Angel of Vengeance_The thrilling sequel to Angel in Red

by Christopher Nicole

  ‘That is hardly surprising, is it? Unless you believe in ghosts. The fact remains—’

  ‘That she was suspicious. But it was less of what we might be doing outside of the office, as it were, than what we were doing inside it. I was able to reassure her about that.’

  Anna regarded him for several seconds. His inability to understand what was necessary for their survival was incredible. And there was nothing she could do about him, without orders from London. But still, he was her line of communication with London. ‘And you seriously suppose that because she is your wife she will not betray you? Us?’

  ‘She loves me,’ Bartoli declared proudly. ‘Anyway, I have outlined the situation to her.’

  ‘You have done what?’

  ‘There is no need to be agitated. I have told her that you, we, are in the pay of Mussolini, who requires us to keep him informed, if we can, of Nazi plans. They are inclined to do things, as you know, without informing the Duce.’

  ‘And she accepts this? Is she not a Nazi herself?’

  ‘Lip service. She is a Nazi because all her friends are Nazis. She does not truly believe in their principles.’

  Anna sighed. Her sense of well-being was entirely gone, and her irritation was increased by the thought that she was virtually at the mercy of that creature outside. But then, she had always been at the mercy of this creature in front of her. It was a situation that had to be put right, as rapidly as possible. ‘Very well,’ she said. ‘I will trust in your confidence. Now I have a very urgent message for London.’

  ‘All your messages are very urgent,’ he grumbled, and pulled a sheet of paper towards him. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Position achieved. Leaving in a week. Essential I see Judith before then.’

  Bartoli studied what he had written. ‘Leaving for where? And who is Judith?’

  ‘Just send that message.’

  ‘You are not supposed to have any secrets from me.’

  Anna stood up. ‘Every woman has her secrets, Luigi. It is vital that London receives that message tomorrow. Ciao.’

  *

  ‘It is so good to be home,’ Birgit confided. ‘I mean, America was very nice, but there is no place like home, is there, Countess?’

  ‘Well, don’t start to feel too comfortable,’ Anna advised. ‘We are moving on in a few days.’

  ‘So soon? Where are we going?’

  ‘Prague. You will like Prague. It is a beautiful city.’

  ‘But . . . will we be gone long?’

  ‘I have no idea. It may be a few weeks.’

  ‘Then we will miss Christmas.’

  ‘I am sure they celebrate Christmas in Prague,’ Anna pointed out. ‘Was it not the home of Good King Wenceslas? Now, serve lunch, and then I must go to the gym.’ She had not had a chance to work out during her visit to the States.

  *

  Clive put the transcript on Baxter’s desk. ‘She seems to have overcome the first hurdle without difficulty. She must have done it the day she got back to Berlin.’

  ‘Like all women,’ Baxter commented, ‘she sees difficulties where none exist. And why is she so anxious to see Judith? I knew giving her another contact was a mistake.’

  ‘In my opinion,’ Clive said, ‘giving her this assignment at all is a mistake.’

  ‘Because you promised her that we would never let anything happen to her? May I remind you that you had no authority to make such a promise. If she is working for us, she is working for us, and therefore she has to accept the same risks as any other field agent. Anyway, where is the risk, for her? She is not to be involved in the assassination. All she has to do is say where, and when.’

  ‘If something goes wrong, and it usually does, and any of our people are picked up and interrogated, they are very likely to give her name as part of the group.’

  ‘None of our people are supposed to allow themselves to be taken and interrogated. They all have their suicide capsules. I presume Anna has one?’

  ‘Can you ever really look at yourself in the mirror and say to yourself, “I like that man”?’

  ‘I hope one day to be able to look in the mirror and say to myself, “it was all worth it, because we won the war”.’ Baxter pointed with his pipe. ‘As I have told you before, you have made the cardinal and inexcusable error of falling in love with one of your agents. That comes close to making you unemployable. Remember that.’

