Funeral in Berlin Read Online Free Page A

department.’
    ‘Protection,’ I said. ‘What sort of protection have we ever offered him? The only protection he ever had from us was old-fashioned money. People like Vulkan are in danger—physical danger—every moment of every day. The only weapon they have is money. If Vulkan is always asking for more, it’s worth considering the motives.’
    ‘Men like Vulkan don’t have motives,’ said Dawlish. ‘Don’t misunderstand me. Vulkan is working for us—however remotely—and one will work like the very deuce to see that he is looked after, but don’t move this discussion into the sublime world of philosophy. Our friend Vulkan changes his motive every time he comes through that East Berlin checkpoint. When men become double agents it’s just a matter of time before they lose their grip on reality. They begin to drown in a sea of confusion. Any piece of information they can snatch at will keep them afloat and alive for a few more hours.’
    ‘You want to write Vulkan off?’
    ‘Not at all,’ said Dawlish, ‘but one does want to keep him in a cul-de-sac. A fellow workingagainst us can be very useful if we have him in a nice sterile test-tube.’
    ‘You are being a bit complacent,’ I said. Dawlish raised an eyebrow.
    ‘Vulkan is good,’ I said. ‘Look at his record. 1948: his blockade prediction was with this department eleven weeks before FOIU 1 and fifteen weeks before Ross had heard anything. He can’t do that if you are selecting his drinking companions.’
    ‘Wait now…’ said Dawlish.
    ‘Let me finish, sir,’ I insisted. ‘The point I’m making is, that the moment Vulkan feels we are putting him on ice he’ll shop around for another job. Ross at the War Office or O’Brien at the FO will whip him into the Olympia Stadion 2 and that’s the last we will see of him. Certainly they will all tut-tut and agree with you at the Combined Intelligence Meetings but they’ll go behind your back and employ him.’
    Dawlish touched his finger-tips together and looked at me sardonically.
    ‘You think I am too old for this job, don’t you?’
    I said nothing.
    ‘If we decide not to continue with Vulkan’s contract there is no question of leaving him available for the highest bidder.’
    I didn’t think old Dawlish could make me shiver.
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    1 Foreign Office Intelligence Unit.
    2 West Berlin HQ. MI6 use the offices.

Chapter 4
    The Berlin Defence is a classic defence by
means of counter-attack.
    Sunday, October 6th
    The parade ground of Europe has always been that vast area of scrub and lonely villages that stretches eastward from the Elbe—some say as far as the Urals. But halfway between the Elbe and the Oder, sitting at attention upon Brandenburg, is Prussia’s major town—Berlin.
    From two thousand feet the Soviet Army War Memorial in Treptower Park is the first thing you notice. It’s in the Russian sector. In a space like a dozen football pitches a cast of a Red Army soldier makes the Statue of Liberty look like it’s standing in a hole. Over Marx-Engels Platz the plane banked steeply south towards Tempelhof and the thin veins of water shone in the bright sunshine. The Spree flows through Berlin as a spilt pail of water flows through a building site. Theriver and its canals are lean and hungry and they slink furtively under roads that do not acknowledge them by even the smallest hump. Nowhere does a grand bridge and a wide flow of water divide the city into two halves. Instead it is brickedup buildings and sections of breeze block that bisect the city, ending suddenly and unpredictably like the lava flow of a cold-water Pompeii.
    Johnnie Vulkan brought a friend and a black Cadillac to meet me at Tempelhof.
    ‘Major Bailis, US Army,’ said Johnnie. I shook hands with a tall leathery American who was buttoned deep into a white Aquascutum trench coat. He offered me a cigar while the baggage was being checked.
    ‘It’s good to have you with us,’ said the major and Johnnie said the