‘It certainly helps,’ she said. ‘It occurred to General Schellenberg that you might be caught out by the weather.’
‘You can say that again.’
‘I’ve made arrangements to take you to a secondhand shop. We’ll get everything you need there. And you’ll need someplace to stay. I have an apartment not too far from headquarters. There are two bedrooms. If it suits, you can have one of them while you’re here.’
‘More to the point, does it suit you?’ he asked.
She shrugged. ‘Mr Devlin, my husband was killed in the Winter War in Russia. I have no children. My mother and father died in an RAF raid on Hamburg.
Life could be difficult except for one thing. Working for General Schellenberg usually takes at least sixteen hours out of my day, so I’m hardly ever home.’
She smiled and Devlin warmed to her. ‘It’s a deal, then. Use, is it? Let’s get on with the clothes. I feel as if some of my more particular parts have frozen solid.’
When they emerged forty minutes later from the second-hand shop she’d taken him to, he wore a tweed suit, laced boots, a heavy overcoat almost ankle-length, gloves and a trilby hat.
‘So, you are equipped to handle Berlin in January,’ she said.
‘Where to now? Your apartment?’
‘No, we can go there later. General Schellenberg wants to see you as soon as possible. He’s at Prinz Albrechtstrasse now.’
Devlin could hear the sounds of shooting as they descended the steep stairway. ‘And what’s all this then?’
Use said, ‘The basement firing range. The General likes to keep in practice.’
‘Is he any good?’
She looked almost shocked. ‘The best. I’ve never seen anyone shoot better.’
‘Really?’ Devlin was unconvinced.
But he had cause to revise his opinion a moment later when they opened the door and went in. Schellenberg was firing at a series of cardboard Russian soldiers, watched by an SS sergeant-major who was obviously in charge. He worked his way across three targets, placing two rounds neatly in each heart. As he paused to reload, he noticed their presence.
‘Ah, Mr Devlin, so you finally got here?’
‘A hell of a journey, General.’
‘And Use’s taken care of your wardrobe, I see/
‘And how did you guess?’ Devlin said. ‘It can only have been the smell of the mothballs.’
Schellenberg laughed and reloaded his Mauser. ‘Schwarz,’ he said to the sergeant-major. ‘Something for Mr Devlin. I believe he’s quite a marksman.’
Schwarz rammed a magazine into the butt of a Walther PPK and handed it to the Irishman.
‘All right?’ Schellenberg asked.
‘Your shout, General.’
Fresh targets sprang up and Schellenberg fired six times very fast, again two holes in the heart area on three separate targets.
‘Now isn’t that something?’ Devlin’s hand swung up, he fired three rounds so close together that they might almost have been one. A hole appeared between the eyes of all three targets.
He laid the Walther down and Use Huber said, ‘My God!’
Schellenberg handed his pistol to Schwarz. ‘A remarkable talent, Mr Devlin.’
‘Remarkable curse more like. Now what happens, General?’
‘The Reichsfuhrer has expressed a desire to see you.’
Devlin groaned. ‘He didn’t like me the last time around. A glutton for punishment that man. All right, let’s get it over with.’
The Mercedes turned out of Wilhelmplatz and into Vosstrasse and drove towards the Reich Chancellery.
‘What’s all this?’ Devlin demanded.
‘Times have changed since Goering said that if a single bomb fell on Berlin you could call him Meier.’
‘You mean he got it wrong?’
‘I’m afraid so. The Fuhrer has had a bunker constructed below the Chancellery. Subterranean headquarters. Thirty metres of concrete, so the RAF can drop as many bombs as they like.’
‘Is this where he intends to make his land stand then?’ Devlin enquired. ‘Wagner playing over the loudspeakers?’
‘Yes, well, we don’t like to think about that,’ Schellenberg said. ‘The important people have secondary accommodation down there which obviously includes the ReichsFuhrer.’
‘So what goes on now? Are they expecting the RAF to plaster the city tonight or what?’
‘Nothing so exciting. The Fuhrer likes to have staff meetings now and then in the map room. He gives them dinner afterwards.’