“I don’t know what happened,” Marino said frantically, holding the phone to his ear.
“Did anyone get away?” Ned Simpson asked. “Or were they all caught?”
“No one escaped to the West,” Marino said. “But I couldn’t see the cemetery. There were searchlights and soldiers, some with dogs. I was totally unprepared. I don’t know why I thought I could do this.”
“It makes a fantastic story, though.”
Marino rolled his eyes. “Ned, don’t you understand,” he said. “People could have been killed. You don’t know what the Stasi are like. They’re brutal.”
“What could we have done better?”
“I shouldn’t have done it at all,” Marino said, exasperated. “I write history books. I don’t have the skills to rescue seven people from a Socialist country. Now I’ve got to think of a way to save them. I hope they’
