Thomas had memorised the entrance to the telegraph room during the tour of the house; and also the shortest way to get there. The telegrapher would be on lunch break from twelve to fourteen o'clock. That would also be the time when he could send a telegram. Johann would distract James and the consul while he went back under the pretext of having left his bag. The telegram would be sent to an address suitable for this purpose, which at first glance did not appear to be connected with the military: in accordance with the usual procedure, Thomas would send holiday greetings, which at the same time contained his whereabouts, his companion and a request not to intervene for the time being. Anyone intercepting this message would not realise, even at second glance, that it was a coded message. Thomas had agreed with Johann that nothing should be said of Aleksandra and Leonid.

Thomas had just sent the telegram and was only waiting for the confirmation of arrival. The familiar click assured him that the intended recipient had received it. What they did with the information now was up to them.

He was about to leave the room when the door was carefully opened. Thomas hurriedly stepped behind the door so as not to be seen. Was the telegrapher already back from her break after ten minutes?

Did he see right, in the dim light of the single lamp? Faster than he could realise Aleksandra had entered the room, she had grabbed him and thrown him to the floor. She paused, "Thomas?" He nodded. Aleksandra let go of him and helped him up. "What are you doing here? A message from you could give us all away!"

Thomas countered, "So will a message from you. How did you get in here anyway?"

Aleksandra wondered if it was wise to open up about the background, but Thomas seemed professional enough to her, "Leonid is taking care of the telegrapher right now. He made sure, by certain distractions, that I got into the office building before she locked up. Now I must telegraph as soon as possible."

Thomas sighed at the thought of what "taking care" meant in this context and then said to Aleksandra, "I'll keep watch by the door so we're not surprised."

Alexandra sat down at the telegraph table and began tapping in the rehearsed characters. The telegram went to her friend Olga. It contained holiday greetings from Zanzibar and the coded note that a reply with a brief description of the political situation in Moscow was to be sent as a telegram to the Hotel Morgenröte in Zanzibar.

Aleksandra had asked the hotel director if she could have a short preliminary discussion with her three companions on the balcony before dinner with the comrades. The hotel manager had then had a small dessert buffet and a pitcher of cold coconut-lime cocktails served.

As soon as the staff had left, bowing, Aleksandra paced nervously. As soon as Thomas and Johann returned from their visit to the embassy, she didn't let them get a word in edgewise: "Your behaviour was absolutely unprofessional. I am responsible for this group and have risked a lot to bring you here safely. Any contact with foreign powers could instantly shatter our thin alibi."

Thomas and Johann, seated on the bench opposite her, looked concerned. Aleksandra had never spoken to them in this tone before. She seemed angry and at the same time genuinely concerned.

Leonid tried to defuse the situation by filling everyone's glass with the cocktail. Thomas took the floor: "With respect, I know what you have risked and are risking because of us. But I owe the same loyalty to my state as you do to yours. We have not mentioned your presence or the circumstances of our arrival here. We will also keep the arms shipments secret. But it was necessary to inform my superiors of my and Johann's whereabouts. I vouch for the fact that Austria will not do anything to pick us up here. However, if you want, there is certainly a possibility that we can go there together and get ourselves to real safety. Through Johann's fellow student, the nephew of the British consul, we can surely get the necessary papers, for we cannot fall back on your station in the north without arousing suspicion."

Johann was too confused to join in the conversation; rather, he waited anxiously to see how Aleksandra would react. Surprisingly, Leonid beat her to it: "There is absolutely no question of us going to Austria! That would put not only you but also us in the greatest danger. There are enough agents stationed in Vienna to eliminate all the occupants of the plane we arrive on. Whoever rules in Moscow will not tolerate our going there with you: Either because they reject contact with the West on principle, or because they think you have persuaded us to desert. Besides, I would never leave the Soviet Union."

Thomas puffed, "Well at least you have an unusual loyalty to your country!"

Leonid looks to Aleksandra, she to Thomas, "We really don't have time now to discuss complex private problems as well. In half an hour the representatives of our movement will meet again here at the hotel. The gentlemen - yes, they are only men - had very diffuse ideas. In any case, they expected concrete commitments from such a high-level delegation as ours. I drew up an action plan that gave their wishes a structure and a timetable. Regardless of the political circumstances at home, all the indications are realistic. This will give us some peace of mind for the rest of the week. Johann, I know this is an imposition on you, but I ask you to play your part tonight as well. I have listed here the support measures that you can pledge as a representative of the Thuringian People's Republic. Do not get involved in military quibbles. And keep in mind that one way or another we will leave this island behind in three days. None of what we pledge today - and which includes the expulsion of the English and other Europeans, including your nuns - will actually come to pass."

