The Leader And The Damned (24 page)

Christa Lundt had come to see him soon after he had unpacked his few things. She had entered without knocking, closed the door and placed a finger over her lips to stop him greeting her. She had then spent a quarter of an hour checking the apartment.

'No microphones,' she pronounced eventually. 'So we can talk.'

'You've been to the Berghof before, of course? I imagined so. Have you ever been down here?'

'Never! It was closely guarded - sealed off from the rest of the Berghof. Access was under the personal control of the previous commandant, the one who committed suicide...'

'
Committed suicide?
How long ago was this, Christa?'

'About two weeks ago. It must have been just after you flew to the Wolf's Lair. I'm talking about Commandant Muller

'Muller!' Lindsay was pacing the room, frowning. 'I met Muller when I was here before — that man never committed suicide. What the hell is going on here?' He stopped pacing and faced Christa. 'How did he commit suicide?'

'Well.. Christa hesitated and the Englishman waited silently. 'The first report was he had an accident. He fell four hundred feet from the outer platform of the Kehlstein. That's the Eagle's Nest, the eyrie the Fuhrer had built at the peak of the mountain. You get up there by a lift which ascends inside the rock face..'

'Go on,' Lindsay urged as she paused.

'Commandant Muller was supposed to have slipped on the ice and plunged over the wall when he went up there by himself...'

'Why would he do that - at this time of the year?'

'I never heard of him going there before. Afterwards we heard rumours that the accident story was to cover up the fact that he had killed himself..'

'And who was appointed in his place? Who did appoint his successor, by the way?'

'Colonel Jaeger, whose responsibility was the SS detachment here, was appointed in Muller's place.' Her expression softened. 'The Colonel is a tough, professional soldier. But underneath he's a decent man. As to who appointed Jaeger, Martin Bormann himself handled the whole affair..

'How do you know that?'

'Am I in the witness box? Are you cross-examining me?' Christa lashed out sarcastically.

She sat down on a hard-backed chair, crossed her legs and looked at her fingernails Lindsay pulled up a similar chair, swung it round, straddled the chair and leaned his arms along the top so he faced her directly. She made a great show of looking anywhere except at him, her chin set.

There's a complicated jigsaw of intrigue - maybe murder - which I'm trying to put together,' he said quietly. 'So, I'm asking you again.
How do you know?
'

'Because I transmitted Bormann's message to the Berghof confirming Jaeger's temporary bloody appointment as Commandant,' she flared.

'And that instruction was purely Bormann's? Not by order of the Fuhrer..'

'It was!' she said through clenched teeth. 'He added the words "by order of the Fuhrer" himself. At that time Hitler was still on his way back from the Russian front. It was the time when he was delayed and landed at another airfield. Anything else you'd care to know, Wing Commander?'

'I doubt if you have any other worthwhile information,' Lindsay replied in an off-hand tone calculated to get under her skin.

'Except that there's something very odd about the Fuhrer ever since he did get back from Russia! If I told you that was pure feminine instinct you'd laugh at me..'

'No,' he commented eventually, 'I wouldn't laugh. You're his chief secretary, you're intelligent - I'm simply stating a fact. So I'd consider your instinctive reactions very seriously - and they happen to coincide with things I've experienced which don't add up...'

He chose his next words very carefully.

'I'm wondering if we're witnessing one of the greatest confidence tricks in history..'

Her eyes warned him. She was in a position to see the door into the room which he couldn't because it was behind him. Lindsay continued to puff at his cigarette. He had not heard the door opening but he did hear it close.

'I always seem to find you two together - which is pleasant when the world is at war. To find a German girl striking up, a friendship with an Englishman..

The familiar voice was that of Major Gustav Hartmann of the Abwehr.

'One of the greatest confidence tricks in history, I believe you said,' commented Hartmann. 'Care to

enlighten me on your extremely intriguing assertion?' Christa had left the room and Lindsay was alone

with Hartmann who had sat down and was lighting his pipe, watching the Englishman as he puffed out clouds of blue smoke which formed a veil between the two men.

'This is an official interrogation?' Lindsay asked.

'Just call it a chat between two individuals whom the chances of war have brought together for a brief time.'

'The Soviet spy you're searching for,' the Englishman replied and said no more, forcing the German to give him a few more seconds to think.

'I don't quite understand - the link between the two factors..

'
If
a Soviet spy has penetrated the Fuhrer's entourage surely he is bringing off the greatest confidence trick in history,' Lindsay replied.

Hartmann tamped his pipe and stared hard at the Englishman. For a moment Lindsay glimpsed a second man behind the interrogator's normal air of casual amiability, a ruthless pursuer who never gave up. It was an observation he was to recall later.

'You know something,' the German said thoughtfully, 'you are much cleverer than anyone has realized. With the possible exception of the Fuhrer. He has an almost feminine instinct where people are concerned. Why did you come to Germany, Wing Commander?'

'You know - to try and arrange some sort of accommodation between Great Britain and the Third Reich. The real menace is Russia..'

'So,' Hartmann interjected, 'we come full circle again. I see no point in taking up more of your time - or mine..'

He stood up, his expression grim and resigned. He left the room without another word, closing the door noiselessly.

The Abwehr man moved like a cat. Lindsay recalled his unexpected appearance on the station platform at Salzburg - how he seemed to have guided Christa and himself away from the danger of the doorway guarded by SS. Or had he? You could never tell with Hartmann.

