“You won’t get anything there. Blood out of a stone. You’ll be at the camp later? Ought to be quite a blowout.”
“Why?”
“Haven’t you heard? The Rising Sun’s about to set. They’re just waiting for the cable. Be all over then but the shouting, won’t it? Six bloody years.”
“Yeah, all over.”
“Cheers,” Brian said, lifting his eyes toward Sikorsky as he raised his glass. “Watch your back. Killed his own men, that one did.”
“Says who?”
“Everybody. Ask him.” He drained the glass. “Actually, better not. Just watch the back.”
Jake clamped him on the shoulder and moved away. Sikorsky was standing now, waiting for him. He didn’t offer to shake hands, just nodded as Jake took off his hat and placed it on the table facing his, brim to brim, as if even the hats expected a standoff.
“A colleague?” Sikorsky said, sitting down.
“Yes.”
“He drinks too much.”
“He just pretends to. It’s an old newspaperman’s trick.”
“The British,” Sikorsky said, flicking an ash. “Russians drink for real.” He poured a glass from the vodka bottle and pushed it toward Jake, his own eyes clear and sober. “Well, Mr. Geismar, you have your meeting. But you don’t speak.” He took a puff from his brown cigarette, holding Jake’s eyes. “Something is wrong?”
“I’ve never looked at a man who wanted to kill me before. It’s a strange feeling.”
“You weren’t in the war, then. I’ve looked at hundreds. Of course, they also looked at me.”
“Including Russians?” Jake said, poking for a reaction. “I heard you killed your own men.”
“Not Russians. Saboteurs,” he said easily, unaffected.
“Deserters, you mean.”
“There were no deserters at Stalingrad. Only saboteurs. It was not an option. Is this what you want to discuss? The war? You know nothing about it. We held the line. Guns in front, guns at your back. A powerful inducement to fight. It was necessary to win. And we did win.”
“Some of you did.”
“Let me tell you a story, since you are interested. We had to supply the line from across the Volga, and the Germans had the shore covered from the cliffs. We unload the boats, they shoot at us. But we had to unload. So we used boys. Not soldiers. We used the children.”
“And?”
“They shot them.”
Jake looked away. “What’s your point?”
“That you cannot possibly know what it was like. You cannot know what we had to do. We had to make ourselves steel. A few saboteurs? That was nothing. Nothing.”
“I wonder if they thought so.”
“You’re being sentimental. We didn’t have that luxury. Ah,” he said to the waiter, handing him some coupons. “Two. There is no menu, I’m afraid. You like cabbage soup?” “It’s one of my favorites.”
Sikorsky raised his eyebrows, then waved the waiter away. “It’s as Gunther says. Fond of jokes. A cynic, like all sentimentalists.” “You’ve discussed me with him.”
“Of course. Such a curious mix. Persistent. What did you want? That, I still don’t know.” “Did you pay him too?”
“To discuss you?” A thin smile. “Don’t concern yourself. He is not corrupt. A thief, but not corrupt. Another sentimentalist.” “Maybe we don’t want to be steel.”
“Then you will not win,” Sikorsky said simply. “You’ll break.”
Jake sat back, staring at the hard soldier’s face, the shine of sweat literally metallic in the bright light. “Tell me something,” he said, almost to himself. “What happens when it’s over?” The old question, turned around. “The Japanese are going to surrender. What happens to it all then? All the steel?”
Sikorsky looked at him, intrigued. “Does it feel over to you?”
Before he could say anything, the waiter came with the food, his frayed white sleeve too long for him, almost dipping into the soup. Sikorsky began to eat noisily, not bothering to put out his cigarette.
“So, shall we begin?” he said, dropping a chunk of bread into, the soup. “You want to make conditions, you say, but you really have no intention of bringing Frau Brandt to us. So what are you playing at?”
“What makes you say that?” Jake said, thrown off-balance.
“She’s the woman I met in the Linden? Not just a friend, I think.” He shook his head. “No, no intention.”
“You’re wrong,” Jake said, trying to keep his voice firm.
“Please. But it’s of no importance. I’m not interested in whether Herr Brandt has his wife. Pleasant for him, perhaps; of no importance to me. You see, you have brought the wrong thing to the table. Next time, try coal, something that’s wanted. You can’t negotiate with this.”
“Then why haven’t you moved him?”
“I have moved him. The minute you told me where he was. If you knew, perhaps others know too. A precaution. Of course, perhaps not. You work on your own, Gunther says. He admires that in you. A man like himself, maybe. But he’s a fool.” He looked up from the soup. “We are not fools. So many make that mistake. The Germans, until we destroyed them.” He took the soaked piece of bread into his mouth and sucked it.
“But you kept him in Berlin,” Jake said, not letting it go.
“Yes. Too long. That was your Lieutenant Tully. Keep him, I may need his help, he said. A mistake.”
“Help in doing what?”
“Get the others,” Sikorsky said simply.
“Emil would never—”
“You think not? Don’t be too sure what a man will do. But as it happens, I agree with you. Not like Tully. Now there was a man who would do anything.”
“Like use Lena. To make Emil help.”
“I thought this too-that it was his plan. So, as you say, I looked for her-the bargaining chip. But now I see it was a mistake. Tully didn’t know.”
“Know what?”
“About you. What use is a wife with another man? No use. The unfaithful Frau Brandt. You see, Mr. Geismar, you have come on a fool’s errand. You offer her-you pretend to offer her-but I want his colleagues, not his wife. She’s of no use to me anymore. She never was, it seems. Thank you for clarifying this matter. It’s time Brandt left Berlin. There’s no reason to keep him here now. Not at Burgstrasse. You knew that how? ”
“He was seen,” Jake said.
“By the Americans? Well, as I thought-better to move him. And he has work to do. A mistake, this waiting. Eat your soup, it’s getting cold.”
“I don’t want it.”
“You don’t mind, then?” Sikorsky reached over to switch the plates. “To waste food—”
“Help yourself,” Jake said, his mind still wandering, trying to sort things out. The bargaining chip. But Tully hadn’t looked for her. He’d gone to the Document Center. Had Sikorsky known? Still giving away nothing, eating soup. Behind them, Brian’s table had got louder, glasses clinking in a toast, a spurt of laughter reaching him like an echo as he stared at the soup plate. You’ve brought the wrong thing to the table.
“Why did you ask me here, then?”
“It was you who asked me,” Sikorsky said blandly, tipping his plate to spoon the soup.
“And you thought it would be amusing to tell me to go fly a kite.”
“Amusing, no. I’m not so fond of jokes as you. An idea of mine. A different negotiation. Something we both want. Shall I surprise you?” Try me.
“I’m going to take you to Emil Brandt.”
Jake looked down quickly, not trusting his own reaction. A white tablecloth, stained, Sikorsky’s blunt fingers resting against the spoon.
“Really. And why would you want to do that?”
