The Innocent by Matthew Hall

Author:Matthew Hall [Hall, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780230771987
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

He showered quickly and thoroughly and cleaned his teeth with the unpleasantly sweet Western toothpaste his hosts had provided along with the scented soaps and effeminate deodorants. He was perfectly aware that this could not possibly be a secret encounter, but in the headiness of the moment he longer cared. He studied his torso in the mirror. He was pale but carried no fat, his body the envy of his middle-aged friends at the Moscow banya. Yes, he could be rightly proud of his body. Reassured that he had no need for self-consciousness, and his conscience eased by the thought of his wife’s infidelity, Slavsky pulled on a towelling robe, and slid back the bolt on the bathroom door, his heart pounding in his chest; he hadn’t touched a woman other than Katerina for nearly sixteen years.

Approaching the sitting room he heard the sound of the television, and then Dagmar speaking in an urgent whisper into the telephone. He paused to listen, trying to unscramble her rapid German. He moved closer to the door and looked through the crack. Her jacket and shoulder holster were hanging from the back of a chair, her black shoes on the carpet beneath them. She had begun to undress for him.

He caught only a word or two: ‘Yes, yes … I understand … of course, sir. Right away.’ He could see half of the television screen. A news programme was showing pictures of an impatient crowd. Hundreds of policemen stood in their way, their arms linked together forming a human chain, and then, as if surrendering in the face of some supernatural power, they seemed to lose their will to resist and let go of one another. A torrent of bodies flooded forward and consumed them. At first Slavsky assumed it to be an incident at a football stadium, but as the camera drew back to a wider angle he saw that the multitude was heading for a familiar landmark: the Brandenburg Gate.

His intake of breath must have been audible inside the room. Dagmar pulled open the door and stared at him, all colour washed from her face.

‘We have to go, Professor. Now. Get dressed.’

Slavsky looked past her to the television. People were running through the border post with no guards to stop them.

‘What’s happening?’

‘The government opened the borders,’ Dagmar said. ‘It’s no longer safe for you in Berlin. I’ve been ordered to take you to the airport.’ There was panic in her voice.

The words escaped Slavsky’s lips even before, it seemed, he had consciously formed them. ‘And if I don’t wish to leave?’

‘You have no choice.’

She glanced across to the holster hanging from the chair.

Propelled by an elemental force, Slavsky pushed her aside and went for the gun. He seized the holster and spun around as Dagmar threw herself at him, knocking him backwards across the table. He felt the holster fly from his fingers and heard it skitter across the thin carpet. Dagmar chased after it. Slavsky forced himself to his feet and kicked her hard in the stomach as she leaned down and closed her fingers around the pistol grip.

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