Circus (19 page)

When Bruno emerged it was with a bulky and exceedingly grimy brown paper parcel roughly tied with some frayed twine. He made his way to the nearest public conveniences and when he emerged his transformation was complete. He was clad in ill-fitting, patched and ancient clothes, wholly disreputable, not the sort of person the average citizen would approach within yards of, far less associate with: the grimy crumpled beret was two sizes too large and fell over his ears: the dark raincoat was irreparably stained, the trousers baggy beyond belief, the creased, once-navy shirt tieless and the heels of the scuffed shoes so worn down at the back that they lent him a peculiar rolling gait. To complete matters he was surrounded by a powerful aura that afflicted people at a distance of several yards: to keep lice, fleas and other forms of wild life at bay the haberdasher was a great believer in drenching every article of apparel with a disinfectant that was as vile-smelling as it was powerful.

Clutching his brown parcel under his arm, Bruno made his leisurely way across town. Dusk was beginning to fall. He took a short cut through a large park, a section of which was given over for use as one of the city's cemeteries. Passing by an opened iron gate in the high wall that surrounded
the cemetery, he was intrigued to see two men busily digging by the light of a pair of storm lanterns. Intrigued, he approached the spot and as he did two men, standing in an as yet shallow grave, straightened up and rubbed clearly aching backs.

‘You work late, comrades,' Bruno said sympathetically. ‘The dead wait for no man,' the elder grave-digger said in a sepulchral voice, then peering more closely, added: ‘Some of us have to work for a living. Do you mind standing to the other side of the grave?'

The light wind, Bruno realized, was wafting his presence across the grave. He moved round and said: ‘And whose last resting place is this?'

‘A famous American, though he was born and brought up in this town. I knew his grandfather well. A Wildermann, he is. He was with a circus – the circus – in the Winter Palace. Killed in an accident. It'll be a big day here on Monday, with Johann and myself in our best suits.'

‘An accident?' Bruno shook his head. ‘One of those damnable buses, I'll be bound. Many's the time – '

The younger man said: ‘No, you old fool. He fell off a wire in the circus and broke his neck.' He jammed his shovel into the sandy soil. ‘Do you mind? We have work to do.'

Bruno mumbled his apologies and shambled away. Five minutes later he was in the Hunter's
Horn, where he had to show his money to a nose-wrinkling waiter before being served coffee. After about fifteen minutes Maria appeared in the doorway, looked around, clearly failed to recognize anybody, hesitated and moved off again. Bruno rose leisurely and rolled his way towards the door. Once in the street he lengthened his stride without increasing his pace and within a minute he was only a few feet behind her.

He said: ‘Where's the car?'

She wheeled round. ‘Where on earth – you weren't – yes, you were!'

‘You'll feel better shortly. Where's the car?'

‘Round the next corner.'

‘Any car follow you?'

‘No.'

The car was a nondescript battered old Volkswagen, one of hundreds similar in the town: it was parked under a street lamp. Bruno got in behind the wheel, Maria in the passenger seat. She sniffed in disgust.

‘What on earth is that dreadful smell?'

‘Me.'

‘I appreciate that. But – '

‘Just disinfectant. A very powerful one, but still a disinfectant. You'll get used to it. Quite bracing really.'

‘It's awful! Why on earth – '

‘Disguise,' Bruno said patiently. ‘You don't actually think this is my preferred mode of dress? I think that Dr Harper underestimates Colonel
Sergius. I may be Jon Neuhaus, a citizen in good standing from a friendly satellite country, but I'm still an East German. I'm an outsider – and you can bet Sergius has every outsider tabbed from the moment he's within twenty miles of Crau. He will know – if he wishes – within ten minutes of any stranger checking in to any hotel in Crau. He'll have a complete description of me. I have the documentation so he won't give me a second thought. But he'll give a second thought if a respectable sales representative for a major firm is found in a sleazy dump like the Hunter's Horn or parked indefinitely in the shadow of the Lubylan. Don't you think?'

‘Agreed. In that case there is only one thing to do.' She opened her handbag, extracted a small eau-de-cologne aerosol, sprayed herself liberally, then squirted the contents over Bruno. When she had finished Bruno sniffed.

