There was a discreet, barely audible tap on his door.
Cursing, he levered himself off the bed and prised the door open. A man in a crumpled suit and open shirt stared back at him.
‘Mr John Russell,’ the man said in English, as if he was introducing Russell to himself. The Russian accent was slight, but unmistakable. ‘Could I talk with you for a few minutes?’
‘It’s a bit late…’ Russell began. The man’s face was vaguely familiar. ‘But why not?’ he continued, as the singers next door reached for a new and louder chorus. ‘A journalist should never turn down a conversation,’ he murmured, mostly to himself, as he let the man in. ‘Take the chair,’ he suggested.
His visitor sat back and crossed one leg over the other, hitching up his trouser leg as he did so. ‘We have met before,’ he said. ‘A long time ago. My name is Shchepkin. Yevgeny Grigorovich Shchepkin. We…’
‘Yes,’ Russell interrupted, as the memory clicked into place. ‘The discussion group on journalism at the fifth Congress. The summer of ’24.’
Shchepkin nodded his acknowledgement. ‘I remember your contributions,’ he said. ‘Full of passion,’ he added, his eyes circling the room and resting, for a few seconds, on his host’s dilapidated shoes.
Russell perched himself on the edge of the bed. ‘As you said – a long time ago.’ He and Ilse had met at that conference, and set in motion their ten-year cycle of marriage, parenthood, separation and divorce. Shchepkin’s hair had been black and wavy in 1924; now it was a close-cropped grey. They were both a little older than the century, Russell guessed, and Shchepkin was wearing pretty well, considering what he’d probably been through the last fifteen years. He had a handsome face of indeterminate nationality, with deep brown eyes above prominent slanting cheekbones, an aquiline nose and lips just the full side of perfect. He could have passed for a citizen of most European countries, and probably had.
The Russian completed his survey of the room. ‘This is a dreadful hotel,’ he said.
Russell laughed. ‘Is that what you wanted to talk about?’
‘No. Of course not.’
‘So what are you here for?’
‘Ah.’ Shchepkin hitched his trouser leg again. ‘I am here to offer you work.’
Russell raised an eyebrow. ‘You? Who exactly do you represent?’
The Russian shrugged. ‘My country. The Writers’ Union. It doesn’t matter. You will be working for us. You know who we are.’
‘No,’ Russell said. ‘I mean, no I’m not interested. I…’
‘Don’t be so hasty,’ Shchepkin said. ‘Hear me out. We aren’t asking you to do anything which your German hosts could object to.’ The Russian allowed himself a smile. ‘Let me tell you exactly what we have in mind. We want a series of articles about positive aspects of the Nazi regime.’ He paused for a few seconds, waiting in vain for Russell to demand an explanation. ‘You are not German but you live in Berlin,’ he went on. ‘You once had a reputation as a journalist of the left, and though that reputation has, shall we say, faded, no one could accuse you of being an apologist for the Nazis…’
‘But you want me to be just that.’
‘No, no. We want positive aspects, not a positive picture overall. That would not be believable.’
Russell was curious in spite of himself. Or because of the Goldwassers. ‘Do you just need my name on these articles?’ he asked. ‘Or do you want me to write them as well?’
‘Oh, we want you to write them. We like your style – all that irony.’
Russell shook his head – Stalin and irony didn’t seem like much of a match.
Shchepkin misread the gesture. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘let me put all my cards on the table.’
Russell grinned.
Shchepkin offered a wry smile in return. ‘Well, most of them anyway. Look, we are aware of your situation. You have a German son and a German lady-friend, and you want to stay in Germany if you possibly can. Of course if a war breaks out you will have to leave, or else they will intern you. But until that moment comes – and maybe it won’t – miracles do happen – until it does you want to earn your living as a journalist without upsetting your hosts. What better way than this? You write nice things about the Nazis – not too nice, of course, the articles have to be credible… but you stress their good side.’
‘Does shit have a good side?’ Russell wondered out loud.
‘Come, come,’ Shchepkin insisted, ‘you know better than that. Unemployment eliminated, a renewed sense of community, healthy children, cruises for workers, cars for the people…’
‘You should work for Joe Goebbels.’
