John Le Carré - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

"How did you interpret that?" asked Fiedler.

"I knew Maston had made a mess of the Fennan Case. I supposed he didn't want any mud raked up by Mundt appearing at the Old Bailey."

"If Mundt had been caught, would he have been legally charged?" the President put in.

"It depends on who caught him. If the police got him they'd report it to the Home Office. After that no power on earth could stop him from being charged."

"And what if your Service had caught him?" Fiedler inquired.

"Oh, that's a different matter. I suppose they would either have interrogated him and then tried to exchange him for one of our own people in prison over here; or else they'd have given him a ticket."

"What does that mean?"

"Got rid of him."

"Liquidated him?" Fiedler was asking all the questions now, and the members of the Tribunal were writing diligently in the files before them.

"I don't know what they do. I've never been mixed up in that game."

"Might they not have tried to recruit him as their agent?"

"Yes, but they didn't succeed."

"How do you know that?"

"Oh, for God's sake, I've told you over and over again. I'm not a bloody performing seal! I was head of the Berlin Command for four years. If Mundt had been one of our people, I would have known. I couldn't have helped knowing."

"Quite."

Fiedler seemed content with that answer, confident perhaps that the remainder of the Tribunal was not. He now turned his attention to Operation "Rolling Stone," took Leamas once again through the special security complexities governing the circulation of the file, the letters to the Stockholm and Helsinki banks and the one reply which Leamas had received. Addressing himself to the Tribunal, Fiedler commented:

"We had no reply from Helsinki. I do not know why. But let me recapitulate for you. Leamas deposited money at Stockholm on June fifteenth. Among the papers before you there is the facsimile of a letter from the Royal Scandinavian Bank addressed to Robert Lang. Robert Lang was the name Leamas used to open the Copenhagen deposit account. From that letter (it is the twelfth serial in your files) you will see that the entire sum—ten thousand dollars—was drawn by the cosignatory to the account one week later. I imagine," Fiedler continued, indicating with his head the motionless figure of Mundt in the front row, "that it is not disputed by the defendant that he was in Copenhagen on June twenty-first, nominally engaged on secret work on behalf of the Abteilung." He paused and then continued:

"Leamas' visit to Helsinki—the second visit he made to deposit money—took place on about September twenty-fourth." Raising his voice, he turned and looked directly at Mundt. "On the third of October Comrade Mundt made a clandestine journey to Finland—once more allegedly in the interests of the Abteilung."

There was silence. Fiedler turned slowly and addressed himself once more to the Tribunal. In a voice at once subdued and threatening he asked, "Are you complaining that the evidence is circumstantial? Let me remind you of something more." He turned to Leamas.

"Witness, during your activities in Berlin you became associated with Karl Riemeck, formerly Secretary to the Präsidium of the Socialist Unity Party. What was the nature of that association?"

"He was my agent until he was shot by Mundt's men."

"Quite so. He was shot by Mundt's men. One of several spies who were summarily liquidated by Comrade Mundt before they could be questioned. But before he was shot by Mundt's men he was an agent of the British Secret Service?"

Leamas nodded.

"Will you describe Riemeck's meeting with the man you call Control."

"Control came over to Berlin from London to see Karl. Karl was one of the most productive agents we had, I think, and Control wanted to meet him." Fiedler put in: "He was also one of the most trusted?"

"Yes, oh yes. London loved Karl, he could do no wrong. When Control came out I fixed it for Karl to come to my flat and the three of us dined together. I didn't like Karl's coming there really, but I couldn't tell Control that. It's hard to explain, but they get ideas in London, they're so cut off from it and I was frightened stiff they'd find some excuse for taking over Karl themselves—they're quite capable of it."

"So you arranged for the three of you to meet," Fiedler put in curtly. "What happened?"

"Control asked me beforehand to see that he had a quarter of an hour alone with Karl, so during the evening I pretended to have, run out of Scotch. I left the flat and went over to de Jong's place. I had a couple of drinks there, borrowed a bottle and came back."

"How did you find them?"

"What do you mean?"

"Were Control and Riemeck talking still? If so, what were they talking about?"

"They weren't talking at all when I came back."

"Thank you. You may sit down."

Leamas returned to his seat at the back of the room. Fiedler turned to the three members of the Tribunal and began:

"I want to talk first about the spy Riemeck, who was shot—Karl Riemeck. You have before you a list of all the information which Riemeck passed to Alec Leamas in Berlin, so far as Leamas can recall it. It is a formidable record of treachery. Let me summarize it for you. Riemeck gave to his masters a detailed breakdown of the work and personalities of the whole Abteilung. He was able, if Leamas is to be believed, to describe the workings of our most secret sessions. As secretary to the Präsidium he gave minutes of its most secret proceedings.

"That was easy for him; he himself compiled the record of every meeting. But Riemeck's access to the secret affairs of the Abteilung is a different matter. Who at the end of 1959 co-opted Riemeck onto the Committee for the Protection of the People, that vital subcommittee of the Präsidium which coordinates and discusses the affairs of our security organs? Who proposed that Riemeck should have the privilege of access to the files of the Abteilung? Who at every stage in Riemeck's career since 1959 (the year Mundt returned from England, you remember) singled him out for posts of exceptional responsibility? I will tell you," Fiedler proclaimed. "The same man who was uniquely placed to shield him in his espionage activities: Hans-Dieter Mundt. Let us recall how Riemeck contacted the Western Intelligence Agencies in Berlin— how he sought out de Jong's car on a picnic and put the film inside it. Are you not amazed at Riemeck's foreknowledge? How could he have known where to find that car, and on that very day? Riemeck had no car himself, he could not have followed de Jong from his house in West Berlin. There was only one way he could have known—through the agency of our own Security Police, who reported de Jong's presence as a matter of routine as soon as the car passed the Inter Sector checkpoint. That knowledge was available to Mundt, and Mundt made it available to Riemeck. That is the case against Hans-Dieter Mundt—I tell you, Riemeck was his creature, the link between Mundt and his imperialist masters!"

Fiedler paused, then added quietly, "Mundt- -Riemeck- -Leamas: that was the chain of command, and it is axiomatic of intelligence technique the whole world over that each link of the chain be kept, as far as possible, in ignorance of the others. Thus it is right that Leamas should maintain he knows nothing to the detriment of Mundt: that is no more than the proof of good security by his masters in London.

"You have also been told how the whole case known as 'Rolling Stone,' was conducted under conditions of special secrecy, how Leamas knew in vague terms of an intelligence section under Peter Guillam which was supposedly concerned with economic conditions in our Republic—a section which surprisingly was on the distribution list of 'Rolling Stone.' Let me remind you that that same Peter Guillam was one of several British Security officers who were involved in the investigation of Mundt's activities while he was in England."