‘I’m not backing out. I’ll still keep to our deal – I don’t want to let you down. It was just a bit of a surprise when you said you were ready, and when I talked it through with Sissi she decided it was all too much of a risk.’

‘So what are you saying?’

‘I’m saying we’re not coming. But I’ll still help you. I’ll still get everything ready. I’ll still stick to my side of the bargain.’

Tilsner could hear the pent-up emotion in the man’s voice. This was the death of a dream for his friend – something they had both secretly planned together, ever since Tilsner’s aborted dash across the Ostsee ice some three years earlier. It wasn’t really his style, but Tilsner put his arms round the other man, and gave him a gentle hug.

‘Sorry, Werner.’

‘No worries, friend. I understand. Looks like I’m driving on my own for this one – but if you’re still prepared to get everything ready, I’ll be eternally grateful.’

Chapter 43

43

Back in the office, Tilsner’s absence didn’t initially strike Müller as being odd. In any case, her head was full of Schmidt’s figures, chemical names, and dire warnings. She knew she had to get Jannika and Johannes out of the school as soon as possible – even if their age meant they weren’t in imminent danger. But she also owed it to Jäger – and his son, Jens – to reveal the results of Schmidt’s code-cracking to the Stasi colonel. And there was a murder case Müller and her team were on the point of solving – even if the conclusion was looking messier by the day. So it might take her a day or two to come up with a plan to safeguard the twins.

Tracking Jäger down at Bautzner Straße proved more difficult than she expected. His name clearly didn’t carry the weight it once did – the man was a shadow of himself, and so was his reputation. Eventually, the telephonist found Jäger’s extension, and patched Müller through to him.

Müller didn’t want to give any details over the phone about what Schmidt had discovered. Instead she kept the conversation elliptical.

‘I wondered if you were available for a quick chat, Klaus?’ she asked. Just the use of his first name, rather than his title and honorific that she usually used, would alert the Stasi colonel that this was something out of the ordinary. But to spell it out further, she left no doubt what she wanted to talk about. ‘It concerns the education of our children, and that talk you said you wanted which might be beneficial both to Jens, and to Johannes and Jannika.’