Lindsay, disturbed by something he couldn't put his finger on, also left the room. Outside, the SS guard positioned there by Jaeger watched him stroll along the corridor to the window at the end. So long as he remained in sight the guard would leave him alone.

From the window he looked straight down to the entrance to the Berghof. He could feel the guard's eyes on his back. He lit a cigarette. Someone had cleaned off the condensation from the big sheet of glass. The whole place was kept spotless. Staring down at the snow-clad scene he suddenly froze, the cigarette half way to his mouth. He knew now how they could escape from the Berghof.

'1 have a plan to test the Englishman - to lead him into a trap,' Colonel Jaeger informed Gruber.

'You have the authority to carry out this plan?' the Gestapo man enquired.

The two men were the only occupants of the viewing platform from the Kehlstein. Despite his leather greatcoat and the collar pulled up behind his thick neck the fat Gestapo officer was chilled with the icy wind blowing across the valley from the nearby mountains.

Jaeger, clad in his full uniform with his peaked cap jammed down over his high forehead, seemed immune to the temperature. Beneath the peak his aquiline nose and firm mouth expressed determination. A commanding figure, he exuded confidence and his voice was clipped and decisive.

'Martin Bormann himself has agreed unofficially that I put the plan into action..'

'
Unofficially?
'

There was a probing query behind the word. Jaeger made an impatient gesture. The only reason he was confiding in this creep was to keep him out of the way, to prevent him botching up everything at the critical moment.

'He has given me his verbal agreement. Coming from the Reichsleiter that is enough for me. You think I am accustomed to getting all my orders in writing?'

From Bormann, yes I would, Gruber thought, but withheld comment on this point, The Gestapo officer had worked his way up to his present position by ensuring that every action he took had the unquestioned backing of his superior, preferably in the presence of witnesses.

Gruber now decided his policy should be to encourage Jaeger to proceed on two counts. If his plan succeeded it must be seen as a combined exercise on the part of Gruber and Jaeger. Should it fail, he must be in a position to disengage - to disclaim all responsibility for what he would term 'this foolhardy act'..'

'How soon do you propose to operate this plan?' he asked.

'Tomorrow - Sunday!' Jaeger replied promptly. 'And the details?'

Gruber would have given anything to continue their conversation inside the shelter of the luxuriously- appointed rooms of the Kehlstein behind them. But out here perched on this elevated refrigerator there was no danger of anyone overhearing them. Pressing his gloved hands inside his coat pockets, Gruber forced himself to stand still without shivering. Jaeger was a man who despised any sort of weakness. He began speaking enthusiastically.

'The guard outside this Wing Commander's quarters will be removed. It will not seem so strange, considering it is Sunday. Lindsay will think our security is lax. I hear he frequently comes out to walk along the corridor..'

'Yes, yes! Colonel, can I ask you to be concise? I have duties which will not wait much longer.

Gruber was frozen stiff. He began to suspect Jaeger was subjecting him to this ordeal by cold deliberately. And he was right. Jaeger continued his explanation in a leisurely manner.

'The staircase continues to the main hall and entrance. A car will be left empty where he can see it from the window at the end of the corridor on his floor. All guards will be withdrawn from that part of

the Berghof.

'Go on..'

'God in Heaven! Don't you see? If he is waiting his chance to escape he will seize it, take the car and drive away. I suspect he may be accompanied by Fraulein Lundt. Have you not observed they spend time together? My guards have clear orders...'

'So they leave in the car, according to your theory. How far do they get?'

'The detail guarding the first checkpoint on the road to Salzburg will be withdrawn..'

'Supposing they do actually escape? No, they have to drive on past two more checkpoints..

'All guards withdrawn from the second checkpoint, and from the third. The road to Salzburg wide open!'

'Good God man - you are crazy!' Gruber gasped.

Jaeger grinned, looking down at his small companion. Gruber's face was turning blue with exposure to the freezing temperature. The colonel was enjoying himself. He went on speaking.

'Except that both those checkpoints will be heavily reinforced with concealed troops.' He gestured towards the low parapet separating them from the four hundred foot drop to the abyss below. 'This is where Commandant Muller is alleged to have committed suicide, is it not?' he remarked.

'It was an accident,' Gruber said, bewildered at this unexpected turn in the conversation.

'The Romans used to throw men from the Tarpeian Rock..

'What does that mean?' Gruber demanded harshly. 'I wonder. Shall we go back to the lift..

Without waiting for a reply Jaeger led the way. He had ended the conversation leaving the Gestapo man in a state of anxiety. In some ways his technique was not unlike that of Hartmann: he kept the opposition off balance.

Sunday dawned with the threat of heavy snow. The sky was leaden, obliterating the peaks, and the view from the corridor window on the floor occupied by Lindsay was dramatic and menacing.

The first thing the Englishman noticed after rising early and shaving quickly was the absence of the usual SS guard outside his door. An eight-hour roster was normally operated. Was it possible that because this was Sunday fewer guards were available for duty? He walked quietly down the staircase into the main entrance hall.

The same unnatural quiet met him. No guards. He walked over to the giant double entrance doors and examined them for alarm systems. Another memory of the crash programme at Ryder Street. A cockney electrician had put him through his paces.