A/N: 04-Feb-2015 Hi friends! To make a long story short, delay was caused by hypertension and heavy research workload. But immediately after the work project got completed, I literally pounced back on my laptop to finish Chapter 4. I hope you'll like it! :)

BIG TIME ESPIONAGE

CHAPTER 4 – The Spy Goes to the GDR (II)

Dimitri opens his eyes and looks around. The place around him is unfamiliar, yet also feels somewhat comfortably familiar. He was in the middle of a huge and tall building, filled with paintings that felt familiar to him. As he looks up at the dome of the building, he finally remembers whose painting was the one that spans the entire dome… It was an Orthodox icon of the Christ Pantokrator (Pantokrator means "Almighty" in Greek, but the term is also used in Russia). Dimitri looks at the walls of the building and realises they are all Orthodox icons of saints, the apostles and of the major events of Christ's life, such as His Theophany, His Crucifixion, His Resurrection and other major events. He looks directly at the front, and Dimitri sees a beautiful ornate golden wall filled with icons of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary (who is called the Theotokos, the God-bearer, in Greek and in Russian) and other angels and saints, some are familiar to him, while some are not. And in the middle of the wall is an open door, and out comes an Orthodox priest, wearing vestments in cloths of white and gold, holding a censer in his right hand. Dimitri looks around again and suddenly, there were hundreds of people beside and behind him. As the priest swings the censer to bless the people, Dimitri hears the chants and the prayers of the cantors (chanters/singers) and the people: "Gospodiy, pomiluy" which means "Lord, have mercy" in Russian and Church Slavonic, a few of the major languages used by the Orthodox Church. Dimitri suddenly feels light and warm, like all the burdens of the world seem to have been taken away from him. He closes his eyes as he hears the bells on the censer's chains ring, mingling with the ethereal chants of the people as they continue to repeat the prayer "Gospodiy, pomiluy."

Suddenly, Dimitri hears the door behind him opening loudly and violently, followed by sounds of shots from pistols and AK-47s. To his bewilderment, he is the only one who looked back at the soldiers who started shooting at the people and the church building itself. Surprisingly, even though Dimitri saw that a lot of the people were hit, they seemed unharmed as they continue bowing, eyes closed and praying "Lord, have mercy". Even the priest seemed unfazed. Dimitri tries to run, but his feet are firmly frozen on the ground and he could not move. Suddenly, he hears loud explosions of grenades, dynamites and other explosives. He sees the entire building crumble. He struggles to move to escape, but he is still stuck in the middle of the church building, together with the priest and the people who keep praying. The church building then finally collapses. As the huge slabs of the dome approach Dimitri's head, he tries to let out a scream, but even his throat was paralyzed. He continues looking upward as the crumbled dome, now showing the destroyed icon of Christ Pantokrator continues to speed down towards him.

"Nyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!" Dimitri is finally able to scream "No!" in his native tongue, Russian. He opens his eyes and gets up. He looks around and it takes him several seconds to absorb everything around him. He finally realises he is in his hotel room, in East Germany. Dimitri is still trembling as he uses his blanket to wipe the sweat off his face and neck. He had a nightmare. He tries to calm himself down as the relief sets in that everything was just a nightmare, and that he was safe and sound in a comfortable East German hotel room. He looks at the bedside clock. It's 6:30 in the morning. When he finally relaxes and breathes more slowly, he rings up room service and requests for a breakfast set to be brought up to his room.

After 20 minutes, Dimitri's breakfast is wheeled into his hotel room. As the waiter closes the door and leaves, Dimitri proceeds to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water, to further awaken himself. He then dries his face and hands and returns to the bed. He pulls the dining cart towards his bed and lifts the covers off his breakfast plates of fresh fruit, warm bread, butter, sausages and eggs. He makes the Orthodox Sign of the Cross inside his mouth with his tongue and he fiddles with the silverware and the cup of coffee as he mentally utters his prayer before meals. He's still taking precautions, since his hotel room could be bugged either by his own country's KGB agents, or by the GDR's Stasi, the dreaded East German Secret Police. The television set, which Dimitri left on when he fell asleep the night before, is now showing an East German propaganda programme called "Der schwarze Kanal" (The Black Channel), which was a program that extracted certain West German television program excerpts and is re-edited to integrate communist commentaries. Dimitri is so used to propaganda broadcasts in television and radio in his homeland that the German propaganda television show just felt like white noise for him as he begins to tuck into his breakfast.

