Page 416 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

"Men are blind. How are you going to defend your country with such poor powers of observation?"

His mood became dark again. "We make no provision for defending our own country," he said. "The Polish army is totally subservient to the USSR. All our planning is about supporting the Red Army in an invasion of Western Europe."

Staz often talked like this, complaining about Soviet domination of the Polish military. It was a sign of how much he trusted her. In addition, Tanya had found that Poles spoke boldly about the failings of Communist governments. They felt entitled to complain in a way that other Soviet subjects did not. Most people in the Soviet bloc treated Communism as a religion that was a sin to question. The Poles tolerated Communism as long as it served them, and protested as soon as it fell short of their expectations.

All the same, Tanya now switched on her bedside radio. She did not think her apartment was bugged--the SB had their hands full spying on Western journalists, and probably left Soviet ones alone--but caution was an ingrained habit.

"We are all traitors," Staz finished.

Tanya frowned. He had never before called himself a traitor. This was serious. She said: "What on earth do you mean?"

"The Soviet Union has a contingency plan to invade Western Europe with a force called the Second Strategic Echelon. Most of the Red Army tanks and personnel carriers headed for West Germany, France, Holland, and Belgium will pass through Poland on their way. The United States will use nuclear bombs to try to destroy those forces before they reach the West--that is, while they are still crossing Poland. We estimate that four hundred to six hundred nuclear weapons will be exploded in our country. There will be nothing left but a nuclear wasteland. Poland will have disappeared. If we cooperate in the planning of this event, how can we not be traitors?"

Tanya shuddered. It was a nightmare scenario--but terrifyingly logical.

"America is not the enemy of the Polish people," said Staz. "If the USSR and the USA go to war in Europe, we should side with the Americans, and liberate ourselves from the tyranny of Moscow."

Was he just blowing off steam, or something more? Tanya said carefully: "Is it just you who thinks like this, Staz?"

"Certainly not. Most officers my age feel the same. They pay lip service to Communism, but if you talk to them when they're drunk you'll hear another story."

"In that case, you have a problem," she said. "By the time the war begins, it will be too late for you to win the trust of the Americans."

"This is our dilemma."

"The solution is obvious. You have to open a channel of communication now."

He gave her a cool look. The thought crossed her mind that he might be an agent provocateur, assigned to provoke her into subversive remarks so that she could be arrested. But she could not imagine that a faker would be such a good lover.

Staz said: "Are we just talking, now, or are we having a serious discussion?"

Tanya took a breath. "I'm as serious as life and death," she said.

"Do you really think it could be done?"

"I know it," she said emphatically. She had been engaging in clandestine subversion for two decades. "It's the easiest thing in the world--but keeping it secret, and getting away with it, is more difficult. You would have to exercise the most extreme caution."

"Do you think I should do it?"

"Yes!" she said passionately. "I don't want another generation of Soviet children--or Polish children--to grow up under this stifling tyranny."

He nodded. "I can tell that you really mean it."

"I do."

"Will you help me?"

"Of course I will."

*

Cameron Dewar was not sure he would make a good spy. The undercover stuff he had done for President Nixon had been amateurish, and he was lucky not to have gone to jail with his boss, John Ehrlichman. When he joined the CIA he had been trained in the tradecraft of dead drops and brush passes, but he had never actually used such tricks. After six years at CIA headquarters in Langley he had at last been posted to a foreign capital, but he still had not done clandestine work.

The U.S. embassy in Warsaw was a proud white marble building on a street called Aleje Ujazdowskie. The CIA occupied a single office near the ambassador's suite of rooms. Off the office was a windowless storeroom that was used for developing photographic film. The staff was four spies and a secretary. It was a small operation because they had few informants.

Cam did not have much to do. He read the Warsaw newspapers, with the aid of a dictionary. He reported the graffiti he saw: LONG LIVE THE POPE and WE WANT GOD. He talked to men like himself who worked for the intelligence services of other countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, especially those of West Germany, France, and Britain. He drove a used lime-green Polski Fiat whose battery was so undersize that it had to be recharged every night or the car would not start in the morning. He tried to find a girlfriend among the embassy secretaries, and failed.

---