by Jack Higgins
“Far enough,” he said, and handed her into the car.
He went round to the other side, climbed behind the wheel, and drove away. As they moved through the deserted streets, he said, “My friend wasn’t in room twelve, by the way. Apparently, they’ve moved him.”
She seemed genuinely surprised. “I didn’t know that.”
“Was there much of a disturbance back there after I left you?” he said.
She shrugged. “There’s always a fuss of some sort going on. You get so you don’t take any notice. Some of the women are terrible, you know.”
“Are they?” Chavasse said. “Tell me, has Dr. Kruger got another clinic anywhere?”
She shook her head. “Not that I know of.”
“The ambulance driver was in the bar a little while ago,” he told her. “He was saying something about taking a patient to a place called Berndorf.”
“Oh, they often take people to Berndorf,” she said, “but not to a clinic. They go there to convalesce. Dr. Kruger has a friend called Herr Nagel who owns a castle there. It’s supposed to be a lovely place.”
“I see,” Chavasse said casually. “And this man Nagel—does he visit the clinic often?”
“Oh, yes,” she said. “He and Dr. Kruger are great friends. He’s very wealthy. Something to do with steel, I think.”
And then it clicked into place and Chavasse remembered something he’d read in a newspaper at Anna’s apartment. Kurt Nagel was a big industrialist, a man with a lot of influence in political circles. He was one of the prime organizers of the U.N. Peace Conference, and later in the week, he was giving a ball in honor of the delegates.
If a man like Nagel was working hand in glove with the Nazi underground, then things were more serious than even the Chief had believed.
As Chavasse considered the situation, he was following Gisela’s instructions, and finally slowed to a halt outside a modest house in an unpretentious neighborhood.
“Well, it’s been nice,” he said.
She had already got the door open, and she turned and looked at him. “Aren’t you coming in for a while? It’s perfectly safe—they’ll all be in bed by this time.”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid not, Gisela. Some other time.”
She leaned across, kissed him, and sighed. “Men are such liars. I bet you anything you like, I’ll never see you again.”
He drove away quickly and left her standing there on the pavement looking wistfully after him. He had forgotten her within seconds, as his mind went back to the problem in hand.
The way things looked, they were taking Hardt to this castle of Nagel’s at Berndorf and that meant that Muller was probably there also. There was only one thing to do—pay the place a visit, but it would be risky. As he went upstairs to the apartment, he was still thinking about it.
When he went in, he found Anna cooking in the kitchen. “I took you at your word,” she said.
He grinned. “I’ve got good news for you—I’ve managed to find out where they’ve taken Hardt. I think Muller is probably a prisoner there as well.”
She was immediately excited and demanded an explanation. When he had finished, she said, “What’s our next move then?”
He frowned, thinking about it, and then he smiled. “I think we’ll pay this place a visit in the morning. There’s bound to be some sort of inn in the village. Young honeymooners would fit the bill best.”
She blushed and started to turn away. He pulled her into his arms. “Have you any objections to spending a honeymoon with me?”
She smiled. “No, not really. After all, I suppose it’s the only one you’re likely to give me.”
He crushed her against him. “I shouldn’t count on that if I were you.”
She pulled away from him. “Then there’s still hope for me,” she said, and pushed him toward the door. “Go and sit down and I’ll bring you something to eat.”
He went and sat on the divan, and she placed the small table in front of him and brought in the food and sat in the chair opposite and watched him eating.
Afterward, as she cleared away the things and made coffee, he leaned back, content and, for the moment, happy. For the first time, it occurred to him that they might make a go of it, that after this job was over he would tell the Chief he was through.
But is anything ever that easy? he thought to himself. Even when she came and curled up beside him, her arms around his neck.
CHAPTER 9
It was a damp, misty morning when they set out, and they halted in Hamburg only for as long as it took Anna to purchase a ready-made tweed jacket for Chavasse and a cheap gold wedding ring for herself.