Johann took the paper from Aleksandra's hands, glanced at it and looked at her angrily, "You are playing with these people like chess pieces. You use the lives of these nuns and many others as wild cards, and you cheat your own people. Have you no conscience?"

Aleksandra was taken aback, "Why am I doing this? I promised General Shelepin that I would take care of you and ensure with my life that nothing happened to you. I could have stayed in Moscow and watched the coup from afar. Without batting an eyelid. My running away with you may be in the mind of my superior, but is he still? Is he still alive? Are my friends still alive? You once spoke of how startling and exciting at the same time your posting to us was. Now I have also left my home, but unlike you, I can't just go back."

Before Johann could say anything, there was a knock. Everyone flinched, startled. Leonid stood up, straightened his shirt and went to the door, "Perhaps the discussion is already superfluous. If any of the radio transmissions have been deciphered, either the Sultan's police will come for us now, or our comrades will execute us right here." There was another knock, heavier now, "I suggest you wait as far away from the entrance as possible and get to safety, if that's the case."

The three others stood up as Leonid walked into the room. Thomas half whispered, "Take care!"

Silence followed. Eventually Leonid and someone second could be heard, talking in Russian, but Aleksandra could not make out any words. But since neither screams nor gunshots could be heard, they waited in the back of the balcony. Finally Leonid came in, and with him came Lieutenant Lamprin, whom Aleksandra did not recognise at first because he was wearing civilian clothes. "Comrade Lieutenant has a telegram for you, Comrade Major General!"

With a grin that was outrageous to her eyes, the young officer handed Aleksandra the telegram. "I was on my way to see you anyway, comrade, so the director gave me the telegram right away."

Did his smile mean that he had seen through the charade? Were his henchmen already waiting outside the door to kill all four of them? Aleksandra tried to banish these thoughts. With cool self-assurance she took the telegram. She opened the envelope and skimmed the note. For a moment her strength left her and she slumped. Johann caught her with the presence of mind. Not a moment later she was completely under control again, smoothed out her skirt with her usual gesture - a ridiculous action with the light fabric flapping in the wind - and addressed the lieutenant: "I assume you know the contents of the telegram, comrade lieutenant."

Lamprin nodded, "How fortunate that you have a Good Samaritan with you!"

Leonid translated the wording, which was incomprehensible to him, whereupon Johann winced. It could not bode well for a Soviet officer to use a biblical image in this situation. What would happen now? Would he be arrested? Aleksandra, Leonid and Thomas too?

Lamprin continued, "Comrade Major General, we are in a difficult situation. I recommend that we sit down, eat some of these delicious sweets and talk."

Aleksandra gestured for the others to sit down. There would have been no point in overpowering Lamprin, for his companions were surely waiting outside the door. There was also possibly a sniper sitting in one of the surrounding houses who already had them in his sights. The only thing that frightened Aleksandra was not the danger of sudden death, but the premonition that the young officer at the end of the world wanted to savour his greatest triumph for as long as possible: he would be allowed to torture a fugitive general of the secret service and a foreign priest at will and then quietly make them disappear somewhere. Never again in his entire military career would such a thing happen to him.

Leonid seemed to be the first to break the icy torpor, which was in complete contrast to the glaring light of the sun and the inviting sound of the sea. He reached for a puff pastry and ate it, looking demonstratively relaxed at the lieutenant.

Lamprin opened the conversation, "I'm on your side."

Leonid translated impassively for Thomas and Johann. "I found your unannounced arrival more than strange, but due to the radio blackout I could not inquire, of course. It would go too far if I explained the more private reason for it, but because of my good contacts with the Turkish consulate, I tried to get information through that channel."

Aleksandra was firmly convinced that this was a naïve attempt to trap her. He would throw some information at her and show a way out, a way of escape. Then there would be the question of whom in Moscow to turn to for further support or whom to trust there. If Aleksandra said even one name, it would be a sure death sentence. More and more, the certainty matured in her that the coup must have been successful. Now it would only be a matter of settling a few old scores. If implication in treasonous activities could be shown as evidence for this, it would give the prosecution a little more semblance of legitimacy at a public trial. Aleksandra began to smile: if this was the last meal, she was going to enjoy it. She poured herself and Johann another glass of the cocktail. Johann took it, puzzled, but did not drink.

