Chapter 51: Double Game

I wasn’t hungry anymore. After quite a while, I got up and went to the phone. I called Diana.

“Hello, Mistress Diana. I wanted to sign out, I have to go out for about two hours, shopping.”

“Alright, Johanna. Please check in with me when you’re back. We need to talk.”

Another conversation I could look forward to today.

“Yes, Mistress. See you later.”

I refreshed my makeup and put on something comfortable. Armed with a shopping bag, I took the lift down to the bike cellar. There I checked whether the tablet was still in the bike bag before I rode more or less aimlessly through the city to shake off any possible tail.

Summer was definitely over. The sun occasionally broke through the clouds, but it was nowhere near 20 degrees anymore. Still, I wasn’t freezing in my sweater.

I finally stopped near the museum and sat down in an almost empty café. They had free Wi-Fi and I could log in. After another look around to see whether anyone was watching me, I dialled Walter’s number via Skype.

“Hello, Johanna! About time you got in touch!” he greeted me.

“A lot has happened,” I began. “First: you don’t have to take action. There’s no acute danger, not for me and not for anyone else. Apparently I fell for a misunderstanding.”

“I received the file today. That doesn’t look like a misunderstanding,” he growled. “That’s deliberate bodily harm, almost attempted manslaughter, what Rebecca did to you! I have to pursue this.”

“No. If you do that, I won’t see my sister again. If you do it now, I’ll claim the video is fake, a film scene.”

“Are you kidding me? Do you know what false reporting is?”

Walter sounded rightly furious. I sighed.

“It’s complicated. But I have another request: can you please check Holger? His real name is Piotr Babich. And he claims he’s with the FSB.”

“FSB?”

“Yes. A subdivision of the Russian intelligence service.”

“I know what the FSB is, Johanna. You do realise that means State Security will get involved? How did you even end up with the FSB?”

“I don’t think he actually works for the FSB. He only claims it. Probably he’s just a private investigator.”

“At least that would be quick to check, if he has a licence here. Give me his details.”

I passed on everything I’d found out about Holger.

“Alright. I’ll check him, if you explain to me how you got involved with him.”

“He recruited me,” I admitted. “He claimed to have information about my sister and to help me if I helped the FSB. He knew my real name when he approached me. And he knew so many details from my life that at first I had no doubt he really was intelligence. But by now I’m sure I was deceived. His knowledge could have come from Nadine. Either willingly or under duress, she told him everything about me.”

“Could he be mafia?”

“No, probably not. It’s about the apartment building and complicated corporate espionage. He likely works for one of the investors preparing a full takeover. I only got caught in the middle by chance.”

“Oh wow, Johanna, this is too complicated for me right now. Can you send me a detailed report? Or do I have to summon you? You just admitted you became active in Germany for a foreign intelligence service!”

Damn. Why did I keep forgetting I was talking to a German official?

“If he isn’t FSB, then I didn’t commit a crime, right? And if he is FSB, State Security should be very grateful for the information.”

Walter was silent for a moment.

“Send me a detailed report. I’ll inform State Security. But, Johanna: if he is real, you’re in even greater danger. You do realise that?”

“Not at the moment. I’ll check in as often as I can. If you find anything, send me a status on Facebook. How about the phrase ‘cool east wind’ if he’s not FSB, and ‘warm east wind’ if he is?”

“You sound like an agent,” Walter said. But there was no amusement in his voice.

After the call, I hurried to type the report and send it by email. The two hours were almost up and I still had to shop. So I kept it telegram-style: where, how and when he approached me first, what he said, what he knew about me. At the end I explained his offer and what I was supposed to do.

As soon as I’d sent it off, I paid for my cappuccino and left the café. The mail conversation was online, so there were no traces left on the tablet.

At the supermarket I bought the basics and hurried back. I hid the tablet in the bike bag again, went up, put the groceries away and checked in with Diana. Then I quickly took the SD card out of its hiding place and put it in. It was the last copy I had.

On the phone, Diana told me to come up to her immediately. With a bad feeling, I went upstairs, choosing the stairs.

At her office door, I gathered my courage and knocked.

“Come in!”

I entered, dropped to my knees as soon as I’d closed the door, and lowered my head to the carpet.

“Good day, Mistress Diana. I’m sorry I’m late. Unfortunately I lost track of time.”

“Stand up, Johanna. We’re suspending the ritual for now. At least until you continue your training in the circle cellar. Why did you lose track of time?”

I stood up and went to the desk, where she pointed at the armchair. Uncomfortably, I sat down.

“I had a nasty argument with Isabell and went to a café to think.”

Diana stared at me with a stern expression for what felt like minutes before she nodded.

“I can imagine it wasn’t a pleasant conversation. And ours probably won’t be either.”

I waited wordlessly for what she would say.

“Rebecca has informed me fully. About you, your identity, and your activities.”

I’d expected that, so I only nodded to show I understood.

“As you can imagine, I’m furious with you. If it were up to me, you’d be thrown out of the apartment immediately. But Rebecca vouches for you and is giving you another chance. Since she’s the boss, I obey. But she’s also my friend, and I don’t forgive an attack on her that easily. Especially not an attack on the whole company. Do you realise there are 400 people working here who depend on that money? And then there are their families. You put all of that at risk!”

The accusations hit hard, even more because they were true.

“I’m sorry. When I agreed to spy here, I was deceived. I even assumed this company belonged to the mafia.”