The Spy Who Came in From the Cold: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

Leamas is sitting on the plane to Berlin, reflecting on the last part of his career. He says to himself that Control was right—he has been getting burnt out. He remembers that last year he was on his way to meet Riemeck, speeding on the highway, which was crowded with huge, heavy lorries, when he had to pound on his brakes to avoid hitting a car full of children. Afterwards, Leamas pulled over and struggled to breathe, thinking of how the children’s bodies might have looked once they were killed, and remembering the bodies of murdered refugees during World War II. When he got back in the car, he drove slowly and missed his meeting. From then on, Leamas always remembers the children whenever he drives.

On the plane to Berlin, Leamas considers passing a note to an American woman who is also on the plane with a message for her to pass it on to the British authorities, but then dismisses the idea, because he realizes that Control must have arranged for this to happen to him. Control had never mentioned what might become of him, only coaching him on how to behave. Control had told Leamas to drink a lot, to be rude, and not to pretend to have converted to Communist ideology, saying that the other side wanted to deduce their conclusions from his evidence. Control had said it would be worth it, and Leamas had felt he could not turn down the mission. He remembers a book in which an old revolutionary prepares himself to experience torture, and admits to himself that he does not think he could stand it.

In the airport Leamas hopes he will run into someone he knows who will help him somehow. Peters no longer pretends not to know him, seeing West Berlin as basically safe ground. Peters makes a signal and they get into a car. They are watched by a man in a telephone booth and followed by another car. Leamas thinks that he could attack Peters and make a run for it, but he does not. At the border of East Germany, the car that follows them goes ahead to talk to the police at the checkpoint, then both cars are let through together. Leamas notices that the Eastern side of the Berlin Wall has been more elaborately fortified since he saw it last.

Leamas asks Peters where they are going, and Peters says that he will be interrogated in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Leamas expresses surprise that he will not be going further East, but Peters says that he thought the Germans should have a chance to speak to him, since most of Leamas’s work was in Berlin.

Leamas thinks he will meet with a man from the Abteilung named Fiedler, whose file he knows well. Peters neither confirms nor denies this, but Leamas feels nearly certain Fiedler will be his interrogator. He says to Peters that Fiedler almost killed one of Peter Guillam’s agents. Fiedler is supposed to be intelligent and savage, without professional ambition but merciless and sarcastic. Leamas thinks back to a dinner at Control’s house with Peter Guillam and Control (when they were discussing Leamas’s current assignment). Control had told them that Fiedler, a Jew, was their best bet to get Mundt, the former Nazi, and that Leamas should supply Fiedler the material he would need to bring Mundt down. Control had added that Leamas would, of course, do this only indirectly, because he would hopefully never actually meet Fiedler. They had all laughed at this joke of Control’s.

They arrive at an old hunting lodge, which is decorated with Soviet leaders’ photographs and has fire safety instructions on the walls. Peters and Leamas go in, and Leamas asks Peters if he’s been here before, and whether it was with Fiedler. Peters says yes, and Leamas asks Peters if Fiedler is good at his job. Peters says that Fiedler is not bad for a Jew, and at this moment, Fiedler enters. He carries a bottle of whisky and tell the guards to bring them food. Fiedler addresses Leamas in English, and Leamas remembers that Fiedler and his family fled the Nazis to Canada during World War II, but returned in 1946 to participate in building a Communist Germany.

Fiedler tells Leamas that he will not be going further East, and Peters confirms this. Leamas acts furious at having been lied to. Fiedler explains that, because the GDR has no embassies yet in the West, they were forced to initially go through the Russians, using the Soviet embassy at The Hague. Leamas accuses Fiedler of having betrayed his defection to the British, but Fiedler says that this is a ridiculous suggestion. Peters bids Leamas goodbye, but Leamas says nothing, and Peters remains standing at the door. Leamas begins to scream insults about East Germany and its subservience to Russia, saying that the East Germans revealed his defection to the British to get him to come East with Peters.

Fiedler says that Leamas has no reason to be so angry: both secret services sacrifice individuals when it will benefit the collective. Leamas should expect to be lied to; after all, he is betraying the Circus by defecting. Leamas says that Fiedler has tricked him into coming to East Germany out of ambition: Fiedler, Leamas says, wants to succeed in a brilliant operation to be promoted above Mundt. Fiedler says it remains to be seen how successful an operation it will be, and assures Leamas that the East did not tell the Circus that Leamas had defected. Finally, Fiedler says that Leamas would have been released in Holland if he had told Peters all he knew, but Fiedler knows that Leamas has not revealed everything yet. Peters leaves. Fiedler offers Leamas a whisky and water, saying they could not get soda. Leamas curses at him, and Fiedler says that Leamas is a proud man.

After eating dinner with Fiedler, Leamas is taken to his room and falls asleep. The next morning, as Leamas is eating breakfast, Fiedler comes into his bedroom. He says that he must get Leamas to tell him everything he knows, even the things he is not aware that he knows. Leamas says that he did not propose this deal to them—they came to him, and so it’s not his fault if he doesn’t have exciting information for them. Fiedler asks Leamas what he would do if he heard about Rolling Stone. Leamas says he would be on the lookout for the spy, but that there is nothing else that can be done. Fiedler says it is clear to him that Leamas is an operator, not an evaluator.

Fiedler begins asking Leamas detailed questions about how the files were handled for Rolling Stone. Leamas seems to struggle to recall the details of how the files passed from person to person, explaining that he was drinking a great deal at the time. Fiedler asks who gave the files to him and, finally, in a rush, Leamas says that he remembers that Peter Guillam was the one who brought them to him. He says Guillam was in a section called Satellite Four, researching food shortages in East Germany, and that he and Guillam never discussed Rolling Stone with one another. Fiedler asks Leamas if it was possible that Guillam was involved in running the Rolling Stone agent. Angrily, Leamas bursts out that he already told Peters: it would have been impossible for an agent to be run in East Germany without his knowing, because he was the station chief.