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Katerina’s discovery that
she was pregnant. Neither of them could reconstruct exactly when
their birth-control precautions had failed. This event was both
good news and bad news. They were both actually pleased that they
were going to have a child, but the negative consequences were
overwhelming. If the Stasi found out about it, there was no telling
what their reaction would be. Hatcher decided he must take
immediate steps to get her out of Germany. Although it was within
his power for this to take place, it was complicated by the certain
dire consequences that would befall her mother and sister.
    The second event was even more devastating. A
few days after he found out Kat was pregnant, before Hatcher had
formulated a plan, the Stasi abruptly sent Katerina back to East
Germany. Hatcher was furious with himself. He should have acted
sooner! Now things were exponentially more complicated. Before he
could propose a plan for her extraction, he had to know where she
was, and why she was suddenly sent back. That meant he must go to
East Berlin and nose around. This was not what bothered him—he had
several personas that could infiltrate the GDR. It was what he
might find there that scared him. Was she in prison? Or dead?
Besides, time was no longer on his side. Something must be done, if
she were alive, before her pregnancy was discovered.
    Three days later, he returned from East
Berlin feeling somewhat optimistic. He had found her alive and
living at her mother’s farm. As far as Kat knew, her recall was
strictly routine. She was scheduled to take some classes on some
new surveillance equipment. She had no idea when she was to be
returned to West Berlin. She had been both panicked and relieved to
see him. She wanted to know how he got into East Berlin. He had
lied, telling her he called in a favor from an old friend. She was
so happy to see him that she did not pursue it.
    When he got back to his apartment, he wrote a
coded message for the drop man in West Berlin. It was for his
handler in London. It described his plan to get a defecting Stasi
agent out of East Berlin, and it included a sub-plan to take her
mother and sister to safety also. Later that day, he left the
message at his drop. Now all he could do was wait for an answer.
Was he too late?
     

Chapter 4
     
    East Berlin, Germany
    August 12, 1984
    5:45 P.M.
     
    The Hatchet Man took another scan of the
plaza below. The new, compassionate Bob Hatcher that Kat had
created was being repressed for the moment. Hatcher had to call
upon all of his instincts to ensure the success of this mission.
His entire future life was now in the hands of the highly trained
senses of the super agent, The Hatchet Man. There was no room for
sentiment, or fear, or feelings of possible failure. Every move had
to be cold and calculated.
    His plan had been approved by the London
Station Chief, John McGinnis, who was also in charge of the NOC
agents in Europe. Hatcher knew the approval came, not so much
because the CIA wanted this agent, but because it was Hatcher doing
the requesting. They went out of their way to keep him happy. He
had received the details of the approved plan at his usual dead
drop, which changed by the day of the week. He had gone back into
East Berlin and met secretly with Kat to explain the plan and its
timetable. They had met in a barn close to her mother’s home. She
had been so thrilled to see him that she immediately insisted on
screwing in the hayloft before they discussed anything else. He did
not put up any resistance to that suggestion. While they lay naked
in each other’s arms, he explained the plan to her, his hand on her
stomach where his child was growing inside. On August 12, her
mother and sister were to go into the market place to shop. They
would be contacted by a CIA agent and would be secretly whisked
away through a pre-planned route into West Berlin. They would
eventually arrive in New York, then would be reunited with Kat and
Bob Kelly. Kat was to