The traffic ahead slowed. “Come on, come on,” whispered Danny.

But the cars moved slower, slower…. The police officers had the barricades in their arms, now, and were just waiting for a gap in the traffic to set them up. As the traffic slowed to a crawl, I saw one officer look at the other: Now?

“No no no, please,” I whispered.

The traffic sped up and we slid past the police. They stepped into the road behind us and set down the barrier, stopping the traffic. Both of us slumped in our seats in relief. I turned the heater up to max, hoping to get warm, but it was broken. Great.

We drove well out of the center, then pulled into a quiet side street and called the team. I could imagine them all in Katharina’s apartment, huddled around the phone. “Glad you’re okay,” JD rumbled when we’d brought them up to speed and sent them the photo Luka gave us.

We heard Katharina typing rapidly in the background. “I’m checking the names from the file. They were all Soviet generals. Five of them, each one based in a different city. But the date on the file is 1981. Whatever they did with these women, it happened over forty years ago. How can Becker use this as blackmail? The generals are all dead. Who would even care that they had affairs?”

“Maybe it wasn’t affairs.” I recognized Bradan’s Irish accent. “Maybe it was…I dunno, secret sex parties or something, and the government killed the women to stop word of it getting out. The coordinates could be where the bodies are buried. Becker’s not interested in the generals, he wants to blackmail the person behind the murders: someone in the German government, maybe.”

“We need to talk to someone,” said Gabriel. “Find out what the hell this is all about.”

“One of the generals was based in East Berlin,” said Katharina, “back before the wall fell.” The keyboard rattled again. “General Sauer. He has a son, right here in the city.” She read off an address.

Danny studied the map on his phone. “That’s not far from here.”

“No,” said JD. “It’s too risky. The police know your faces, now. Come back to the apartment.”

I spoke up. “We can’t just huddle in the apartment forever. We need to get some answers.”

JD went quiet. Danny looked across at me with something like awe, and I flushed, surprised at myself. When did I get all gung ho?

“Be careful,” JD told us at last.

And we set off into the night.

53. Erin

53

ERIN

The door opened, but only a crack. I couldn’t see much of the man, but he seemed to be dressed all in black. Silver eyebrows frowned at me. “Ja?”