right the thing to do. Could we trust her? Should we put our faith in Dmitri’s judgement?
But Erika had already made a decision.
“It’s a deal,” she said.