A Most Wanted Man 6

Bachman's plans finally come to fruition. He and his assistant Erna Fey flip Annabel. Issa has refused to make a claim thus far due to the fact he considers his father's money to be dirty and immorally gained, which it almost certainly was. However Bachman now suggests a new approach through Annabel. That Issa donate the money to a respectable local Muslim leader who can use it for the good of other Muslims around thw rodl while saving a little for Issa to go to medical school. That way Issa will feel clean as he never will actually own the money. At the same time Brue is approached by a Mr.Lantern. A member of the local British embassy who has been brought in on the operation by Bachman. He encourages Brue to go along with the plan. Bachman now brings the operation before Joint Steering. Their target was a Dr. Abdullah. A very well respected Muslim scholar living in Germany. It was believed he was almost completely legitimate but that he still funded terrorism through one of the many many muslim charities he supported. Bachman is given tenative approval at the meeting but notes the presence of a higher ranking CIA official. Abdullah is given the codename Signpost, as it is hoped he will lead the way to these dirty charities and that they can be taken down. However final approval of the operation was not to be given until that night, and it had conditions Bachman was not happy about. "As Bachman listened despair overcame him like a sickness. The police proposed to place shooters at the bank against the possibly Singpost was wearing a suicide belt, Mohr announced proudly"(253). Bachman is despairing because Signpost may notice the shooters and flee. The night of the operation comes and everything is set. Signpost arrives at the bank and receives the money. He wires it to many different charitites all being tracked by the German police. Then it is time to leave. Bachman has not received permission for the final pick up of Signpost but goes ahead anyway. He is dressed as a cab driver and is there at the bank to pick Signpost up. However as Signpost is walking out with Issa, Brue, and Annabel a silver van comes screaming out of nowhere. It hits Bachman's taxi out of the way and the doors slide open, operative jump out screaming and grab Issa and Signpost. Bachman jumps out of his car furious and injured. He sees a CIA operative he has met before, Newton is renowned for his vicious techniques. The van screams off with Issa and Annabel, Brue, and Bachman are left there furious and stunned.

Le Carre, John. A Most Wanted Man. New York: Scribner 2008.

A Most Wanted Man 5

Annabel is visited by two member of the protectors office. They have begun actively asking after Issa. No longer trying to hide it. But Bachman will still try and get his hands on Issa another way. Herr Werner and Herr Dinkelberg visit Annabel and ask some pointed questions. Accusing Issa of being a terrorist and accusing Annabel of helping him, even guiding him to his "Terrorist paymaster"(176). The German protectors are still convinced that Issa ia a terrorist there to attack a target. But Annabel and her boss at Sanctuary North believe otherwise. After the meeting with the protectors her boss Ursula tells her she better hurry up. Annabel works up a plan to send Issa to a clinic outside Hamburg with the money Brue gave her. It will successfully hide Issa and also see if there really is anything mentally wrong with him. Bahcman however intervenes "You get quietly into the car, the second woman explained, her lip in Annabel's ear. You sit in the backseat center, please no fuss everything friendly and normal"(183). Bachman has decided that if he can't get to Issa he'll flip Annabel and get to Issa convincing her its the best for both of them. And it probably is. The protectors are in this investigation for a high profile arrest, something to make them look good in front of the international community but Bachman is there for the facts and the fact is that Issa is not a terrorist. He wants to live quietly as a doctor helping people and practicing a non-violent cersion of his religion.

Le Carre, John. A Most Wanted Man. New York: Scribner 2008.

A Most Wanted Man 4

Soon Brue was called by Frau Richter to meet Issa. They met at Melik and Leyla's house. Having to be very secretive in how they approached. Le Carre foreshadows some later events when he says Brue noticed two older women and a yellows truck. These will turn out to be plain clothes protectors, or german federal police. Brue agrees to help however he can but urges that Issa must make a formal claim to the money for him to turn it over. Issa is hesitant to as he sees taking his father's dirty money as being un-Muslim. Brue and Frau Richter leave the meeting with the issue unresolved but Brue does lend 50000 euros to Frau Richter should she need to support Issa in secret, it is becoming dangerous to keep him at Leyla and Melik's much longer. Another development with Bachman. He is called to a special meeting by a Herr Arnold Mohr, a member of the protectors. Also invited are several other very high ranking protectors and members of various other agencies including representatives of MI-6 and the CIA. Mohr reveals that, going against Bachman's wishes, he has put Melik and Leyla's house under surveilance. Bachman is furious. Mohr thinks Issa is in Germany to plant a bomb or attack some target. But Bachman thinks he is an idiot who has way over read the situation and may now ruin Bachman's chances of flipping Issa as a live source.

