‘You require a more realistic approach to the matter. Do you suppose that time stands still? It is a fortnight since you were in Warsaw. Yesterday Bór-Komorowski surrendered what was left of his so-called Home Army to avoid total annihilation. The news arrived this morning. So Marshal Rokossovsky is about to launch his assault on the city.’
‘Well, then . . .’
‘Do you seriously suppose that the countess is still there? She is probably back in Berlin by now.’
Tserchenko looked dumbfounded.
‘What do you wish done with this one, Comrade Commissar?’ Olga asked.
‘Oh, tell your successor to keep her locked up. She may come in handy.’
‘My successor, sir?’
‘I am relieving you of your position.’
‘But . . .’ Olga looked flabbergasted; Tserchenko’s mistake had had nothing to do with her.
‘I am appointing you to be Colonel Tserchenko’s aide in this mission.’
Olga’s jaw dropped as she looked at Tserchenko.
‘You,’ Beria said, ‘at least know what the Countess von Widerstand looks like.’
The Sentence
‘Welcome to England, sir.’ Joseph Andrews shook hands with his boss as he stepped from the just landed aircraft.
Wild Bill Donovan did not look convinced. The October rain was chill, and the clouds showed no sign of breaking. ‘I didn’t even know where the goddamned place was, until we touched down.’ He was not a big man, but he exuded both personality and energy to an extent that occasionally could be overwhelming, and which had earned him his soubriquet. Today he looked tired, as he sat in the back of the car to be driven to the London headquarters of the OSS, discreetly tucked away down a quiet side street where it could be totally inconspicuous. ‘You know why I’m here?’
‘Actually, I can think of several reasons,’ Joe said. ‘Although . . .’
‘There is one in particular that is top of the current list. Who is your driver? One of our people?’
‘Recruited locally, sir.’
‘A Limey?’
‘Yes, sir. But he’s a good man, very reliable. And he’s signed all the forms.’
‘Maybe. But this is between you and me. Nobody else.’
‘That figures. Close the glass, will you, Harry.’
‘Yes, sir.’ Harry slid the glass partition into place.
Donovan looked out of his window at the widespread bomb damage. ‘I guess you understand that I don’t like what I am going to have to say.’
‘I appreciate that. I don’t think I am going to like it either.’
‘So I guess you read that report?’
‘She’s still our agent, sir. Even if nebulously. I try to keep tabs on her.’
‘But she doesn’t communicate with you.’
‘Not recently. But then, I gather that even MI6 have lost contact.’
‘Or they say they have, right? I have to tell you, Joe, that the prevailing opinion in Washington is that they sold us a pup. Whether that was inadvertent or not, whether she’s proved a pup to them also, doesn’t alter the fact that what was turning out to be an embarrassment is now setting up to be a disaster. Countess von Widerstand shoots dead six Russian soldiers. That ring a bell?’
‘Yes, sir, it does.’
‘It is ringing a bell in the White House as well, although not so loud as in the Kremlin. Yet. You realize that the Reds still do not know how Anna got away with killing six of their people in Washington back in ’41. But they’re suspicious. For Christ’s sake, they’re suspicious about everything. But FDR feels that they are essential to winning the war. Now the rub is, that next month the country goes to the polls, with FDR running for an unprecedented fourth term. Now I happen to think, and I hope you agree, that he is more important to our winning the war than the Soviets. Well now, their ambassador in Washington is asking all kinds of questions and threatening to blow the whole Anna business sky high.’
‘They can’t possibly know that Anna works for us,’ Andrews objected.
‘They’re not as stupid as some people think, Joe, and like I said, suspicion is their middle name. At the very least they regard her escape from Washington as total incompetence on our part, together with total non-cooperation. Well, we can’t argue with that. But they also seem to be remembering that only a couple of months before that junket Anna also made a spectacular escape from Russia, from the Lubianka, no less, again after killing a couple of their people. You wouldn’t care to remind me who engineered that little coup. The Soviets certainly haven’t forgotten.’
