“Is my accent that bad?”
The bartender smiled. “If it was worse, I would have guessed you were British.” He added, “We don’t get a lot of Americans here.”
“Why’s that?”
The man shrugged. “Out of the way.”
“Depends where you’re going.”
“Holiday?”
Brodie drank his beer. “Research.” He added, “I’m writing a screenplay.”
“Yes? What about?”
“An American double agent who worked for the Stasi.”
The bartender considered that. “This is like a historical movie?”
“It takes place now. The traitor was never caught.”
“Ah.”
“Sound interesting?”
The man thought a moment. “Does anyone still care about the Stasi?”
“That’s the question.”
A customer flagged the bartender and he excused himself.
Brodie knocked back half of his doppelbock. “Apparently not.”
“No.”
Brodie looked down the bar, where an old German guy in a rumpled wool jacket was sitting a few stools away. The man had a gaunt face, dark, deep-set eyes, and a full head of brown, plastered-back hair that looked like it had been dyed with shoe polish. The old man took a long drag on a cigarette, then looked at him and said in a thick German accent, “No one gives a shit about the Stasi.”
“Then I guess I’m wasting my time.”
The man nodded. “Ja.”
Brodie finished his beer and ordered another. He asked the old man, “What are you drinking?”
The man said something in German to the bartender, then added in English, “The American is buying.”
The bartender looked at Brodie, who nodded. The bartender pulled out a bottle of clear liquid—some kind of schnapps—and poured it into a small glass, then slid it over to the man.
The man raised his glass. “Prost.”
They both drank. The man moved a couple of stools closer to Brodie and extended his hand. “Friedrich.”
“Scott.”
They shook. Friedrich smelled like cheap cologne and cigarettes. He hadn’t brought his ashtray with him and tapped his ashes onto the bar. “You like Berlin?”
“I’m here on business.”
Friedrich slapped a large hand on Brodie’s arm. “Nice-looking Americanboy, go get some women. The German ladies are friendly. Then you will love this place.”
