The Conduct of Major Maxim

Chapter 27

Mina Linnarz-or Eismarkor Kroneor Schickert or her real name in the Dales – lay with her eyes half-closed under the dim light in the van, breathing with a slight rasp but steadily and deeply. The mousy sharpness of the little neat face was unfocused by wrinkles, the hair a thin grey tangle, no longer peroxided for a far more urgent reason than to look truly Aryan. Even if the American officer hadn't wax-pencilled out the young mother in the Dornhausen photograph, probably nobody could have recognised her now. And Gustavhad stifled even that chance by coming back to steal the photograph.

But no matter. There would be other proof- now they knew what to prove. There would be, in some other Standesamt, the real death certificate of the real Brigitte Krone to prove she died young and not in the parish where her birth certificate was filed. That – and her being an orphan – had been why the Communist underground had picked her to create a new Brigitte. Just as they had created a new Rainer Schickert from the real one whose birth and death certificates were also in different Standesamter. That was standard technique, just as uncovering it would be. No need for truth drugs.

(But what if Sims had found the time for truth drugs? Agnes smiled as she thought how eagerly Mina musthave confessed to the simple murder Sims's unit had invented for her and Gustav!)

Oh yes, we will prove it, Agnes thought. But we won't understand it. We shall never know what really happened. A brieflust, or compassion, or even real love between two parent-less children? Or just loneliness? God must forgive much that stems from that most terrible of all troubles. There lies a little old lady whose story I would rather understand than any other in all the computers and files of our registry. But now nobody will understand it, because even Mina and Gustavwill have lost the understanding under the fibrosis of shame and deceit.

The radio crackled faintly and Maxim grabbed for it. "Go. "

He thought he could hear Caswell muttering across a crackling infinity, but couldn't be sure.

"Jim, get out of there. Call me when you're clear of the docks."

The radio crackled back. Those things had very little power or range; even the Army's 350 set only went five kilometres reliably, and they must be that far from the docks at least.

Slowly and loudly, Maxim called:"Get – out – of- there -Call – when – you – are – dear."

"HEY YOU BREAKERS, ARE YOU PLAYING COPS AND ROBBERS OR SOMETHING? AND CAN ANYBODY JOIN IN?"

Whoever it was must have had an illegally long aerial wrapped around his car or truck, and probably an illegal booster as well. His contribution came through like the chimes of Big Ben.

It merely infuriated Maxim. It made Jim grab for theoff switch so suddenly – and he was using the radio right-handed, because of his stiff left elbow, which went against all his training – that he lost it. He had climbed onto a stack of timber some earlier ship had unloaded, perhaps eight feet high, and the walkie-talkie tumbled down the irregularly stacked planks like a staircase, lodged a few feet above the dock, and said: "DOES ANYBODY COPY?"

Caswell took out the revolver and began planning which way to move.

Maxim Came around the van. "What do we do with these two now? I want to get moving."

"I don't think it matters, not any more. They can go to East Germany or stay or whatever. Eismark isn't going to cook up any scandal about our people defecting, not once he knows we've got Plainsong. We just have to get that word to him."

"We can use the van radio. They're probably listening out at that end."

The Bedford's radio was a bigger affair, roughly built-in, and using the private military 30-70 megahertz band. So perhaps Sims had robbed the Secret Service stores after all.

He picked up the microphone, then hesitated. "I don't know just how to put this. It'd be a sight easier on the telephone."

"Make a date to talk on the phone, then. In the morning. He can't sail until midday anyway. "

"That's right." He pressed the transmit button on the microphone."Seesperling.'"

He had called several more times before a voice said:"Ja. Erwin, bis Du das?"It was distant, but much better than the CB walkie-talkies.

"No. I want to speak to Gustav Eismark, please."

The radio just hummed. Then Sims said: "Major Maxim, I think."

"Right. We've got the van and everything. None of your people got hurt. It's all over. Can I speak to Gustav Eismark, please?"

"Not quite all over, Major. We have a friend of yours. I do not know his name, but he had a radio and a pistol. He is being questioned."

