The Berlin Tunnel

by Roger L Liles

  Shocked, I didn’t respond. I turned and exited the café, terrified this nightmare would never end.

  Chapter 121

  Robert

  September 29, 1961

  In their next meeting, Anna gave Olivia several rolls of exposed film which showed areas of the base including my office, and the weather station on the roof including the adjacent antenna farm. Members of the Double Agent Committee took the photos, not Anna.

  Olivia told her, “My bosses are pleased with the pictures and documents you are providing. Try to gain access to the offices on the upper floors of the base and take pictures of documents out on peoples’ desks or in open file cabinets.” She gave Anna fifteen additional rolls of film.

  After the others left Scott’s conference room, Anna turned to me. “I’ll have to spy for them as long as my family is in the East. That means even after we move to California.”

  “Both of us want this nightmare to end.”

  “Robert, can’t we just tell them what you really do?”

  “That’d only lead to more difficulties, believe me.” I replied.

  “Think about it—for my family and for me—please.”

  “Anna, neither of us could have anticipated what has happened.” I attempted to lighten the mood. “I’ve not enjoyed our pretend sex sessions either, but I won’t entertain those bastards! The sex standing up in the shower isn’t that bad, is it?” I tenderly kissed her as we held each other.

  Chapter 122

  Saturday, September 30, 1961

  Both Anna and I worked that Saturday. Anna because she had been taking so much time off for her ‘treatments in the clinic.’ This was her excuse to cover her double-agent activities. I had to complete our briefing to the Triumvirate the following Monday and help the team digging the ‘Escape Tunnel’ for us.

  Just before lunch, Colonel Morgan said, “After you make the changes I’ve indicated, I’ll be satisfied with the briefing we’ve prepared. I hope it accomplishes our objective of keeping the CIA at bay.”

  Scott and I grabbed a hamburger at the Officer’s Club and then drove in his car to the site of the Escape Tunnel. Kurt met us, and we went up to Gunther Becker’s apartment.

  The previous Saturday, I’d assisted Gunther in establishing the distance and precise direction that the escape tunnel should take.

  “We are here to monitor your progress and to see if you need our help,” Kurt told Gunther as we each shook his hand.

  A few minutes later we studied a narrow, deep pit at the back of the basement.

  “Robert, at your suggestion we have gone down to eight meters below the surface, which is five meters below the basement level. That way, we should clear any subsurface obstructions and listening devices the border guards employ.

  “How’s it going?” I asked.

  “Two people are working in the tunnel now. The further we go, the more time it takes because the soil and the boards must be transported longer distances. We are working four-man two-hour shifts, twenty-four hours a day. As you can see, we have made considerable progress. We are placing the boards on all four surfaces to prevent cave-ins.”

  “How far have you gotten?” Kurt asked.

  “Almost thirty meters. We should be done in another three weeks.”

  “That means that we won’t be able to get our loved ones out until late October or early November.” Scott shook his head, exhaling.

  “I’m also disappointed in how long this will take,” I admitted. “I wish we had a viable alternative. So many things can still go wrong, and there are too many people who know about this escape route. It could be easily compromised.”

  Scott and Kurt nodded their agreement.

  Kurt said, “I’ll keep checking for other routes.”

  Referring to my notes and using my theodolite, I spent most of the rest of the afternoon ensuring the tunnel was headed in precisely the correct direction. A small error becomes magnified as distance increases.

  As we prepared to leave, we informed Gunther that his progress was satisfactory.

  Chapter 123

  Monday, October 2, 1961

  My men and I worked hard to complete the construction and furnishing of the large conference room in the Signals Exploitation Center. It still smelled of fresh paint. General Harrison, Gerald Scherman, George Mason (the new CIA representative to the Triumvirate), and Thomas Lane took their seats on one side of the conference table. Colonel Morgan, Mark, Scott, Raymond Keefer (the NSA Construction Team lead), and I sat opposite them. Everyone wore civilian attire and had been transported to the building in the back of construction vans.

