<p>1<br />

October 30&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; 1984<br />

Huddled into his threadbare overcoat&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; Drew Ellis stood<br />

on the dimly lit platform feeling the cement floor tremble<br />

under his feet as the trains thundered into the Friedrichstrasse<br />

station. It was a dim&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; depressing place&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; with a thin line of<br />

shuffling&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; shabbily dressed East German pensioners outside<br />

the brown&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; duty-free shop&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; waiting to buy cheap presents to<br />

take to the expensive West&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; or a week s worth of cheap<br />

tobacco and alcohol to consume at home.<br />

The shop was narrow arid long&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; a boarded-up cupboard<br />

on one side&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; cartons of cigarettes pressed against windows on<br />

the other&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; an aisle in betwe~&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; where a man and woman<br />

worked with the patience of primitive robots. Posters in front<br />

of the waiting room advertised holidays in the Harz moun-<br />

ains and the cultural delights of the Pergammon. A trio of<br />

East German Vopos&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; their drab green uniforms reminiscent of<br />

WWlI films&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; walked in suspicious phalanx down the broad<br />

flight of steps at the far end&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; which led to the crossing point<br />

and the East.<br />

Ellis huddled against the wall. The station was western<br />

territory&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; and technically speaking he was safe there. But East<br />

Germany was only two flights of stairs away&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; and as a senior<br />

intelligence ottqcer&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; he should not have come; not alone&iuml;&frac14;&OElig;<br />

anyway.<br />

But he d had no alternative. He had to meet Emma.<br />

He d lived without her for eight days&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; and those days had<br />

seemed like an eternity. Besides&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; he wanted to be sure<br />

Emma was safe.<br />

Emma was Czech&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; and as a sturdy six-year-old&iuml;&frac14;&OElig; had<br />

walked across the border with her family during that Prague<br />

</p>