A Question of Time by James Stejskal

Author:James Stejskal [James Stejskal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

20

The loud hum of the bubble’s ventilation system deep inside the BOB made it hard for Wheeler and Murphy to hear each other, let alone think about their damage control plans.

“I sent the summary of Becker’s meeting to Russia House and they believe OZ’s theory is probably spot on. One of our reports passed to BND headquarters at Pullach had too much detail about his contact, enough to figure out who he was. I am told the reports officer and reviewer in Bonn who did the summary will be disciplined. The West Germans will have to deal with an enemy agent in their midst. That is, once we decide to tell them,” Murphy said.

“They should all be summarily executed,” Wheeler said. Clearly upset, he tended to resort to ballistic solutions when confronted with incompetence or treachery.

“Chief said he would wait until the case is resolved to determine punishment. Execution is out, but they will be dealt with.”

“Hopefully. Putting OZ at risk was unconscionable. The report should have been triple checked before it was released.”

“Agreed. But at least his info gives us an opportunity to turn the tables a bit. Since we have the best handle on the East German service, Russia House asked for something that could be inserted into another report that would throw suspicion in another direction.”

“Nice they want help after the fact.” Wheeler did not easily forgive transgressions.

“Sometimes they’ll admit weakness. Anyway, everything compromised seems to have dealt with terrorism-related issues; they think nothing from his more substantive political reporting was passed to the West Germans. So, for the report I’m going to describe the Stasi operational site ‘Walli’ with information we already have and loosely describe a Libyan team that was there. OZ confirmed that was where they trained and our information on the location isn’t critical, so we can use it for good background. I will also add a very subtle operational note pointing at someone in Abteilung XXII.”

“The ‘counterterrorism’ department that trains terrorists?” Wheeler asked.

“That one indeed. I think something along the lines of ‘a usually reliable source who directly observed the activity described’ would be good.”

“Subtle and direct. We play that back to the Russians and hope they give it to the Stasi quickly. If they do, it’ll buy us some time. If they already had a suspect in XXII, that will burn him pretty good.” “OZ said the red-herring message included XXII on the distribution line, so it makes sense that they’re casting a wide net to catch the leaker. Luckily, OZ has more experience than most anyone in the organization. His lead should confuse the investigation and lets us finish preparations for the extraction. How are our friends doing with their planning?”

“Well, I think. They’re doing some out-of-the-box brainstorming and pulling in assets I didn’t know existed or at least they didn’t when I was a young pup in SF.”

“Were you ever a pup? I guess times have changed since both of us were in the service. By the way, I want to sit in on the final briefback, so you’re going to sneak me over when it happens.

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