Beth turned slowly, still sitting on the ground. A light was shining in her eyes but she could just make out the shape of three people. One was very large, two were smaller, about Beth's size. One she thought, had long hair. Their silhouettes were baggy and informal. Not soldiers, then. But they still had a gun trained on her.

'What do you want?' she called. She made her voice sounds as neutral as possible but inside she was dismayed. She hadn't seen sunlight in four days or breathed fresh air. She was dirty and sick of eating tinned beans and mackerel, and could never seem to get warm. But what really got her down was that she hadn't found a way to get through to the tunnels on the western side of Berlin, or any likely place to tunnel through.

The tall man spoke. 'We'll ask the questions. You armed?'

'Yes. There's a handgun in my backpack.' She squinted up at them. The flashlight was still trained in her eyes and she couldn't see much.

There was a snort; a feminine snort. 'Not much use in there, is it?'

'No,' Beth agreed. 'But I wasn't expecting company.' Daryl had been down to see her once but they'd decided he should only come rarely in case he was spotted going into the tunnels. The next time he came, if she hadn't made any progress, they were going to have to talk about getting her over the Wall another way. She couldn't come out again. Blake would have worked out by now that she'd disappeared.

The last thing she wanted was to go alone. She'd find her mother on the other side of the Wall, and safety from interrogation and torture. But she wouldn't have Maggie. She wouldn't have the familiarity of home. And she wouldn't have Daryl.

Alone in the darkness of the U-Bahn she'd thought that if she found a way through then they could all go together: her, Maggie, Glenn and Daryl. Daryl could pass on instructions about the route to safety to his network and they could come through without his help. It was a wonderful fantasy, but it was nothing more. He seemed to be drawing away from her each time she saw him.

The man said, 'Throw your bag here. Then slowly stand up, hands over your head.'

Beth did what she was told, and the girl with long hair came forward to frisk her. She could just make out that she was pretty and dark-haired with full lips.

'No weapons,' the girl called to the others, and stood back.

The flashlight moved away from Beth's eyes, and she could see them. The tall man was a redhead, and very broad. The other two figures were both women, both dark-haired, and about Maggie's age. The one that hadn't frisked her had heavy brows and sallow skin, and was squatting on the rails and going through her backpack.

'Check this out.' She held out the map of the U-Bahn for the others to see.

The man looked at the map, then looked at Beth, suspicion in his eyes. 'What are you doing with this?'

Beth looked them over once more. She recognised the cheap, synthetic fabric of their clothes and their unimaginative cut, the pinched looks on their faces and hard desperation in their eyes. They looked like she did.

'Same as you,' Beth said. 'Trying to find a way through.'

The pretty one narrowed her eyes at Beth. 'Who says we're trying to find a way through? You been following us?'

Beth gave a short bark of laughter. 'If I was, I deserved to be caught. I'm not with the Stasi. Can I put my hands down now?'

The man was still pointing a gun at her. 'How do we know you're telling the truth?'

Slowly, Beth turned her back to them and lifted the hem of her shirt, exposing her ribs and lower back. The bruises hadn't faded yet.

'Damn,' said the sallow girl. 'What happened to you?'

Beth faced them once more. 'Two weeks in Hohenschönhausen.'

'And they didn't break you?' the pretty one asked.

Not physically. And not mentally, not in the sense that you mean. He didn't get anything out of me. But they've broken me for this place that I once called home.

The two girls were looking at her with an expression of grudging respect.

'I'm looking for a way out,' Beth said.

The red-headed man shook his head. 'Not this way, you're not. These are our tunnels.' He turned to the sallow girl. 'Give her back her backpack, but not the gun.'

Beth frowned at him. 'They're not your tunnels.' The backpack was thrown at her and she caught it.

'They're our tunnels,' the man repeated. 'The Stasi ain't twigged that there might be a way through down here yet and we can't have people traipsing in and out drawing their attention to the fact. If we see you down here again, we'll shoot you.'

…

Rick arrived at the restaurant and saw that Lori was already at the table. She was wearing a navy blue satin dress and her long, dark hair was tumbling over one shoulder. She was still as beautiful as she was when he'd first seen her, eight years earlier. There'd been warmth in her eyes then, and for many years after. But they'd turned cold and hard since their baby had died. Shane hadn't been able to warm them, and while Rick hated to see her so unhappy, it also gave him hope that they might one day work things out between them.