When Dimitri is halfway through his breakfast and coffee, he stops eating and gazes at an empty corner of the room, pondering about the nightmare that he had. Although Dimitri worries that his hotel room is bugged, he feels much more comfortable to recall his past memories and ponder more deeply about them. And hence, he was able to relax as he remembers his days when he was still a kid, and how he ended up being a communist spy despite being a secret Orthodox Christian…

Dimitri was still a very young kid at the time, and his parents Motka and Ekaterina Chernetsky (Motka is Matthew in Russian, and Ekaterina is Catherine in Russian as well) brought him up as an Orthodox Christian, because they were also Orthodox Christians. However, Motka and Ekaterina were secretly Orthodox because they were also working for the KGB. Dimitri's parents taught him early on that he must keep his family's faith a secret.

Orthodoxy managed to thrive in the atheist communist state despite the brutal persecution of the Church by the Soviet government, but it had to keep a very low profile to continue to attend to the spiritual needs of its faithful. A few Orthodox priests and deacons survived the brutal persecutions and executions, and continued serving the faithful "underground", in various civilian houses. Only a small group of the worshippers could be allowed into a house at any day for Divine Liturgy. They had to sometimes avoid celebrating the Divine Liturgy on Sundays and instead celebrate the Sunday version on later or earlier days, to avoid being detected by the authorities. And they had to keep their icons and candles in secret locations in the house after the Divine Liturgy, to avoid being caught if random house inspections were conducted by the Red Army. And during celebrations of the Divine Liturgy, everybody is prepared to be executed on the spot or be arrested and tortured if they were discovered by the Red Army.

Dimitri's parents, even though they were Soviet spies, remained Orthodox because of their parents. Dimitri's grandparents weren't spies, but regular people and were Orthodox Christians in Tsarist Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, an upheaval which overthrew the Imperial Government and a communist government took over, eventually forming the Soviet Union. When the Soviet crackdown on the Church began, a lot of the surviving faithful and clergy worshipped in secret at ordinary houses, including Dimitri's grandparents and parents.

When his grandparents passed away due to old age after a few years under the Soviet regime, his parents had to pretend to be loyal to the communist government for the sake of their only child, Dimitri. Or else they would've all died of starvation or execution. At first, they joined the Red Army, and they were eventually deemed qualified to be transferred to the KGB.

During all of Dimitri's childhood and early teenhood, he had no idea that his parents were employed as spies. He thought they were city government employees at the capital Moscow, since they always wore office clothes instead of the usual overalls and suspenders of the factory workers and the farmers. He grew up to be a very good boy, very obedient to his parents, and following their advice to play along with the communist government so that they won't be harmed. They all believe deep inside that God will save them someday, but for now they must play along with the communists.

However, they made sure that although they acted like pro-communists, they avoided actions such as participating in destroying churches, executing clergymen and political prisoners, corruption and other actions that will harm other people.

Motka and Ekaterina, luckily, were assigned in intel jobs, so they didn't have to shoot anyone. They were assigned to join the KGB network of agents that were monitoring the progress of the newly-established German Democratic Republic (East Germany) when the Soviet Union granted sovereignty to East Germany and re-armed their side of the partitioned Germany after that country's defeat in World War II.

Dimitri, on the other hand, continued to be a good student and a good member of the Komsomol (Kommunistichestkiy Soyuz Molodyozhni, or the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League), a youth division of the Communist Party of the USSR.

Despite the contrasts of their being pro-communists, they made sure that they didn't harm anyone their actions. Motka and Ekaterina had to play along for the sake, the safety and the future of their son, Dimitri, who also made sure he didn't harm anyone with his own actions.

When Dimitri turned 16, his parents finally opened up to him that they were working for the KGB. Dimitri was, at first, shocked and disappointed, but being a pious Orthodox, listened to the explanation given by his mom and dad. When he learned that it was for his safety, and that they didn't harm or kill anyone, Dimitri cried and hugged his mother and father, thanking them for the risks they are taking just for his own safety. At that moment, Dimitri said he wanted to join either the Army or the KGB, so as to protect his parents as well. The government would no longer doubt their family because both parents and their child are working for the government.

After a few weeks, Dimitri joined the Red Army at such a young age, and in no time easily became an army soldier, thanks to his good records at the Komsomol. He wished to be assigned to intel work, and fortunately his wish was granted, as if someone more powerful than the Soviet government is listening to his wishes. His intel work in gathering data about the loyalty of the other Soviet republics other than Russia impressed his military superiors that he was recommended to be a junior agent for the KGB. By the time he turned 18, Dimitri became a KGB agent.

After a few more years, and the family continued to be both secretly Orthodox and KGB spies focused on intelligence work.

Dimitri was also able to see the communist system and the entire USSR in its entirety: brutal, corrupt and unjust. But what can he do to change things, he thought to himself. He decided to just continue to work for the government, just like his parents, hoping that one day, God would save them from the communist plague that has infested their country for decades already.

