Berlin Reload: A Cold War Espionage Thriller by James Quinn

Author:James Quinn [Quinn, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Terminal Velocity - A Next Chapter Imprint
Published: 2021-02-22T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

“So you're Grant, are you? Heard some stuff about you and your chaps. Is it all true?”

It was later the same day and Grant and Grenham-Smythe were given the privacy of the Ops room to discuss the EMERALD operation. In truth, and after having spent the last hour in the company of the senior SIS man from London, Grant wasn't exactly enthused about any of this.

“We like to get our hands dirty, boss, that's all I'll say,” said Grant vaguely.

“Don't call me 'boss', I'm not a foreman on a building site. It's 'sir', or 'Mr West', if you please,” replied Grenham-Smythe.

“Mr West?” asked Grant, confused.

Grenham-Smythe rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “That is the name that I will be using with the source as part of my cover! Now, do you have a pen and paper? Don't want you to forget anything.”

The recruitment and running of the agent who later went on to become the shining star of the East German Desk, agent EMERALD, did, as is usual in intelligence operations, come to fruition via a very circuitous route. Things are rarely straightforward in intelligence work. EMERALD, whoever he or she was, was what was known in the trade as a walk-in. There had been no prior knowledge of this person, no targeting and no recruitment. The source had simply made the first contact, unsolicited.

The first that anyone knew about EMERALD was when an envelope was tossed through the rolled-down window of a motor vehicle belonging to a secretary from the British Military Attaché's office in West Berlin. The only thing that the secretary had remembered before she noticed the envelope was seeing a woman in a dark coat walking past the car and then disappearing into the crowd of pedestrians.

Quite obviously, the secretary opened it and read the contents. What the letter stated was that the writer of the letter wished to make contact, covertly, with a member of the British Mission responsible for 'intelligence' gathering. The author intimated that they had access to details of various Staatssicherheitsdienst operations that were taking place or about to come to fruition in West Berlin, the details of which, at the moment, they preferred to keep secret.

The would-be source made it clear that he or she was making this one time offer purely for political reasons. They did not believe in the Communist delusion or in the direction that Germany was going, but that they would explain in greater detail if a secure communication method could be established in the near future. The source stated that they had established a hidden cut-out location on Potsdamer Platz – a loose brick on the side of a disused store – and that inside would be a cigarette packet that contained more details for a future meeting.

“They are talking about a rudimentary dead letter box,” explained Grenham-Smythe unnecessarily, for what he saw as Grant's education into the secret world.

Finally, the letter had been signed with the nom de plume of EMERALD.

“Is it genuine, or is it a Stasi trick?” asked Grant.

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