Puzzle People (9781613280126) by Doug Peterson Page A

stash of Pepsi in the refrigerator. Europe was overrun by Coca-Cola, but Annie had discovered a small store that stocked Pepsi, so she regularly loaded up. Maybe another can would wake her up. Her drowsiness made her think about the report on Juliet that she had recently reconstructed—the one detailing Juliet’s incessant interrogations and sleep deprivation. The Stasi were convinced that Juliet knew about Romeo’s escape and had distributed subversive leaflets, but they also saw her as somebody who could be easily manipulated.
    Back at her desk, Annie finished off another routine report on an old woman code-named Medusa, and then she began to piece together a document that was surprisingly current compared to the others on which she had been working. It was dated November 14, 1989.
    November 1989. Annie couldn’t miss the significance of that month and that year. The Berlin borders opened on November 9, 1989, and the Wall came down soon after, so this must have been one of the last documents placed in this person’s Stasi file before East Germany collapsed. Shuffling through a pile of scraps, she worked quickly and efficiently. The document had obviously been ripped by hand because it had jagged edges, not the smooth slice of a shredder. Annie matched edges and split words, even stains on the paper.
    As the paragraphs came together, a familiar name rose from the paper: Stefan Hansel. Evidently, Stefan had become active in the church protests taking place in Leipzig. The famous Monday prayer meetings in Leipzig had transformed into massive but peaceful demonstrations in 1989, and it appears that Stefan became a part of the movement. But he had been an informer, according to other documents, and Annie wondered if he had been sent to Leipzig to infiltrate the church.
    What took her breath away, however, was one particular paragraph. She read it three times. The words were so matter-of-fact, but the subject was anything but ordinary.
    5:15 p.m.—Made contact with 5839392. Discussed concerns about Hansel. Decided extreme measures would be necessary. Discussed methods.

7
    East Berlin
November 9, 1989
    Stefan Hansel was drawn toward the checkpoint. Like hundreds of others, thousands maybe, he moved toward the border in disbelief.
    “Is it true?” he asked an older man just to make sure he had heard the news correctly.
    “It’s true,” said the man, taking a big bite of black bread as he strolled down the middle of the street. East Berlin streets were notoriously quiet at night—but not this Thursday night. It was as if people just picked up in the middle of what they were doing and started for the border. Stefan even saw a couple of people in their pajamas, with jackets thrown over their nightclothes because, after all, this was November in Berlin.
    Something big was happening.
    Stefan lived in Leipzig, but he had come to Berlin two days ago to lend a hand in the protests coming out of Gethsemane Church. He had no idea what he was walking into. As he moved closer to the Bornholmer Strasse checkpoint, the crowd grew thicker, the tension more palpable. He got up on tiptoes and tried to get a better look.
    “Aren’t they letting people through?” he asked a young woman.
    “I don’t think so. This is ridiculous.”
    But he was sure he had heard correctly. Like so many people, he had been watching the regular news conference held by East German leaders and televised every evening at six o’clock. People had been glued to the news as stories spread that East Germany was going bankrupt, collapsing under the weight of its massive debt. It had been forty years since the GDR was born and twenty-eight years since the Wall had gone up, and the country was in chaos; all of Eastern Europe was in turmoil, with politicians bickering and blaming each other, demonstrators filling the streets, and people demanding the freedom to travel wherever they wanted. Then this evening, the unthinkable happened. Günter Schabowski, a