Maxim and Agnes looked at each other. "They captured Jim. Goddamn."

"Exchange him for the two goons."

"Yes." He picked up the microphone."Seesperling."

"Go ahead, Major."

"We'll do an exchange. Your two for my one."

"Stand by. I have to ask the Colonel."

"What? What Colonel?"

Sims seemed to pause fractionally. "Colonel Manfred Eismark," he said carefully."Gustav Eismarkis not here. Standby."

Maxim let out a long breath. "Damn. I should have thought of Sims going for Manfred; I knew he knew him. Far easier for an SSD man to sneak out of East Germany than a top politician… and he'd be more used to deals like this. Sims said he wouldn't mind getting a bill of goods on his own father. A bit of a nutter."

"And now we know why. Those genetics aren't going to help him in his future career – if anybody knows about them. You realise we've got a bill of goods on both father and son? Plainsong's come off better than anybody even hoped."

"Not yet it hasn't. There's weeks of paperwork before we could prove a thing and we need itnow. To get Jim back. "

Blagg was waiting permission-to-speak. "Is that right, sir? They've got Jim?"

"Yes. I'm trying to work an exchange."

"We could just go and take him back. "

"Stay cool. It's been a quiet night so far, and there's one thing we didn't find in the van. "

"Yer…" Blagg had momentarily forgotten the silenced submachine gun. "What do we do?"

"Wait."

They waited, and Sims came on the air. "Major – we want also Mina Linnarz."

"No chance. No chance at all."

"Standby."

Agnes found she had lit a cigarette, but only from the annoyed hisses of Maxim and Blagg, worried about the dazzle of her lighter on their night vision. She dropped it and trod it out.

Sims came in: "Major. All right. Just my two men. Cometothe ship."

Maxim looked at Agnes. She said: "Somewhere public, middle of town, where he won't want to risk any shooting. "

"Theship's the place he won't want any shooting. Not with Colonel Eismark on board."

"Major?"

"Okay. The ship, twenty minutes. I don't want to see anybody but you and him. "

"Twenty minutes. Okay. Out."

Agnes said: "He's going to try something. He didn't push for us giving him Mina, and she's his ticket to ride."

"He still doesn't want any shooting."

Blagg had the Goole street map. "That bridge we come over, the last one, and Bridge Street – I mean, it's the only way back into town. They could know that. "

"But they don't know the Renault. We could be anybody."

"That's right…"

"Agnes – you take the old girl, probably in the Metro, I imagine you'd prefer that to the Bedford -"

"Harry, how are you two going to cope with that lot?"

"Look – apart from Mina and Gustav, you and me are the only two people who know about Plainsong, the truth of it…"

"I can change that the minute I get to a phone."

"Right, so do that. But what else do you suggest? – you're the little girl who skips pistol practice. "

"We could quit while we're ahead. We've done ninety-nine per cent of the job and a lot more than Scott-Scobie deserves. Now we just go. They'll almost certainly let Sergeant Caswell go, whatever we do."

"I've heard things about Colonel Eismark… and Jim's the only cardthey've got now."

But it was still one of the oldest military problems in the world. You gain your objective by high morale, troops knowing they won't be let down, wasted or abandoned. You also gain your objective by being ready to accept casualties, sending out men who won't come back, abandoning some because to save one might mean losing three or four more. It might even be a good idea to stop all wars until that paradox was worked out. But this wasn't a war. It was just Jim Caswell being persuaded to help out and…

Maxim said: "Sims could play it straight. He wants these two back; he's very loyal to his own people."

"It isn't difficult being loyal to your own people," Agnes said pointedly. "The tricky bit is being loyal to an idea. Anyway, he isn't in charge on that ship."

"Colonel Eismark's got more to lose if he's caught here and identified."

"Harry – they just want to grab you or Blagg to give themselves a second card."

"We don't grab easy."

Under her breath Agnes said so'mething thatsounded like 'fucking supermen' but, given her upbringing, obviously couldn't have been.