Colin Forbes - The Leader And The Damned

'What about Bora and Milic?'

'They come with us in the back of the car. Bora is my steward. Milic we must drop off in a quiet street near the station. He will make his own way…'

'And you are?'

'The Baroness Werther, of course! Sitting alongside you in the car so I can guide you to the station…'

'Supposing they decide to check up on this fictitious baroness?'

'But she exists! I met her at my finishing school in Switzerland before the war. Any more questions?'

'Supposing someone thinks of checking your description?'

'That would be just too bad. Look Lindsay, we use these transit documents to clear out fast. No one knows where we've gone…'

'Where are we going after Vienna?'

'Let's take it one stage at a time..'

For the second time Paco showed caution in the amount of information she was prepared to give Lindsay. For the first time he rebelled.

'I don't like it. I'm supposed to pass vital information I have to my people urgently..

'You don't like it!' Bora reared up, his face ugly. 'To us you are a dangerous burden. You have no experience of operating underground – and we're supposed to risk our lives babying you along..

'Shut up!' Paco told him. She grasped Lindsay by the arm, guiding him to a corner of the basement where she sat on a crate and pulled him down beside her. She lowered her voice.

'The people I represent have a bargain with the British – so many guns, so much ammunition in return for smuggling English agents out of Germany. Please cooperate – Bora is right, but he's unpredictable. The Swiss route is suicide. It has to be Vienna – and on from there…'

'OK. But when do we move – or is that classified too…?'

'Lindsay…' She placed a hand on his arm. 'Don't go bitter on me. We catch the 8 pm train from Munich which arrives in Vienna at 11 pm. It's an express…'

'Thank God. Let's get on with it. I've only been inside this cellar for a few hours but the walls are closing in on me…'

'Now you are thinking like Bora – and that is good.' She paused. 'If we run into an emergency and have to separate, go with Milic. He will never abandon you. He likes you…'

'But Bora might abandon me?'

'Let's not think about negative things…'

Which meant, Lindsay realized, that without admitting it, Paco did agree with him on the greatest danger – that someone would check her description before they were clear of the Third Reich.

It was 4 pm when Paco arrived back at the basement and began her conversation with Lindsay.

It was 4 pm when the despatch rider delivered the message to Schmidt at Munich station. He read the typed words and folded the sheet, hiding it in his pocket as Jaeger left the troops he had been joking with and approached him.

Baroness Werther, niece of General Speidel, is heiress to a large steel fortune. Her father is close friend of Reichsmarschall Goering. Brandt. Schmidt felt relieved at the contents of the message but at the back of his mind he felt he had overlooked something. He concentrated on greeting Jaeger who looked like a man who had enjoyed a most satisfying lunch. He clapped a hand on Schmidt's shoulder.

'Everything in order, Schmidt? Good. You really must work hard for your next promotion. The perks available to a high-ranking officer are unbelievable…'

He winked and exuded satisfaction and good humour as he glanced round the concourse. Schmidt probed delicately.

'Your companion was… interesting, I trust?'

' Interesting! ' Jaeger lowered his voice. 'I will tell you, my friend, there is something about that woman which gets into your bloodstream. I am over the moon…'

'You will be meeting again?'

'But of course! Within a week at the outside. They all play hard to get at first – those really worth getting!'

'She lives in Munich?'

'I really don't know…' Jaeger watched two of his men bullying an old woman officiously. 'You! Over there! She is old enough to be your mother – your grandmother. Have a little patience while she finds her papers. The labour battalions require more recruits.. He turned to Schmidt. 'Now, you were saying?'

'I was just asking where the Baroness lives…'

'We didn't get round to that.' A roguish gleam came into the Colonel's blue eyes. 'We had other topics which absorbed all our attention. She has promised to ring me at the barracks within a week – I gave her my private number…'

Jaeger stood with his hands on his hips and began humming Lili Marlene to himself. He's got it badly, Schmidt thought. Seldom had he seen his chief in such a mood of euphoria. The girl must have hypnotized him.

'Schmidt,' the Colonel said suddenly, 'have you had any lunch? I thought not. Push off. I'll keep an eye on things here…'

His deputy walked away and got behind the wheel of his car. He drove slowly back to the barracks, half his mind elsewhere. The Colonel was also dreaming. Lisa, the Baroness, had told him she was visiting her uncle in Vienna but only expected to be there two or three days.

'Really it is a duty visit, she had remarked. 'I shall be back here as soon as I become bored – which will be very quickly.'

He remembered the expression in her eyes over the rim of her wine-glass. The transit papers he had been glad to provide to avoid her being subjected to any annoying interrogation. And the scene he had just witnessed of two oafs pestering some poor old woman made him even happier he had supplied the documents.

Schmidt, driving on automatic pilot, recalled the wording of the message from Gestapo headquarters in the Prinz Albrechtstrasse in Berlin. It confirmed the existence of a Baroness Werther. It confirmed that she was an heiress. It confirmed that she was a niece of General Speidel. He remembered what it did not confirm – because he had forgotten to request the information.

Schmidt ran to his office at the barracks, told his secretary to get Brandt on the phone again. As he waited at his desk, he realized he was fiddling nervously with his pencil, that his secretary was watching him. He pretended to read a report. To his surprise the call came through quickly.

'Schmidt from Munich here again. I got your message, Brandt – for which many thanks. You must excuse me, but I omitted to ask for one further minor detail. A precise description of the Baroness Werther. This also is an urgent enquiry. I need a reply by 7 pm at the latest

…'

At the Munich station SS chief Mayr looked over the trio who were travelling to Vienna. He had chanced to be standing by the barrier when they arrived. He noted the girl's expensive outfit, the equally top quality luggage carried by the uniformed chauffeur, and the steward who limped – doubtless a war wound. He was opening his mouth to speak when Paco smiled at him and produced a sheaf of papers from her handbag.

'You are SS, I see,' she remarked. 'So undoubtedly you know my friend, Colonel Jaeger…'

She gave the word friend a certain inflection. At her mention of the name, Mayr's attitude changed. An amiable man of forty, he bowed and removed his cap which he tucked under his arm.

'Of course! My duty is to random check passengers' papers – so you must excuse any inconvenience.

'Look at the clock!' Paco said sharply. 'It would be more than an inconvenience if you cause me to miss the Vienna Express. I have transit documents signed personally for myself and my servants by Colonel

Jaeger. Do be quick…'

Mayr glanced at the clock, saw Jaeger's signature on the papers and hastily gestured for her to pass on to the platform.

'A safe journey,' Mayr wished her.

Lindsay was careful not to look at the German as he shuffled past with the cases, and followed Bora and Paco who was walking briskly past the coaches until she came to an empty compartment. Opening the door, she climbed aboard, leaving her companions to follow as she glanced along the corridor. It was deserted.