The Secret Agent by Stephan Talty Read Free Book Online Page B

Lenshoek introduced his companion as Anne-Maria Freudenreich. Erickson bowed slightly and studied the German woman as he chatted with the couple. From the way the Dane stuck close to Anne-Maria, Erickson was sure that Lenshoek was trying to maneuver her into bed. Erickson could see why. Anne-Maria was a dark-haired German beauty, elegant and a bit haughty. She intrigued the American. Her conversation sparkled; she radiated waves of “energy and vivacity.” Though he he’d been married for fifteen years, Erickson fell in love almost immediately. “I was infatuated with her. She was a dream of a woman.”
    Anne-Maria was engaged in an even more dangerous game than Erickson. Born in Germany to a land-owning family, she’d been educated in Britain and France and counted the rich and powerful among her friends. She was a confirmed monarchist who made it clear to Erickson that she harbored “a very firm hatred toward the Nazi party.” Like the American, Anne-Maria was playing a part: her background gave her entree to parties where Germany’s most powerful men drank and gossiped. She made friends with Hitler’s officers, asked seemingly innocuous questions, then passed on the information to the OSS. “She told me she couldn’t stand Hitler and his excesses,” Erickson said. “She insisted that he was destroying the German nation, that he had brought shame and hate upon her people.”
    Erickson and Anne-Maria became lovers. Whenever Erickson went to Germany, he would meet her in rented room, bringing “love gifts” chosen specially for her in Stockholm. Anne-Maria sent him photographs, including one informal shot of her in a floral dressing gown where she’s leaning back, smiling happily, as she brushes a spray of flowers away from her face. Along with photos, the couple exchanged love letters through the heavily censored German mail system. This came at a time when the SD, the internal German intelligence agency, had thousands of workers checking mail and tapping phone lines in search of traitors and saboteurs.
    For the most part, Erickson was a scrupulous agent. He took risks, but only the ones he needed to. He’d been especially patient in building his cover story in the early years of the war and had deftly brushed aside the Gestapo’s questions on his background. But when it came to Anne-Maria, the American seemed to abandon everything he’d learned about tradecraft. The CIA and most other spy agencies forbid their field agents from getting involved with each other or with their sources (unless they’re trying to blackmail them). Intelligence handlers even frown on their agents being seen together in public. That’s the point of dead drops and other secret methods of communication. If two assets have any kind of relationship and one of them is caught, the other is in immediate danger. By falling in love with each other in Berlin, Erickson and Anne-Maria were doubling their chances of dying in a concentration camp.
    On his return from Germany, Erickson rushed home to his apartment in Ostermälm and wrote up a report of everything he’d learned, relying almost completely on memory. (It was too dangerous to carry notes within Germany.) His reports were terse and included details on tank and airplane factories as well as oil plants. From one of his communiques:
Böhln: Refinery outside of Leipzig in operation, with new gas wells.
    Korn-Neubruk: A few miles outside Wien. This is a small new plant for the new Vienna Basin. Intact on October 18th. There are other plants in this area finished and one under construction.
    Berchersgrend: This place is apparently not to be found on any map, since it’s in a new suburb between Berlin and Jüterbog. The plant is manufacturing turbines for the new plane. Plant is a tremendous size, and is very well concealed in the woods. Around it there is double-wire fencing about 2.5 meters. About 8000