He no longer understood anything at all. The young Lamprin turned out to be their ally, nothing better could happen. Johann relaxed. Maybe he was even a Christian, secretly and orthodox of course, but a Christian. Hence the Bible quotation, which was then not cynical but used as a recognition signal. With a rush of enthusiasm he suddenly said, "I thank God for sending you to us!"

Leonid stared at him with bewildered eyes, "I'm not going to translate that! You shouldn't interfere in the conversation."

Johann looked at Lamprin, at Aleksandra and at the glass of milky, cold drink in his hands. What was going on now?

Aleksandra drank from the glass with relish, then set it down in front of her and fondly searched for a particularly large date filled with marzipan: "Comrade lieutenant, don't you think this island is a wonderful place to live? And how much more beautiful will it be when these delicacies are available to everyone and everyone can sleep in a room like this? I am curious to know what information the Turkish consulate was able to give you."

Lamprin looked at her as if she had lost her mind. But she did not allow herself to be rattled.

Ha, do you think, boy, that I was given my rank as a gift? You wanted to humiliate me before the shooting and really savour it, but I don't begrudge you that pleasure.

The imminent death and the last freedom it gave her made her recapitulate her life: Her childhood on the run, in the war, the murder of her parents by Stalin and the loving sponsorship by Schelepin, which she was to learn much later grew out of a guilty conscience. Her studies, her training as an agent, her previous assignments. She laughed out of the blue.

The four men at the table looked at her questioningly. What irony, she thought, glancing at the handsome interpreter. If only I had accepted Leonid's offer. Under the circumstances, it wouldn't have mattered now anyway.

Lamprin's words brought her back to reality: "Comrade, you suspect that I am playing a game with you and want to kill you, but that is not the case. I have read the telegram, as has the hotel manager, who probably understands the contents even less than I do. My contact at the consulate could not question any army department, but he has a connection to the Turkish embassy in Moscow. I know about the coup; and right away, the outcome is still open. Party Secretary Khrushchev has retreated to Leningrad and has two divisions in position there to protect him. The other group around Prime Minister Bulganin has remained in Moscow. Among them are not only seven members of the Politburo, but also many Party bigwigs who do not want to go along with the General Secretary's new course."

What is he trying to achieve with this presentation, Aleksandra asked herself. But this very question was a sign that she was heading for his trap. No, she urged herself to be careful, not a word or a hint!

Lamprin didn't let herself be put off: "Since the foreign minister and the KGB chief also stayed in Moscow, your client will probably have been the deputy director of the secret service. He has been missing since Sunday."

It took Aleksandra effort to take another date as calmly as possible. How did Lamprin know about Schelepin? It could only be an attempt to lure her into making a statement. Could the Ottoman embassy in Moscow have all this information? Even if they were informed about the political events through diplomatic channels, not a word would be said about the whereabouts or disappearance of leading intelligence officers. But what if Shelepin had fled to his friend, the Turkish ambassador? No one would dare storm the embassy under the present circumstances. He could have all this information at his disposal and deliver it in measured doses to inform on them here. Was it a trick of Lamprin's? And if he already knew about Schelepin's involvement, why this cat-and-mouse game?

The lieutenant did not let up: "Comrade, you must trust me! If I were against you, we wouldn't still be sitting here! You know that. What does the content of the telegram mean? Is there a hint in it as to what you should do next? And how can I help you?"

Only Leonid's translation turned Thomas' attention back to the telegram. Could it already be the answer to the telegram sent to Moscow at noon?

Aleksandra was unsettled, but the content of the telegram was politically innocuous, even if she was personally shocked by its contents. Nevertheless, there was no danger in explaining the contents of the telegram to the interrogator: "The telegram is from a friend in Moscow to whom I have communicated my whereabouts. You need not even try to get her name out of me. The contents of the telegram are only remotely connected with the coup. My brother is the first officer of a submarine. His captain wanted to hand over this boat to a foreign power in exchange for asylum. My brother wanted to prevent this betrayal. That is why he and the other loyal comrades were handed over to the government of that country. He is now in custody."

With a bright clang, Leonid's glass shattered into a thousand shards as it hit the floor. Lamprin, who had been watching Aleksandra keenly during her cool explanation, wheeled around and instinctively reached for the gun he wore under his jacket. "We have to save Vladimir!"

