Was there a ray of hope? Like all the Nazi leaders, with the possible exception of Goebbels, this idiot was so obsessed with maintaining his own position, with the fear of being somehow undermined, that he could not see the obvious.
‘Of course, sir,’ she agreed. ‘But can any of this be connected with Freiling? Or with Freddie von Steinberg? Surely that is just a coincidence.’
‘I do not believe in coincidences, Anna. When you see a dog chasing a bitch on heat, and immediately after see another dog running in the same direction, is that a coincidence? Or an obvious indication that they are both after the same thing?’
Anna allowed herself to look a little shocked at the crudity of his imagery, and he hurried on.
‘Forgive me. These scum make my blood boil. I wish you either to bring me proof that Freddie von Steinberg is involved, or that he is innocent.’
Anna inhaled. ‘Yes, sir. Is this to be before or after I go to Sweden?’
‘It is to be done now. Immediately. Steinberg is not a strong character. It should not take you more than a day or two to break him down.’
‘Yes, sir.’ Anna stood up. ‘If it is necessary to hurt him . . .’
‘Then do so. You have my full authority.’
‘Thank you, sir. Heil Hitler.’
Anna felt quite breathless. There were so many things to be done – with no certainty that she could do any of them, successfully. She began by returning to the apartment block and collecting Birgit. Birgit had never been inside Gestapo Headquarters, and gazed around herself in a mixture of awe and terror as they were escorted down the stairs, two agents following with their bags.
They passed the punishment level and plunged still deeper into the ground. Even Anna had never been down here; as she had told Himmler, to this minute she had not known such a subterranean world existed. There were glowing electric bulbs, and soft air conditioning, but nothing could subdue the stench of dampness.
‘Are we in prison, Countess?’ Birgit asked.
‘We are here for our own protection,’ Anna told her.
‘But there are no windows!’
‘There is nothing to look at anyway. But you are free to go out whenever you wish, either for a walk or shopping. And this is not too bad.’
She gazed around the apartment. Of course it could not compare with her previous accommodation, being smaller and utilitarian rather than luxurious. But there were two small bedrooms, if with a single bathroom between them, a well-equipped kitchenette – there was also a mess hall at the end of the corridor – and carpets on the floors; and even if it was December it was warm enough.
‘But how long will we have to live here?’ Birgit wailed.
‘Until the bombing stops.’
‘I will get ill.’
‘Don’t tell me you suffer from claustrophobia?’
Birgit hugged herself. ‘I feel that I am in my grave.’
‘Well, look at it this way: when you are in your grave it won’t feel so strange. Now, you can spend the rest of the day unpacking and making us comfortable.’ She gave her a purse of money. ‘Go and buy some flowers and something nice for dinner. And lay in some drinks. And smile.’
‘Yes, Countess. But you will not be here?’
‘I will be here for dinner, goose. I don’t know about lunch. Now, I have work to do.’
She went up to her office and called Essermann to join her. ‘Anna,’ he cried. ‘I heard that your building had been hit!’
‘I have the impression that the experts feel it is about to fall down.’
‘But how can you go on living there?’
‘It appears that I cannot go on living there. I am now situated about five floors beneath where we are sitting.’
‘But you are all right. That is because you were not there when the bombs hit.’
Anna raised her eyebrows.
‘I telephoned you, last night, about nine o’clock. Just before the raid started. I thought we might have supper together. But your woman said that you were away for the night.’ He paused, staring at her.
This attack had to be met head on. ‘I was away for the night, yes. But you knew I was. You were there when I received my instructions.’
‘I did not know you were going for the whole night. Who were you with?’
‘I think that is my business.’
‘I thought we had an understanding.’
‘We do have an understanding, Hellmuth. The understanding is that when we are both free from duty we can enjoy each other’s company. Last night I was working. As you know, I do not discuss my work with anyone apart from the Reichsführer. Now I am working again. I understand that you have made some progress.’
‘Yes. One of my people tapped the telephone line of Colonel Ballon and recorded a conversation of his. A very incriminating conversation.’
‘The Reichsführer told me of it. But you do not know who he was speaking to.’
‘Unfortunately, no.’
‘I should like to hear the recording. But you are quite sure it was not Count von Steinberg.’
‘Not unless he is very good at disguising his voice.’
‘So you have nothing incriminating on him apart from Major Freiling’s wild accusation.’
‘That is true.’
‘And is Freiling under arrest?’
‘No. He was questioned and released. To this moment he has committed no crime. He is under surveillance, just in case he makes contact with anyone else who may be of interest to us.’
‘You mean any of the names you have obtained from your phone-tapping.’
‘Well, yes.’
‘Which is all that you have to go on. Why were you tapping Colonel Ballon’s phone in the first place?’
‘Simply that he is Field Marshal von Beck’s aide-de-camp.’
‘And what made you suspicious of Beck?’
‘After Freiling’s accusation, we placed Count von Steinberg also under surveillance.’
This was getting worse and worse. ‘And what did you discover?’
