He looked around, scanning for secret policemen, but all he saw were tourists, worshippers, and priests.

He walked up the north aisle until he came to the chapel containing the famous sixteenth-century crucifix. The handsome Polish officer was standing in front of it, staring at the expression on the face of Christ. Cam stood beside him. They were alone.

Cam spoke in Russian. “This is the last time we’ll talk.”

Stanislaw replied in the same language. “Why?”

“Too dangerous.”

“For you?”

“No, for you.”

“How will we communicate? Through Tanya?”

“No. In fact, from now on please don’t tell her anything about your relationship with me. Cut her out of the loop. You can still sleep with her, if that’s what you’re doing.”

“Thank you,” Stanislaw said ironically.

Cam ignored that. “What kind of car do you drive?”

“A green 1975 Saab 99.” He recited the license plate number.

Cameron memorized it. “Where do you keep the car at night?”

“On Jana Olbrachta Street, near the apartment block where I live.”

“When you park it, leave the window open a crack. We will slip an envelope through.”

“Dangerous. What if someone else reads the note?”

“Don’t worry. The envelope will contain a typed advertisement from someone who offers to wash your car at a low price. But when you pass a warm iron over the paper, a message will be revealed. It will tell you when and where to meet us. If you’re not able to make the rendezvous, for any reason, it doesn’t matter: we’ll just send you another envelope.”

“What will happen at these meetings?”

“I’ll get to that.” Cam had a list of things to say, agreed on by his colleagues at the planning meeting, and he needed to get through them as fast as possible. “About your group of friends.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t form a conspiracy.”

“Why not?”

“You’ll be found out. Conspirators always are. You have to wait until the last minute.”

“So what can we do?”

“Two things. One, get ready. Make a list in your head of people you trust. Decide exactly how each one will turn against the Soviets if war breaks out. Make yourself known to dissident leaders such as Lech Wałesa, but give them no hint of what you’re up to. Reconnoiter the television station and plan how you’ll take it over. But keep everything in your head.”

“And the second thing?”

“Give us information.” Cam tried not to show how tense he felt. This was the big ask, the one Stanislaw might refuse. “The order of battle of Soviet and other Warsaw Pact armies: numbers of men, tanks, aircraft—”

“I know what is meant by order of battle.”

“And their war plans in the event of a crisis.”

There was a long pause, then at last Stanislaw said: “I can get those.”

“Good,” Cam said with feeling.

“And what do I get in return?”

“I’m going to give you a phone number and a code word. You must use it only in the event of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. When you call the number you will be answered by a senior commander in the Pentagon who speaks Polish. He will treat you as the representative of the Polish resistance to the Soviet invasion. You will be, for all practical purposes, the leader of free Poland.”