Border into East Germany. Fearing the Circus will take the operation over, the Department is deliberately vague, and presents the entire operation as a training exercise in order to obtain old radio transmitters from Smiley. The Department then tracks down one of its old agents, a middle-aged naturalised Pole called Fred Leiser. Now a mechanic, Leiser has been out of the game a long time and knows little about the current circumstances of the intelligence community. Hoping to stave off any apprehension from Leiser, Haldane and Avery lie to him and tell him the Department is still the dominant espionage unit and is operating at the size it was at its wartime peak. Avery and Leiser become fast friends, with each feeling that the other is mutually beneficial. Avery believes that if Leiser's operation is successful, he will finally have accomplished something in his life that he can be proud of, whilst Leiser, currently in the midst of a mid-life crisis feels the operation is his chance to feel useful again and relive his wartime glory. In order to train Leiser, the Department leases house in north Oxford. Leiser is restricted to a precise daily training routine, and is allowed specific recreational activities on the condition he is accompanied one of the handlers on the training crew. Over the course of their time in Oxford, it becomes increasingly apparent that Leiser has lost his touch. He is repeatedly beaten with ease during his combat training sparring, whilst Avery helps him to cheat during their Morse code training. Towards the end of his training period, however, Leiser begins to improve, and is able to pass all of his field readiness evaluations, including sending Morse code messages whilst changing frequencies every two minutes to avoid detection which he had previously struggled with. Posing as academics, the Department sets up in a house close to the border, furnished by the NAAFI. Leiser is taken on a driving tour where he is shown his entry point into East Germany, and then returned to the house to eat a final meal before crossing. It is at this point Leiser is informed he cannot take a firearm across the border with him, causing him to panic. During the inner-German border crossing, Leiser again panics and kills a young East German guard, which is published in East German media. Now panicking, Leiser steals a motorcycle and meets