Page 429 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

In Moscow, the big question was whether to invade Poland.

The day before the Politburo debate, Dimka and Natalya clashed with Yevgeny Filipov at a preparatory meeting in the Nina Onilova Room. Filipov said: "Our Polish comrades require military assistance urgently, to resist the attacks of traitors in the employ of the capitalist-imperialist powers."

Natalya said: "You want an invasion, as in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Hungary in 1956."

Filipov did not deny it. "The Soviet Union has the right to invade any country when the interests of Communism are under threat. That's the Brezhnev Doctrine."

Dimka said: "I'm against military action."

"There's a surprise," said Filipov sarcastically.

Dimka ignored that. "In both Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the counterrevolution was led by revisionist elements within the Communist Party ruling cadres," he said. "It was therefore possible to remove them, like chopping the head off a chicken. They had little popular support."

"Why should this crisis be different?"

"Because in Poland the counterrevolutionaries are working-class leaders with working-class backing. Lech Walesa is an electrician. Anna Walentynowicz is a crane driver. And hundreds of factories are on strike. We're dealing with a mass movement."

"We have to crush it all the same. Are you seriously suggesting that we abandon Polish Communism?"

"There's another problem," Natalya put in. "Money. Back in 1968 the Soviet bloc did not owe billions of dollars in foreign debt. Today we are totally dependent on loans from the West. You heard what President Carter said in Warsaw. Credit from the West is linked to human rights."

"So . . . ?"

"If we send the tanks into Poland, they will withdraw our line of credit. So, Comrade Filipov, your invasion will ruin the economy of the entire Soviet bloc."

There was a silence in the room.

Dimka said: "Does anyone have any other suggestions?"

*

To Cam it seemed an omen that a Polish officer had turned against the Red Army at the same time as Polish workers were rejecting Communist tyranny. Both events were signs of the same change. As he headed for his rendezvous with Stanislaw, he felt he might be part of a historic earthquake.

He left the embassy and got into his car. As he hoped, Mario and Ollie followed him. It was important that they had him under surveillance while he met with Stanislaw. If the interaction went as planned, Mario and Ollie would faithfully report that nothing suspicious had taken place.

Cam hoped Stanislaw had received and understood his instructions.

Cam parked in Old Town Market Square. Carrying a copy of today's Trybuna Ludu, the official government newspaper, he strolled across the square. Mario got out of his car and walked after him. Half a minute later, Ollie followed at a distance.

Cam headed down a side street with the two secret policemen in train.

He went into a bar, sat near the window, and asked for a beer. He could see his shadows loitering nearby. He paid for his drink as soon as it came, so that he

would be able to leave quickly.

He checked his watch frequently while he drank his beer.

At one minute to three he went out.

He had practised this maneuver over and over at Camp Peary, the CIA's training center near Williamsburg, Virginia. He had been able to do it perfectly there. But this would be the first time he did it for real.

He quickened his pace a little as he approached the end of the block. Turning the corner, he glanced back and saw that Mario was about thirty yards behind.

Just around the corner was a shop selling cigarettes and tobacco. Stanislaw was exactly where Cam expected him to be, standing outside the shop, looking in the window. Cam had about thirty seconds before Mario turned the corner--plenty of time to execute a simple brush pass.

All he had to do was exchange the newspaper he was carrying for the one in Stanislaw's hand, which was identical except that--all being well--it should contain the photocopies Stanislaw had made of documents in his safe at army headquarters.

There was only one snag.

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