  After Colonel Morgan completed his introduction, Mark stood. Using slides to illustrate his comments, he said, “The CIA intercept facilities have been fully operational for over a week. So far, they’ve been able to begin collecting information from several high-level Russian and East German diplomatic and government telephone and teletype communications links.”

  General Harrison asked, “What percentage of the communications lines have been tapped so far?”

  “Only about twenty percent,” Mark replied.

  “And I understand we are already receiving exceptionally valuable information.”

  “That’s correct,” Mark replied. “The Soviets and East Germans are unable to agree on the terms of their unilateral peace treaty. Plus, the Russians are disgruntled about the amount of economic and military aid the East Germans are demanding next year.”

  “During my last trip to Washington, I went to the Pentagon,” General Harrison reported. “Mr. McNamara, the Secretary of Defense, congratulated me on this facility and the information we were already gathering.”

  Mark resumed his briefing, “The NSA and Air Force intercept facilities are complete and will be fully operational in two weeks. The Army intercept area will come online slowly over the next month. Fabrication of the barracks, mess hall, and recreation facilities, along with the remodeling of the apartments will be completed by mid-December.”

  Thomas Lane had not uttered a word. It appeared Colonel Morgan’s suggestion to have Mark give my briefing was working.

  He spent another hour presenting details of various aspects of the program and then took everyone on a tour of the entire facility, including the tunnel. We had spent countless hours preparing backup material to refute anything that Thomas Lane criticized. He said nothing during the entire meeting. I sensed he was up to something, but what?

  Chapter 124

  Tuesday, October 3, 1961

  “The spy game in Berlin is changing,” Thomas reported to Mark, Scott, Anna, and me as we sat around Scott’s conference table. “Anna, your problem with Olivia and the Stasi is solving itself as we speak.”

  “That seems impossible.” Anna proclaimed, turning to each member of the Double Agent Committee, then hugged me from the next seat.

  “Although the border is still ostensibly open for everyone to pass freely between the two Berlins, our spies and operatives have been denied entry or harassed once they are in the East. As we speak, we are implementing alternate means of getting information out of the East. Easterners with the ‘right papers’ are still permitted to visit West Berlin, but virtually everyone coming West is either an East German Stasi officer or an operative. About five hundred per day have been crossing over—most still return East each evening.”

  “As I remember, several thousand of their spies used to come over each day, including the thirty or so who watched Tempelhof,” Scott said.

  Thomas went on, “True. For the past two weeks, the identity card of any Easterner coming over the border has been checked and compared to known spies. They are being followed so we can assess their activities. Many individuals have been detained, returned to a checkpoint, and told not to return.

  Scott added, “I’ve heard that a few have even been arrested on espionage charges.”

  “Correct.” Thomas pointed his finger at Anna. “As your last act as a double agent, you’re goi
ng to give Olivia a classified document. She’ll be arrested for espionage and sent to prison for a long time.”

  Anna stood. “No! Never! That would only make the Stasi suspicious of me, and they would want revenge. Treat Olivia like the rest. Just tell her to not come back. Otherwise, there’s a good chance they will harm my family!”

  “But it’s imperative that I…we break up a major communist spy ring.”

  I could no longer control my temper. I stood. “You got it right the first time. You’ll do anything to get ahead in the CIA, including the sacrifice of innocent people you’ve never met, people superior to you in every way, you dirty son-of-a-bitch!”

  “Anna, I’m ordering you to give Olivia this document at your meeting tomorrow,” Thomas shouted, as he handed a highly classified document to her. The title page read:

  TOP SECRET/LIMITED DISTRIBUTION/US EYES ONLY

  PLAN FOR BRINGING REINFORCEMENTS INTO BERLIN

  IN THE EVENT OF ARMED CONFLICT

  “This will damn my family to Stasi hell!” Anna screamed, flinging the document in his face. “The Stasi won’t believe I was able to get my hands on such a highly classified document! And I don’t take orders from you!”