Thomas and Johann understood nothing and looked at each other questioningly. Aleksandra was also completely flummoxed: what business was it of the interpreter to know her brother's condition? How did he even know his name?

Leonid had jumped up and was tussling his hair. Aleksandra tried to see through this reaction. Was Leonid on Lamprin's side? Was he trying to confuse her now and make her careless? But Lamprin also looked surprised; too surprised to just play it off.

"My brother is a loyal officer and communist, he knew what was at stake for him; and he acted correctly. He will be liberated! And the submarine will also be returned to us!"

Aleksandra had regained her composure. Lamprin too put the pistol back in its holster. But Leonid could not calm down: "You have no idea: the Colombian fascists will torture Vladimir. He is not only the deputy commander of this submarine, he also knows all the technical data because he helped develop it - unlike the captain. Without his assistance, the submarine is useless to the Colombians. And the civil war there doesn't look like the comrades are going to win it."

Aleksandra was now completely confused: "What do you mean Colombians? My brother belongs to the Black Sea Fleet, his home port is Odessa. By enemy power, we can only mean the Ottoman Empire."

Leonid shook his head in despair, "That's the official version. In truth, he has been in the Caribbean for three months, on a mission to support the revolution in Colombia. For months, the fascists there have been threatening to close the Panama Canal if the Western states do not help them militarily. Nothing better could happen to them than to get their hands on a modern Soviet submarine together with one of its developers; if only as a bargaining chip for British or French weapons!"

Now Aleksandra couldn't hold on any longer either, she jumped up and gave Leonid a resounding slap in the face: "Come to your senses, comrade! You're completely out of your mind! How do you know all these things about my brother?"

Lamprin jumped up as well. He no longer understood the world. Instead of coming to a constructive solution, these refugees seemed to have completely lost all sense of reality. Cold sweat stood on Leonid's forehead, "Vladimir is the man who loves me!"

Lamprin frowned in confusion, Aleksandra held her breath. Thomas and Johann also stood up, but without having understood the slightest of the Russian conversation.

The cry of a hawk broke the silence. As if released from a stupor, Aleksandra gave Leonid another slap: "And you wanted to sleep with me the day before yesterday? What kind of person are you?"

Leonid did not flinch at the blow: "None of that matters now. We have to free him. You can't want anything else!"

Lamprin took the floor, "Colombia is thirteen thousand kilometres from here! And certainly still ten thousand from Moscow."

Thomas had enough: "What are you talking about all the time? We are still here too! Leonid, what are you talking about?"

Leonid composed himself a little and briefly translated where Aleksandra's brother was.

Aleksandra asked Lamprin, "What do you mean?"

The latter replied, "I am commander of our advanced post here, but I cannot oppose a direct order from Moscow to capture or execute you and your companions. However, if you had already left the island when this order comes, there is nothing I can do. And if you were travelling to a country with a civil war, far from here and from the Soviet Union, you would be in relative safety until the outcome of this unfortunate situation."

Aleksandra pondered. Could it be that he was really on her side? Or would the plane take them to Moscow? Or at least to a military airport in Crimea, the closest place to the Soviet Union? "You are playing a risky game. Why should I trust you?"

Lamprin snorted, "Do you think I would have chosen this post here voluntarily? In the middle of nowhere with a bunch of chaotic savages who don't even know how to operate the weapons we give them? I like being a soldier, but I hate being assigned here as a kindergarten teacher. If your mission were to come to a good end, if reconciliation between East and West were to succeed, such missions would become superfluous. And if the priest can contribute something to that, then it shall be fine with me if he and you survive."

Aleksandra quickly put her thoughts in order: "We need tickets and new passports. Neither the people from your station nor the director of the hotel must know anything about this; so we can neither print new ones from you nor use the ones from the hotel safe. I will get the tickets for the four of us."

Yes, that should do it. Then Lamprin wouldn't be able to set a trap for them and at the same time would be unencumbered, if he really meant it honestly.

Now Thomas intervened: "Your Russian accent is unmistakable, even if you speak good English. I don't think we could enter Colombia unnoticed like that. The military government there would be informed long before we arrived and would intercept us immediately at the airport. I will get the tickets. But we need passports for that."

This conversation had passed Johann by like a dream in half-sleep, but now he had heard something that also gave him an idea: "James! We'll get British passports from the consulate!"

Everyone looked at Johann in amazement. Aleksandra shook her head, "Maybe your friend lives there, but I don't think he can get his uncle to issue passports to four strangers in one day. Even more so when no one would believe us to be British."