‘Amongst other things, that he has been paying regular visits to Beck’s house.’
‘I believe the Field Marshal is a friend of his family.’
‘That is true. It is still not usual for a young man to pay regular visits to a friend of his father’s – unless they happen to be in same profession, and he is attempting to learn from his senior’s experiences. Beck has been a soldier all his life. He knows nothing else. Steinberg has never been a soldier. What does he have to learn from a veteran?’
‘As usual, you’re revealing great powers of analysis, Hellmuth. I congratulate you. Not that I consider anything you have so far turned up links Freddie to any plot save in Freiling’s ramblings.’
‘You say that because you do not wish to find anything against him. Because he was, or is, your lover.’
‘Are you keeping me under surveillance as well?’
‘Well, no. But . . . you went with him to the opera.’
‘And you assume that every time I accompany a man to the opera, I sleep with him afterwards? Is that because, when you take me to the opera I sleep with you?’
‘Well . . .’ He flushed.
She reached across the table to squeeze his hand. ‘It is fortunate that I am so fond of you. Now listen. I will admit that I do not believe that Freddie is guilty of anything save perhaps picking his friends unwisely. On the other hand, your reports have succeeded in agitating the Reichsführer, and unfortunately I have to go away for a few days.’
‘Again. Go where?’ He was again instantly jealous.
‘I am not in a position to tell you that. It is on the Reichsführer’s private business.’
‘You mean you are going to Switzerland. Again.’
‘You are entitled to your own opinion.’
‘What do you do there?’
Anna could not suppress her Irish sense of humour. ‘Why, Hellmuth, I go to see my lover.’
‘You . . .’
She smiled. ‘You are a sweetie. I go on the Reichsführer’s business. What that business is, I have no idea. I am only a messenger girl. It is not something I wish to discuss. Before I go, I am going to have a word with Freddie. In view of what you have told me, it should be a simple matter to trip him up if he is guilty. But our meeting will have to be tête-à-tête. I am telling you this because I do not wish you to get any wrong ideas.’
‘Hm. I do not like it.’
‘I do not propose to fuck him.’
‘But if you see him privately, without a witness, and he is guilty, and things get sticky, don’t you realize that if he were to be arrested, he may well attempt to involve you?’
Which was what she had been waiting patiently for him to suggest. ‘That is why I am telling you now, Hellmuth. You will be my insurance. I work for the Reichsführer, and nobody else. You know that. And I love you, and nobody else. I hope you know that too.’
‘Oh, Anna! Anna! I adore you. When . . .?’
Anna appeared to consider. ‘As I may be away for a few days, I think you should come and have supper with me tonight.’ She giggled. ‘In my dungeon.’
*
‘Now listen very carefully,’ Anna said, gazing across her desk at Steinberg. This was actually the safest place for them to meet, as it was one of the few places that was not bugged. But she had to choose her words very cautiously: she suspected that were this idiot to learn that Hitler was aware there was something going on, he would lose his head completely. ‘I think I have managed to throw enough doubts in everyone’s mind so that they will not proceed in any direction without a lot more proof than they now have. But they are busily trying to obtain that proof. I don’t think they still suspect you, save for the fact that you have been seeing too much of Beck. But they definitely suspect Beck.’
‘But how? He has done nothing save talk to me in private.’
‘Freddie, you naivety terrifies me. Beck is a famous man, used to authority and to making decisions. You are, if you will excuse my frankness, a nonentity who is a political dreamer. You planted the idea in his head. But it is in his nature to take control. You deal in ideas. But as I have said, he deals in action. You propose to eliminate Hitler. He may be willing to leave that to you. But he understands what will need to be done immediately the assassination is successfully carried out. He has thus contacted General Stieff, who, as I am sure you know, commands the Berlin garrison. He is also, as he is a general, used to dealing with business through subordinates, and has confided the plan to his aide-de-camp, who seems to have been given the task of contacting as many generals and other commanders who may be sympathetic as they can think of. To put it in a nutshell, it would seem that half the senior Wehrmacht officers in Germany know what is going on.’
Steinberg had turned quite white.. ‘But . . .’ Then he frowned. ‘How can you know this?’
Anna related her conversation with Himmler, while Steinberg’s face seemed to disintegrate. ‘Then we are finished.’
‘That is not inevitable.’
‘But if Himmler knows . . .’
‘He does not intend to do anything about it at this moment.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Frankly, neither do I. It is difficult to know what goes on in his mind.’ In every direction, she thought. ‘It could be that he means to join you, at the right moment. Or it could be that he intends to cast his net as wide as possible before pouncing.’
‘My God! What are we to do?’
‘Sit tight.’
‘I must warn Beck.’
‘To be more discreet – nothing else.’
‘But . . . we are just about ready to go.’
‘What?’
‘I think I have found the right man, at last.’
‘You have found someone to commit suicide?’
‘Well, obviously we hope it will not come to that. We have still to work out the details.’
‘Who is this would-be martyr?’
