“Naturally.”
The woman turned away, then paused and looked back. “By the way,” she said, “my name is Alice,” then left the room. Anna caught Macurdy’s displeasure at the prospect of sitting around for an indeterminate time with nothing he could safely do, so she translated aloud to him from the paper, from articles on the war. Pausing several times to repeat in German, “You see now, Kurt, why it is so important to the Fatherland that you are here. When it is all over, you will be a very great hero.”
The wait was shorter than he’d expected. The buzzer sounded three short blasts in rapid succession, startlingly loud and harsh.
There’d been no call from the front entrance-this was someone with access to the building-but Bahn got quickly to his feet, stepped to the door, and opened it.
The new station chief stepped inside and spoke in pure American English. “Hello, Bahn. Have we had visitors yet?” Stepping into view, he looked toward Anna and Montag, and Macurdy’s blood froze. He made a flash self-review: His hair had been lank then, now it was bur-cut. And he’d known no German.
Anna was getting to her feet. Slowly, clumsily, Montag followed suit, standing round-shouldered, gaze fixed on the floor, looking as small as he could, creating an image of a different him, while opening his mind to Anna.
The man switched to German. “Ah! Fraulein Hofstetter I presume. And this must be Herr Montag.” Abruptly he stiffened, and his right hand shot out in the Nazi salute. “Hell Hitler!” he barked, but not too loudly, then relaxed and smiled. “You will excuse my slowness in greeting you properly. It is a practice I’ve had to repress since I’ve been here.”
He stepped toward them and shook first Anna’s hand, then Montag’s, showing no suspicion. Macurdy had regained his composure, but did not relax his exaggerated Montag persona. Apparently since they’d passed the preliminary vetting by the Irishman, Geltman, and the Swede or whatever he was, Hansi was accepting them at face value.
“I am Oberleutnant Hans Dietrich Schweiger, and as you have realized, I am the station chief here. I am also known as John Sweiger, of Portland, Oregon, USA. I report on the war for the Associated Press, and on occasion have spoken to the American public via NBC radio.” He smiled wryly. “Journalists are the only contact Americans have with what, to Europeans and the English, are the realities of war.”
He examined Montag more closely now, looking not for falsenesses, but at a claim he found hard to accept, even from Berlin-that this creature, this refugee from the eugenics authorities, was an actual, functioning psychic who could cast confusion and panic through SHAEF, and disrupt the invasion.
Or had the eugenicists already had him? The fellow certainly seemed cowed; he could almost smell his timidity. He’d heard rumors that thousands of the feeble-minded had been sterilized, and assumed it meant castration.
“Well,” he said, “we have work to do, you and I. Fraulein Hofstetter, if you and Herr Montag will come with me to my office . . .” He turned and led them down a hall to the study: a fairly large room with a desk, file cabinets, supply cabinets, work table, and a gas fireplace. “I’m afraid I’m not fully operational here yet,” he told them, “though Fraulein Gwynne has made major headway. We’ve had to move some of my things out to make room, and assemble, move in and organize a good deal of material for my new responsibilities. All having to be done very carefully, you understand. I have also been obtaining the materials which Herr Montag must have to carry out his mission here. And of course, I must continue my duties as a journalist, which not only provide my cover identity, but provide important contacts and information.”
From the supply cabinet he took a map tube and laid it on the work table, then from a file cabinet, several large envelopes, meanwhile continuing to talk. “I’ve arranged locations from which Herr Montag can see both the Bushy Park headquarters and Norfolk House. I have even-” he paused to flash a grin at them “-have even obtained floor plans of both buildings, marked with the departments assigned to different areas.”