When he got to the table she looked up at him, her expression tense.

'Thank you for coming,' she said, stubbing her cigarette out.

Rick sat down and glanced around. The restaurant was dark and there weren't any people seated close to them. They could talk safely. 'Of course.'

They ordered drinks, and then Lori got right to the point. 'Rick, I'm worried about Beth. I've heard from the commandant that she didn't report for work, and that she's disappeared.'

'Has she?' Rick kept his face carefully blank. He was disappointed. He thought Lori wanted to talk about them, and he'd already run off at the mouth enough to Lori. Daryl would kill him if he gave anything else away, and rightly so.

'We were close, you see. I was so worried about her when she was in prison and so happy when she was released. She hasn't done anything dangerous, has she?'

Rick frowned, puzzled. 'Why are you asking me? I don't know the girl.' In fact he knew exactly where Beth was: in the U-Bahn tunnels. But that had nothing to do with Lori. 'I didn't realise you were so close, either.'

Lori dropped her eyes and lit another cigarette. She waited till the waitress brought their wine, and then said, her voice low and throaty, 'What you said the other night, does it still stand? Can you get me out?'

Rick smiled and reached for her hand. She pulled away. 'Don't, Rick. Someone might be watching.'

He nodded, swallowing his disappointment. 'I can get you out. But what's changed your mind?'

'Did you get Beth out?'

Rick sat back. Why this preoccupation with Beth? Was she worried that Beth had been caught escaping? 'I don't want to talk about Beth. I want to talk about us.'

She made a placating gesture. 'All right. Fine. After I talked to you I told Shane about our apartments being bugged. He was angry at first, but after he confronted the commandant about it he came back and he was just …' She shook her head, disbelieving. 'He just didn't seem to care . Can you comprehend that? He just swallowed whatever excuses the commandant gave him.'

Rick thought about this. Walsh was a man of reactions, not actions. He wasn't dim-witted, but he took things at face-value. He'd got to where he was in the Party by asserting himself, not manipulating. Blake was the sort of man who could run rings around him. 'I can believe that, Lori. Blake can be very persuasive.'

Lori leaned forward. 'I don't want to live in a country,' she hissed, 'where we just have to put up with that sort of thing. And I didn't think you did either. When the war ended it was supposed to be different. Better. How did we end up like this?'

Rick might be in the Party but he'd never liked the Wall. People should be given incentives to stay, not made to.

She looked at him, her eyes imploring. 'I think you must feel the same. I know it's taken me a while to catch up with you, but I understand now. I guess I had to work it out for myself.' And suddenly her eyes softened. It was the look Rick had been wanting to see for so long.

'You want – to come to the West with me?' he asked, hesitating over the words, not daring to believe what he was hearing.

'Yes. I want to get out with you.'

Rick felt himself sag with emotion. 'I've waited for you,' he said, his voice tender. 'I knew you'd come back to me.' Then he became serious. 'All right. I need you to sit tight. I'll arrange everything.'

She smiled at him. 'How will you get us out?'

His thoughts were running ahead. Would Daryl help, or would he have to do it himself? How soon could he manage it? 'I can't say yet.'

'Will someone help you?'

He shook his head. 'I'm not sure. But it will be soon.'

She became imploring again. 'Won't you tell me? It's me, Rick. You can tell me anything.'

Did she have to be so curious? The thing to focus on was that they would soon be together in the West. He frowned. 'That's not how it works, Lori.'

'How it works?' she asked, tilting her head to one side. 'You make it sound as if there's some sort of network.'

…

An hour later Lori was home. She stood by her window watching Rick disappear down the street. He'd been distracted on the walk home, but happy. He wouldn't tell her anything else, but she comforted herself with the knowledge that she'd soon know everything and would be able to hand the whole thing over to Commandant Blake for a nice fat reward. Once she had means then she could free herself from the people that had used her and disappointed her forever.

She felt a pang of regret that when this was all over Rick would wind up in prison along with Beth and whoever else was involved. But there was a price to be paid for what they were doing, and for once she wasn't going to be the one to pay it.

…

The phone rang and Daryl picked it up, glaring at his brother where he sat slumped in a chair, watching television. When was Merle going to get his own goddamn place? He didn't trust his brother so having him around all the time made him twitchy.

