Excerpt from The Berlin Exchange by Joseph Kanon, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"Everybody knows him," Martin said, evading. "The first reactor."

"Everybody but me."

Another look from Kurt.

"In the field, I mean. Maybe not the general public."

"He's staying here?" Kurt said. "Not in Karlshorst?"

"To give the interview. Then Dresden. So what do I ask?"

"Ask him why he decided to return," Martin said. "After so many years."

"The Russians, I think, make that decision."

"Ah," Martin said, just a sound, an end, nowhere to go.

"You'll think of something," Kurt said, beginning to move. "You always do."

"One more thing?" Hans said.

Kurt stopped.

"At Invalidenstrasse. The barrier was up. For the exchange."

Not a question, but Kurt nodded.

"The right moment for them. If you have to crash through a barrier—even an ambulance—it would slow you down."

"So?"

"So how did they know? To be there?"

"You can see from Luisenstrasse. They must have been watching."

"Maybe."

"You have a suspicious nature, Hans."

"It hasn't occurred to you, this question?"

"Not until you mentioned it," Kurt said easily.

Martin looked from one to the other. Some dance between them.

"It would be a shame, in this work you do, if someone—"

"That's why I handle things myself."

Hans smiled. "Somebody you can trust. Well, maybe you're right, watching from Luisenstrasse. Amateurs."

"They'd have to be. If they thought they could drive through the wall." Kurt raised his eyes to the ceiling. "Good luck with the science quiz. Martin," he said, moving them off to the elevators.

"You don't have to come up."

"No, just a word." A glance to the lobby. "There he goes. I was afraid— But that was good, everybody in the field. He doesn't have to know you're a friend of Schell's."

"A hundred years ago."

Kurt nodded. "You were at Göttingen together. Old comrades."

Martin looked at him. "You know that?"

"It's not a secret, is it? Of course I know. In this work you have to know everything about your clients."

"But you don't want Hans to know."

Kurt looked up a second. "We want to be careful."

"Careful."

"You heard his questions? For a story they won't print. Why ask? He has two jobs."

"And Neues Deutschland's only one of them."

"Just like Springer was. They always wanted to have someone inside at Springer. And he wanted the money. So, two paychecks."

"But then he got caught."

"That's why he's here," Kurt said, looking at him.

"And you?" Martin said, not thinking, blurting it out. "How many jobs do you work?"

Kurt took a step back, surprised. "You want to know, am I Stasi?" he said bluntly. "I can't be. The go-between? Both sides have to trust you. It's a tightrope sometimes. If I need to work with the Stasi, I work with them. How else, with political prisoners? But I can't be one of them. So they're suspicious. It's their nature. But they need me. They don't negotiate. Someone else has to negotiate. Someone the West will trust too. So, one job only."

"Hans doesn't think so."

"Hans is looking for an opportunity. To be noticed. But I don't give him one." He looked up at Martin again. "One job." He put his hand on Martin's arm. "Well, later, then. That was very good, not knowing Schell. So quick. You never lose the training."

"Not much training. I was just in the right place at the right time."

"The perfect asset. But you have to have the instinct too." He looked away. "Imagine that dummkopf Rieger. Not knowing who he is, his own interview."

"Can I call him? Schell. I mean, if he's just down the hall—"

"When the time is right."

"When the time is right," Martin said, an echo, picking at the words.

"You will have to trust me. Can you do that?"

Excerpted from The Berlin Exchange by Joseph Kanon. Copyright © 2022 by Joseph Kanon. Excerpted by permission of Scribner. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.