Berndorf was only twenty miles out of Hamburg on the road to Lubeck. Chavasse did the driving, and after forty minutes, Anna tugged at his sleeve as they approached a signpost. He swung left into a narrow lane that plunged into thickly wooded country, and three miles farther on, they came to the village.
It consisted of a single street of stone-built houses and looked completely deserted. The inn lay beyond it, an old two-storied building in heavy, weather-beaten stone, with great wooden gables that seemed almost too large for the house.
They parked the car and entered through a door that had the date 1652 carved on the lintel. The main room was long, with a low roof crossed by great beams, and had a huge fireplace in which a man might comfortably stand. There was a bright fire burning and Anna stood in front of it warming her hands, while Chavasse went to the small reception desk near the door and rang the bell.
After a while, there was movement in the dim interior and an old woman with a face wrinkled and bright entered and bobbed a curtsy.
“We’d like a room for a couple of days,” Chavasse said.
She nodded her head. “You must see Herr Fassbender. I will fetch him.”
She disappeared into the rear of the house and Chavasse lit a cigarette and waited. After a moment or two, a large, red-faced man, with close-cropped hair, emerged from the kitchen. “You wish for a room, mein Herr?”
Chavasse nodded. “Yes, for my wife and myself—just for a couple of days.”
He tried to look suitably embarrassed, and Anna moved beside him and they linked hands. “Ah, I understand, mein Herr. I have a very nice room available, as it happens.”
He went behind the desk and produced a register, which Chavasse signed in the name of Reimarch. Fassbender took down a key and led the way upstairs. “A pity the weather is so bad, but then, it takes more than a little rain to spoil a holiday.”
He opened a door and led the way in. It was a pleasant room with a fireplace, dark oak furniture, and a large double bed in one corner. “This should suit us admirably,” Chavasse told him.
Fassbender smiled again. “I will have a fire lit for you. Would you like something to eat now?”
Chavasse shook his head. “No, we’ll wait. I think we’ll spend a little time exploring, shall we, darling?” He looked inquiringly at Anna.
She smiled. “I think that would be very nice.”
Fassbender nodded. “There is not a great deal for you to see, I’m afraid. To truly appreciate the beauty of this region, it is necessary to visit us in the summertime.”
“Any special places of interest?” Chavasse asked casually.
Fassbender shrugged. “There is the castle, of course. You can have a look at it, but it isn’t open to members of the public. There’s a path through the woods which will take you there. It starts from the yard at the rear of the inn.” Chavasse thanked him and they went outside.
As they followed the path between the fir trees, he said with a grin, “How did you like my performance? Did I resemble the young man trembling on the brink of his wedding night?”
“You almost overdid it.”
“Well, you looked frightened to death when you saw the bed,” he said.
She laughed. “It was the most enormous bed I’ve ever seen.”
“I bet I’d have the devil’s own job catching you in it
,” he said brazenly, and her face colored so that she looked exactly like what she was supposed to be—a young, newly married girl on her wedding day.
There was a gleam of water as the trees thinned, and then they came out onto the shores of a lake and saw the tall, Gothic towers of the castle rearing out of the mist in front of them. It had been built on a small island and was reached by a narrow causeway about a hundred yards long that started a little further along the shore.
“It’s like something out of the Brothers Grimm,” Anna said.
Chavasse nodded slowly without speaking. The mist seemed to be getting thicker and it was difficult to see the castle clearly. He took her arm and turned away from the direction of the causeway. As they walked, he said, “It’s certainly going to be tough getting inside.”
“How are you thinking of doing it?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I’d like a closer look at the place first.”
As they walked along the wet shingle, visibility seemed to grow even worse, and then a boathouse loomed out of the mist in front of them.
“I wonder,” he said softly.
He clambered up onto the lichen-covered slipway that sloped down into the water. Floating on the other side of it, tethered to a ring bolt, was a small rowing boat. It looked as if it hadn’t been used for a while and there was water in the bottom, but the oars were there, and an old cane fishing rod.
