Apparently, Hintz decided, this was it after all.
It stopped, propeller feathered, engine idling, and a man wearing fatigue coveralls swung easily out the door; a crew member, Hintz decided. Clearly not the important man from Berlin he’d been sent to meet.
Still, the man walked directly toward him, remarkably tall despite round shoulders, and with indecently long arms that hung like an ape’s. Hintz stared. The nearer the man came, the more alarming he looked, swarthy as a Greek and lanternjawed, with cheekbones like russet doorknobs. Despite his complexion, the deep-socketed eyes were pale blue. Hintz stared. The creature stopped in front of him, its slight smile sardonic. It had been stared at before.
“I am Captain Bruno Krieger,” he said, adding “eil Hitler!” and saluting. The salute, it seemed to Hintz, held something between disdain and contempt; he wasn’t sure if it reflected disrespect for the salute or for himself.
The man stood as if waiting, and abruptly Hintz realized he hadn’t returned the salute! And neither had his driverl “Heil Hitler!” His heels clacked, his arm shot out, and he almost shouted the words, the driver echoing them.
The pale eyes washed over him, leaving heat and queasiness behind. “Well? Are you going to take me to Major Hauser? Or must I stand in the sun the rest of the day?”
“Of course,” Hintz said, then realized his answer could be taken either way, and hurriedly opened the car door for the visiting captain. Contempt, he decided. The captain’s tone had definitely been contempt, and directed at him. As they drove away, he thought, Wait till you report to Major Hauler in that fatigue coverall. He will rake you over the coals till you cry for mercy.
Major Hauser did no such thing. He’d never before seen Bruno Krieger, but he knew his reputation. The disgracefullooking troll had been one of General Heydrich’s favorites, a hunter and triggerman who, after Heydrich’s death, had remained popular with headquarters in Berlin, despite his wellknown lack of courtesy. For he was more than a faithful and deadly hound; they were numerous in the SS. Krieger had a reputation as uncannily skilled in tracking, getting close to, and destroying the victims assigned him. There were even some-notably Reichsfuhrer Himmler–who credited Krieger with occult powers. He was said to have terminated, decisively, several conspiracies against important figures, including, it was claimed, one against der Fuhrer.
It was also said that Heydrich had intended to promote him to major, but Krieger had demurred. Promotion, he’d said, would weaken his position. As a captain–a common enough rank-most saw him as the sword of the general who’d sent him, representing the authority of his commander. As a major, that perception would be reduced; some would look at him as having only his own authority. It was also told that when der Fuhrer heard the storyand Heydrich had made sure he heard it-he dictated a letter to the captain, with a copy to his personnel file, expressing his admiration. Thus Hauser was cordial, though maintaining his nominal seniority, and Krieger did not bait him as he had the young lieutenant.
“What can you tell me about this Kurt Montag?” Krieger asked.
“Essentially nothing that was not in my report to Berlin, or in their reports to me. He presented himself as mentally and physically defective, and became the most promising psychic in das Weutische Projekt. Then he was sent to England to make difficulties for Anglo-American headquarters there, using some confidential means, reputedly psychic. But in fact he was an American officer, who then captured the Abwehr’s London station chief and his staff. Which of course resulted in a chain of arrests, and collapsed the entire London-area operation.”
“A London informant reports that `Kurt Montag’s’ real name is Chris McCarthy. He is a decorated American Farschirrnjager from the fighting in North Africa and Sicily, a man with neither conscience nor mercy.”
“Our Captain Reiter investigated the destruction at Schloss Tannenberg. With information from a neighboring farmer and a surviving psychic, he established that Montag-McCarthy returned via parachute, apparently alone, and destroyed the Schloss not only with its entire complement of our people, but with the Voitar quartered there. Our records show there were five tons of TNT stored in the cellar. It was undoubtedly this he used, after transferring part of it to the other wing to ensure that no one escaped alive. All this while a guard platoon was stationed in the building.”