  Clive stood up. ‘Yes, sir. Have I your permission to contact Kruger? If, as you say, this is the most important assignment you have allotted to Fehrbach, it is surely at least equally important to keep her happy until the assignment is completed.’

  Baxter considered, briefly. Then he nodded. ‘You have permission. But I do not want Kruger to be personally involved in Operation Daybreak.’

  *

  Anna was awakened from a deep sleep by Birgit hovering anxiously by the bed. The light was on, but it was still dark outside. ‘What in the name of God . . . What time is it?’

  ‘It is just gone six, Countess.’

  ‘And you have woken me up? It had better be important.’

  ‘There is a gentleman here to see you, Countess.’ She lowered her voice. ‘An officer.’

  ‘At this hour?’ Anna threw back the covers and got out of bed. Birgit hastily wrapped her in a dressing gown. Anna peered into the mirror, and dragged hair from her eyes. But anyone calling on her at six o’clock in the morning had to take the rough with the smooth. She thrust her toes into slippers and stalked into the drawing room, paused to regard the anxious young man in the black uniform who was standing by the window. ‘We have met before.’

  ‘Of course, Countess.’ He clicked his heels. ‘Captain Dorff.’

  ‘I cannot remember where.’

  ‘In the gymnasium, in August, Countess. I remember it as if it were yesterday.’

  Well, you would, Anna thought. I was naked when you came in. ‘Don’t tell me,’ she said. ‘The Fuehrer wants to see me. At six o’clock in the morning?’

  ‘Conventional time means nothing to the Fuehrer, Countess. He habitually works all night and then sleeps until noon. He is about to retire now. But he wishes to see you first.’

  Oh, my God, Anna thought. Just like that. ‘You can’t expect me to come like this.’

  Dorff studied the dressing gown. ‘I think you should put something on, yes.’

  ‘If I am going to see the Fuehrer, I need to have a bath.’

  ‘I do not think a bath is required, Countess. When the Fuehrer says now, he generally means now. There is an important matter he wishes to discuss with you.’

  In bed, Anna thought grimly. She hated having to have sex with anyone unless she was properly physically prepared. And in any event, the thought of having sex with Hitler was too much for her brain at this time of the morning. But this was not a force she could combat, at least at this moment. ‘Very well,’ she said. ‘Give me five minutes.’

  *

  She dressed as she had that August morning when they had first met, remembering that he had clearly liked her appearance, washed her face, cleaned her teeth, put on her sable as she had no doubt it was freezing outside, and joined Dorff. It was actually snowing, and the Mercedes saloon slithered to and fro.

  ‘I don’t suppose you have any idea what this is all about?’ she ventured.

  ‘I do, actually, but I think the Fuehrer would rather tell you himself. I can tell you that there has been a very dramatic development. But I would beg you not to ask me anything more.’

  Anna decided to leave it: they were only a few minutes away from the Chancellery. But she could not imagine what very dramatic development could possibly have occurred that could involve her. Or indeed, that Hitler would be so excited about. Had the Wehrmacht finally captured Moscow? But that could hardly be considered a very dramatic development, since it had been repeatedly claimed that the fall of the Russian capital was imminent.

  The Chancellery was a blaze of light, and filled with excited people. Didn�
��t they ever sleep? But there was no Frau Engert. Dorff himself escorted her up the stairs and into the Fuehrer’s office. There were several people present, but not Himmler, Anna saw to her surprise. In any event, at her entry Hitler waved them all away, and a moment later they were alone.

  ‘Countess!’ As on the occasion of their first meeting he held her hands and gave them a gentle squeeze. ‘I am sorry I have not seen you since your return from America. I have been somewhat busy.’

  ‘Of course, my Fuehrer.’

  ‘But I have read your report. Sit down. Sit down.’ Anna took the chair before his desk while he returned behind it. ‘It is very interesting. You are to be congratulated. And you are certain that the Americans have no wish to go to war?’

  ‘I have that information on the highest authority, sir.’

  ‘Unless they were to be attacked.’

  ‘That is what they told me.’

