I let out a sigh, and shook my head as if in pity of the hopeless situation now affecting me. At the same time I was very careful to avoid her eye, just in case I was deflected by the incredulity I knew I would certainly meet there. This little performance was going to take all my powers of invention.

“What are you saying?” demanded Hennig. “She’s lying, you stupid idiot. Look, I don’t know what’s going on here but I think there’s been some sort of mistake.”

“Of course there’s been a mistake,” I shouted. “We got caught, thanks to her. Look, Harold, it’s no good. Don’t you see? The game is up for us now.”

“What game? There is no game.”

“The stupid bitch has betrayed us both. She’s told them almost everything now, and quite clearly they believe her. So, what’s the damned point of maintaining the fiction any longer? Eh? Answer me that. We might as well put our hands up to the whole thing. The party isn’t going to save us now. Nor the Stasi.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Gunther?”

He didn’t realize it quite yet, but his using my real name suited my purpose very well.

“And what’s more she’s right and you know it. The masters we work for in Germany today, they’re just as rotten as the bastards we served before. Perhaps worse. At least Hitler tried to be popular. This lot we have in Germany now, they just don’t care one way or another. Because they don’t have to. No one knows who the hell they are, anyway. They’re just a lot of faceless bureaucrats in Karlshorst.”

“You bloody fool, Gunther. Just shut the fuck up, will you? You’re going to get us both shot. Do you know that?”

“Can’t you see? The double-crossing bitch has done that already. Me, I’ve had enough of the whole damned business. I’m tired—so very tired. I think the best thing is if we just give them what they want and get this circus over with as quickly as possible. Come on, man. What do you say? Let’s make a clean breast of it and hope for the best.”