‘The disinfectant wins,' he announced and, indeed, instead of the cologne having a neutralizing effect it had a compounding effect. Bruno lowered the windows and hastily moved off, his eye as much on the rear-view mirror as on the road. He twisted and turned through the darkened streets and alleyways until any tail car there might have been must have been irretrievably lost. As they drove, they briefly rehearsed the plans for the Lubylan break-in on the Tuesday night. Then Bruno said: ‘Got the stuff I asked for?'

‘In the boot. Not what you asked for – Dr Harper's contact couldn't get that. He says you're to be very careful with this stuff – it seems you've only to look at it and it will explode.'

‘Good God! Don't tell me he's got me nitroglycerine?' ‘No. It's called amatol.'

‘That's all right, then. It's the detonator he'll be worried about. Fulminate of mercury, isn't it?'

‘Yes, he said that.'

‘Seventy-seven grains. Very temperamental stuff. It will have a length of RDX fuse and a chemical igniter.'

‘Yes. He did say that.' She looked at him curiously. ‘How come you're an expert on explosives?'

‘I'm not. I read about it some years ago and just sort of filed the information away.'

‘Must be quite a filing cabinet you've got in there. This instant and total recall bit – how's it done?'

‘If I knew that I'd be making a fortune out of it instead of fooling my life away on a trapeze. Now, there's something else I want. First a large, eight by eight – preferably – sheet of rubber matting or hide leather.'

She took his hand and said: ‘What do you want that for?' Her eyes told him that she knew.

‘What do you think? To throw over that damned electrified fence, of course. A tumbler's mat would do fine. Also I require a rope with a
padded hook. I want to see them both as soon as possible. Ask Dr Harper to arrange for those things and have them put in the boot of the car. Would you like to have lunch with me tomorrow?'

‘What?'

‘I want to see that stuff.'

‘Oh. I'd love to.' She inhaled deeply. ‘No, I wouldn't. Not if you're wearing those clothes. Anyway, no half-decent restaurant would let you through the front door.'

‘I'll change.'

‘But if we're seen together – in daylight, I mean – '

‘There's a charming little inn in a charming little village about ten miles from here. Nobody will know us there and nobody will be looking anyway: I'm dead. Which reminds me. It's less than an hour since I was talking to a couple of grave-diggers.'

‘We are being humorous again, are we?'

‘Fact. Very interesting.'

‘In the Hunter's Horn?'

‘In the cemetery. I asked them who it was for and they said it was for me. Well, the American who fell off the wire. It's not everyone who's privileged enough to watch his own grave being dug. They were making a very neat job of it, I must say.'

‘Please.' She shivered. ‘Must you?'

‘Sorry. That wasn't funny. I just thought it was. Now, you'll go to this village – it's called
Kolszuki – by car and I'll go by train. We'll meet at the station there. We might as well go now and check the train time-tables at the Crau station. You'll have to get clearance from Dr Harper, of course.'

On a very spartan metal table in a very spartan and largely metal office, the spools of a tape-recorder revolved. On either side of the table sat Colonel Sergius and Captain Kodes. Both had headphones to their ears. In addition to the phones Sergius had a cigar, vodka and as close to a beatific smile as he was ever likely to achieve. Captain Kodes, too, was permitting himself the luxury of smiling broadly. Angelo, discreetly seated in a far corner, although he had neither phones nor vodka, was also smiling. If the colonel was happy, that made him happy, too.

Bruno returned from consulting the time-tables inside the Crau station. He said: ‘There's a very convenient train for lunch. Meet me at the Kolszuki station at noon. You won't have any trouble in finding it – there aren't more than fifty houses in the village. Know where this place is?'

‘There's a map in the glove-box. I've checked. I'll be there then.'

Bruno drove up the main street and parked the Volkswagen just opposite the lane abutting on the southern side of Lubylan. The street was not deserted – there were two trucks and a car on the
south side of the lane, obviously parked for the night. It was a measure of the confidence in their security arrangements of those within Lubylan that they raised no objections to vehicles parking in such close proximity. Bruno made a mental note of this: there is no objection to the night-time parking of trucks in the south lane.

