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possibly even a future chancellor. His death would be a world sensation. How
ironic that it was to take place at the United Nations Peace Conference.
The very fact that Nagel and his associates dared attempt such a deed
indicated the strength of their movement. If they got away with it, there was
no telling what the ultimate effect would be on the German political scene. If
the Nazis obtained any kind of government control, then everything would swing
out of balance, including relations between East and West Germany. The
repercussions on world politics could be immense.
He slammed a fist into the bed and started to get to his feet. It was then he
noticed one of the long rubber truncheons that had been used to beat Muller.
Obviously, either Steiner or Hans had dropped it carelessly to the floor and
it had rolled under the operating table. It was sticky with blood when he
picked it up. He wiped it on one of the blankets and then stood in the center
of the room, bending it in his hands. It was about two feet long, a horrible
and deadly weapon, and as he examined it, a plan slowly formulated in his
mind.
He opened his mouth wide and screamed. He allowed the sound to die away and
then repeated it. As he listened, footsteps approached along the corridor and
halted outside the door. Chavasse started to groan and whimper horribly.
Hans shouted through the door, Stop that noise or I ll come in and make you
shut up!
Chavasse groaned horribly as if in great pain, and quickly crossed the room
and flattened himself against the wall behind the door.
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Hans said angrily, Right, my friend, you ve asked for it.
The key rattled in the lock and the door swung open. Hans moved forward into
the room, his great hands clenched, and Chavasse said from behind him, Here I
am.
As Hans turned, Chavasse swung the truncheon with all his strength, catching
the man full across the throat. Hans made no sound. His eyes retracted and he
fell backward as if poleaxed. His beard was flecked with foam, and for a
little while his fingers scrabbled uselessly at the floorboards as he fought
for air, and then he was still.
Chavasse dropped onto one knee and searched him quickly, but he was out of
luck. Hans had not been carrying a gun. Chavasse went out into the gallery and
listened, but all was quiet. He quickly locked the door and pocketed the key,
and then, as he turned to move down toward the room in which Hardt was
imprisoned, a woman screamed somewhere close at hand.
He moved along the corridor quickly and then she screamed again, the sound
coming clearly through an oak door at the end of the gallery. He turned the
handle and opened the door.
ANNA was crouched in the corner by the fireplace, her dress torn down the
front and a livid weal glowing angrily across one bare shoulder. Kruger stood
in the center of the room, a small whip twitching nervously in his right hand.
You won t get away from me, my dear, he said, but please continue to
resist. It adds a certain spice.
Chavasse slipped in through the door and closed it quietly behind him. As he
started to move forward, Anna saw him and her eyes widened. Kruger turned, an
expression of alarm on his ravaged face, and Chavasse slashed him across the
back of the hand that held the whip.
An expression of agony flooded Kruger s face. He fell to his knees and started
to whimper like a child, and Chavasse lashed him across the head with the
truncheon.
Kruger bowed his head like a man in prayer and keeled over slowly. Chavasse
raised the truncheon again, and Anna flung herself forward and caught hold of
his arm, That s enough, Paul! she said, fiercely holding him with a grip of
surprising strength.
He lowered his arm reluctantly. Has he harmed you?
She shook her head. He s only been with me for ten minutes. Most of the time
he spent talking the most unutterable filth.
We must thank God for the fact he s only half a man, Chavasse said, and
pulled her toward the door. We haven t got much time to waste. We must
release Hardt and then find a way out of this place.
What about Muller? she said.
Muller won t be going anywhere ever again, he told her.
They paused outside the door of the room in which Hardt was imprisoned, and
Chavasse tried the key that he had taken from Hans. The door opened
noiselessly to reveal Hardt sitting on the edge of the bed, head in hands.
He looked up slowly and an expression of amazement appeared on his face. How
the hell have you managed this?
I had to get a little violent, Chavasse told him. How do you feel? Well
enough to make a move?
I d walk to China to get out of this place.
No need to go to extremes, Chavasse said. If we can successfully negotiate
the main hall and reach the cellars, our troubles are over. They keep a launch
down there in an underground cavern with direct access to the lake.
And what about Muller?
I ve just spent the last hour with him, Chavasse said. Steiner and Hans
laid it on a bit too thick during the last beating. I was alone with him when
he died.
Did he tell you anything? Hardt asked.
Chavasse nodded. Apparently, Bormann died some months ago. Muller was just
trying to make himself a little cash on the side.
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And the manuscript?
That s genuine enough, Chavasse said. His sister s looking after it. She s
the one we ve got to find now.
He took Anna s hand and led the way out of the room and along the gallery. The
hall was completely deserted, the only sound the peaceful crackle of the logs
in the great fireplace. He smiled reassuringly to the other two and they began
a cautious descent.
When they were halfway down the staircase, one of the doors was flung open and
Steiner entered the hall. He was lighting a cigarette, the match in his cupped
hands, so that for a moment he did not see them, and then he looked up and an
expression of astonishment appeared on his face.
As Chavasse turned and started to push Anna back up the staircase, Steiner
pulled out a Luger and fired. The bullet chipped one of the marble pillars at
the head of the stairs and Chavasse pushed Anna forward and followed her,
half-crouching.
They ran along the gallery, Hardt at their heels, and Steiner fired again.
They plunged down a narrow flight of stairs and entered a lower corridor with
a door at the end of it. When Chavasse tried to open it, he found that it was
locked.
We passed a door on the left, Hardt said, and he turned and went back the
way they had come.
The door opened to his touch and they entered into what looked like a
servant s bedroom. At that moment, Steiner paused at the top of the flight of
stairs and fired along the corridor. Chavasse slammed the door shut and pushed
the bolts into place, securing it for the moment.
Now what do we do? Hardt demanded.
Chavasse moved across to the window and opened it. The waters of the lake
splashed against the stone wall of the castle twenty feet below them. He
turned to Hardt. It s only about a hundred yards to the shore. Do you think
you could swim that far?
Sink or swim what does it matter in a situation like this? Hardt said
simply.
And you, Anna? Chavasse said.
She smiled. I ve been swimming all my life.
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