  ‘Well, tell me this: if they were to be attacked, are they capable of going to war? Have they the will? And the means? They are a pleasure-loving people, are they not?’

  ‘They enjoy their prosperity, sir, yes. But I think they would fight if they felt that prosperity was under threat.’

  ‘And the means? Could they, for example, put a hundred divisions into the field, in the immediate future?’

  ‘No, sir. I think it would take them some time to mobilize an army on a European scale. If they were to be forced to go to war now, they would have to rely on their fleet to protect them for the time necessary to raise an army. That could be several months or even a year.’

  ‘And if they did not have a fleet?’

  ‘Ah . . .’ He had this habit of firing unanswerable hypothetical questions at people. ‘They do have a fleet, sir. I think it is about the largest fleet in the world.’

  Hitler actually laughed; it was the first time she had heard him do so. ‘That is no longer true, Anna. At dawn this morning, that is, just after midnight last night our time, the Japanese navy destroyed the American Pacific fleet.’

  *

  Anna stared at him in consternation. ‘Sir?’

  ‘They are claiming that nine battleships have been sunk. Nine battleships, for the loss of a handful of aircraft! It is the greatest, the most decisive naval victory in history.’

  Anna continued to stare at him in disbelief.

  ‘So, tell me,’ Hitler went on, ‘what will the Americans do on finding themselves virtually defenceless?’

  Anna drew a deep breath. Joe, she thought. What will Joe do? And Wild Bill Donovan? ‘They will fight, sir.’

  ‘But you have agreed that they cannot be in a position to do so effectively for several months. Perhaps even a year. Thank you, Anna. You have confirmed my own opinion.’

  ‘You think Japan can defeat them, sir?’

  ‘It is very difficult to determine what the Japanese are thinking, or hoping to achieve. This attack, I mean . . . well, it is completely out of the blue.’

  ‘You mean you did not know of it, sir?’

  ‘No one knew of it. It is a master stroke, of both secrecy and execution. But it presents us with an unexpected opportunity. No, I do not believe that Japan can defeat the United States, militarily, by itself. I mean, in terms of occupying mainland America, or even a part of it. But they can certainly gobble up what they are after, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies and Malaya for the raw materials, the tin and the rubber – and above all, the oil that they need. More importantly, from our point of view, they are going to consume all the Americans’ attention and strength for the foreseeable future as Washington attempts to redress the situation. That is what we want, don’t you see? I have always known that one day I would have to confront America. Frankly, I had supposed it would be after I had completed the conquest of Europe. What you have told me seemed to confirm that proposition. But now . . . Did not an English playwright say something about a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads to everlasting success, but if missed, dooms a man to perpetual failure?’

  ‘William Shakespeare, sir.’

  ‘Of course. Can you not see, Anna, that this is the flood tide? At this moment Japan has the strongest fleet in the world. We have the strongest army. Between us there is nothing we cannot achieve. So now is the moment to shatter the Americans. Don’t you understand that if they are involved in a war against both us and the Japanese they will have to cease supplying the Russians, and the British, with the arms, the ammunition, the vehicles and equipment, that they must have to continue fighting us?’

  Anna swallowed. ‘You mean to join Japan in a war against the United States?’

  ‘That is what I have been saying.’

  ‘But, my Fuehrer, is it necessary?’ It sounds like suicide, she thought.

  ‘It is my will to do so, Anna. Besides,’ he added, a trifle ingenuously, ‘I gave that fellow Matsuoka my word, when he was here last year, that if Japan became engaged in hostilities with America, we would back them to the hilt.’

  ‘You mean we have a treaty with them?’

  ‘No, no. There was no formal treaty. Just my word.’

  ‘Which may have inspired them to carry out this attack. One would have supposed they should at least have told you what they were planning.’

  ‘They are a secretive people. All Asiatics believe in secrecy. And they have brought off a great coup. Thank you, Anna, your assessment of America has been of enormous help to me. I shall not forget it. Now leave me. There is work to be done.’

