Heydrich turned away abruptly to conceal his smile, but Himmler was positively glowing with approval. I could not have put it better myself. He carries the burden for all of us. The destiny of Germany rides on his shoulders.
Schellenberg said, So, you also wish me to proceed in this matter, Reichsführer?
Most certainly. You will travel to Lisbon as soon as arrangements can be made, by way of Madrid, I think. A consultation with our ambassador there, von Stohrer, would be useful.
Heydrich turned from the window. One point, Reichsführer. Lisbon is alive with secret agents of every nationality and Brigadeführer Schellenberg will be known to many of them. I have every faith in his ability to defend himself from the front, but I think it essential to have someone to protect his back. With your permission, Ill assign two or three of my best men.
Not necessary, Himmler said. Ill take care of it personally. The Gestapo, Im sure, will be able to provide exactly the operatives were looking for.
As you say, Reichsführer.
Good. You may leave us now, General Schellenberg. Im sure you have many preparations to make. Id like a further word with you, Reinhard, on another matter.
Schellenberg went out quickly and returned to his office. He was sweating slightly and lit a cigar-ette. A moment later Frau Huber came in with a cup of coffee.
See, Ilse? he smiled. I told you there was nothing to worry about.
As he raised the cup to his lips his hand was trembling.
As always after such an episode Schellenberg needed action and went down to the firing range in the basement which was presided over by an SS Sturmscharführer named Reitlinger. The targets against the sandbags at the far end were of charging Russian soldiers, not Tommies, an affectation of Himmler who still cherished the hope of some sort of compromise with a people who were, after all, an Aryan race.
Action, Horst. Thats what I need, Schellenberg said. What have you got?
The new Erma police sub-machine gun, General. Just in this morning.
Schellenberg emptied it in short bursts, firing from the waist, cutting a couple of the targets in half. The noise was deafening.
As it died down, he placed the weapon on the firing bench. A butchers gun. What I need is something more subtle a silent killer, if you like.
Reitlinger smiled and moved to the armourers cupboard for he knew very well what Schellenberg, who was a superb pistol shot, meant. He returned with a Mauser 7.63 mm Model 1932, with the latest adaptation, a bulbous silencer, a weapon specially developed for German counter-intelligence operatives.
Now this is more like it.
Schellenberg hefted the weapon in his hand. It held a ten-round magazine which he emptied fairly rapidly, putting two shots squarely in the middle of five of the targets. The only sound was a series of dull thuds.
Very neat, Heydrich said, appearing behind him, but surely youre losing your touch, Walter? Two shots each instead of one?
A wounded man can always shoot back, Schellenberg said. A second shot will almost invariably finish him off. I like to cover my bets.
You said that as if it were a stage direction. Heydrich held out a hand. Reitlinger rammed a fresh magazine into the Mauser and passed it to him. Yes, Walter, I am more than ever inclined to believe that is what you are an actor. Rather a good one, by the way.
He emptied the magazine, aiming each shot carefully. That was an outstanding performance you gave just now in the Reichsführers office. Quite brilliant. Exactly calculated to please.
Reitlinger had moved to a position by the door which placed him out of earshot.
And what did you expect me to say the truth?
Which is?
That this whole thing is a waste of time. Ive read that file, Ive talked to Canaris and theyve completely miscalculated their man. The reports from von Stohrer in Madrid about the Dukes sympathetic attitude. Cocktail gossip by Spanish aristocrats with fascist sympathies who want to believe he thinks as they do. Thats the whole trouble. Everyone wants to believe hes on our side and they manufacture the evidence by a kind of wishful thinking. If the Duke of Windsor said Beethoven was his favourite composer, some idiot, even in his own country, would take that to be an endorsement of the Nazi party.
So, you dont think hell be interested?
Not in the slightest.
Then youll have to persuade him, wont you?
And what on earth is that supposed to achieve?
Heydrich said, When we occupy England he would have to do as hes told for the simple reason that it would be the best way he could serve the interests of his people.
He looked down towards the targets. I havent done very well, have I?