‘Well . . .’ Steinberg twisted his fingers together. ‘Claus von Stauffenberg.’
Anna raised her eyebrows. ‘Stauffenberg? I remember him, from before the war. Oh, yes, he would be the ideal man.’ She recalled that tall, handsome, dashing young officer, a great-grandson of the immortal Gneisenau. ‘But he is, or was, a fervent Nazi.’
‘He was. Perhaps he still is, at heart. But he is a German before that. Like you, he can see that Hitler is leading us – leading the German people – to destruction. And since the end of the North African campaign, he has been on the staff of General Fromm, you know, the commander of the home army. As such he is regularly required to report to the Führer. He is never searched.’
‘I find that hard to believe.’ Anna remembered her own experience.
‘Well, you see, he is above suspicion.’
She would not have thought that anyone was more above suspicion than herself. ‘What makes him so special?’
More finger-twisting. ‘Well, you see, in the North African campaign, he was seriously injured. His car drove over a mine.’
‘Oh, good God. When you say seriously injured . . .’
‘Well . . . The mine blew off his left arm.’
Anna stared at him.
‘And two fingers and the thumb of his right hand.’
Anna leaned back in her chair.
‘And he is virtually blind in his left eye.’
Incident in Stockholm
Anna all but fell forward as she sat up. ‘Have you completely lost your senses?’
‘He has the courage, and the determination. He has virtually taken over the entire project.’
‘To do what? Can he fire a pistol? Can he hold a pistol?’
‘Well, no. But we were thinking in terms of a bomb. It would be in his briefcase. With a timer, of course. It’s a special thing, developed by the British. Johannsson gave it to us. He seems to have some contacts over there. It’s very complicated, so I won’t attempt to explain it to you. But it will give him ample time to get away before it goes off, and it is virtually undetectable.’
Anna realized that her mouth was open. They had written her off, but were sticking with that original and faulty contraption – because they didn’t know hers hadn’t worked! They must think she had lost her nerve. Now she simply had to get in touch from Stockholm.
Steinberg was misinterpreting her expression. ‘Believe me, Anna, it is going to happen. I – we, have every confidence in Stauffenberg. Would you like to meet him?’
‘Under no circumstances. I hope he does not know of me?’
‘I gave you my word, Anna. No one knows of you.’
‘Not even Beck?’
‘No one. I swear it. All that they know is that someone close to the Reichsführer and well regarded by him is favourable to our cause. Actually, they think it is Nebe.’
Anna frowned; Arthur Nebe was Himmler’s head of Internal Security – as such he was, effectively, Essermann’s boss. ‘What makes them think that?’
‘He has been in conversation with one of our people.’
‘For God’s sake,’ Anna said. ‘Is there anyone in Berlin who does not know of this plot?’
‘We are attracting more and more sympathizers, yes. Although I did not know that Beck was openly canvassing for support. But we are relying upon you to convince Himmler that it is his duty to co-operate with whoever takes over the government when Hitler dies.’
‘How masterful you have become,’ Anna remarked. ‘Now, I am going away for a week or so.’
‘Going away? Where?’
‘I am not in a position to tell you that. But when I come back, I may have important and constructive news for you, regarding Himmler’s attitude. I would certainly recommend that you do nothing until I return. And for God’s sake be careful as to who else you attempt to recruit.’
*
‘Well?’ Himmler inquired. ‘I will not wish you a happy New Year because it may not be one. What have you learned from Steinberg?’
‘And Beck has never mentioned any subversive ideas to him?’
‘Not that he is aware of. He is not very bright, you know, sir. As for the rest, I have studied all the various reports assembled by Essermann, and I cannot find anything incriminating in what was said. I will, of course, continue my investigation, if that is what you wish . . .’
She held her breath, but he merely waved his hand. ‘I hope you are right. Anyway, there are more important matters. Have you heard the latest news?’
What now? Anna wondered. ‘No, sir.’
‘It is not being released for publication at this time. Scharnhorst is gone.’
‘Gone where, sir?’
‘To the bottom of the sea, you silly girl. How Bey ever got to be an admiral I do not know. The idiot allowed himself to be lured into a trap laid by the Royal Navy, and attacked a convoy to Russia, unaware that they were supported by a task force led by the Duke of York. Can you imagine? A battle cruiser attempting to take on the latest battleship in the British navy. Nine eleven-inch guns trying to match ten fourteen-inch. What absurdity. But there it is. With Tirpitz out of action, our very last capital ship has gone.’
‘Is the Führer upset?’
‘Upset? My God! Right this minute he is berserk. But we have our own canoe to paddle. This makes your mission to Stockholm even more important.’ From his desk drawer he took a heavily sealed envelope. ‘This is to be delivered, by you personally, to Count Folke Bernadotte of the Swedish Red Cross. Have you ever met Count Bernadotte?’
‘Yes,’ Anna said. ‘I have met him at a reception here in Berlin.’
Angel in Jeopardy: The thrilling sequel to Angel of Vengeance (Anna Fehrbach Book 4) Page 21