  ‘Yes, my Fuehrer.’ Anna stood up. ‘Heil Hitler!’

  *

  Not for the first time Anna left the Chancellery in a swirling mental fog. That Germany, Italy and Japan, with almost no natural resources between them, could dream of taking on Great Britain, Russia and now the United States, who between them possessed, controlled or had access to just about every natural resource in the world, was a concept of utter madness, a gambler’s throw based entirely on the belief that Germany and Japan, at least, possessed the greater martial tradition and determination. As if every day of Russian resistance, not to mention the more than two years of British defiance, had not already proved that wrong. As for the Americans . . . she recalled what Joe had told her. She wondered what Hitler would have said if she had related that conversation, in full, to him.

  Should she tell London what was about to happen? They were going to find out soon enough, and telling them perhaps a day or two in advance could not possibly be of any value. They could warn Washington, but if America was already at war with Japan, as she was sure it would be by now, and thus mobilizing like mad, it would hardly make a great deal of difference. Besides, she was reluctant to return to the Boutique, at least until after she had seen Judith; she was increasingly convinced that Bartoli was now a serious liability.

  Anyway, in a few days she would be off to Prague. She wondered if what had happened would make any difference to London’s plans for Heydrich. But she was committed to carrying out Himmler’s instructions.

  She returned to the apartment, and then went to the gym for a vigorous work-out, watched as always with glowing eyes by Stefan. ‘Was America as exciting as they say, Countess?’ he asked as she showered.

  ‘Why, yes.’

  ‘And did you have to shoot anybody to get out?’

  ‘Of course. I had to shoot six people.’

  He blew a raspberry of disbelief. ‘But now you are back for a while.’

  ‘About three days.’

  ‘What?’

  Anna towelled herself dry. ‘Does this concern you?’

  ‘Well . . .’ He flushed. ‘It is difficult to keep an eye on your fitness when you are away more often than you are here.’

  ‘I am a trial,’ Anna agreed. She laid down the towel and picked up her cami-knickers.

  ‘Countess,’ he said. ‘Anna. May I ask a favour of you?’

  ‘I thought we had been through that,’ Anna reminded him.

  ‘I know. I apologize. It will not
happen again. But would you give me permission to take your photograph?’

  ‘My photograph?’ Anna was surprised. When she had lived in England, she had been photographed extensively for Tatler and many of the other glossy magazines and newspapers that had found her good for circulation figures, but those had always been without her permission and therefore hardly more than hurried snapshots. She had never actually posed for a picture. She found the idea quite amusing. But . . . ‘I am not very presentable at the moment. I will stop by some time when I am properly dressed and made-up.’

  He licked his lips. ‘I would like to take it now, just as you are. I have a camera here.’

  Anna gazed at him, then looked down at herself; she was still holding the cami-knickers against her naked body. ‘I see. You wish to become very popular with your friends.’

  ‘No, no. I swear it. I will never show it to a soul. It will be my personal memory of you.’

  He was such a desperate little man, so desperate to have sex with her that he would settle for masturbating to a photograph. She supposed that was the ultimate compliment that could be paid to any woman. ‘And who will print your photograph?’

  ‘I print my own. Photography is my hobby.’

  ‘Well, then,’ Anna said. ‘I wish to have a copy.’ It would be something to give to Clive. Just in case.

  *

  Birgit was wildly excited. ‘Have you heard the news, Countess?’

  ‘I am sure everyone has heard the news by now,’ Anna pointed out.

  ‘Did you know it was going to happen when we were in America?’

  ‘No. I don’t think anyone knew it was going to happen. Except the Japanese, of course.’

  ‘But will we still be going to Prague?’

  ‘Of course. What happens in the Pacific is hardly likely to affect us here.’ At least, not immediately, she thought.

  She sat on the settee with a glass of schnapps. She was in one of her periods of limbo, and she never enjoyed those. She was awaiting final instructions, both from Himmler and from London, without having any idea what those instructions were going to involve. She wondered which would arrive first, and nearly spilled her drink when the doorbell rang.