'It's me,' said a voice. Rick. 'Meet me downstairs now?'

'Okay.' Daryl put the phone down and shrugged into his coat.

'Where you goin', baby brother?' Merle called.

'Mind your own damn business,' Daryl muttered over his shoulder.

Rick was standing on the street corner and they walked slowly around the block together. 'How's Beth getting on?' Rick asked.

Daryl shoved his hands deep in his coat. 'Nothin' yet, but I ain't seen her in a couple of days.'

Rick gave him a long look. 'You don't sound too optimistic.'

He didn't feel too optimistic. Nothing felt good anymore. Nothing felt hopeful. He'd been on a razor's edge the whole time Beth had been in prison. He'd been so relieved when she'd been released, and so thankful when he'd seen her again, but his happiness had congealed into bitterness and he didn't quite know why. Even the thought that she'd be successful and find a way through to the West couldn't make him hopeful.

He shrugged.

'I want her to find a way through to other side for her sake, and for all the people in your group,' Rick said. 'And for Lori, too. Blake bugging her apartment has been the last straw for her.'

Daryl stopped dead and turned to Rick, his eyes narrowed. 'What the hell have you told Lori?'

'I've told her I can get her out.'

'You told her that?'

A look of irritation flashed over Rick's face. 'You don't hold the patent for escaping to the West, Daryl.'

Daryl clenched his teeth. Rick could be such a goddamn fool when it came to that woman. Up until recently he hadn't understood people who let themselves get talked into doing stupid things because of the way they felt, but hadn't Daryl done just that when he let Beth talk him into staying where she was? Right after she'd ended up in prison. He needed to listen to his instincts and his instincts told him that Lori was a whole lot of trouble.

'I didn't mean that,' Daryl growled. 'I meant, did you imply that there was anyone else you were involved with?'

Rick's eyes slid away, as if he was thinking, but Daryl saw the spark of realisation in their depths.

He had. Goddamn. 'What the hell, Rick? Don't you see what you've done? She knows that it's not just you. There's someone else – there's a goddamn group.'

'She won't –'

Daryl lost his cool. 'She probably came to you looking for just that information. How many questions did she ask you, huh? Did she ask how you would do it? Who would help you?'

Rick thought for a moment, hands on hips, head bowed. Finally, he said, voice heavy, 'She did ask a lot of questions. About getting out, and about Beth, too. She asked about Beth first. Said she was worried about her.'

Daryl swore under his breath, pressing the heels of his hands to his forehead. When he looked up again he saw a figure move in the darkness, hurrying away.

All the nervous energy that had been keeping Daryl ticking over the last few weeks suddenly left him. He took a few steps to the right and leaned his body against a brick wall. It was all unravelling before his eyes.

He could feel Rick's eyes on him, not comprehending. He pointed after the retreating figure. 'Merle. He heard everything we just said.'

Rick turned and saw him too. Merle turned a corner, away from Daryl's flat, and was gone.

Daryl levered himself upright and turned away, heading back to his apartment. 'It's over. It's done.' If Lori didn't tell Blake about what she knew, Merle would.

'Done?' Rick called after him. 'But what about the group?'

'There is no group anymore.'

...

So a while back I recommended Deutschland 83 to you all. How good is it! It feels like spies are the flavour of the month because I have two more new spy dramas to kick your way. Who else has seen The Man in the High Castle? I binge-watched all of season 1 last week and now there are another nine months till season 2 airs. Gah! It's a dystopian drama set in the US in 1962. The Germans and the Japanese beat the allies in WWII and divided the States east from west. It's beautifully shot and there are some great characters on both sides, and in the Resistance, but the stand-out performance has to be Rufus Sewell as Obergruppenführer Smith, the sleekly sinister SS officer who's running one of the spies.

The other show that I am hopping about with excitement to see is The Night Manager: A hotel night manager (Tom Hiddleston) is recruited by a government agent to infiltrate the trusted inner circle of a ruthless arms dealer (Hugh Laurie; in the US you'll know him as Dr Gregory House). It's airing on the BBC at the end of this month and on AMC in April. The trailer is on YouTube and it looks so good!

Finally, what did you think of today's chapter? I haven't named the three people who have threatened to kill Beth, but did you work out who they are?