My buddy is constantly updating the Bureau files, and it seems he's got
legitimate access to the warehouse where the 'Hardcopy Only' stuff is.
He's probably digging through Zinoviev's file right now.'
Harry looked skeptical. 'Colonel, you realize that there may be nothing
on Zinoviev in that warehouse. If Zinoviev is cross-indexed to Hess,
his real file probably has a J classification too.'
'We'll find out soon enough,' Rose concluded. 'Let's get to the heart
of this mess-the Spandau papers.'
Harry glanced over at Schneider. 'I assume the Berlin police have
them?'
'Not exactly,' said Rose. 'Two Berlin police officers have them.'
Rose consulted a file on his desk. 'Hans Apfel, sergeant, age
twenty-seven; Dieter Hauer, captain, age fifty-five. Schneider here
thinks one of these two must have stumbled over the papers while they
were guarding the prison. He says this guy Hauer's a real piece of
workcounterterror training, the works. And he must be right. Not only
have these two escaped the city, they've escaped Germany. They flew out
of Frankfurt two hours ago.'
'What? How do you know that?'
While Schneider listened in silence, Rose summarized his actions after
receiving Harry's call. Rose had wanted to storm Abschnitt 53
with guns blazing, but Schneider had persuaded him to pursue a more
discreet course. The colonel's compromise had been a city wide
communications blanket of West Berlin, conducted by the Army Signal
Corps under the reserve powers held by the Allies since the Second World
War. Assets nominally dedicated to the Soviet target were reassigned to
cover all police communications traffic entering or leaving Berlin. Rose
was grinning as he revealed his b ou h.
'Six hours ago it paid off, Harry. We intercepted a call from the
Wolfsburg police to West Berlin police HQ. A traffic unit stopped a man
for speeding and reckless driving, and because they'd received reports
of shooting in the forest to the south the night before, they made a
routine search of the car. They hit the jackpot. The driver was a
forger from Hamburg. Right away the guy starts screaming how he's just
been blackmailed into manufacturing false passports for two West Berlin
cops. Claimed he knew Hauer personally, and he described Apfel to a T.'
-Did he have any idea where they were headed?' F asked.
Rose grinned. 'That ever-popular vacation spot, the Republic of South
Africa. Traveling as father and son. The forger also made passports
for two older guys who were with Hauer and Apfel, but traveling
separately. He didn't know their true identities or their destination,
but he gave us the names and numbers on all four fake passports.'
'Great. Who else knows that?'
'If our luck is holding, almost nobody. I called the Berlin police
presidium and used every authority short of the president to block the
relay of that information to Abschnitt 53.
I also let them know in no uncertain terms that I'd know if they tried.'
Harry sat in silence for nearly a full minute. 'South Africa,' he said
finally. 'Is there anything that connects any of what's happened to
South Africa in any wayt' 'As a matter of fact, there is. My little
high-tech offensive included pulling the telephone toll records of
certain West Berlin police facilities. We found several calls from the
police presidium going out to different numbers in South Africa. Some
of those calls were made from the office Of the prefect himself.'
'Holy shit. Do you have names to go with the numbers?'
'I should have them within twenty-four hours. For once I happen to have
an exotic contact-a major in the South African secret service.'
'That's not soon enough, Colonel.'
'That's as soon as we can get it, Major And that's if we're lucky.'
Harry stood. 'You've got to get me down there, Colonel.
Whatever's going down, it's going to happen there.'
Rose shook his head. 'I can't send you, Harry.'
'Why not?'
'You heard me. That's not our turf of even Close. We can't prove that
this thing endangers @can Also, we're not too popular down there right
now, in case you haven't noticed. Not since @ sanctions were put in
effect and half our industry pulled out of @. @ Army's not going to let
me send you down from here just because the Soviets are interested! They
kidnapped me, for Christ's sake.
There's something big going on, Colonel, I can feel it. The reason you
can't find out anything about this Phoenix is that it isn't based here.
it must be in South Africa. This isn't just some legacy from the past
... Can't you feel it?'
'I feel it,' Detective Schneider said softly.
Rose drained his second whiskey, stood, and laid his stubby hands flat
on the desktop. 'I feel it too, Harry, but my hands are tied.
I've got half of Bonn and all of Berlin breathing down my neck to
prevent any kind of international incident. Officially, I can't do a
thing.'
Harry stared curiously at Rose. He sensed some implied communication,
but he couldn't quite pin it down. Suddenly the answer came clear as
ice water. 'Grant me two weeks leave, Colonel,' he said.
'I've got it coming.'
Rose grinned. 'That you do, Major. That you do.'
'Can you get me a military flight?'
'Negative.'
'But it's probably a fifteen-hour flight by commercial carrier!'
'Eleven on Lufthansa,' Rose corrected. 'Fourteen via South African
Air.'
'That's still too long!'
'You're lucky to get a flight at all, Harry. Most airlines only fly
there once a week. Your flight leaves Frankfurt at two Pm.
tomorrow.'
Harry shook his head in exasperation, then grinned in spite of himself.
'By the time I get there, I want some names tied to those telephone
numbers.'
'You'll have 'em.' Abruptly, Rose slammed an open hand down on his
desk. His face showed puzzlement, exhaustion, frustration.
'Goddamnit Harry, what the hell is going on?
