Brano leaned closer. “I didn’t hear that.”
“I said that you’ve done more than enough for the cause of socialism. I’m not going to lose one of my closest friends. Just tell me what you know and we’ll put you on a plane.”
In a whisper, Brano outlined the plot as he understood it. A league of men trying to start a revolution on Pentecost. “The Committee for Liberty in the Captive Nations. One of the conspirators, Bertrand Richter, tried to sell the plans to the Russians. Lochert learned of this. He had photographs of KGB agents in the apartment Bertrand Richter bought for Dijana Frankovic. Lochert used Yalta Boulevard to get rid of Richter and protect the conspiracy, as well as himself. He was GAVRILO all along. Dijana Frankovic was never a spy.”
Cerny nodded at the screen, where a bird hovered against dark clouds, then a Crusade soldier rested on a barren beach; subtitles told them what happened when the Lamb opened the seventh seal. “Go on.”
“It’s become clear that everything is in place for the fourteenth of May. My father’s operatives are already in the country, waiting for the moment to attack.”
Cerny squinted at him. “Your father? I thought he was dead.”
“I did, too. His new name is Andrew Stamer.”
“Andrew Stamer? Christ. Are you all right?”
Brano leaned closer. “What?”
“It must have been a shock.”
“I’ve gotten over it,” he said, unsure if that was a lie. “But the crucial point is that someone in the Ministry is working with him. Last June this person helped my father enter our country, and they visited the Vamosoroszi test reactor together.”
“June?”
Brano nodded. “This is what separates his plan from Frank Wisner’s operations. Wisner never had a highly placed insider. If we find this person, the whole thing might fall apart.”
Cerny squinted at him, taking this in.
“Now you,” said Brano. “You have to tell me what’s going on.”
“Sounds like you’ve figured it all out, One-Shot. We first learned of the plot from the Russians, who had gotten what they knew from Richter.” He grinned. “If that bastard hadn’t been so greedy, wasting time trying to raise the price for his information, it would have ended last August.”
“So you knew about it that long ago? And you didn’t tell me?”
“All we knew was that something substantial was going on. The only name Richter had given the Russians was Filip Lutz. At the same time, our Vienna network was being decimated by the Austrians, and we felt that if you could reconstruct it by finding GAVRILO, then we’d be able to deal with this properly. But we all know how that tour of duty ended.”
Brano touched his shaved scalp. “But if you knew Richter had information, then why did you give the order for him to be executed?”
“We didn’t know,” said Cerny. “I guess the Russians knew we had a mole, because they wouldn’t tell us who their informant was.” He licked his lips. “Anyway, it was the Comrade Lieutenant General’s decision to kill Richter.”
“And what about Bieniek?”
“Who?”
“Jakob Bieniek, the man I was framed for killing.” Cerny again looked at the screen. “He was the key to getting us inside. We knew about this Andrew Stamer, that he wanted to get you west, through Jan Soroka, but we didn’t know why. We certainly didn’t know who he was.”
“How did you learn that he wanted to bring me west?”
“Josef Lochert. He said you would only be held a short time and then be given freedom within Vienna. That was Andrew-your father’s-deal with the Abwehramt.” Cerny wrinkled his eyes. “Your father? ”
Brano nodded.
“Well, we decided to use their plan against them, but since you would be interrogated, we couldn’t brief you. You’d come to Vienna, and then you’d be able to get rid of Lutz.”
“But I’m telling you,” said Brano, “Lutz isn’t controlling the operation. He’s better to us alive.”
“That may be true, but at the time we thought otherwise. The Lieutenant General wanted Lutz dead. You were the one man I knew I could trust to do this.”
“But I failed.”
On the screen, Death told the Crusader that, yes, he was quite a skillful chess player.
“You were faced with unprecedented complications, Brano. It’s not your fault. I know this. You can go home without shame.”
“And the inside man?”
Cerny cleared his throat. “Let me make some calls from the embassy. I have friends at home who can make inquiries.”
“What can I do?”
“You can go home, Brano. I’ve got papers for you, and there’s an eleven o’clock flight tonight. I’ll drive you- I’ve got a diplomatic car.”
“And you?”
He sighed. “I’m going to kill Filip Lutz.”
“But I told you-”
The colonel raised a hand. “It doesn’t matter if he’s important or not. If we don’t get rid of Lutz, suspicion in Yalta is going to fall on you-don’t forget that. You don’t have evidence, only speculation. Lutz’s death will buy us time to collect evidence on the mole in the Ministry.”
Brano looked at his hands on his knees, then said, “No.”
“What?”
“I killed Lochert. I dropped out of contact for a long time. I even gave information to the Austrians. When I spoke with the Lieutenant General, it was clear. If I go back now, it’ll be to a firing squad,” he said, realizing he was echoing his father’s words.
Cerny considered this, his face impassive. “Perhaps you’re right. Okay. Stay in Vienna until it’s done, and I’ll tell them you took care of Lutz. That should help your case.”
“I don’t want you to lie for me.”
“I don’t mind lying for you, One-Shot.”
“They’ll interrogate you.”
Cerny gave him a pained expression. “If you insist, I’ll let you do it. Tomorrow morning. Can you get to the Schonbrunn Palace at nine-thirty? Lutz is meeting someone there at ten.”
“Who’s he meeting?”
Cerny smiled. “He thinks he’s meeting Andrew, your father. But we’ll be there instead. At the Roman Ruins. You know where that is?”
“Of course.”
“Are you staying at the hotel tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Fine,” said Cerny. He looked up to where the Crusader and his assistant were riding horses along the shore. “You know, I always hated this movie.”
Brano returned to the Kaiserin Elisabeth, nodded at the bellboy, and took his key from the woman at the front desk. In his room, he pulled the curtains shut and lay down for an afternoon nap. There was nothing to do but wait for the execution of Filip Lutz, then the flight back home. For the first time in months, he felt he knew what tomorrow had in store.
Yalta Boulevard, like any office in the world, was riddled with alliances and feuds. One vice of the dictatorship of the proletariat was that absolute power led inevitably to favoritism, cadres, and corruption. Those in the Ministry devoted to the original ideals had to be vigilant in order to keep the Ministry pure. This in turn led to schisms and power struggles. The ideals of the Ministry, like socialism itself, were under constant threat. For twenty years, Brano had remained in Cerny’s camp, and together they had fought skirmishes to hold on to their positions. The only difference between their office and most others in the world was that when they lost a skirmish, they could end up dead.
