The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

Günther had rented a Mercedes Benz. He rationalized this by telling himself that
his cover was that of a businessman, and besides he hadn't rented the biggest
one available. There were times when he thought he might as well have rented a
bicycle. This road had been neglected by the DDR government, and now that the
Federal Republic was fully in place, the highway was little more than a linear
repair gang. It went without saying that the other side of the road was already
fixed. His peripheral vision caught hundreds of big, powerful Benzes and BMWs
streaking south towards Berlin as the capitalists from the West blazed about to
reconquer economically what had collapsed under political betrayal.
Bock took his exit outside Greifswald, driving east through the town of Kemnitz.
The attempts at road repair had not yet reached the secondary roads. After
hitting half a dozen potholes Günther had to pull over and consult his map. He
proceeded three kilometers, then made a series of turns, ending up on what had
once been an up-scale neighborhood of professionals. In the driveway of the
house he sought was a Trabant. The grass was still neatly trimmed, of course,
and the house was neatly arranged, down to the even curtains in the windows –
this was Germany, after all – but there was an air of disrepair and depression
not so much seen as felt. Bock parked his car a block away and walked an
indirect route back to the house.
'I am here to see Herr Doktor Fromm,' he told the woman, Frau Fromm, probably,
who answered the door.
'Who may I say is calling?' she asked formally. She was in her middle forties,
her skin tight over severe cheeks, with too many lines radiating from her dull
blue eyes and tight, colorless lips. She examined the man on her front step with
interest, and perhaps a little hope. Though Bock had no idea why this should be
so, he took the chance to make use of it.
'An old friend,' Bock smiled to reinforce the image. 'May I surprise him?'
She wavered for a moment, then her face changed and good manners took hold.
'Please come in.'
Bock waited in the sitting room, and he realized that his impression was right –
but why it was right struck him hard. The interior of the house reminded him of
his own apartment in Berlin. The same specially-made furniture that had once
looked so good in contrast to what was available for ordinary citizens in the
German Democratic Republic did not impress as it once had. Perhaps it was the
Mercedes he'd driven up, Bock told himself, as he heard footsteps approaching,
But no. It was dust. Frau Fromm was not cleaning the house as a good German
Hausfrau did. A sure sign that something was badly wrong.
'Yes?' Dr Manfred Fromm said, as a question before his eyes widened in delayed
recognition. 'Ah, so good to see you!'
'I wondered if you'd remember your old friend Hans,' Bock said with a chuckle,
stretching out his hand. 'A long time, Manfred.'
'A very long time indeed, Junge! Come to my study.' The two men walked off under
the inquisitive eyes of Frau Fromm. Dr Fromm closed the door behind himself
before speaking.
'I am sorry about your wife. It was unspeakable what happened.'
'That is past. How are you doing?'
'You haven't heard? The "Greens" have attacked us. We're about to shut down.'