Johann wasn't going to drop his idea so quickly, "Still, it's certainly easier to get a passport from there than from the Sultan or the Ottoman Consulate, isn't it? And considering your visit there yesterday, maybe there's a way to get passport forms without applying for them officially directly." Johann looked towards Leonid.

Thomas looked indignant: "You're not suggesting that Leonid sleeps with the next consulate employee so that one of us steals blank passports in the meantime?"

Johann shrugged his shoulders, "From a moral point of view, such an action is of course inappropriate; but one could mitigate, for example, that we pay the passport fees by sending such a sum of money either anonymously to the consulate or donating it to the monastery."

"Or to the Party!" interrupted Leonid bitingly. "I also find it a bit awkward to be sent to a strange bed by a priest!"

Aleksandra interrupted the conversation with a cutting wave of her hand, "Now is not the time to discuss moral quibbles, certainly not on your part, Leonid! We just have to agree: Is it easier to get British passports through Johann and you, or Ottoman ones through Comrade Lamprin!"

She closed her eyes for a moment. She had done it; she had trusted the young officer and thus placed herself in his hands.

"My contacts with the consulate of the Ottoman Empire are not that good either. We'll have to go the British way. That will also make it easier for you to enter Colombia. But now we have to go to the meeting with the comrades. They must be waiting for us!"

Thomas' calm breathing showed that he was fast asleep. Johann, on the other hand, could not and did not fall asleep. He could not get the conversation with the 'comrades', which Aleksandra had conducted and structured in a fascinating way, out of his mind: she had presented plans for the indirect purchase of land that could then be jointly farmed. Proposals for setting up manufacturing industries and the appropriate support services that could be brought to the island officially and additionally by secret transport flights from the Soviet Union. She had advised against violent action until it could be credibly conveyed to the larger part of the population that a new, communist government would immediately help to improve the situation. But she had also said nothing against all British and other Europeans having to leave the island immediately after the revolution. Johann had sat silently by. Should he have spoken for the nuns? Should he have cited their social activity or even their great understanding of the discontent of the situation of the common people? But how would he have explained this knowledge without saying that he was in the convent? And how would he have explained such a visit? He had not lied directly; the few suggestions Aleksandra had earmarked for him as a Thuringian contribution all referred to industrial plants and agricultural equipment that could realistically be provided from that country - except that Johann was not responsible for such supplies.

He wondered if it always started like this: First there are good arguments for a little transgression of the commandments. When you get used to it, you have to increase the severity of the transgression to hide the earlier ones. He was still embarrassed that he himself had made the suggestion that Thomas had rightly reprimanded: he had spoken in favour of stealing passports and having sex out of wedlock, moreover only to help Aleksandra free her brother. This was possibly a matter of life and death for her, but not for Johann and Thomas, who could safely hide in the British consulate.

Aleksandra and her fate had become very important to Johann. To simply leave her here alone now seemed shameful to him. And Leonid had explained his attitude to his body and to sexuality in detail himself, long before Johann could even guess how open that attitude really was. Perhaps with a communist-materialist attitude, sexuality could really be understood as a purely material act, as the moving proximity of two bodies that caused a release of hormones perceived as pleasurable through the electrical impulses of the nerve pathways triggered by it. 'Where the law is unknown, there is no transgression of the law' Paul's letter to the Romans came to mind. Possibly, however, Leonid's open way of addressing these matters had also awakened something in Johann that had long been buried beneath his single-mindedness and ecclesiastical ambition. The sultry heat, Alexandra's colourful and open-hearted clothing did the rest. Johann got up carefully so as not to wake Thomas, went into the bathroom and washed his face with cold water. He looked in the mirror. The drops of water ran quickly down his cheeks, some looked like tears. He had embarked on this journey in obedience, without knowing exactly what purpose it served. He had become acquainted with a small section of the world of the Soviet Union, which was so foreign to him, with great interest. And whatever moved all the other people there, in Aleksandra and Leonid he had personally experienced two communists who were prepared to give everything, including their lives, for their world view. The water began to dry quickly. Johann ran his right hand over his face. What shabby reasoning, Aleksandra impresses me not only because of her conviction. I wouldn't even have been able to tell what colour her hair was after our three months in Moscow, now it seems I could describe each eyelash individually. It will be better to pray more and spend as little time as possible with her - however that should go on the onward journey.