A German Requiem

'But I lied about that,' I said insouciantly. 'I never saw Mnller. The only reason I signalled to Belinsky was because I wanted him and his men to come and help me save Veronika Zartl, the chocolady from the Oriental.'

'Yes, I admit that Belinsky's arrangements with you were less than perfect in their concept. But as it happens I know that you are lying now. You see, Belinsky really was at Grinzing with a team of agents. They were not of course Americans, but my own men. Every vehicle leaving the yellow house in Grinzing was followed including, I may say, your own. When Mnller and his friends discovered your escape they were so panic-stricken that they fled almost immediately. We simply tailed them, at a discreet distance, until they thought that they were safe again. Since then we have been able to positively identify Herr Mnller for ourselves. So you see? You did not lie.'

'But why didn't you just arrest him? What good is he to you if he's left at liberty?'

Poroshin made his face look shrewd.

'In my business, it is not necessarily politic always to arrest a man who is my enemy. Sometimes he can be many times more valuable if he is allowed to remain at large. From as early as the beginning of the war, Mnller was a double agent.

Towards the end of 1944 he was naturally anxious to disappear from Berlin altogether and come to Moscow. Well, can you imagine it, Herr Gunther? The head of the fascist Gestapo living and working in the capital of democratic socialism? If the British or American intelligence agencies were to have discovered such a thing they would undoubtedly have leaked this information to the world's press at some politically opportune moment. Then they would have sat back and watched us squirm with embarrassment. So, it was decided that Mnller could not come.

'The only problem was that he knew so much about us. Not to mention the whereabouts of dozens of Gestapo and Abwehr spies throughout the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He had first to be neutralized before we could turn him away from our door. So we tricked him into giving us the names of all these agents, and at the same time started to feed him with new information which, while of no help to the German war-effort, might prove of considerable interest to the Americans. It goes without saying that this information was also false.

'Anyway, all this time we continued to put off Mnller's defection, telling him to wait just a little longer, and that he had nothing to worry about. But when we were ready we allowed him to discover that for various political reasons his defection could not be sanctioned. We hoped that this would now persuade him to offer his services to the Americans, as others had done. General Gehlen for example. Baron von Bolschwing. Even Himmler although he was simply too well known for the British to accept his offer. And too crazy, yes?

'Perhaps we miscalculated. Perhaps Mnller left it too late and was unable to escape the eye of Martin Bormann and the SS who guarded the Fnhrerbunker. Who knows? Anyway, Mnller apparently committed suicide. This he faked, but it was quite a while before we could prove this to our own satisfaction. Mnller is a very clever man.

'When we learned about the Org we thought that it wouldn't be long before Mnller turned up again. But he stayed persistently in the shadows. There was the occasional, unconfirmed sighting, but nothing for certain. And then when Captain Linden was shot, we noticed from the reports that the serial number of the murder weapon was one which had been originally issued to Mnller. But this part you already know, I think.'

I nodded. 'Belinsky told me.'

'A most resourceful man. The family is Siberian, you know. They returned to Russia after the Revolution, when Belinsky was still a boy. But by then he was all-American, as they say. The whole family were soon working for NKVD. It was Belinsky's idea to pose as a Crowcass agent. Not only do Crowcass and CIC often work at cross purposes, but Crowcass is often staffed with CIC personnel. And it is quite common for the American military police to be left in ignorance of CIC/

Crowcass operations. The Americans are even more Byzantine in their organizational structures than we are ourselves. Belinsky was plausible to you; but he was also plausible, as an idea, to Mnller: enough to scare him out into the open when you told him that a Crowcass agent was on his trail; but not enough to scare him as far as South America, where he could be of no use to us.

After all, there are others in CIC, less fastidious about employing war-criminals than the people in Crowcass, whose protection Mnller could seek out.

'And so it has proved. Even as we speak Mnller is exactly where we want him: with his American friends in Pullach. Being useful to them. Giving them the benefit of his massive knowledge of Soviet intelligence structures and secret police methods. Boasting about the network of loyal agents he still believes are in place. This was the first stage of our plan to disinform the Americans.'

'Very clever,' I said, with genuine admiration, 'and the second?'

Poroshin's face adopted a more philosophical expression. 'When the time is right, it is we who shall leak some information to the world's press: that Gestapo Mnller is a tool of American Intelligence. It is we who will sit back and watch them squirm with embarrassment. It may be in ten years' time, or even twenty. But, provided Mnller stays alive, it will happen.'

'Suppose the world's press don't believe you?'

'The proof will not be so hard to obtain. The Americans are great ones for keeping files and records. Look at that Documents Centre of theirs. And we have other agents. Provided that they know where and what to look for, it will not be too difficult to find the evidence.'

'You seem to have thought of everything.'

'More than you will ever know. And now that I have answered your question, I have one for you, Herr Gunther. Will you answer it, please?'

'I can't imagine what I can tell you, Palkovnik. You're the player, not me. I'm just a knight in your Vienna gambit, remember?'

'Nevertheless, there is something.'

I shrugged. 'Fire away.'

'Yes,' he said, 'to return to the chess board for a moment. One expects to make sacrifices. Becker, for example. And you of course. But sometimes one encounters the unexpected loss of material.'

'Your queen?'

He frowned for a moment. 'If you like. Belinsky told me that it was you who killed Traudl Braunsteiner. But he was a very determined man in this whole affair. The fact that I had a personal interest in Traudl was of no special account to him. I know this to be true. He would have killed her without a second thought. But you 'I had one of my people in Berlin check you out at the US Documents Centre. You told the truth. You were never a Party member. And the rest of it is there too.

How you asked for a transfer out of the SS. That could have got you shot. So a sentimental fool, maybe. But a killer? I will tell you straight, Herr Gunther: my intellect says that you did not kill her. But I must know it here too.' He slapped his stomach. 'Perhaps here most of all.'

He fixed me with his pale blue eyes, but I did not flinch or look away.

'Did you kill her?'

'No.'

'Did you run her down?'

'Belinsky had a car, not me.'

'Say that you had no part in her murder.'

'I was going to warn her.'

Poroshin nodded. 'Da,' he said, 'dagavareelees (that's agreed). You are speaking the truth.'

'Slava bogu (Thank God).'

'You are right to thank him.' He slapped his stomach once again. 'If I had not felt it, I would have had to kill you as well.'