State Of The Union

“And the fact that there are no other vending machines, no ticket machines or anything else still in this station doesn’t bother you?”

“Now that you mention it,” replied Herman, “a cigarette machine, especially back then, would have been worth a lot of money. If nothing else, you’d think some soldiers would have taken it at some point and sold it on the black market.”

“Exactly,” responded Harvath, who threw his shoulder up against the machine. “The way it’s wedged into this alcove, I can’t get it to budge. I think it must be bolted to the wall.”

“Move over,” said Herman. “Let me give it a try.”

Harvath got out of the way, and the enormous German planted his feet and then wrapped his huge arms around the thing. He tried three times to move it without success.

“Now I know why no one ever stole it,” he said as he gave up and took in a deep breath. “Somethingis holding it to that wall. But you can’t get to the bolts. How would you service it?”

“Good question. It doesn’t make sense, unless-” said Harvath, trailing off as an idea struck him and he illuminated the pull knobs on the front of the machine with his flashlight.

“What are you thinking?” asked Herman.

“Do you have any idea what kind of cigarettes Lenin smoked?”

“No, why?”

“Because the Soviets used to infuse a lot of their clandestine operations with symbolism. How aboutSobranies?”

“The black Russian cigarettes?” responded Herman, confused. “How should I know?”

“Let’s give them a try,” said Harvath who pulled the handle and waited for something to happen.

“Maybe you should try putting some money in first.”

“I don’t think so,” replied Harvath, as he chose another handle. “How aboutSputnik brand?”

Once again nothing happened.

“If you’d tell me what you’re trying to do, maybe I could help you,” offered Herman as he leaned his shoulder against the wall and tried to understand what Harvath was doing.

“Of course!” said Harvath, careful to remember to keep his voice down. “Leningradskiebrand would have been his favorite. How stupid of me.”

Harvath pulled on the handle forLeningradskie cigarettes and to his surprise, it came out significantly further than the others. Nothing else happened.

“Maybe you should try an East German brand,” joked Herman.

“I can’t tell the difference,” replied Harvath. “Which one is East German?”

“Pull the knob for theF6 smokes. It used to be quite popular in the East.”

Harvath did and just like the knob forLeningradskie cigarettes, this one also came out significantly farther than the others. He stood back from the machine and thought for a moment.

“I still say you need to put some money in,” quipped Herman.

“And I think its much easier than that once you figure it out,” said Harvath as he reproached the machine with a new idea and pulled the knobs for theLeningradskie andF6 cigarette brands at the same time.

All of a sudden, there was a series of noises from inside the cigarette machine that sounded like heavy metal bars bumping over the teeth of thick metal tumblers. There was a groan of metal on metal as the entire tiled alcove, cigarette machine and all, shuddered and then began to swing inwards.

“Open sesame,” said Harvath as he raised his H amp;K and pointed it straight ahead.

“Fick mich,” joined Herman, drawing his second weapon.

With a Beretta.40-caliber 96 Stock pistol in each hand, he looked like some sort of modern day cowboy and Harvath told him as much.

“You’ll be glad I brought the twins,” answered Toffle, kissing both of the Berettas in turn. “Anyone who goes to this much trouble to conceal what they’re doing is not going to be very happy to see us coming.”

“Then let’s make sure they don’t, got it?”

“DoI have it? What am I, new? Maybe we should double check with Helga and Kristina here,” said Herman waving his pistols. “Doyou have it, girls?”

“Very funny, Herman. Let’s just not fuck this up.”

Herman shook his head and the pair moved inside.

Following the dimly lit tunnel, they came upon two abandoned rooms that looked like they hadn’t been touched in half a century. Dust and cobwebs covered everything. They moved further down the hall and discovered a rusted door that looked like a ship’s bulkhead. Though they were somewhat muffled, Harvath could distinctly make out voices coming from the other side. As the voices weren’t speaking in English, he waved Herman over, and Herman pressed his ear up against the door as well.

“How many are in there?” Harvath asked.

“At least three, maybe more,” whispered Herman after listening for several moments.

“Can you tell if Gary is in there?”

“I don’t know. One of the men seems to be giving all of the orders, but his German is not very good. He says he’s come a long way and is very pissed off that the men have not done their job. He’s chewing one of them out for being late. I think the late man is Überhof. He says he was late because he was being followed, but he took care of the problem and no one followed him here.”