Not really. Schellenberg rammed in another clip. His arm swung up, he fired twice without apparently taking aim and shot out the eyes of the centre figure.
And now youre angry, said Heydrich. I wonder why?
Schellenberg put down the gun. We all have our off days. Do you mind if I go now? Ive work to do.
Not at all. You can pick me up at eight-thirty.
What for?
This Winter girl. Id like to see her in the flesh. The Garden Room, I think you said?
All right, Schellenberg walked to the door which Reitlinger opened for him. Ill want one of the silenced Mausers during the next couple of days. One hundred rounds in ten clips. Make up a pack for me and deliver it to the office.
Jawohl, Brigadeführer.
Schellenberg went out and when Reitlinger turned he found Heydrich examining the centre target.
Astonishing, he said. Both eyes at fifty paces. Could you teach me to do that, Sturmscharführer?
Im afraid not, General, Reitlinger said. It is not a talent which can be taught. Youve either got it or you havent.
Ah, well, Heydrich said. He is on my side. He opened the door and smiled. At least, I hope he is.
Lina Heydrich was away for the summer at the charming thatch-roofed chalet on the Baltic coast on Fehmarn Island which Heydrich had built for her in 1935. He himself continued to live, with the help of a cook and housekeeper, at their Berlin house which was in the exclusive Zehlendorf quarter bordering on the Grünewald forest.
Schellenberg picked him up there at eight oclock in one of the special department Mercedes with two uniformed SS men up front on the other side of the glass partition. One to drive and the other to ride shotgun, an expression coined by Heydrich himself who was fond of a good Western film.
As they drove down towards the centre of the city Heydrich seemed morose and out of sorts.
Uncle Heini, he said, referring to Himmler by the disrespectful nickname by which he was known throughout the SS, was not exactly being solicitous when he jumped in on my suggestion about providing you with bodyguards. Unless Im very much mistaken, youll have a couple of hand-picked Gestapo goons breathing down your neck.
And reporting every move I make three times a day by long-distance telephone to the Reichsführer personally. Yes, Im well aware of the implications, Schellenberg told him.
And reporting every move I make three times a day by long-distance telephone to the Reichsführer personally. Yes, Im well aware of the implications, Schellenberg told him.
I dont know why, but at a time when things have never looked better, I have a feeling that they are beginning to go wrong for us for all of us.
And why should that be?
Heydrich hesitated, then leaned forward to check that the glass panel which divided them from the driving compartment was firmly closed.
This is in confidence total confidence, Walter, but the truth is, I have personal doubts about Sea Lion.
You mean you dont think the invasion of England will take place?
I have a nasty feeling the moment has already passed. To be frank, the Führers decision to halt the Panzers on the Aa Canal in Belgium and thus allow the remnants of the British Expeditionary Force to escape from Dunkirk, was a military error of the first magnitude.
And now?
Russia. I think that is the way his mind is increasingly turning. I have reason to believe he already has a contingency plan in mind.
And you dont think it such a good idea?
Do you?
Schellenberg shrugged. Happily, I dont have to make that kind of decision. If you want my opinion, Id say that the trouble with a Russian campaign is not particularly the Russian army. Its the limitless distances, supply lines thousands of miles long, ferocious winter weather. Look what happened to Napoleon.
I know, Heydrich said. I have nightmares about that. They were travelling along the Kurfürstendamm now and he wound down the window and peered out. Not what it was in the old days nothing is. I was at the Gloriapalast Theater for the premiere of The Blue Angel in nineteen-thirty. What a sensation and when Dietrich appeared in person on stage, the crowd went wild. Believe me, Walter, those legs of hers were the eighth wonder of the world.
I can imagine, Schellenberg said.
Youve no idea what this town was like. There was the Ring Club which only allowed membership to those whod served at least three years in jail. The Silhouette, the Always Faithful and the Paradise which was filled with the most glorious transvestites in gorgeous dresses, high heels, lipstick. Not that my own tastes ever ran in that direction.