Andrews gulped.
‘You persuaded me she was the goods,’ Donovan said, ‘and on that basis I told Hoover to get out of the ball park and take the Soviet people with him. FDR went along with that, but now he has come to the conclusion that if Moscow goes public on this, as they are threatening to do, it could blow his chances of re-election. President lies to Soviet allies, blah, blah, blah.’
Andrews swallowed again. ‘So . . .’
‘There is also the fact, of which he is aware, that we gave her a big, a vital job to do, and she didn’t do it.’
‘With respect, sir. The bomb didn’t go off.’
‘The second one did. And she put the kybosh on the impending coup.’
‘I’ve explained all that,’ Andrews protested. ‘She had no choice.’
‘She had a choice, Joe. Between risking all, as she is reputed to do when necessary, to push the coup through, whether Adolf was alive or dead, or get out of the hot seat and back the regime. She chose. Minister of Morale! Shit!’
‘That’s not how MI6 sees it.’
‘Fuck MI6. I have an idea that they’re paddling their own canoe. We know for sure that Churchill doesn’t go along with FDR’s view of the Soviets. He seems to regard them with more suspicion than they regard us. So you stay away from them, Joe, except socially. We have to handle this on our own.’
‘Will you be explicit?’
Donovan drew a deep breath. ‘The President has told the Soviet ambassador that we will take care of the lady, providing they keep their mouths shut. The ambassador accepted the deal on behalf of his government.’
‘You can’t be serious,’ Joe protested.
‘I wish I wasn’t, believe me.’
Andrews stared out of the window, and Donovan allowed him a few moments, then he asked, ‘Have we any means of reaching her?’
Andrews sighed. ‘We have one man who is known to her, and has contacted her before. He gave her the bomb.’
‘Name?’
‘Lars Johannsson. He’s a Swede, and as such can come and go in and out of Germany almost as he pleases.’
‘And you reckon she trusts him?’
‘Well, like I said, she’s dealt with him before. I would say she trusts him. But if you’re thinking of him getting her out of the country so that she can be arrested, that’s a tall order. Certainly where Anna is concerned.’
‘I wasn’t thinking of getting her out of any country, Joe.’
Andrews stared at him. ‘Now I know you can’t be serious.’
‘To paraphrase the Good Book, those that live by the sword, have got to reckon on dying by the sword. Or the Luger, or whatever.’
‘But . . . Anna?’
‘So you once shared a bed with her. Believe me, I envy you. What you need to remember is that you are damn nearly as much on the line as her.’
‘Shit!’ Andrews muttered.
‘The attitude in Washington is, you brought her in, so it’s your business to take her back out. And you know, you would probably be saving her a lot of grief. Whether or not we take her out right now, or when the war ends, which can only be a month or two away, she is going to be arrested and indicted as a war criminal. The Soviets are going to insist upon it. That means that after a lot of unpleasantness, she is going to wind up being hanged. And in the meantime, her very presence is going to do an immense amount of damage, to us, for having condoned a mass murderess –
’ he held up a finger as Andrews would have spoken – ‘I know. She would say, and you and I believe, that it was self-defence. A lot of people would consider killing six people at one time in self-defence was going over the top. The point is that the President of the United States was involved in letting her off the hook and now he has given his word that the business will be sorted out. It has to be done, Joe. Anna came to us as your baby. I’m giving her back to you to put to bed. I’m sorry, but that’s how the cookie crumbles. Sometimes.’
Andrews was silent for a few moments. Then he said, ‘You understand that while she’s touring Europe as this Minister of Morale, she’s going to be damned difficult to catch up with. We don’t have any idea where she’s going to turn up next. We only know where she’s been.’
‘But she’s running out of places, Joe. She did Poland. Now the Russians have taken Budapest and are linking up with Tito’s lot, I don’t see Berlin risking her in that theatre. Italy is a shambles. And the West is pretty much of a shambles as well. The Krauts have got nothing left to oppose us. My bet is that she’s going to be back in Berlin for Christmas. Get your man Johannsson there to wait for her. I am assuming that he is trained in executive action?’