He pulled Anna up beside him and pointed. “Who do you think it belongs to?” she said.
“Perhaps our friend Fassbender,” he replied. “Not that it matters—I’m going to borrow it anyway.”
“Don’t you think it might be dangerous to show too much interest in the castle?”
He shook his head. “Not in this mist. It’s a first-rate chance to get a closer look. I’ve got to find a way in, Anna. It’s no use coming back after dark and hoping for the best.”
“I suppose you’re right,” she said calmly. “Do you want me to come with you? It would look better.”
He shook his head. “No, you wait here. If anything does go wrong, I want you out of it.”
He dropped down into the boat and untied the knot of the wet rope with some difficulty. There was so much water in the bottom of the boat that it covered his shoes, but he ignored the sudden, clammy chill that began to spread through his body, and fitted the oars into their rowlocks and pushed away from the slipway. Anna raised her hand, and then she was gone and he was alone in a cocoon of mist.
He looked over his shoulder and could just distinguish the pointed tops of the towers as they floated above the mist, and he pulled strongly toward them. The strangest thing of all was the quiet, which was complete and absolute. Only the slight splash of his oars as they lifted from the water disturbed the silence, and no bird sang.
And then, somewhere in the distance, he heard the dull, throbbing note of an engine, curiously muffled by the mist. He stopped rowing at once and listened intently. Gradually, the noise increased until it was almost on top of him, and then it passed. Through the mist, a distinct ripple ran across the water and splashed against the hull.
Chavasse quickly shipped his oars and reached for a fishing rod. The line was knotted and tangled into a hopeless mess, and he wrestled with it for a moment until he heard the sound of the engine coming back. He gave up the struggle and held the rod out over the water, its point only a few inches above the surface. His free hand was in his pocket, ready to draw the Mauser he had taken from Steiner at the clinic.
The boat rocked violently as the other vessel approached, and then the engine was cut. Chavasse huddled over the rod, keeping his face down, and then a launch drifted out of the mist and bumped gently against the rowing boat.
A familiar voice said, “Had a good catch, my friend?”
Slowly, Chavasse turned his head and looked over his shoulder. Steiner leaned over the rail of the launch, an affable smile on his face. “You don’t seem very talkative this morning, Herr Chavasse.”
“To be perfectly frank, I’m rather at a loss for words,” Chavasse replied. His thumb pushed back the safety catch of the Mauser and his index finger gently crooked around the trigger.
“Fassbender, like all tenants of this estate, is extremely loyal,” Steiner said. “But come, my friend. You seem to be soaked to the skin. A glass of schnapps will do you a world of good.”
Chavasse stood up slowly and turned to face him. “I hope you aren’t going to try anything foolish,” Steiner said. “As you can see, Hans has the perfect remedy.”
Hans was black-bearded and dangerous-looking and the shotgun he was holding to one shoulder was as steady as a rock.
To draw and fire before the shotgun blasted his head off was an impossibility, but Chavasse had only one thing on his mind—the need to warn Anna. He allowed his shoulders to drop, and sighed, “It looks as though you win this trick, Steiner.” At the same moment, he threw himself backward into the water, drew the Mauser, and fired it blindly into space.
The sound of its report seemed very loud in his ears, but not so loud as the thunderous roar of the shotgun. The pellets sang past him, and then he was under the surface. He hadn’t had time to take in much air, and he pulled himself downward desperately and swam under the keel of the launch, surfacing on the other side, where he hung onto a rope ladder.
He listened for a moment to Steiner’s shouting and then started to peel off his raincoat. His only chance was to swim for the shore, hoping the thick mist would hide him, and the coat would only be a hindrance.
He finally managed to get it off. As he struck out from the launch, a bullet chopped into the water beside his head, and Steiner cried, “Hold it right there, Chavasse.”
Chavasse paused, treading water, and Steiner went on. “Now turn and swim back to the launch and I warn you—the slightest attempt at any funny business and I’ll shoot you through the head.”
