It was late as Peter and Bridget packed their bags. Bridget put some shirts in a suitcase as Peter entered the bedroom with his dirty laundry bag. They had decided to move out of the flat temporarily as a safety precaution.
“Which suit are you taking with you, Peter?”
“The new one.”
Bridget took the suit off the hanger and folded it into his suitcase.
“Have you got everything?” Bridget asked as she closed the case.
“Yes, I think so.”
“Bernie said to leave a light on.”
Across the street on the roof of an old warehouse, an NKVD watcher observed Peter’s flat and saw Bridget standing in the living room window before she turned away. He signalled to a second agent with white hair who started across the street towards Peter’s building.
At the door, Peter held Bridget’s coat for her and then put on his own. They left the flat and started down the stairs.
The white-haired agent waited near the entrance, listening to the sounds coming from the building. He could hear a radio on the first floor and footsteps on the stairs. He started up and soon ran into Peter and Bridget on their way down, carrying their bags. He nodded politely to them and continued on his way.
Peter whispered in Bridget’s ear.
“Who’s that?”
“A neighbour?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve never seen him before,” Peter said as they hurried down the stairs.
The agent had given the couple a head start, to avoid creating a situation inside the building with witnesses on every floor. He let them get ahead of him and then turned, following the noise of their footsteps on the stairs, as he descended to the ground floor.
He ran out into the street, looking for the couple. A man was parked near the curb and stuck his head out of a car door. With his hands raised, he indicated that he hadn’t seen their target exit the building.
Meanwhile, Peter and Bridget had slipped out the back door and ran down the alley to Bernie’s Opel parked out of sight.
“Everything all right, guv?” Bernie asked.
“There was a man on the stairs,” Peter said. “I never saw him before.”
“I couldn’t see anyone watching your flat, but I would assume they are.”
“They?” Bridget asked.
“These NKVD blokes don’t work alone, Bridget, there will be at least three of them.”
Bridget exchanged a look with Peter and then got into the back seat. Peter closed the door and got in next to Bernie in the front. They drove away and, after a short ride, pulled up in front of a hotel in Gamla Stan. Peter and Bridget went to the front desk to check in, while Bernie brought in their bags.
The following morning Peter was led down the hall by a secretary at the US Legation and entered a spacious office.
“Nice to see you again, Peter,” Wilho said, shaking hands.
“How are things?”
“Busy. Americans are flocking to Sweden to get in on the reconstruction planned for Germany.”
“Isn’t it a bit early to rebuild?” Peter asked. “There’s a humanitarian crisis going on.”
“Of course, but you know how Americans are.”
“So what will you do, Wilho, now that the war is over?”
“I don’t know, Peter, but a lot is happening. I heard from a Swedish colleague that a Luft Hansa Ju52 arrived this morning at Bromma. You know what they found on board?”
“No, I’m afraid not.”
“Six zinc-lined trunks with the warning ‘streng geheim’ and the Waffen-SS insignia stamped on them. They are believed to be Schellenberg’s top secret files.”
“It sounds to me like there is going to be a lot of horse trading going on,” Peter remarked.
“Yes, US Army intelligence in Frankfurt wants it all and they don’t care who they deal with,” Wilho said with a sly grin.
“London will surely be in on the bidding.”
Wilho nodded as his secretary brought in a carafe of coffee and cups. She poured the coffee and left. Peter took a sip and grimaced.
“Sorry about the coffee, Peter. American coffee is pretty bad, but our ambassador refuses to find a good Swedish supplier and has this stuff shipped in from the States.”
“I hear that our Finnish friends have moved all their radio intelligence personnel and cryptographic material to Sweden,” Peter said.
“Yes, the Stella Polaris operation was a huge success.”
Peter remembered that Colonel Hallamaa had described the plan to evacuate all Finnish radio intelligence personnel and equipment in the case of a Soviet occupation of the country. After the Soviets had signed an armistice with President Mannerheim in Helsinki, Colonel Hallamaa had activated the plan and brought over some 750 people, including intelligence officers and their families on four ships. They were now working for the Swedish government and any other clients they could find.
“A brilliant coup,” Peter said.
“Yes, it was,” Wilho said. “The RTK is selling a treasure trove of keys for deciphering Soviet army and NKVD codes to the Swedes and the Japanese.”
Peter sipped his coffee.
“I need your help, Wilho.”
“Sure, what can I do for you?”
“You know Jane Archer?” Peter asked. “She was brought in to interrogate the Soviet defector Krivitsky.”
“Of course, Peter. Jane is a legend at MI5.”
“I need a favour.”
Peter pulled out an envelope containing a copy of the Abwehr document he had received from Onodera and laid it on the desk.
“This envelope contains a secret document that I need you to send by diplomatic courier to Allen Dulles in Bern, Switzerland. You are not to look at it for your own security.”
“'For my own security', Peter?” Wilho said, wide-eyed.
“Let me just say that this is rather sensitive material and that there are certain people who might want to suppress its distribution. I mean it when I say for your own security. Knowledge of it could be dangerous.”
“Why don’t you send it yourself, Peter? You could send it in your own diplomatic bag.”
“I’m afraid I can’t. It would raise too many red flags. You’ll have to trust Jane and me on this. It won’t harm your career, nothing in the document will have any effect on the US mission in Sweden. That’s all I can say.”
Wilho looked down at the envelope as if it were suddenly red hot.
“OK, Peter. I owe you, but don’t ask me to do this again.”
“Thank you, Wilho.”