"You know someone like that, don’t you? You must know someone!"
Exhilarated, Yang Yi looked at the nonchalant Anton and pressed eagerly, "Right? You must know someone, otherwise you wouldn’t be saying all this!"
Anton fell silent for a moment, then finally nodded and said, "Yes, I know such a person."
Yang Yi contained his excitement, then said to Anton in a solemn voice, "Why not introduce us, let us go find him?"
Anton whispered, "First, I don’t know if he’s willing to work for you, and then, I don’t know if he’s still willing to engage in intelligence work."
Brian suddenly asked, "How did you come to know him?"
Anton was silent for a moment, then said, "I interned at the KGB’s Berlin station for a while, and there, I met a Stasi spy, an intelligence analyst for the Stasi."
Brian suddenly asked, "Would the KGB exchange information with the Stasi? Especially with a candidate for Black Devil?"
Anton exhaled and said, "I was monitoring him, the situation in East Germany was already unstable, the KGB started preparing for the worst, and my internship task was to keep an eye on some key Stasi personnel, so that I could act to eliminate them if necessary."
Brian said, "Good, please go on."
Anton spoke indifferently, "He was an intelligence analyst for the Stasi. He was just a rookie but had access to core intelligence. There’s not much to say, really. Later on, you all know, the Soviet Union could not save itself, East Germany was absorbed into West Germany, and I was transferred to a station in Ukraine halfway through, so I only knew of such a person, but his abilities were not bad."
Yang Yi said in a deep voice, "Can this person still be found now?"
Anton laughed, "After the unification of the two Germanys, all former Stasi members were purged from state institutions, criminal charges were brought against the deeply culpable offenders of Stasi, and the Stasi archives were opened, so life is not good for the members of the Stasi, not good at all. Naturally, he didn’t fare well either. He lost his job, left everything familiar, and couldn’t even ensure his own safety. However, the person I know did alright, he was just an intelligence analyst, not on the list of offenders to be purged, but he knows too many secrets."
Although Anton’s answer was off-topic, he immediately said, "About five or six years ago, I visited Germany once. In Frankfurt, I saw the person I once monitored."
Spreading his hands, Anton smiled, "So I know his name, know that he later became a stock analyst at an investment bank in Frankfurt, but I don’t know if he’s willing to continue being a spy, or willing to work for you."
Yang Yi was very interested, so he said emphatically, "So how capable is this person?"
Anton smiled, "If he was someone I monitored and considered a target for defection, what do you think his capabilities might be like?"
Yang Yi sighed, "Finding him is enough, we should at least try."
Brian frowned, "You expect a stock analyst to forsake his lucrative job? To give up his family and relatives to join a small spy organization? I’m not optimistic about this."
Anton replied indifferently, "Not necessarily, the reason I bring up this man is because I know he’s in pain—the pain of watching the goals for which he strove crumbling away helplessly."
Brian said softly, "Time heals all wounds. No matter how much pain he felt back then, after more than twenty years, he probably has forgotten his pain."
Anton laughed, nodded toward himself, then toward Paul, and finally toward Brian.
"Think about yourself when you say that."
Lowering his hand, Anton said indifferently, "Some things can’t be diluted by time, some pain can’t be healed."
Brian fell silent for a long while, then finally said, "Yes, we should find this man, at least to ask what he thinks."
Yang Yi asked gravely, "He works at that investment bank?"
A company that engages in the trade of securities and buys them on its own is a securities company, with stocks being one of the main contents of their trade. With different names for the same nature in different countries, in the United Kingdom, a securities company is called an investment bank, while in Germany a mixed management system is used, with the investment bank being a department or a branch of a full-service bank. Therefore, what Anton referred to as the investment bank is just a branch under Deutsche Bank.
With the knowledge of where he works, what’s left is rather simple.
Yang Yi asked in a serious tone, "Then what’s his name?"
Anton said indifferently, "Hans, Hans Schneider."
Yang Yi looked at Brian, smiling, "Looks like we should take a trip to Frankfurt."
Brian waved his hand, "Then let’s go."
Boer was in Frankfurt, and it came as a surprise that the man Anton talked about was also in Frankfurt. That’s good; Yang Yi could look for Hans in Frankfurt, and meanwhile, he could check on Boer.
With the conversation reaching this point, the itinerary could be set. Yang Yi immediately called Elvin, asking him to help with the visa to Germany and to arrange a flight. Since this was a collaboration with the cleaners, they would assist with evacuation to any desired location for free. However, once in Germany and this cooperation came to a complete end, Organization of Water would have to pay if they wished to go anywhere else.
Having confirmed the itinerary with the cleaners, Yang Yi looked at Anton, smiling, "What else do you know? Tell us everything."
Anton thought for a moment and said, "When I was monitoring him, Hans was twenty-six years old, in a relationship with a girl who didn’t know his real job. By the time I left Germany, they had broken up, and when I saw him in Frankfurt later, he was already a stock analyst. I recognised him, but I didn’t investigate further. I just abandoned the lead."
Hans was already fifty years old, beyond the prime of an intelligence analyst. The information Anton could provide was from over twenty years ago. After such a long time, it was hardly meaningful to revisit the past.
Yang Yi felt a mixture of sentiment and helplessness. If he didn’t want to start from scratch training an intelligence analyst, he had to seek out older individuals. An intelligence analyst in his prime would hardly consider joining Organization of Water.
However, something is better than nothing. Age isn’t an issue. Salary isn’t a problem, nothing is a problem, as long as this man truly has the ability. Yang Yi would willingly open a retirement home, the only question being whether this person would be willing to join Organization of Water.