Berger’s face was very pale and although the swelling had subsided it was obvious his nose was broken. He ignored Devlin and nodded formally to Schellenberg. ‘General.’ He passed on and knocked at Himmler’s door.
‘He must be well in there,’ Devlin observed.
‘Yes,’ Schellenberg nodded. ‘Interesting.’
‘Where to now? Your office?’
‘No, tomorrow will be soon enough. I’ll take you for a meal and drop you at Use’s place afterwards. You get a good night’s sleep and we’ll go over things in the morning.’
As they reached the mouth of the tunnel, fresh air drifted in and Devlin took a deep breath. ‘Thank God for that,’ and then he started to laugh.
‘What is it?’ Schellenberg demanded.
There was a poster on the wall that carried a picture of a rather idealized SS soldier and underneath it said, ‘At the end stands victory.’
Devlin laughed again. ‘God save us, General, but some people will believe anything.’
Berger clicked his heels in front of Himmler’s desk. ‘I have the plan of the Chateau de Belle Ile here, ReichsFuhrer.’
‘Excellent,’ Himmler said. ‘Let me see.’ Berger unrolled the plan and the ReichsFuhrer examined it. ‘Good. Very good.’ He looked up. ‘You will be in sole charge, Berger. How many men would you suggest for the honour guard?’
Twenty-five. Thirty at the most, ReichsFuhrer.’ ‘Have you visited the place yet?’ Himmler asked. ‘I flew down to Cherbourg the day before yesterday and drove out to the Chateau. It’s quite splendid. The owners are French aristocrats who fled to England. There is at the moment only a caretaker and his wife. I’ve informed him that we’ll be taking the place over in the near future, but not why, naturally.’ ‘Excellent. No need to go near the place again for another couple of weeks. In other words, wait as long as possible before you and your men take over. You know what this so-called French Resistance is like. Terrorists, all of them. They bomb – murder.’ He rolled the plan up and returned it to Berger. ‘After all, the Fuhrer will be our direct responsibility at this conference, Major. A sacred responsibility.’
‘Of course, ReichsFuhrer.’
Berger clicked his heels and went out. Himmler picked up his pen and started to write again.
The Mercedes moved along the Kurfurstendamm as snow started to fall again. There was evidence of bomb damage everywhere and with the blackout and dusk falling, the prospect was less than pleasing.
‘Look at it,’ Schellenberg said. ‘Used to be a great city this. Art, music, theatre. And the clubs, Mr Devlin. The Paradise and the Blue Nile. Always filled with the most beautifully dressed transvestites you’ve ever seen.’
‘My tastes never ran that way,’ Devlin told him.
‘Nor mine,’ Schellenberg laughed. ‘I always think they’re missing out on a good thing. Still, let’s eat. I know a little restaurant in a back street not far from here where we’ll do reasonably well. Black market, but then they do know me, which helps.’
The place was homely enough with no more than a dozen tables. It was run by a man and his wife who obviously did know Schellenberg well. The general apologized for the dearth of corned beef sandwiches, but was able to produce a mutton broth, lamb, potatoes and cabbage and a bottle of Hock to go with it.
The booth they sat in was quite private and as they finished the meal Schellenberg said, ‘Do you really think it is possible, this thing?’
‘Anything’s possible. I remember a case during the Irish Revolution. Nineteen twenty, it was. The Black and Tans had captured a fella called Michael Fitzgerald, an important IRA leader. Held him in Limerick Prison. A man called Jack O’Malley who served in the British Army in Flanders as a captain got his old uniform out, dressed up half a dozen of his men as soldiers and went to Limerick Prison with a fake order that said they wanted Fitzgerald at Dublin Castle.’
‘And it worked?’
‘Like a charm.’ Devlin poured the last of the wine into both their glasses. There is one problem here though, a very important problem.’
‘And what’s that?’
‘Vargas.’
‘But that’s taken care of. We’ve told him we must have firm information as to where they intend to move Steiner.’