the speeding car, Charles Mawby felt a faint and winnowing chill. Why did the wretched man start with the difficulties? Mawby had spoken in London of the feasibility of the concept, he had not lingered on the ruts and pot-holes in the road.
'How tight is our group ?'
'How long is an Irish mile, Mr Mawby? The bad ones don't last, and this one has survived, that's on his side. Security is always going to be the greatest strain though. If nobody knows of them then they don't attract the trade, and they're commercial, so they need an order list. In a vague way they have to go out and tout for business. They have to be known, and the BND knows about our merchant.'
'You've called me over to meet this man, so what tells you he has the necessary security factor to be suitable for us ?'
His politics. He detests them over there, detests and loathes them.
His whole life is kicking them, and around him are like-minded people. To you and me his pay-roll is made up of thugs and fascists ...
It wouldn't be simple to infiltrate that kind of group.'
'That makes sense.' Mawby sighed a bellows blast of relief. The start of the good news, but the moment was short.
'You have to understand, Mr Mawby, that if you launch with this man you can expect us to be alone with him. Even if we subsequently change stance and request it, we'll get no help from BND. The authorities aren't friendly with these people. From the Chancellor down they're condemned. They're seen as jeopardising the free flow along the autobahn, the Soviets are for ever threatening that if Bonn doesn't take a firmer hand, stamp them out, then new controls will be asserted on the autobahn. They're an embarrassment to government here, the groups stand in the way of the gradual thaw in East and West German relations, so they're just not wanted. It's not an area where we'd have active co-operation.'
Mawby turned to watch the How of growing crops and grass shudder past him, felt the trembling roar of an over- taking articulated lorry and trailer.
' I suppose we couldn't do this ourselves?' Mawby be- trayed his unhappiness.
'You could, but you take a risk.'
'Explain yourself.'
'If you have a car with a British driver and you have German passengers with German documentation then you invite inspection. You couldn't give British paperwork to Germans and just hope they weren't singled for questioning, and if it were blown . . .
Good grief, they'd be scuttling for cover in Outer Mongolia.'
'Quite so.'
'You have to be distant from it, Mr Mawby. Distant from the group and above everything distant from the driver, so the leads and traces back are stifled.'
Mawby looked across at Percy, but the eyes were fixed on the road. Of course he was right and he could afford to be, because it wasn't down to him, the responsibility wasn't going to find its way to Adam Percy's pudgy back.
'How long do we have, before you want the pick-up made?'
'Our man is unavailable after the fifteenth of June,' Mawby said.
'That's sharp.'
'It has to be done in that time.'
'Not much scope for rehearsal, not before the first night. You'll have to hope everybody learns their lines by the curtain lift.'
'It has to be done in that time.'
'So be it,' said Percy. 'Perhaps we should wish each other luck, Mr Mawby.'
They bumped over the cobbled streets of Bonn, were held by traffic lights, cramped by cars as they crawled towards the south side of the city. Mawby had nothing more to say, nothing before the meeting was joined.
'Will your father take any work with him to Magdeburg?'
'Only if there were something very pressing. Only if there was a problem at Padolsk would they contact him.'
'While he's in Magdeburg is he subject to surveillance?'
'A guard, a policeman watching him? ... I don't think so. Never before.
But like every outsider, every visitor, his documents must go to Strasse der Jugend . . .'
'What's that, Willi?'
'To the offices of the City police. For the stamp.'
'Would the Soviet
'How tight is our group ?'
'How long is an Irish mile, Mr Mawby? The bad ones don't last, and this one has survived, that's on his side. Security is always going to be the greatest strain though. If nobody knows of them then they don't attract the trade, and they're commercial, so they need an order list. In a vague way they have to go out and tout for business. They have to be known, and the BND knows about our merchant.'
'You've called me over to meet this man, so what tells you he has the necessary security factor to be suitable for us ?'
His politics. He detests them over there, detests and loathes them.
His whole life is kicking them, and around him are like-minded people. To you and me his pay-roll is made up of thugs and fascists ...
It wouldn't be simple to infiltrate that kind of group.'
'That makes sense.' Mawby sighed a bellows blast of relief. The start of the good news, but the moment was short.
'You have to understand, Mr Mawby, that if you launch with this man you can expect us to be alone with him. Even if we subsequently change stance and request it, we'll get no help from BND. The authorities aren't friendly with these people. From the Chancellor down they're condemned. They're seen as jeopardising the free flow along the autobahn, the Soviets are for ever threatening that if Bonn doesn't take a firmer hand, stamp them out, then new controls will be asserted on the autobahn. They're an embarrassment to government here, the groups stand in the way of the gradual thaw in East and West German relations, so they're just not wanted. It's not an area where we'd have active co-operation.'
Mawby turned to watch the How of growing crops and grass shudder past him, felt the trembling roar of an over- taking articulated lorry and trailer.
' I suppose we couldn't do this ourselves?' Mawby be- trayed his unhappiness.
'You could, but you take a risk.'
'Explain yourself.'
'If you have a car with a British driver and you have German passengers with German documentation then you invite inspection. You couldn't give British paperwork to Germans and just hope they weren't singled for questioning, and if it were blown . . .
Good grief, they'd be scuttling for cover in Outer Mongolia.'
'Quite so.'
'You have to be distant from it, Mr Mawby. Distant from the group and above everything distant from the driver, so the leads and traces back are stifled.'
Mawby looked across at Percy, but the eyes were fixed on the road. Of course he was right and he could afford to be, because it wasn't down to him, the responsibility wasn't going to find its way to Adam Percy's pudgy back.
'How long do we have, before you want the pick-up made?'
'Our man is unavailable after the fifteenth of June,' Mawby said.
'That's sharp.'
'It has to be done in that time.'
'Not much scope for rehearsal, not before the first night. You'll have to hope everybody learns their lines by the curtain lift.'
'It has to be done in that time.'
'So be it,' said Percy. 'Perhaps we should wish each other luck, Mr Mawby.'
They bumped over the cobbled streets of Bonn, were held by traffic lights, cramped by cars as they crawled towards the south side of the city. Mawby had nothing more to say, nothing before the meeting was joined.
'Will your father take any work with him to Magdeburg?'
'Only if there were something very pressing. Only if there was a problem at Padolsk would they contact him.'
'While he's in Magdeburg is he subject to surveillance?'
'A guard, a policeman watching him? ... I don't think so. Never before.
But like every outsider, every visitor, his documents must go to Strasse der Jugend . . .'
'What's that, Willi?'
'To the offices of the City police. For the stamp.'
'Would the Soviet
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