‘And for me,’ Frank Martin said.
Devlin turned and walked away, the door banged. The old priest stood there for a moment, puzzlement on his face and then he turned and went back to his flowers.
There was the merest hint of fog at Chernay, too, at four o’clock when Schellenberg went in search of Asa. He found him in the hangar with the Lysander and Flight Sergeant Leber.
‘How is it?’ Schellenberg asked.
‘Perfection, General,’ Leber told him. ‘Couldn’t be better.’ He smiled. ‘Naturally, the HauptsturmFuhrer has just been checking everything out for the fifth time, but that’s understandable.’
The Lysander had RAF roundels in place on canvas strips as Asa had requested and the swastika on the tailplane had been blocked out with black canvas.
‘Of course there’s no absolute guarantee that they won’t come off in flight,’ Asa said. ‘We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed.’
‘And the weather?’ Schellenberg asked.
Leber said, ‘It’s uncertain. Visibility could be restricted. There are a couple of conflicting fronts moving in. I’ve checked with our base at Cherbourg and the truth is it’s one of those times when they don’t really know.’
‘But the plane is ready?’
‘Oh, yes,’ Asa told him. ‘One good thing about this beauty is that she’s fitted with an emergency fuel tank. I suppose the RAF had that done because of the kind of operation it was employed on. I’m allowing an hour and a half for the flight and thanks to Luftwaffe intelligence at Cherbourg, I can tune my radio to the RAF frequency as I approach the English coast.’
‘Good. Let’s go for a walk. I feel like the air.’
It was raining only slightly as they walked along the airfield and Schellenberg smoked a cigarette, not speaking for a while. They reached the end and leaned on a fence, looking out to sea.
Schellenberg said, ‘You feel all right about this?’
‘The trip?’ Asa shrugged. ‘The flight itself doesn’t worry me. It’s the situation at the other end that’s problematical.’
‘Yes, we are all in Mr Devlin’s hands there.’
Asa said, ‘Assuming everything goes well and I put down here with our friends some time early tomorrow morning what happens then? What about the Belle Ile situation? Have you any ideas?’
‘Only one and it would be a desperate venture. On the other hand, simple, and I like simplicity. It pleases me.’
‘I’m all ears.’
‘Well, the Fuhrer will be having breakfast with Rommel, the Admiral and the Reichsfuhrer. Berger will strike at the end of the meal.’
‘Yes, I know that, I was there, remember?’
‘What if you and I and Mr Devlin arrived to join them for breakfast and exposed the plot?’
‘But we’d go down the hole too, that’s obvious,’ Asa said. ‘Even if you said your piece to the Fuhrer, Berger and his chums would just get on with it.’
‘Oh, yes, and it would suit the Reichsfuhrer to have me out of the war.’ Schellenberg smiled. ‘There is a wild card I haven’t mentioned. Remember when we were driving to Belle Ile? The izth Parachute Detachment outside St Aubin? Hauptmann Erich Kramer and thirty-five paratroopers?’
‘Sure I do.’
‘What do you think would happen if Colonel Kurt Steiner, the living legend of the Parachute Regiment, appeared and told them he needed their services because there was an SS plot to kill the Fuhrer ten miles up the road?’
‘Jesus!’ Asa said. ‘Those guys would follow Steiner anywhere.’
‘Exactly. And the Fallschirmjager have always been notorious for their dislike of the SS.’
‘It could work,’ Asa said.
‘If everything else did,’
‘Let me get this straight. We’d go in first? Steiner would follow on?’
‘Yes, let’s say fifteen minutes later.’
Asa said, ‘That could be one hell of a breakfast.’
‘Yes, well, I prefer not to think of it right now,’ Schellenberg said. ‘I’ve got other things on my mind. Let’s go and have a cup of coffee.’
In Ryan’s kitchen, Devlin had various items laid out on the table. ‘Let’s see what I’ve got here,’ he said. ‘Those MPs carry handcuffs, but I’ll take a little extra twine for emergencies, just in case.’
‘I’ve made up three gags,’ Ryan said. ‘Bandages and sticking plaster. You’ve the priest too, remember.’