Lines of Deception by Steve Anderson

Author:Steve Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2024-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

GÖRLITZ

Tuesday, May 24

10:20 a.m.

Max, Harry, and Katarina stared at the remains of the Old Town Bridge, demolished by the Wehrmacht at the end of the war and never rebuilt, now just two small crumbling concrete abutments on either side of the Neisse River, a calm and leaden moat.

The Neisse River running through Görlitz was the new German-Polish border. The opposite side of town had been renamed Zgorzelec. It now belonged to the Soviet-controlled People’s Republic of Poland.

They had taken the early local train east from Bautzen. The night before, Max had left Harry in Katarina’s room, telling them good night as if their spending the night together had been the plan all along, and retired to the room meant for him and Harry. He could only imagine all they must have discussed, revisited, renewed. He worried they would not get enough sleep, but his last thoughts before he dozed off were accompanied by a smile. In the morning, Harry and Katarina had been all business again.

At their backs the spires of old churches both Protestant and Catholic loomed, their survival in Soviet East Germany now as uncertain as that of this once centuries-old bridge. Before them, across the river in Poland, stood more of the town. A tall blocky turret resembled a flak tower but was likely erected before any European had set foot in North America. The side of town across the river was all cut off now. They might as well have built a high concrete wall topped with barbed wire. An absurd idea, Max told himself—walls never lasted. But the Soviet Union had lost tens of millions during the war, civilians and soldiers. So they never wanted it to happen again. Max could understand. Katarina surely could.

Harry only shook his head in anger. He refused to decide on their next move in Görlitz until they reconnoitered the town, the river, the various routes. They had seen enough Soviet propaganda walking over from the train station and through Old Town and could see even more on the other side, slogans, banners, and billboards, promising a better life yet threatening all the same. It seemed to get under Harry’s skin. He stomped back through Old Town, glaring around, not taking the usual precautions to remain inconspicuous and alert to tails. He even crossed an avenue in front of an oncoming streetcar and in view of a police jeep.

Max knew his brother: When surly, he was feeling desperate. Katarina knew him too. They were all walking separately again, to check for any tails, but once Harry turned onto an empty street she caught up with him and Max stayed at a safe distance, keeping watch. She had directed all this with eye contact only, like she had a radio transmitter in her head.

Next stop was the Stadtpark, just south of Old Town. They stood on a slope inside the trees flush with May leaves and surveyed the river below, no more than two hundred feet across, the water equally calm and nearly a mirror in the sun.

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