Suddenly, Chavasse was cold and tired. He swam back to the launch and hauled himself up the rope ladder. As he neared the top, Hans reached over and jerked him across the rail so that he stumbled and fell.
He got wearily to his feet and stood there, shivering as the wind cut into his wet clothes. Steiner came forward, a Luger in his right hand. He smiled. “You’re quite a man, Chavasse. Under different circumstances, I think we’d have got along together. However, you carelessly chose the wrong side.”
“Stupid of me, wasn’t it?” Chavasse said.
“As you’ll soon find out,” Steiner told him, “because I always pay my debts. Here’s something on account.” He moved with surprising speed for such a large man, and before Chavasse could duck, the barrel of the Luger slashed across his right cheek, drawing blood. At the same moment, Hans moved in from behind and chopped him across the back of the neck. Chavasse doubled over and the deck lifted to meet him.
For what seemed an age, there was only the pain and he lay with his cheek pillowed against the deck, eyes closed. Vaguely, he was aware of the engine coughing into life, and then water was dashed in his face and he shook his head and got slowly to his feet.
Steiner threw the bucket carelessly into a corner and laughed. “You look quite a sight, my friend. I wish you could see yourself.”
Chavasse ignored him and turned to the rail. They were very close to the castle, and on this side the walls dropped sheer into the water. They were moving toward a dark archway, and Hans cut the engine to half speed and took them in slowly.
As they entered, Chavasse was conscious of the terrible coldness of the damp air, and he shivered and wiped his face with the back of one hand. It came away covered with blood.
The launch bumped gently against the side of a stone jetty, and Hans ran along to the bows quickly, vaulted over the rail, and tied up to a large metal ring.
“After you!” Steiner said, and gestured over the rail.
Chavasse moved forward and stepped onto the jetty. A flight of stone steps lifted out of the gloom to a landing above their head and he mounted them, S
teiner and Hans close behind him.
Hans brushed past him and opened the door. Chavasse found himself in a long, stone-flagged passage. Hans led the way to the far end, opened another door, and climbed a short flight of steps, which entered directly into an immense hall.
Great, curved beams of black oak arched into the gloom, and Chavasse paused. At the far end there was a wide marble stairway, and above it a gallery. At one side, a log fire blazed in an immense medieval fireplace.
Steiner said, “Quite a sight, isn’t it? Used to belong to a prince, but things have changed since the war.”
Chavasse moved on without answering and crossed the hall to the door that Hans had just opened. He hesitated on the threshold, and Steiner pushed him roughly inside.
The room was comfortably furnished and there was a luxurious carpet on the floor. Dr. Kruger and another man were sitting in front of the fire, and they both stood up as Hans pushed Chavasse forward.
“This is the man, Herr Nagel,” Steiner said.
Nagel was tall and elegant in a suit of dark broadcloth and scrupulously white linen. The iron-gray hair was brushed carefully back on each side and his face was as cold and austere as that of any sixteenth-century Calvinist minister.
He screwed a gold-rimmed eyeglass firmly in place and examined Chavasse. “I must say he looks rather less formidable than I had imagined and considerably the worse for wear.”
“We had to be a little rough with him,” Steiner explained. “He tried to go for a swim.”
Kruger pulled on his beard with one hand and the dark eyes gleamed in the gaunt face. “That’s a nasty cut on your face, Herr Chavasse. You must allow me to stitch it for you. I’m afraid I don’t happened to have a local anesthetic with me, but I’m sure a brave man like you can bear a little pain.”
“You remind me of a slug I once found under a flat stone,” Chavasse said.
Rage glowed in Kruger’s eyes, but he raised one hand to stop Steiner, who had taken a step forward. “No, leave him, Steiner. His time will come. Bring in the other one.”
Steiner opened the door and spoke to someone outside. As Chavasse turned, Anna was pushed into the room and behind her, he saw the smirking face of Fassbender.
