‘Not someone to be trifled with, then,’ said Fischer.

‘Indeed not. He is a very well respected academic. His current area of research is the Anglo-American terror bombing of Dresden in 1945. Now, while I’m sure we’ll agree that anything which hastened the end of the fascists and Hitler was a good thing, the bombing of Dresden – largely orchestrated by the British – has always been highly controversial, not least because of the city’s unique cultural heritage and architecture, jewels of German heritage if you like, but also because Dresden was not a particularly strategic military target. Added to that is the fact that it is well known that in the early part of 1945 the city was home to tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of them sheltering in exactly the targets the British and Americans attacked.’

Specht looked around the room as he spoke. He could tell he had his audience eating out of the palm of his hand.

When he mentioned the secret documents that Southwick had acquired, via a whistleblower, there were even low whistles of appreciation.

As he drew his presentation to a close, and retook his seat, Specht felt his eyes prickle when the great and good of the Ministry of State Security broke out into spontaneous applause. It hadn’t just gone as well as he’d hoped, it had gone a hundred times better.

Fischer held his hand up to stop the clapping. ‘Well, you can see that we’re all very appreciative of your efforts, Comrade Oberst. Do you think you will be able to bring this plan to a successful conclusion – to the conclusion you outline?’

‘I’m sure of it, Comrade Generaloberst. This will prove to be not simply an extremely prestigious project for the Republic, one that will raise its profile in the international arena, but also one that is potentially very lucrative. And by that, I mean in terms of raising hard currency.’

‘Bravo, Specht. Bravo!’ said Fischer. ‘Well I’m sure we’ll all drink to that.’

Fischer summoned an underling to hand out schnapps. For Specht, the warmth of the alcohol as he downed the shot in one couldn’t add to the warm glow he felt inside. Monika would be very proud of him. His luck would be in tonight.

Chapter 29

29

ARNIE

Dresden

June 1981

One of Arnie’s first moves on arrival in Dresden was to survey the city – to try to imagine what it had looked like on that night. Of course, he’d seen the photographs of the horrendous devastation afterwards, the way the city had been turned into a grotesque collection of empty burnt-out shells of buildings, standing forlornly amongst the rubble – much how Nagasaki and Hiroshima looked after the bomb was dropped on each.