The Berlin Deception by Jeffrey Vanke

Author:Jeffrey Vanke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: third reich, robert ludlum, historical spy thriller
Publisher: Jeffrey Vanke

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

At five o’clock, Maria left work for the weekend. A half-mile into her walk home through bustling Berlin, she gasped in surprise.

“Good evening!” Becker sat behind the open window of a parked car. He was parked far from the Kristner Building. He thought he was safe.

“Oh! You scared me! What beautiful flowers, thank you.” She hesitated to reach for them and continued in a much softer voice, “Is anyone following me?”

Becker glanced in the rear-view mirror at the rush-hour sidewalk in the winter twilight. “I don’t think so.”

“You have to get out of here, Johannes.”

“I know,” he replied. “Will you ride with me?”

“All the better,” she answered.

Becker waited until the doors closed them in the car, and he rolled up his window. “How much did you see?” He started the car and pulled into traffic. That was safer than lingering parked on the side of the street, he thought.

“The police came after you left,” she said.

“Only the police? Not the SS?” he asked.

“That’s right. And they weren’t looking for me. Judging by the way Franzoser kept looking at your desk, it’s you they’re after.”

“I saw the cop asking for me in the lobby at Kristner. They’ve found me. A week almost to the minute since the chase, and they’ve found me.”

Becker was also thinking that Nadine might have led to this, not the Gestapo. Maria knew nothing about Becker’s British masters. He couldn’t tell her about Nadine and his dream in English.

“There’s no way I can go home,” he said. “At least not tonight. I don’t know if you should, either. You’re doubly jeopardized. First, you were talking with me when I ran from the Gestapo. Second, our . . . .” Becker paused didn’t know what to call it, because it was still evolving. “Our walks this week.”

Becker reflected further on the few facts he had. “But this was the regular police, not the SS or Gestapo. Very interesting. They haven’t linked you to me; they didn’t ask for you. There are other ways they could track me down besides the tram chase last Friday.” That was all the elaboration she needed on that topic.

“On the other hand,” he continued, “after the drama of your arrest on Wednesday, Franzoser might have mentioned that to the police. It wouldn’t take much to get them back on your case. I’m so sorry for the trouble I’ve caused you.” And he was, even if her connection should make this weekend’s break-in easier.

As he drove, Becker kept changing streets and checking his mirrors to see if they were being followed. It looked like they were clear.

“I won’t go home, then,” she said. “I was already scared to. But with no sign of you at five o’clock, I didn’t know what to do. I’m staying with you until this is all over, Johannes.” She managed a thin smile in the face of their grim danger.

Becker thought aloud. “We can hide out at Janeck’s place until tomorrow. He did say they might come for him any day.

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