Smiley’s People by John le Carré

He bumped over a railway track and headed for the cargo ships. Beams of morning sun had broken through the mist, making their white paintwork dazzle. He entered an alley comprised of control rooms for the cranes, each like a modern signal box, each with green levers and big windows. And there at the end of the alley, exactly as Herr Kretzschmar had promised, stood the old tin house with a high tin gable cut like fretwork and crowned with a peeling flag-post. The electric wires that led into it seemed to hold it up; there was an old water pump beside it, dripping, with a tin mug chained to its pedestal. On the wooden door, in faded Gothic lettering, stood the one word ‘BUREAU’ , in the French spelling, not the German, above a newer notice saying, ‘P. K. BERGEN, IMPORT-EXPORT’. He works there as the night clerk, Herr Kretzschmar had said. What he does by day only God and the Devil know.

He rang the bell, then stood well back from the door, very visible. He was keeping his hands clear of his pockets and they were very visible too. He had buttoned his overcoat to the neck. He wore no hat. He had parked the car sideways to the house so that anyone indoors could see the car was empty. I am alone and unarmed, he was trying to say. I am not their man, but yours. He rang the bell again and called ‘Herr Leipzig!’ An upper window opened, and a pretty woman looked out blearily, holding a blanket round her shoulders.

‘I’m sorry,’ Smiley called up to her politely. ‘I was looking for Herr Leipzig. It’s rather important.’

‘Not here,’ she replied, and smiled.

A man joined her. He was young and unshaven with tattoo marks on his arms and chest. They spoke together a moment, Smiley guessed in Polish.

‘Nix hier,’ the man confirmed guardedly. ‘Otto nix hier.’

‘We’re just the temporary tenants,’ the girl called down. ‘When Otto’s broke he moves to his country villa and rents us the apartment.’

She repeated this to her man, who this time laughed.

‘Nix hier,’ he repeated. ‘No money. Nobody has money.’

They were enjoying the crisp morning, and the company.

‘How long since you saw him?’ Smiley asked.

More conference. Was it this day or that day? Smiley had the impression they had lost track of time.

‘Thursday,’ the girl announced, smiling again.

‘Thursday,’ her man repeated.

‘I’ve got good news for him,’ Smiley explained cheerfully, catching her mood. He patted his side pocket. ‘Money, Pinka-pinka. All for Otto. He’s earned it in commission. I promised to bring it to him yesterday.’

The girl interpreted all this and the man argued with her, and the girl laughed again.

‘My friend says don’t give it to him or Otto will come back and move us out and we’ll have nowhere to make love!’

Try the water camp, she suggested, pointing with her bare arm. Two kilometres along the main road, over the railway and past the windmill, then right – she looked at her hands, then curved one prettily towards her lover – yes, right; right towards the lake, though you don’t see the lake till you get to it.

‘What is the place called?’ Smiley asked.

‘It has no name,’ she said. ‘It’s just a place. Ask for holiday houses to let, then drive on towards the boats. Ask for Walther. If Otto is around, Walther will know where to find him.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Walther knows everything!’ she called. ‘He is like a professor!’

She translated this also, but this time her man looked angry.

‘Bad professor!’ he called down. ‘Walther bad man!’

‘Are you a professor too?’ the girl asked Smiley.

‘No. No, unfortunately not.’ He laughed and thanked them, and they watched him get into his car as if they were children at a celebration. The day, the spreading sunshine, his visit – everything was fun for them. He lowered the window to say goodbye and heard her say something he couldn’t catch.

‘What was that?’ he called up to her, still smiling.

‘I said, “Then Otto is twice lucky for a change!” ‘ the girl repeated.

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