  I took Anna’s hand, and we walked out of the room.

  Anna gave Olivia several rolls of film at their last meeting. Olivia didn’t have the film in her possession when she was stopped later in the day, as she exited West Berlin. She returned to the East without being arrested or told not to return.

  Chapter 125

  Wednesday, October 11, 1961

  “Thomas Lane has been chastised and put on a short leash by our boss, the CIA Chief of Station in Berlin,” Kurt reported. “His responsibilities have been explained to him, and he barely managed to retain his current position. Unfortunately, someone in Washington intervened. We’ll still have to deal with him, plus he remains my boss.”

  “That’s a shame,” I lamented.

  “Today, Olivia tried to reenter West Berlin. She and twenty-nine others were arrested, photographed, fingerprinted, taken back to a checkpoint, and told not to return,” Kurt reported.

  “That’s good, she wasn’t singled out for special treatment,” I said.

  “Anna will need to keep her lunch appointments for the next two weeks, but I suspect no one will ever approach her again at that café. If they do, one or two of my men will be close by to arrest them.”

  “Anna will be happy to have this all behind her. Thank you, Kurt.”

  “Whether it’s all behind her is yet to be seen. The old days of Berlin being an open city, where our spies and their spies pass freely back and forth is ending. Both sides have assets in place to monitor their respective opponents.”

  “What you’re saying is the spy game in Berlin has changed from overt, open collection of intelligence to covert, undercover operations,” Scott said. “The number of people involved has been reduced, and Stasi covert spying activities will be limited to what they perceive to be critical areas.”

  “That’s correct. Despite Thomas Lane’s comments last week, they may perceive Anna as a sufficiently valuable resource to assign a covert handler to her.”

  “I understand what you’re saying, but I hope you’re wrong. This has been very hard on her.”

  “This new situation makes the signals intercept facility Robert and his men are building even more vital to the defense of our country,” Kurt said.

  “Speaking of tunnels, have either of you been over to see how they’re progressing?” Scott asked.

  “I was there last weekend,” Kurt replied. “They got a new guy who’s a master digger. He can excavate twenty, perhaps thirty percent more than any of the other men.”

  “So, when will they finish?” I asked.

  “It’s taking longer than they thought. Probably another three weeks.”

  “Next week, we’ll start making plans.” I said.

  Kurt said, “Here are your keys. We completed the sweep of your apartment and found no additional recording devices. We left the original ones in place, but disabled them. Everything should return to normal soon for you and your wife.”

  “Thanks, Kurt. You are a true professional and a friend. Anna and I are eternally grateful for your help.” We shook hands.

  “And Scott, once I can tell Anna your financial assistance helped to get her family out of the East, you’ll be her hero for sure.”

  “Anna’s an exceptional woman. She has demonstrated tremendous inner strength and fortitude throughout everything,” Kurt said, genuine empathy in his tone. “You must be very proud of her.”

  We all hoped Anna’s ordeal with the Stasi was over.

  For several weeks I had sensed that Anna’s mental health was teetering on the brink. That evening, she was elated when I told her, “Your ordeal with Olivia may be over—Kurt has disabled the bugs in this apartment—Thomas Lane has been reprimanded.”

  Anna had reacted with joy and adulation each time we heard that people had escaped from the East. Recently a truck had barreled through a fence with a family aboard—an individual swam across a river—a small woman hid in a tiny space in a Volkswagen—a train rammed through a fence with thirty people aboard.

  Three days ago, in a public meeting, East Germany’s Ulbricht and the Russian leader Khrushchev again threatened a separate peace treaty. Their threat sent Anna into a shouting rage, “This move will give the bastards in the East sovereignty over the road, rail and air access to Berlin, and it will turn the Cold War into a Hot War. I can feel it!”

