JF05 - The Valkyrie Song Read Free

Buzuluk.’
    ‘Sniper?’ asked Drescher.
    ‘Thirty-three confirmed kills,’ said Lubimova, blankly.
    ‘And now you’re an army doctor?’ said Drescher, thinking of thirty-three dead Germans.
    ‘Psychiatrist. And not for the army.’
    ‘I see,’ said Drescher, and he knew that the matronly Russianhadn’t had far to come: just from Karlshorst, immediately to the south of Lichtenberg. KGB headquarters.
    ‘I specialise in the psychology of combat,’ continued the Russian. ‘What you have said is actually true: women are much less inclined to kill in hot blood than men are. The vast majority of murders around the world are committed by men and are fuelled by rage, sexual jealousy or alcohol. Or any combination of these elements. And you are also right to say male soldiers perform more aggressively in front-line combat, particularly hand-to-hand. However, when it comes to
cold
-blooded killing – planned, premeditated homicide – then the pendulum swings the other way. Women who kill often kill in cold blood and for motives other than rage: motives that can be quite abstract. That was why so many of my female comrades made such excellent snipers. That is why these girls are perfect for what we have planned.’
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Drescher. ‘The killing is only a small part of it. These girls … women … will have to exist isolated from their controls.’
    ‘That is where you come in, Major Drescher. You have a great deal of experience in Section A,’ said Adebach, referring to the ‘education’ unit of the Stasi’s HVA, responsible for training East Germany’s spies. ‘You will head up a team of instructors that will train these girls in the broadest spectrum of skills. The kind of skills they will need to infiltrate and maintain deep cover in the West.’ Adebach took his seat again.
    Drescher sipped his coffee and smiled:
Rondo Melange
. Drescher was a man who enjoyed good coffee. He had tasted the best around the world – in Copenhagen, in Vienna, in Paris, in London – but for Drescher nothing compared with Rondo. It was one of the few things that the GDR manufacturing monolith had managed to get right.
    ‘What do you have in mind?’ Drescher said.
    Adebach nodded to his adjutant, who passed a file to Drescher. ‘Are you familiar with the Japanese term
kunoichi
? The
kunoichi
was the female counterpart of the male ninja. Both
kunoichi
and ninja were trained as the ultimate assassins, but there was a recognition that gender had a role to play in how they went about their tasks. The
kunoichi
were expert in all forms of unarmed combat, but they were also trained in the art of seduction. They were experts on the human body, both on how to make it respond erotically and on where the weak spots were: how to kill swiftly and with the minimum of force and, whenever necessary, leaving little or no evidence of violence. They were also experts at concealment – disguising themselves as servants, prostitutes, peasants – and concealing weapons or improvising them from household objects. Added to this, the
kunoichi
were the ultimate poison-masters: they were trained in botany and could extemporise a deadly toxin from what they found growing around them. What we are aiming to achieve, Major Drescher, is to develop our own
kunoichi
force and bury it deep in the fabric of Western capitalism. These operatives will have all the skills of the
kunoichi
… but they will also be expert with every form of modern weapon.’
    ‘Why?’ asked Drescher. ‘I mean, why specifically this type of operation? Why now? And why are the Stasi being asked to run it?’
    ‘I’m sure the comrade major won’t mind me saying this’ – Adebach nodded in Lubimova’s direction – ‘but we have by far the best success rate in penetration of Western security services and organs of state. Of course, we enjoy an advantage that none of our allies in the Pact possesses – we speak the same language as our main opponent.’