Chapter 5 A New Plan

1430 Zulu, Thursday, July 16, 1981, Bonn

Maria and Klaus spend every night together for the rest of the week. On the weekend Maria shows Klaus the tourist spots in Bonn. The following week she spends all of the free time with Klaus she can and keep to her cover story. She uses the time in the mornings and afternoons her cover story calls for her to be learning sales techniques from the Ruhr consultant to go to a small apartment the Agency rented for the week. She can claim it’s where she’s going for training if Klaus follows her. She uses the time in the mornings to review the previous days’ time with Klaus and plan her strategy for the coming evening. Leon meets her there in the afternoon and reviews her progress in assessing Klaus as a potential candidate to be recruited as an asset.

When Maria meets Leon for her afternoon status report she explains: “It’s taking more time than I expected but I think I am making progress with Klaus. I haven’t identified any weaknesses we can exploit yet but each time we are together he tells me more about himself. I sense he has some connection to an East German intelligence agency but I can’t be sure yet. I actually think I may be able to get him to fall for me. If he does it may induce him to break his cover.” She doesn’t add she thinks it might already be happening.

“I can’t give you any advice on how to make Klaus fall in love with you Maria. Just keep looking for any weaknesses. I checked our databases and we have no information on a Klaus Schultz from Dresden. If he is an agent he’s unknown to us.”

They leave the rented apartment early and Maria walks to her Bonn apartment. She wants time to think about her situation before returning to the Hotel to meet Klaus. She tries to think about her task of assessing Klaus but her thoughts keep returning to their relationship. Maria never enjoyed being with a man so much as with Klaus. The sex is incredible every night. She knows something new is happening for her. She always views sex as being for her pleasure. Her actions during sex are to encourage her partner to perform what she wants. Even though the sex brings her great pleasure she always feels empty feeling afterward. Then she wants her partner to leave her alone until she’s ready for sex again. Now, with Klaus, she finds herself wanting to please him. When Klaus responds favorably it brings her more pleasure than she ever experienced. She doesn’t feel empty after sex with Klaus. Instead, she wants to stay close to him. When he leaves her room she feels lonely. She knows she’s happy but she doesn’t understand why she’s so happy.

Maria even enjoys touring the tourist's spots in Bonn in spite of the summer heat. She’s been to these places before with other targets but she’s never enjoyed them as much as she does with Klaus. Even better, she loves chatting with Klaus. He listens to her with interest and likes to talk about the things she likes to talk about. She has to keep reminding herself she’s trying to assess Klaus. Klaus answers all her questions about his youth, education, and job in a way Maria can't determine if it’s the truth or a cover story. She’s unable to identify any passions that grip Klaus other than his unusual interest in her Jewish background and the oddity of his blaming America for not invading France fast enough to have saved his family from being killed by the Germans.

Near the end of the week she’s "in training" she decides she can’t assess Klaus's potential as a candidate without more time with him. Actually, that’s an excuse; she really wants more time with Klaus for the deepening relationship and the sex. At her status check in with Leon she reports: “I need more time to assess Klaus. Do you have any ideas how I can explain not going back to Munich after tomorrow?”

Leon offers several ideas then adds: “I think the best choice is to say Ruhr contacted you and said the development of the new robotics technology is delayed so your training in Munich is postponed. You can then say you asked them if you can spend some additional training time with the consultant in Bonn, Say they agreed. I’ll extend this apartment rent for a week and cover an extra week of your hotel expense.”

“Yes, I like that idea Leon. Let’s go with it. I think it will work best if I wait until tomorrow night to tell him. I’m pretty sure he’ll say he can arrange to stay longer if I am going to be here longer. He didn’t seem to have trouble staying in Bonn this week after the show.”

1620 Zulu, Thursday, July 16, 1981, US Embassy, Bonn

When Leon asks Jack, the station chief in Bonn, for permission to extend Maria's apartment rent and hotel stay for another week Jack complains: "This arrangement is straining our budget. I'll approve it but I'm not happy. Are you sure you have confidence in Maria?"

"As sure as I'm likely to be. I have never put to bed the feeling something isn't quite right about Maria but she has a good track record of spotting targets and finding weaknesses that can be exploited. Although so far we have had to turn the targets over to another agent more skilled in closing the deal her success in identifying and assessing targets makes her a valuable agent for us."

"Her approach with this Klaus guy seems to imply she will have to continue to work him."

"Yes, I agree, Jack, and I am going to have to keep a close watch on her progress. If Klaus does fall for Maria it's going to be complicated for us to change her cover story so she can have a believable rationale to pitch working for us"