‘Yes, sir. So is the countess.’
‘We know that, Joe. But we also know that she trusts us, and you say that she has cause to trust Johannsson as one of us. That should give him sufficient advantage, providing he keeps his mind on the job.’
The two men gazed at each other for several seconds, then Andrews asked, ‘You reckon either you or I are ever going to sleep again, sir?’
*
‘Sit down,’ Baxter instructed, and Clive obeyed. ‘How is Belinda?’
‘Still in a state of total mystification. As am I. I had promised her there was no possible chance of her meeting anyone she knew, apart from Anna, of course. So she runs slap bang into that fellow Werter, the chap who roughed her up in Lubeck last year. She reckoned she was in deep trouble, certainly when she was carted off to another Gestapo cell.’
‘Where presumably she was roughed up again.’
‘Well, she had to submit to another strip search.’
‘She must be getting used to that by now.’
‘Do you seriously suppose, Billy, that anyone, much less a refined woman, can ever get used to being stretched naked on a table and have some lout put his fingers up her ass?’
‘Probably not. But they didn’t find anything. Not even her capsule.’
‘She wasn’t carrying a capsule.’
‘What?’
‘She didn’t reckon she’d need it. She had no doubt that Anna would protect her. And thank God she didn’t have it.’
‘But Anna wasn’t there. She was in Poland bumping off a few dozen Russians or whatever.’
‘Your sense of humour does you no credit,’ Clive pointed out. ‘But that is the oddest thing of all, which neither Belinda nor I can understand. As you say, Anna was nowhere around. But after only a few hours in her cell, Belinda was released by Werter himself. He apologized for having arrested her in error, gave her her clothes, and told her she was free to go. He did suggest that she leave Germany just as rapidly as possible, but she was happy to do that. He even gave her a ticket to the Swiss border and a reserved place on the train.’
‘As you say, very odd. The point is that she did not make contact with Anna.’
‘As you have just pointed out, Billy, Anna wasn’t there.’
‘Quite. I am not blaming Belinda. I am merely stating a fact. A rather vital fact.’
‘Say again?’
‘Did you know that Donovan is in England?’
‘No, I did not know that. What’s on his mind?’
‘I’m sure he has a great number of things on his mind. But there is one in particular.’
Clive frowned. ‘How do you know this?’
Baxter commenced to fill his pipe. ‘I have a man in the OSS set-up.’
‘You, have a man in the American secret service?’
‘He’s not on the staff. He’s a chauffeur. We had him apply for the job when your friend Andrews was setting up their office over here, provided him with impeccable references and what have you.’
‘You know, Billy, there are times when I hate working for you. But there are other times when I am damned glad that the security of this country is in your hands. These people are our allies.’
‘You mean,’ Billy said, striking a match and puffing, ‘we are their allies. There is a difference. And while I am fully aware that we could not exist without them, certainly right now, I am even more aware, as I have reminded you more than once, that the Yanks are inclined to do their own thing, and fuck everybody else. Like right now. Harry was on duty two days ago when Donovan landed. He drove Andrews to Hendon to pick the boss up, and then drove them back to the OSS headquarters in SW8. Donovan had something of such importance to say that he couldn’t wait to get to the office to start telling Andrews what was top of his list.’
‘And he said it in front of your man?’
