Currently, she was following Mr. Müller, whom she already knew to be a Stasi informant. Her job, given to her by this young officer, was to follow him at a distance and spy on his meetings with his own Stasi officer. She had no doubt Mr. Müller’s officer knew that she was there, as he gave regular reports on Lena. “She follows too closely,” one report said; “She looks around awkwardly when M turns,” another divulged. Lena took these critiques to heart, and learned from them the very best she could.
“That is enough,” Lena’s officer interrupted her again. “You are doing very well, Lena. M’s officer reports that you are finally learning how to tail correctly.”
“I’ve been working very hard at it,” she replied, feeling good about herself.
“You still have a ways to go, however. Remember what I told you about ‘heat levels.’”
Heat levels was a simple concept and referred to how hot you were on the tail. If the person you were tailing interacted with you in any way (scanning in your direction, slowing to listen for footsteps, looking directly at you, being in one place for too long), you were too hot and received a strike, raising your heat level. Once you reached ten strikes, or ‘heat levels’, you simply walked away. Better to give up and pick up the trail later than to never be able to pick it up without being instantly recognized.
“I remembered.” Lena smiled, proud of herself.
Did you notice anyone on your way to meet with me?” Patrick asked with skepticism in his voice.
Lena thought about it hard. Counter-surveillance training was difficult for her. For one, it never naturally occurred to her that she might be followed. So, she had to constantly remind herself to keep a sharp lookout. Second, it was difficult to naturally look over your own shoulder to scan for anyone without arousing suspicion.
“I noticed someone in a red hat,” she said, awkwardly.
“Wrong. This one was wearing a brown jacket.”
“Everyone wears a brown jacket!” Lena replied, trying to keep from moving too much.
“Yes… that’s the point—to blend in. If he was wearing a red hat, he wouldn’t.”
“But the last one was!”
“That’s because you stink at counter-surveillance,” he replied, matter-of-factly.
Lena was trying. She really was. But this new realm she had found herself in was so foreign and hard for her to navigate. It didn’t really come down to specific clothing like red hats or brown jackets. You were looking at everyone for everything. You had to memorize the outfits of everyone you saw, and keep a rolling list of which outfits you saw more than others. This was impossible. As far as she knew, shadow people were constantly following her everywhere she went, and it really wore on her nerves. More unnerving still was the fact that she never saw any of these shadow people (unless they were wearing an obvious red hat). The old Lena would have taken that to mean that those people weren’t there. Now she understood they were always there; she just didn’t see them.
“I won’t ask if you used the alternate route since you didn’t see your tail this time,” her officer continued, “But did you take the proper first route?”
“I did!” Lena smiled, trying to appear as normal as possible. “Around the corner store, stop outside the bank, left on 9th, three blocks on the right side of the road, right on 6th, two blocks on the left side, and then backtrack a block to the cafe.”
“And with all of that, you still didn’t manage to see him?” her officer replied, annoyed.
“Well…”
“It’s not a big deal,” he reassured her. “We’ve got plenty of time, but if you don’t start improving in a month, I’m going to put an officer on you 24/7 until you learn.”
Secretly, Lena figured she was already being followed 24/7, but she didn’t admit to it.
“I may just do that anyway…” he continued, “I can see that this stresses you out. You need to get used to being followed so that you appear more natural. Have you found our camera yet?”
Dammit, this was the most annoying thing in the entire world. The stupid Stasi and their stupid hidden camera in her stupid apartment. Just the thought of it made her want to jump out of a window. As soon as Lena had been released from prison she had been informed that her apartment was bugged. This wasn’t surprising. Bugging houses was the Stasi’s bread-and-butter for suspected dissidents and informants alike. However, Grandfather had informed her that if she found the hidden camera, it would be removed and she would be rewarded with a bug-free apartment from there on out. She spent hours every day looking for the damn thing. She pulled all of the books off the shelf, looked under all the vases and checked under her bed. She even looked inside the fridge. No matter how hard she tried, though, the thing completely evaded her notice.
“No,” she replied, showing much annoyance.
“Well, let me ask you this,” the young officer said, amused by her temper, “what are you looking for, exactly?”
“A camera.”
“You are looking for a camera that’s hidden?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you looking for a camera that’s hidden?”
“Because… because…” she honestly didn’t understand why he would ask her such a stupid question.
“Let me try this another way. What do you think a camera is going to look like?”
“A camera,” she said, trying not to sound as insolent as she felt. “A small black thing with a lens on the front. How many ways can a camera look?”
“Alright,” he began again, laughing. “So we’ve hidden a camera in your apartment. Right?”
“Right,” she responded, fuming.
“A camera that we don’t want you to find, right?”
“Right,” she responded, exasperated.
“Have you ever thought that maybe the hidden camera wouldn’t look like a camera?”
For a second, Lena considered hitting something. It was really frustrating how dumb he thought she was—asking her what she honestly thought a camera looked like… what a stupid question! Everyone knew what a camera looked like. Yet as she settled in to his last question, her thoughts stopped in their tracks. Now that he had asked her that last question… well, it had never occurred to her before that a camera would look like anything other than a camera, or that a ‘hidden’ camera could actually be concealed in plain sight and that it could literally look like anything. A pencil, perhaps… a book… maybe—it could be anything.
“…no,” she replied, hating the entire world.
“Lena?”
“Yes?”
“Start thinking, ok?”
“Alright.”
After Lena agreed with him, he tapped the top of his wrist as if checking to make sure a non-existent watch was still running. This had become a signal between the two that she had become quite aware of during her training. The signal vaguely meant, ‘This is an important thing you need to focus on’, or more generally, ‘spy stuff is currently afoot’.
“Now, let’s talk about what you’re wearing.”
“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Lena asked, feeling insulted.
“Again, we’re not here to draw attention. I can see the top of your tits. And if I’ve noticed, everyone else has too. We are out on a date at a cafe, and you look like you want attention. Men will try to listen in to figure out lies to tell you after I have left.”