Le Carre, John. A Most Wanted Man. New York: Scribner 2008.

A Most Wanted Man 3

Chapter 3 is the first time we learn more about Issa and get an inkling of why this is a spy novel. Issa's illegal arrival in the city was noticed by an elite domestic spy service. Known as the unit it wa forced on the local protectors by a recently formed all powerful committee of German intelligence units. Joint Steering as its known is supposed to improve the cooperation between these agencies due to a number or near miss terrorist plots on german soil. Gunther Bachman is the head of this unit, rumored to have created a scandal in one of his overseas posts he was relegated to a desk job in Hamburg. We also find out more about Issa. The Unit detects Issa's presence in Hamburg when the Swedish police issue a warrant for his arrest. Bachman's hacker found "Issa's Swedish police mug shot, full face, both profiles with the word WANTED blazoned over it and his name in capitals like a warninf: KARPOV, Issa"(47). Now we learn why Issa contacted Tommy Brue. His father held one of the Lipizzaner accounts and Issa is the claimant. Bachman now becomes interested in Issa. He wants to develop sources in Germany's enemies. Issa is described as a Muslim militant and Gunther probably sees this as a possible live intelligence source, the golden standard in intelligence. Bachman describes the situation "So here's where we are my friends. We're looking for a man with no patronymic and no relationship with normality. His record tells us he's a militant chechen-russianwho does violent crime and bribes his way out of turkish jail- and what the hell was he doing there anyway?- gives the slip to the swedish port police, buys himself back onto the boat he comes off, smuggles himself out of copenhagen docks, charters himself a lorry to Hamburg, accepts a beaker of refreshment from an elderly fat bastard whom he engages in conversation in Chrisht knows whose language, and wears a koran bracelet."(51).

Le Carre, John. A Most Wanted Man. New York: Scribner 2008.

A Most Wanted Man 2

Now in Chapter 2 we meet the main character of the story. Tommy Brue. The head of an old fashioned historic bank called Brue Freres. Tommy Brue has done well and so has his bank. The bank started in Austria but moved to Hamburg. We also meet the lawyer character who represents Issa. Frau Annabel Richter. She calls Mr. Brue and and explains that her client would like to claim a Lipazzaner account. Lipazzaner accounts are given their name from "Lipazzaner horses possess the curious property of being born jet black and only turning white with age"(25). They are metaphor as Brue goes on to explain for an exotic type of account his father created near the end of the cold war. Brue then proceeds to meet with Frau Richter. He compares her voice to his daughter's and that of a choir-boy. They meet in a hotel restaurant, The Atlantic, Brue believes Frau Richter is going to black mail him with the Lipizzaners. However Frau Richter presents a account number, which correctly starts with 77, the notation for Lipizzaners, and says her client would like to make a claim. Brue deflected being defensive. He didn't want to discuss te Lipizzaners at all and wants to avoid the subject at all costs. Their meeting becomes kind of confrontational "He's not a trickster Mr.Brue" "Of course not he is your client"(37). Their meeting ends with Brue saying he will check his records. Brue does so and varifies that Colonel Grigori Karpov holds a Lipizzaner account with that number. We also leanr more of this colonel. "Russian crooks being your personal preserve"(39). Brue is reffering to his father Edward Amadeus Brue who created the accounts. We learn that the accounts are those of Russian military players during the cold war.


Le Carre, John. A Most Wanted Man. New York: Scribner 2008.

A Most Wanted Man 1

So for this assignment I choose the book A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carre. The book interested me because it was written by a author who is supposed to have essentially invented the spy intrigue genre and this seemed like a good choice to read from that genre then. The book is set in Hamburg Germany. It starts very mysteriously with the plight of a supposed Russian/Chechnyan immigrant falling into the care of two Turkish immigrants who have lived illegally in Hamburg for quite some time now. Issa as he is known is hungry and sick he will take time to recuperate with the care of Melik and Leyla. They are devout muslims and it is their belief that no one should be turned away and that they should help all their neighbors.
It soon becomes apparent Issa is not all there and Melik no longer wants to care for him. Until Melik discovers Issa has been severely beaten and tortured at some point in his recent past. There are slues of bruises covering his body and evidence of cigarette burns on the soles of his feet. This rallies Melik to Issa's cause. We see Melik's change of heart when he says "Put him in my bed. I'll sleep on the floor. I don't care." Melik and Leyla contact a lawyer for Issa, Annabel Richter because he has some mysterious claim to make.

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