A Secret Life by Benjamin Weiser Read Free Book Online Page A

had walked there many times and knew of a wooded area where he could enter without being seen. Kuklinski was given further instructions on how to communicate with the Americans in Warsaw, including how to leave messages in dead drops, which in some cases were out in the open. Often the darkest place, Kuklinski came to learn, was under the lantern. He was given several souvenir key rings and postcards, evidence for his crewmates and son that he had been shopping.
     
    In Belgium, the officers posed thirteen questions from headquarters. The first was: “Describe in detail war plans of the armed forces of Poland, Russia, and other members of the Warsaw Pact during a state of emergency, and first-strike plans as well as for a limited war conception.”
     
    Kuklinski answered adeptly, talking for some twenty minutes without interruption, using a map of Europe to orient himself as he sketched out invasion routes. Finally, he stopped and said that it would take him “at least a week of solid taping” to answer that and the other questions.
     
    The final meeting was held in Kiel, Germany, on August 25, one day before Kuklinski was to sail back to Poland. During the session, Kuklinski said matter-of-factly that he was considered to be a member of what Jaruzelski called the Army’s “gold fund” (or “golden boys”), who were frequently rotated to new assignments to ensure that they gained well-rounded experience in preparation for promotion to the highest levels of the Polish Armed Forces.
     
    As the three-hour meeting came to a conclusion, Lang and Henry handed Kuklinski some more souvenirs that he could have plausibly bought in Kiel tourist shops, including a large piece of coral for Kuklinski’s home aquarium, shampoo for Hanka, and a pocket chess set with a metallic board.
     
    Kuklinski then grew emotional. “Please forgive me,” he began, “if my last statement is somewhat chaotic, but my nerves play a certain role here. I would like to express my deep joy that the thoughts which got hold of me no less than 20 years ago have now, during my stay in the West, materialized. I am very happy about it.”
     
    Citing his willingness to work secretly against the Soviet Union, he added:
     
     
    I do not consider this a hazardous game, playing some risky game, because I know that my country’s place is in the free world.
     
    I would like to extend, above all on my own behalf, to the defense leadership of the United States, my assurance that just as I think, think almost 30 million Poles. It is our deep yearning to find ourselves with you in the free world. My country’s situation is not an easy one. We are placed in the middle of our brothers who we have not chosen but who were given to us by fate, that is, the Soviet Union, which has armies in front of us, and behind, and the situation is hard. But I think that in moments of trial, Polish Armed Forces will stand shoulder to shoulder with the American Army.
     
     
     
    He felt certain that Polish soldiers would abdicate their role in an attack on the West and leave an opening for NATO forces. “Our forces might be added to―and counted with―the forces of the free world,” Kuklinski declared.
     
    Kuklinski returned to his boat, and Lang and Henry spent the night in the hotel. The next morning, they walked to the harbor and sat on a large rock by the water. They could see Kuklinski’s yacht in the distance and watched for a while as the Legia disappeared over the horizon. “I don’t think we said a word,” Lang recalled. “We just hoped for the best for him.”
     

2
     
    “THE SOIL OF NOBODY”
     
    KUKLINSKI HAD ALWAYS loved the sea, which he imagined as a way to link people, nations, and ideas. Now, leaning over the wheel of the Legia , he felt liberated. As a young officer stationed on the Polish Baltic coast, he had often stood on the beach scanning the horizon. Even on the clearest days he was unable to see the free world, the Scandinavian coastline,