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Max called his Hungarian colleague, Zsolt Kovács.
Answering, Zsolt simply told him, “I’ve been monitoring this situation and I’ve been expecting your call but you should have contacted me earlier, Max.”
Having discussed the details, Having discussed the details, Drexler said, bluntly, “I don’t think Radler would have doubled back into Romania. There’s no point. The only place he could go from there is Yugoslavia and it serves no purpose for him. Even with Tito’s current stance, there’s no benefit for them to take him in, quite the opposite. No, his objective has to be the border with Austria, nothing else makes sense.”
Kovács agreed: “But we’ll increase the surveillance on the British and American embassies here anyway. What have you done about Bucharest, just in case we’ve got it wrong and he’s simply taken the lower route along the Danube?”
Drexler: “My contact there has the main station covered and also the embassies, particularly the British. I don’t think it’s what Radler would do but I just don’t know for certain. What’s the weakest part of your border defences?”
Kovács laughed: “If I knew that I’d have done something about it. Leave it with me but in the meantime, I strongly recommend you get your arse over here as soon as you can. I still have time to get people out to the Budapest stations. I’ll put that into action now and if we’re lucky we’ll get a result. I’ll have someone on standby at the airport to collect you. Speak to you soon, my friend.”
The East German Tu-134 landed at Ferihegy airport, Budapest, just under two hours later. Drexler was met by a driver and ferried into the city.
After a warm handshake, Kovács updated him. “Our people at the train stations report no sightings of Radler. At Keleti, we had a full search of the incoming trains and all passengers checked on the platforms. He wasn’t there, I’m certain.
“I checked the crossing posts on the border and all report unusual activity; British diplomatic vehicles coming and going, one American as well. In the southwest, there’s a blockaded former crossing, the British actually went into the woods there and were seen communicating by radio. I’ve got dogs searching that area as we speak.”
He stroked his chin. “I don’t know whether they’re trying to distract us or whether they don’t even know themselves where Radler’s going to try to cross over. I’ve had security stepped up everywhere but I think I know what he’s done.”
Max accepted the coffee a subordinate brought him whilst Zsolt continued, “At Szolnok, it seems the direct through train that goes to the border and terminates in the next town down was waiting when the train from Arad arrived. Nobody thought to check it because it doesn’t stop in Budapest, it bypasses the city. I think, somehow, he managed to get off unseen and get on that one. Given the time-lapse, if it’s on schedule, he’ll be at the first large border town by now but he could be going on to the terminus because the weak point there is the rail bridge.”
Max threw him a questioning look. Zsolt explained, “The train has to slow right down as it nears the station, the bridge is old and due to be replaced so for safety reasons they keep the speed down. He could, I’m told, slip onto the bridge then simply throw himself into the water and swim for it. Is he a good swimmer?”
Max shook his head and opened his arms in a shrug. “I believe he used to be a member of the Stasi swimming club but that was over twenty years ago now.”
Zsolt checked his watch. “Well, the train should get there in an hour but I’ve requested they deploy a unit to the bridge, they should have ample time. I’m happy we’ve covered everywhere else but I’ve only just received the detailed maps for the crossings north of the bridge and haven’t had time to look at them myself.”
They spread them out on a table and it wasn’t long before they both saw what the problem was. Drexler studied the position closely whilst Kovács attended to a phone call. When he returned, he had reasonably good news.
“I’ve just spoken to the local Commander for the area just to the north.” He placed a finger on the main map. “Yes, that point of the road in this village has been an issue of security for them. He says they requested it be re-routed slightly so they could place appropriate measures but the authorities told him to increase the patrols whilst they thought about it. The situation’s been going on for a while so, on a suggestion last year, he put checkpoints up at the edge of the villages it connects and stopped everyone but the patrols using it.”
Max picked up the detailed map for the village in question and pointed at a feature. “Look, here, this is like a big finger pointing to ‘X marks the spot’. It couldn’t be more obvious unless you lit it up with a neon sign.” Then he ran his finger across some lines. “There’s at least one track through the woods. You could access this feature from them. What measures are employed there? Barbed wire?”
Zsolt scratched his head and his eyebrows drew together in consternation. “I didn’t ask, my friend, but not to worry, I have a helicopter waiting on the Margaret Island and our driver is outside. We’ll be at the border in just over forty-five minutes.”
On the island, in a field between the trees, they boarded the Mi-8 helicopter that had gathered a crowd as it had landed. Rotors spinning above them, Zsolt and Max, in a stooped run, made it to the open passenger door. Whilst Max was instructed to take a seat, buckle up and put on a headset, Zsolt spoke briefly to the pilot as they consulted a map. Landing site agreed on, he took his place, the pilot checked the crewman in the rear and on the ‘thumbs up’ increased the power taking them into the sky as an excited and admiring throng looked on.