Shchepkin gave him a mock-reproachful look.
‘Okay,’ Russell said, ‘I take your point. Let me ask you a question. There’s only one reason you’d want that sort of article – you’re softening up your own people for some sort of deal with the devil. Right?’
Shchepkin flexed his shoulders in an eloquent shrug.
‘Why?’
The Russian grunted. ‘Why deal with the devil? I don’t know what the leadership is thinking. But I could make an educated guess, and so could you.’
Russell could. ‘The western powers are trying to push Hitler east, so Stalin has to push him west? Are we talking about a non-aggression pact, or something more?’
Shchepkin looked almost affronted. ‘What more could there be? Any deal with that man can only be temporary. We know what he is.’
Russell nodded. It made sense. He closed his eyes, as if it were possible to blank out the approaching calamity. On the other side of the opposite wall, his musical neighbours were intoning one of those Polish river songs which could reduce a statue to tears. Through the wall behind him silence had fallen, but his bed was still quivering like a tuning fork.
‘We’d also like some information,’ Shchepkin was saying, almost apologetically. ‘Nothing military,’ he added quickly, seeing the look on Russell’s face. ‘No armament statistics or those naval plans that Sherlock Holmes is always being asked to recover. Nothing of that sort. We just want a better idea of what ordinary Germans are thinking. How they are taking the changes in working conditions, how they are likely to react if war comes – that sort of thing. We don’t want any secrets, just your opinions. And nothing on paper. You can deliver them in person, on a monthly basis.’
Russell looked sceptical.
Shchepkin ploughed on. ‘You will be well paid – very well. In any currency, any bank, any country, that you choose. You can move into a better rooming house…’
‘I like my rooming house.’
‘You can buy things for your son, your girlfriend. You can have your shoes mended.’
‘I don’t…’
‘The money is only an extra. You were with us once…’
‘A long long time ago.’
‘Yes, I know. But you cared about your fellow human beings. I heard you talk. That doesn’t change. And if we go under there will be nothing left.’
‘A cynic might say there’s not much to choose between you.’
‘The cynic would be wrong,’ Shchepkin replied, exasperated and perhaps a little angry. ‘We have spilt blood, yes. But reluctantly, and in faith of a better future. They enjoy it. Their idea of progress is a European slave-state.’
‘I know.’
‘One more thing. If money and politics don’t persuade you, think of this. We will be grateful, and we have influence almost everywhere. And a man like you, in a situation like yours, is going to need influential friends.’
‘No doubt about that.’
Shchepkin was on his feet. ‘Think about it, Mr Russell,’ he said, drawing an envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket and placing it on the nightstand. ‘All the details are in here – how many words, delivery dates, fees, and so on. If you decide to do the articles, write to our press attaché in Berlin, telling him who you are, and that you’ve had the idea for them yourself. He will ask you to send him one in the post. The Gestapo will
read it, and pass it on. You will then receive your first fee and suggestions for future stories. The last-but-one letters of the opening sentence will spell out the name of a city outside Germany which you can reach fairly easily. Prague, perhaps, or Cracow. You will spend the last weekend of the month in that city. And be sure to make your hotel reservation at least a week in advance. Once you are there, someone will contact you.’
‘I’ll think about it,’ Russell said, mostly to avoid further argument. He wanted to spend his weekends with his son Paul and his girlfriend Effi, not the Shchepkins of this world.
The Russian nodded and let himself out. As if on cue, the Polish choir lapsed into silence.
About the Author
David Downing is the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction. His first novel in the ‘Station’ series, Zoo Station, was published by Old Street in 2007, followed by Silesian Station in 2008, Stettin Station in 2009 and Potsdam Station in 2010. Lehrter Station is the fifth in the series, and the first to be set in the postwar period. David lives in Surrey with his wife and two cats.
ALSO BY DAVID DOWNING
Zoo Station
Silesian Station
Stettin Station
Potsdam Station
Copyright
First published in 2012
by Old Street Publishing Ltd
Trebinshun House, Brecon LD3 7PX
This ebook edition first published in 2012
All rights reserved
© David Downing, 2012
The right of David Downing to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–1–906964-76-4
Lehrter Station Page 37
