Berlin, Abwehr Headquarters, Office of Major Hans Teppel
September 16, 1943, 1730 hours

Hans Teppel had spent the morning reading through the reports from his agents operating inside of Germany for his daily briefing with Abwehr head Wilhelm Canaris. The Abwehr liked to keep track of what the other agencies inside the Reich were doing, especially the intelligence services under Himmler. Teppel was in charge of this area, and Canaris wanted to be kept informed personally of these activities.

Teppel had suspected for some time that Canaris was sympathetic to the Black Orchestra – the German underground. It wasn't until he discovered the group of people who were secretly plotting to overthrow Hitler that he knew for sure. Canaris was working with them. That explained Teppel's superior's interest in what the other intelligence services were discovering.

That morning, Teppel read a report that caught his interest immediately. He had read the report several times, to make sure that he hadn't misunderstood. Unfortunately, he hadn't. The Gestapo had discovered that the German battle plans for the Eastern Front were being leaked to the Russians, but they did not know who was doing the leaking. They had begun a plan, under the direction of Count von Waffenschmidt, to discover the Russian spy network that was responsible.

Teppel knew that this information needed to be relayed to Kurt Wagner. But he had been kept busy all day, and had been unable to meet with Wagner. Teppel also knew that he could not alert Wagner while they were still in the headquarters building; it would be too dangerous.

The two had worked out a system to pass information to each other when they first started working together. Either one of them would say they were going for a beer, and invite the other. This was the signal that they had some information that would be of interest to the other. While they were walking to the Brauhaus, they could converse. To avoid arousing suspicion, they would sometimes get together when they didn't have information, just two friendly coworkers getting together after a long day. At those times, they would avoid using the word 'beer' in the invitation. Today, it was time for a 'beer.'

Teppel left his office and walked down the corridor to Wagner's office. He popped his head in and said "I'm off to the Brauhaus for a beer, Kurt, would you like to join me?"

Kurt Wagner looked up and noticed the look of insistence on his friends face. "That sounds good, Hans," he said. "Yes, I'll join you."

As the two men walked to the Brauhaus, they talked softly to each other. Teppel repeated the information he had received in the report. While he was talking, Wagner was silent. When Teppel finished, Wagner shook his head slightly.

"This is not good," Wagner said. "We have a contact associated with the German General Staff who has been giving us this information," he said softly. "He must be protected."

Teppel nodded and was silent.

Wagner thought for a minute. "Danke, Hans," he said. "I was not aware of this information. I must pass it along."

They had reached the entrance to the Brauhaus. For the benefit of anyone that may have followed them for headquarters, Wagner said, "I don't really feel like a beer, Hans. I think I will just go home."

Teppel nodded. "Good night, Kurt," he said. As he watched Wagner start to walk away, he glanced around at the cityscape around the Brauhaus. The streets were never busy in the evenings these days, and he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Teppel entered the Brauhaus and ordered himself a beer.