Bruno said: ‘Now don't forget to tell Dr Harper everything we discussed tonight. And don't forget that, for the benefit of any innocent passers-by, we're just a couple of lovers lost in each other's eyes. Darling, darling Maria. That's for practice.'

‘Yes, Bruno,' she said primly. ‘We'll be married soon, Bruno.'

‘Very soon, my love.' They relapsed into silence, their eyes fixed on the lane, Maria's all the time, Bruno's most of the time.

In the headquarters of the secret police Colonel Sergius was making harsh croaking noises in his throat. He was not choking on his vodka. Colonel Sergius was laughing. He indicated that Angelo should pour him another vodka, then indicated that Angelo should help himself also. Angelo refrained from crushing the bottle in his surprise, smiled his wolfish smile and swiftly complied before Sergius could change his mind. This was without precedent, an epoch-making night.

Bruno turned suddenly, put his arms around Maria and kissed her passionately. For a moment
she stared at him, dark eyes open in astonishment and surmise, let herself relax against him, then stiffened as an authoritative rat-tat-tat came on her window. She broke from Bruno's arms and swiftly wound down the window. Two large policemen, complete with the customary guns and batons, were bent down peering into the car. Uniforms and weapons apart, however, they bore no resemblance to the popular conception of the Iron Curtain policeman. Their expressions were genial, positively paternal. The larger of the two sniffed suspiciously.

‘Very strange smell in this car, I must say.'

Maria said: ‘I'm afraid I've just broken a phial of perfume. A drop is nice – but a whole bottle – well, it
is
a bit strong, I must say.'

Bruno, stammering slightly and with his voice sounding acutely embarrassed, said: ‘What is it, officer? This is my fiancée.' He held up Maria's beringed left hand so that there should be no doubt about it. ‘Surely there's no law – '

‘Indeed not.' The policeman leaned a confidential elbow on the window-sill. ‘But there is a law against parking in a main street.'

‘Oh! Sorry. I didn't realize – '

‘It's the fumes,' the policeman said kindly. ‘Your mind must be all befuddled.'

‘Yes, officer.' Bruno smiled weakly. ‘Is it all right if we park behind those trucks?' Hopefully, he indicated the vehicles in the south lane.

‘Certainly. Don't catch cold now. And, comrade?'

‘Officer?'

‘If you love her so much, why don't you buy your fiancée a bottle of decent perfume? Needn't be expensive, you know.' The policeman beamed and walked away with his colleague.

Maria, remembering her momentary yielding to Bruno, said in a cross voice: ‘Well, thank you. For a moment there I thought you had found me irresistible.'

‘Always use your rear-view mirror. It's just as important when you're stationary as when you're driving.'

She made a face at him as he pulled the car into the south lane.

The two policemen watched them park. They moved out of eyeshot of the car. The larger man pulled a walkie-talkie microphone from his breast pocket, pressed a button and said: ‘They're parked in the south lane by the Lubylan, Colonel.'

‘Excellent.' Even with the metallic distortion and the fact that his speech was interrupted by a series of whooping gasps – laughter was an unaccustomed exercise for him – Sergius's voice was unmistakable. ‘Just leave the love-birds be.'

It took Bruno and Maria minutes only to establish that there were indeed ground-level guards. There were three of them and they kept up a continuous peripheral patrol, each making a full circuit of the Lubylan in turn. At no time was any guard in sight of the other two. As sentries, they were a degree
less than enthusiastic. Not for them the continually roving, probing eyes, the piercing scrutiny of all that lay in their path of vision: with downcast gaze and trudging steps, they gave the impression of thoroughly miserable men, huddled against the cold and living only for the moment of their relief. There had been night-time sentries patrolling the Lubylan for ten, perhaps twenty years, and probably no untoward incident had ever occurred: there was no conceivable reason why it ever should.

From the two watchtowers they could see, the south-west and south-east ones, searchlights flashed occasionally and erratically along the tops of the perimeter walls. There was no discernible predetermined sequence to the switching on and off of the searchlights: it appeared to be a quite random process, its arbitrary nature dependent on the whim of the guard.