Colin Forbes - The Leader And The Damned

'How far is it to this flat your fiance had?'

'Not far. Five minutes by tram..

'If there is an alarm out they'll be looking for two people – a man and a girl. We must separate…'

'All right..

No more arguments as she continued walking, opened her purse and instructed him.

'We board the same tram. I get on first – so you can see what I do. Here is the coin you'll need for the fare. You get on at the front – off at the back. So find a seat behind me.'

Again it amazed him. She was so incredibly cool when the pressure was on, thinking ahead; every little detail. That brief lapse after the killing of the SS officer. Who wouldn't get the urge to vomit – the macabre sight of the German stepping backwards with the knife sticking out of the middle of his chest….?

'I'm going-ahead now,' she warned. 'Oh, my. God! Look – the SS are arriving! Don't lose me..

The SS were: indeed arriving in force. Responding swiftly and efficiently to Bormann's personal call, the SS chief, Mayr, was deploying his troops round the main station.

'Swamp the place!' he had ordered. 'Throw a cordon round the whole district! Check all papers – pay particular attention to personnel in SS uniform already there. You are looking for an officer – with a girl. The Reichsleiter himself says they must be captured…'

Proceeding systematically, the first truckload was spilling out troops at the main entrance at the very moment Christa, followed by Lindsay, walked out of a side entrance.

She headed straight for a tram where the last passengers were filing aboard. Climbing inside she bought her ticket and walked along the crowded central corridor. There were no seats left so she stood.

Lindsay was the last passenger to board the tram. Collecting his ticket, he made his way towards a position behind where Christa stood. A lame man with his leg thrust out into the corridor looked at the new arrival apprehensively and slowly stood up, offering his seat.

The Englishman very nearly told him to sit down and then remembered the uniform he was wearing. He sank down in the seat and gazed ahead. Staring over her shoulder, Christa gave a sigh of relief. The doors closed, a warning bell rang and the tram moved off.

It was turning in front of the station to proceed down a main street when – through the rear window – she saw an SS man standing in front of the next tram to stop it moving off. New truckloads of SS were passing the tram in the opposite direction, horns blaring as the drivers forced other traffic to the kerb.

Three motorcycles with. side-cars filled with more SS reinforcements roared past towards the station.

Should they get off at the next stop before whoever was in command thought of sending those motorcycles in pursuit of their tram, Christa wondered?

She had never known a tram seem to move more ponderously. She forced herself to keep an expression of indifference on her face as she noticed a man in army uniform watching her. He stood up.

'Take my seat, Fraulein. You look tired. You have had a long journey?'

'Thank you.' She gave him a brief smile. 'But I'm getting off at the next stop..'

The short encounter was unfortunate, could even be dangerous. The German sergeant who had taken a fancy to her – she had seen it in his eyes – would remember her if questioned later. Worse, he would remember the stop where she alighted.

The tram was stopping. She picked up her case and walked past the sergeant without a glance in his direction. Lindsay waited until she was descending the steps, got up quickly and followed her. He was behind her on the crowded pavement when he glanced back. The tram they had travelled aboard was surrounded by army motorcycle patrols. An SS officer was entering the vehicle with the obvious intention of questioning everyone aboard.

The Fuhrer's moods were always unpredictable. He took the news that the two fugitives had escaped from the train at Munich with surprising calm, even caution. Removing his spectacles – he was never photographed wearing them – he laid aside the papers he had been studying and listened as Bormann ranted on.

'Mayr did not move fast enough. That phone call from him at the Munich station proves it. They travelled in the mail-van. They killed the SS officer Bruckner whose body was found in the mail-van and fled..'

'Army deserters often travel in mail-vans,' Hitler observed.

'Mayr also reported a tram which had just left the station was stopped by motorcycle patrols. Witnesses aboard provided very clear descriptions of two passengers who had just left it, one man in the uniform of an SS officer and a girl who sounds exactly like Christa Lundt..'

'Now he tells me…'

Hitler, seated on a couch, looked at Jaeger and Schmidt while he played with the spectacles in his lap. Keitel and Jodl, who had returned to clear up a point arising from the midday conference, were also present. So far they had preserved a discreet silence.

'What do you think, Keitel?' the Fuhrer asked suddenly.

'They won't get far..'

'Mayr is instituting a search of the whole city..', Bormann burst out. 'I agree with the Field Marshal..'

'That's because neither of you knows what you are talking about,' Jaeger intervened bluntly. 'Mayr has a monumental task.

'So,' the Fuhrer commented, using a phrase which expressed his general attitude and summed up the secret of his rise to power, 'a way can be found for everything…'

An hour later Mayr had returned to his Munich barracks when the strange phone call came through. He picked up the receiver and identified himself. It was the Berghof again.

'Bormann speaking! Information has reached me that Lindsay has a rendezvous with an Allied agent at the Frauenkirche

The voice was oddly muffled. Mayr thought it hardly sounded like the Reichsleiter. Still, he was not a man whose identity it would be wise to question. The voice went on talking.

… the agent waits at the rendezvous at 1100 hours every Monday. Make your dispositions accordingly and on no account mention this call to anyone. By order of the Fuhrer.!'

Still mystified, Mayr replaced the receiver. Tomorrow was Monday. He would be waiting for this Allied agent at the Frauenkirche.

'Just in time,' said Christa. 'Here we are, and we're clear of the street.'

'They'll search the whole area,' Lindsay warned. 'Checking on that tram was only the start…'

They were standing in a narrow alley between ancient walls and the only sign it was daytime was the thin avenue of sky way above their heads. There, was a smell of tomcat. The cobbles beneath their feet were slimy. The buildings had a condemned look. She extracted a key from her purse, inserted it into the lock of a new solid wooden door decorated with iron studs. and paused before she opened it.

'Kurt came here on leave and when he was on the run. His Aunt Helga lives here. As I told you, they took her husband for the labour battalions. She hates the Nazis Your uniform will frighten her. Wait on the third landing while I talk to her..'

It was so dark inside, Lindsay could see nothing when she had shut the outer door. He felt his way up the narrow staircase on his own, clutching the greasy banister rail. Counting the landings, he waited on the third while Christa went on up the fourth flight. He wrinkled his nose at the musty smell; the place had an uninhabited feel. Was the aunt the only occupant, he wondered? Above him he saw light filter out as he heard a door open.

There was a whispered conversation which went with the atmosphere of the place., A pungent odour of urine drifted out from an open door on his landing. He peered inside and saw by the half-light a window smeared with dirt, a lavatory that had not been flushed for some time.