‘Not so far as he knew. All those cars of course have a glass screen, and that was closed. But Harry had long fixed that, and was able to overhear most of what was said. You know, of course that that business in Warsaw which Goebbels so happily publicized to the world was an attempt to snatch Anna. When it misfired, leaving six dead, the Kremlin apparently remembered that when last they had attempted to snatch her, in Washington, it also cost them six lives. That business has always rankled, the way Anna managed to get out of the States and back to Germany without being arrested, much less brought to trial. They damn well know there had to be connivance at a very high level. Now they’re threatening to blow the story. Worse, when they get hold of Anna, as they intend to do, they are going to put her on trial with the maximum publicity, and spill every bean they have on her. And there are quite a few, beginning with how she got out of the Lubianka. Now, they may not be certain that the authorization not to charge her with the Washington deaths came from the President, but the threat sure has put the wind up the White House. It could blow Roosevelt’s credibility. And as you know, they are also unhappy that she failed to carry out their assignment to get rid of Hitler, and they are even starting to buy Goebbels’ version of events, that it was Anna who effectively quashed the coup d’état before it could take off.’
‘So they would like to nab her and put her on trial themselves. We know that, Billy. But I think we have time to get to her and warn her as soon as she ceases her travels, and to get her out of Germany before anyone else.’
‘You’re missing the point,’ Baxter said. ‘They’ve changed their minds about putting her on trial. They reckon that might be far too dangerous.’
Clive frowned. ‘So what is their solution?’
‘What do you think?’
‘And Joe went along with that? I can’t believe that.’
‘Because he once had something going for her? I suspect the operative word is once. Anyway, Harry didn’t hear Joe decline the job. Well, he couldn’t. He’s an employee of the US Government just as we are employees of HM Government. We do what we’re told, even if we don’t like it.’
‘If he thinks he can get rid of Anna just like that he’s liable to wind up in a morgue along with half a dozen of his pals.’
‘Delightful thought. Unfortunately, they reckon they have a trump. Anna still believes she is working for them. And they have an agent, that bloke Johannsson, who has been their go-between in the past, and who they reckon she trusts absolutely. All he has to do is get up close and personal.’
‘What a shitting mess,’ Clive said. ‘I’ve a mind to . . .’
‘Do what? If push comes to shove, these people have clout which we lack. All we can do is warn Anna.’
‘For God’s sake, Billy, that’s what we’ve been trying to do for the past four months.’
‘Well, now it has to be top priority. So . . . Belinda?’
‘I’m not sure she’ll go for it
again, certainly if we can’t guarantee that Anna will be there to field her. To ask her to go through that ordeal a third time is a bit much. And her trouble is, she doesn’t know why they let her go the last time. If they’ve changed their minds, she could really be up the creek. Or in the nearest concentration camp.’
‘If we can’t use Belinda, who have we got?’
Clive considered. Then snapped his fingers. ‘Laurent!’
‘Who?’
‘That Swiss chap who was going to help her escape. He seems devoted to her.’
‘Just what do you mean by that?’
‘I shudder to think. But he certainly wants to help. And he can go in and out of Germany as he pleases.’
Baxter knocked out his pipe. ‘How much does he know about her?’
‘Well, he knows she killed those two Gestapo thugs in Geneva. And thanks to Dr Goebbels, he now must know that she did for those Russians in Warsaw.’
‘So he’s a glutton for punishment. I meant, how much does he know about Anna’s relations with us?’
‘He knows she works for us, and thus he must know that she has been a double agent for some time.’
‘But if he met her when she was acting as a courier for Himmler, he must be in cahoots with the Nazis.’
‘I don’t know the truth about that,’ Clive admitted. ‘He wouldn’t tell me what he actually does for Himmler. But I can tell you what he does for a living: he’s a banker. So it’s quite possible that he’s handling Himmler’s investments, outside of Germany. That’s what makes me feel that he can go and come without interference.’
‘But you can’t be sure where his loyalties actually lie, apart from, you hope, to Anna.’
‘Isn’t that what is important? Billy, he’s our only hope. Don’t let’s forget that Johannsson, who masquerades as a Swedish journalist, can also come and go as he pleases. And the Americans are inclined to look for instant action.’
‘I don’t like it. It seems to me that just too many people who shouldn’t are finding out just too much about how we work. I mean, you’ll have to put him in the picture about the Americans. And if he were to turn out to be a rotten apple . . .’
Angel of Doom (Anna Fehrback Book 5) Page 14