  Then yesterday, three teenage boys were shot trying to escape—one died immediately—a second was allowed to die slowly in no man’s land screaming for someone to help him—a third was severely wounded but managed to make it to safety in the West. Anna was inconsolable as she wept. I held her for hours before she calmed down.

  This morning I learned my ‘early out’ had been approved. I told Anna, “As soon as I complete my current task, we can leave Berlin. By the middle of December for sure.”

  “The Stasi are no longer harassing me, and we’ll be in California again in two and a half months! The worst may be behind us!” she exclaimed.

  Almost instantly, her elated facial expression changed, “But my family will still be here, exposed to Stasi harassment and worse. How can I possibly abandon them to that fate?” The glum expression on her face left little doubt that she was suffering great mental anguish.

  I hadn’t told her about our latest plan to extract her family. I didn’t want to get her hopes up.

  Chapter 126

  Anna

  Wednesday, October 18, 1961

  At the conclusion of my meetings with Stasi Agent Olivia Katz, my hallucinations began, and I suffered from insomnia.

  Twice, I dreamed of lying in a dark, slime-filled puddle when Robert awakened me. “Anna, you’re having a nightmare, wake up!”

  On other occasions, I felt the ropes that secured me to that chair in Stasi Headquarters as I sat at my desk in the bookstore.

  In the middle of the film Judgement at Nuremberg. I felt the stress of being interrogated.

  The spray of water in the shower became the violent assault of the fire hose.

  In the middle of a conversation with strangers in the bookstore, I would panic, and think of fleeing.

  Confined spaces like my small office or a foul smell took me back to that cell, again and again.

  I fought to overcome those sensations. I kept the experiences from everyone, especially Robert, until that Wednesday.

  Robert had to work late, and I was walking home alone when several people started to follow me. Soon I sensed that a slow-moving car was also behind me. Sure that Dieter Holburg was inside it I ran, tripped, and fell, skinning both knees and ruined my stockings. Sobbing, I ran on.

  People looked at me as I passed them hurriedly. Finally, I got into the apartment building and sobbed uncontrollably sitting with my back against the front door to keep those following me out.
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br />   Soon, a tenant on the ground floor heard me. She came out and helped me to stand. “Frau Kerr, should I call the police? Has someone harmed you?”

  “No. I am all right. I tripped.”

  With her help, I slowly climbed the five flights of stairs to our apartment.

  After I cleaned my scraped knee, I lay down on the bed and attempted to fight the delusions that had made me panic. Eventually, I felt safe and was able to convince myself that I’d imagined today’s entire episode.

  I dozed off for a few minutes, then heard a knock on the door. Since no one had buzzed from the apartment house’s front door to be admitted, I assumed it was the lady from downstairs checking on me. I made the mistake of opening the door.

  Dieter Holburg and another man forced their way into the apartment. When I tried to close the door, they flung it back into me hard. I ran, attempting to reach the bathroom which had a lockable door. Dieter’s associate grabbed me, securing both of my arms in a grip. I struggled to get free, but his strength overwhelmed me.

  “We must talk to you,” Dieter insisted.

  I thought of spitting in his face, but I decided that wouldn’t accomplish anything except make him angry.

  Dieter’s foul breath, and the other man’s body odor almost overpowered me. I suddenly remembered being restrained by those Russian soldiers. Sophia lay sprawled on the ground whimpering and I felt so very cold.

  Dieter gripped my hair and forced me to look at him. “Have you forgotten your recent stay with us?—The prison?—Your promise to help us?”

  His words propelled me into the Stasi cell clad in that thin smock as, yet another interrogation session started. They shoved me onto the sofa, instead of securing me to a hard chair. They loomed over me. Dieter stooped and yelled into my face, “Just because Miss Katz can no longer come to the West does not mean you are not one of our operatives! We need to know your husband’s actual job, and we require additional information about the American military. Is that clear?”