Schellenberg said nothing, simply lit another cigarette and let him ramble on.
Heydrich said. One can only hope this Garden Room and your Hannah Winter can supply us with a decent evenings entertainment. It would make a nice change.
Hannah had already changed, ready for the first show, and went in search of Uncle Max whom she had not seen since the previous evening. She found him in his office doing the books.
She kissed him on top of the head. Had a good day?
Not too bad. And you?
I stayed in bed most of the morning. Did some shopping this afternoon.
He took both her hands in his. What we talked about last night, liebchen? Youll do as I say? Leave with Connie and the boys on Monday.
And you?
Ill follow as soon as I can.
Uncle Max, youre a Jew in a city where Jews are treated as badly as at any time in the last two thousand years. I dont even understand why you came back when any Jew with sense was trying to get out.
Im American, liebchen. And so are you. They dont want trouble with Uncle Sam theyve got enough on their plate, so they treat us a little differently. I dont say they like it, but thats how it is.
She shook her head. Theres more to this than meets the eye. Much more.
Twenty minutes to show time, he said. Make us some coffee, like a good girl.
She went into the small kitchen off his office, leaving the door ajar. She lit the gas and filled the coffee pot with water, then lit a cigarette and sat on a high kitchen stool and waited for the water to boil.
There was a knock on the office door, it opened, then closed again violently. She heard her uncle say in German, Irene, for Gods sake! Havent I told you never to come here?
Id no choice, Max. Something happened today that was rather special.
Hannah stood up and moved so that she could see through the partially open door into the office. Irene Neumann unbuttoned her coat, raised her skirt and took the folded copy of the Windsor report from her stocking.
I was put on temporary duty in the copying room today. I had to make copies of this for Heydrich. Its a report of a meeting between Schellenberg and von Ribbentrop concerning a plot to kidnap the Duke of Windsor.
The kitchen door swung open and Hannah stepped into the room. Irene Neumann turned pale, Oh, God! she said.
No, Irene its all right. Max squeezed her hand reassuringly. This is my niece, Hannah. Completely trustworthy, I assure you. Now, let me have a look at this.
He read it quickly, then passed it to Hannah. So now you know. Go on, read it. This is the sort of thing that keeps me here.
Her brain seemed to be dulled with the shock of it. She started to read the report and at the same time was aware of Irene Neumann and her uncle speaking in low tones.
As she finished, she heard the woman say: Will Moscow be interested?
Perhaps. On the other hand, I might be able to pass it on through the American embassy. Difficult, though. The Gestapo have forty or fifty men watching the place constantly. Youd better go now. How did you come in?
By the stage door.
Leave the same way. He kissed her on the cheek. Look after yourself, Irene. Ill be in touch.
When Irene Neumann left by the stage door it had started to rain. She paused to button her overcoat and found an old beret in one pocket which she pulled on.
There was a street lamp bracketed to the wall at the end of the alley, giving the SD man on surveillance duty inside the delivery truck parked on the corner a clear view of her as she walked towards him. He managed to take several photos of her before she turned into the main street and disappeared into the evening crowds.
Unde Max youre a Communist?
Labels, he said, are meaningless these days. The only question that matters is which side you are on. Look, try and understand. In New York, after twenty-five years, I owned a hotel and two nightclubs. Everything paid for and I had half a million dollars in the bank I didnt know what to do with. I was bored. So, I got involved with a Zionist organization that was trying to do something about what was happening to our people in Germany. Your mother knew nothing about it. I came back here in thirty-seven to help organize an escape line for Jews. I gradually got drawn into the other side of things. The only people who are really doing anything worth doing are the Socialist Underground and, by their very nature, their links are with Moscow.
And Frau Neumann?
Irene is a dedicated Communist. Not a card-carrying member. What they call a sleeper. Available to Party orders since she was a seventeen-year-old student. She really believes Karl Marx walked on water and she loathes the Nazis. Shes a clerical worker at Gestapo Headquarters. There are people like her in positions of trust all over the country. Youd be surprised.
And this? She held up the report.