Sadly, tragedy struck when Dimitri turned 21. The KGB lost contact with his parents, who were tasked with three other senior agents to infiltrate West Berlin. The news that arrived was that one of the agents went rogue and poisoned his fellow agents, including Dimitri's mother and father, and their bodies could not be found. Dimitri was devastated, and asked for a week-long leave to grieve.

When Dimitri came back to work, he was filled with a strong determination to somehow avenge his parents. He swore to become either a powerful military general (since KGB agents also have military ranks) or even a powerful member of the Communist Party, and find a way to bring down the communist regime and bring freedom to his fellow countrymen. He knew it was a very ambitious plan, but he secretly prayed to God for help to achieve that plan someday, to avenge his parents and to defeat the evil that is communism.

Dimitri then snapped back to the present as he blinks and puts his cold, clammy hands on his face.

So far, Dimitri thinks his progress is good, since he is now a senior-ranking KGB agent holding the military rank of Major. A few more decades of hard work could land him a top position in the Army, or even in the powerful Communist Party. When that time comes, he plans to either stage a revolution to overthrow communism and replace it with the democratic system he has observed during his espionage missions to the United States, or to gradually introduce reforms that would destabilize communism and serve as the catalyst for its transition from communism to democracy.

With that thought, Dimitri felt better and a smile begins to form on his face. He continues and finishes his breakfast. He looks at the clock: 7:45am. Plenty of time before a government car fetches him at 8:30am. He then proceeds to the bathroom to take a shower and to brush his teeth.

After shower and brushing his teeth, Dimitri puts on a fresh suit for his appointment today: a diplomatic meeting with the SED officials, which might possibly include Erich Honecker, the leader of the GDR. As soon as Dimitri finishes tightening his neck tie, the bedside telephone rings. He then proceeds to pick the handset up.

"Ja? (Yes?)" Dimitri asks.

(In German) "Good morning, Mr. Chernetsky! Your car is waiting for you," a lady receptionist tells him.

(In German) "That's good to hear! Thank you Ma'am," Dimitri answers with a friendly voice.

(In German) "You're very welcome, Sir! Bye-… Oh… Wait, wait sir, the driver wishes to speak to you…" the receptionist then says.

(In German) "Oh, okay then. No problem. Please hand him the phone," Dimitri answers, with a slight confusion.

(In slow, careful Russian) "Hello, Comrade Dimitri!" says the cheerful voice on the other line.

Dimitri immediately recognises the warm, friendly voice. It was his new friend, Hans Honecker, the nephew of the GDR leader Erich Honecker.

(In German) "Hahaha! I mean, Sir Honecker! Hello!" Dimitri answers a bit nervously.

Hans laughs at the sudden nervous tone of Dimitri's voice.

(In German) "Shhh! Don't call me Sir! I am your friend! Just call me Hans!" he answers cheerfully.

(In German) "Oh! Hahaha! Sorry about that, Hans! I'm still a bit nervous about talking to the GDR leader's nephew, plus the fact that he's the one driving me again."

(In German) "Ah, don't be silly, Comrade Dimitri! I have a lot of free time today, and I'd be more than happy to bring you to the meeting. Luckily, Uncle Erich will be there to meet you."

(In German) "Oh… Wow! That's good to hear! Well honestly I'm nervous, but I'm sure the meeting will turn out fine, coz I have nothing but good news for the GDR" Dimitri says.

Hans laughs. (In German) "Whew! That's a relief! Okay then, I'll be waiting for you here in the lobby. Don't rush. No pressure. It's still early anyway."

(In German) "Oh, don't worry, Hans. It's perfect timing that I'm actually about to leave the room anyway. See you in a bit, my friend!"

(In German) "Okay, Comrade Dimitri! Thank you! Bye-bye!"

(In German) "Bye-bye, Comrade Hans!"

As Dimitri puts the handset back on the receiver, he smiles at the thought of a new friend in this foreign country. He remembers he can't have too many friends back in Russia, because they might find out he's a Soviet spy, or that his having too many friends can compromise his long-term plans.

And so Dimitri looks at himself in the mirror one more time, looking at his crisp black suit and pants, with a black silk tie, and his hair all tousled stylishly for such a formal event. He then picks up his suitcase and heads for the hotel room door.

He's relatively pleased with the "self-catharsis" that has happened that morning, enabling him to recall past memories that he couldn't retrieve very often back in the USSR, for fear he would be talking in his dreams and what he says might get recorded by whatever recording devices are planted in his house. He feels more determined in his long-term mission as he recalls the events of the past, especially the love and protection that his parents gave him.

However, as he closes the locked door behind him, one more question suddenly nags him…

"Why does my last American alias, Logan Mitchell, sound too familiar?…"

TO BE CONTINUED