In a brothel in the nightclub district of the German city-port of Hamburg, the girl who called herself Dagmar steered her unsteady client across the landing and into her room at the top of the second flight of stairs. It was a snug, warm-looking room with chintz draperies, red wallpaper and lighting, and a king-size, brass-railed bed. Dagmar was petite, blue-eyed, and blond with an urchin-cut fringe. The client was cheerful, merry, and drunk.
"Come on, in here. Don't make so much noise or the madam will come and throw you out early."
"Ah, and you are the pretty Dag-Dagmar, yes? I like that name. Yes, it's a very pretty name. You're a pretty lady."
"I'm glad you think so," she said, closing the door.
"And this is where Dagmar lives, eh?"
"It's where I work."
"I think I would like to live here too. Can I come an' live here with you?"
"You haven't paid for that long."
He threw up his arms and beamed at her. "Oh, well, too bad."
Dagmar kicked off her shoes and began unfastening her dress. "Aren't you going to get undressed?" she suggested. The man took off his jacket. She hung it over a chair. He fumbled with the knot of his tie, which was pulled several inches down below the open neck of his shirt and had tightened. "Here," she said. "I'll do it."
"And I like the perfume," the man said.
"You're easy to please, I can see. So what should I call you?"
"People who like me call me Nicolaus. Others think of other things. But I don't care about them."
"You're from farther east somewhere, aren't you?"
"That's right. I'm Estonian. Ever been there?"
"It's not so easy these days for us to get over into the FER states." Dagmar was suddenly more attentive. "Are you visiting Hamburg?"
"Oh, yes." Nicolaus put a fingertip to his lips and swayed. "An important international assignment," he whispered.
"Oh, really?"
"You don't believe me."
"How could you possibly think that?" Dagmar steered him to the bed, and he collapsed down onto it. He looked up at her as she removed her underwear and joined him.
"I'll have you know that you are p-privileged to be en'taining a very important person," he mumbled.
This was going to take time, she could see. If he wanted to talk a bit first, that was fine by her and would probably help him relax. He had bought plenty of time.
"Don't tell me," she said. "You're here to negotiate Germany out of the Consolidation and get us into the FER."
"Those are nice tits."
"Hm . . . that feels good. Really, I'm interested. What brings you here?"
Nicolaus bunched his mouth tight and shook his head knowingly.
"You're right, then. I don't believe you," Dagmar told him.
He focused on her with an effort and looked pained. "Promise you won't tell?"
"Not a soul."
Nicolaus looked from side to side over each shoulder and leaned closer. "I'm meeting a very special illegal who's arriving here tomorrow from America. A scientist, no less."
"A scientist!" Dagmar looked impressed. "What does he do?"
"Ah, that's a secret." Nicolaus shook his head firmly, in a way that said hot irons and pliers would never get that out of him.
Dagmar traced fingers over his chest. "Where are you staying in Hamburg?" she inquired lightly.
"Oh, what's it called? . . . The Harbor Light Bar, down by the water. Sort of a pub. But they let a few rooms."
"Yes, I know it."
"Why?"
She shrugged. "Oh, I do outcalls too. I just thought that this scientist might enjoy a little native hospitality . . . some relaxation after the journey, maybe?"
"Unlikely," Nicolaus said. "I'm told he's getting old. In any case, we'll be gone by tomorrow night. Anyhow, I'm fed up talking about him. Let's do something about me."
Later that night, Dagmar made her routine call to a number at the local police headquarters to report the snippets she had collected that evening. It was amazing how interested they were in even the most trivial-sounding gossip. Besides ensuring that she always had friends in the right places, the extra money came in useful. She was learning to cultivate some refined and expensive tastes.
The foreign liaison officer at police headquarters traded information with a contact at the U.S. consulate who had put out a priority request for anything on a defecting scientist, aged sixty, possibly sailing from Jacksonville, known to have a heart condition for which he was prescribed Panacyn, and thought to be using the code name "Headman." The details from the hooker's account were delivered to Circo in Washington less than thirty minutes later, at what was still 5:00 p.m. local time.
Circo had already established that three ships had sailed from Jacksonville for Europe on November 19: one bound for London, one for Naples, and one for Hamburg. The one going to Hamburg, the Auriga, also registered there, was due to arrive on December 1—which was the following day. It all fitted. The "Cop 3" reference in Samurai's message was thought to mean the Offworld colony at Copernicus, on Luna. A scientific group there was known to be working in the same field of research as Ashling. That, then, would be the destination that Ashling was making for.
Circo called Fairfax at Pearse on a secure channel and announced, "We've got the break!"
Samurai hadn't incurred any physical or psychological impairment that the formidable battery of tests, which he had been subjected to through the past week, could -detect. On all fitness and reflex scales he scored well above average, his mental acuity rated superbly, and there was no measurable loss of performance in any of the skills that had been combined into his persona. These had been further extended and now included marksmanship and expertise in all weapons categories as well as hand-to-hand combat; gymnastics, swimming-diving, climbing, and parachuting; survival and stunt driving; fixed and rotary-wing aircraft piloting; codes and communications; familiarity with subversive organizations and enemies of the state, their methods, ideologies, and sympathizers; expertise in electronics, chemistry, forgery, explosives, vehicle mechanics, and computer techniques; and fluency in French, German, Spanish, and Russian.
After an hour of tests on breaking computer access codes, then a shower followed by a light dinner, he was sitting at the kitchen table in the apartment, confronting Vera across a chessboard.
Vera frowned down at the pieces while Samurai watched indifferently, still playing in his mind with decision trees and probability matches. Finally she moved a knight.
"You lose in three," Samurai said. "Rook takes pawn, check, followed by bishop to bishop six if you block it, or pawn takes pawn if you move the king. Either way, the queen mates."
"Hm. What if I exchange rooks?"
"The same thing, after rook to bishop one. You're dead."
Vera pushed the board aside with a sigh. "Oh, this isn't fair. They've downloaded a tape. How am I supposed to compete against that?"
She said the right thing instinctively. It all nurtured the feeling of his own dominance and invincibility, which Samurai seemed to need. He got up and moved out into the living room.
"Any plans for this evening?" Vera asked, rising and following.
He scowled, seemingly morose and restless. "I don't know. Maybe I'll work out on the mat. Find out for me if Nagaoko is available. He's good."
"I thought Valdheim wanted to stage some retentivity tests tonight."
Samurai's expression darkened. "Tests, tests. I'm tired of their tests. It's time to get out of here."
"The NSA are doing what they can. They don't exactly have a lot to go on."
"The NSA are imbeciles. I could do it better myself. Give me a day to go through their intercepts and I'd—"
A call tone sounded from the desk unit. He strode over and stabbed a button to accept. It was Nordens, for once looking excited.
"Get packing. You're on your way," he announced. "They've found him."
"Where?" Samurai snapped.
"Hamburg. It's as well that we made one of your test languages German, because there wouldn't be time to add it in now. Ashling arrives aboard a German ship called the Auriga, due to dock at two-thirty tomorrow afternoon. There's a flight out of Dulles to Frankfurt tonight. You're booked through as Sam Harris." Since the Gordon identity was compromised, a new cover for Samurai had already been created. "Circo is arranging entry papers now. His people from the consulate will meet you at Hamburg when you arrive tomorrow morning. You leave right away."