Jack Higgins: Sheba

Romero nodded slowly. ‘But I do have a suggestion. When the time comes we could make the transfer of the mines at sea. I could land beside the freighter with no problem. From there a direct flight to the base would simplify the whole thing.’

‘Excellent.’ Canaris stood up. ‘I think you should meet our friend Professor Muller. You can come back to town with us, drop me off on the way and then continue to the University. From now on, you deal with Captain Ritter in all things.’

‘At your orders. Herr Admiral.’

‘Good,’ Canaris said, and he turned and led the way out.

Muller’s department at the University was housed in a vast echoing hall filled with artefacts of every description. Egyptian mummies, statues from Rome and Greece, amphorae retrieved from ancient wrecks at the bottom of the Mediterranean, it was all there. Ritter and Romero browsed while Muller sat at his desk in his glass office and read the Operation Sheba file. Finally he got up and went to join them.

Ritter turned. ‘Well, what do you think?’

Muller was highly nervous, tried to smile and failed miserably. ‘A wonderful idea, Herr Hauptman, but I wonder if I have the qualifications you need. I mean, I’m not a trained spy, I’m just an archaeologist.’

‘This will be done, Professor, and by direct order of the Führer. Does this give you a problem?’

‘Good heavens no.’ Muller’s face was ashen.

Romero clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, Professor, I’ll look after you.’

Ritter said, ‘That’s settled then. When Hauptsturmführer Romero leaves from Lisbon in the Catalina, you go with him, so make your preparations. I’ll be in touch.’

Ritter limped away, his stick tapping the marble. As they moved along the hall to the entrance, Romero said to him, ‘He’s a nervous little bastard, Ritter.’

‘He’ll come to heel and that’s all that’s important.’ They went out of the main entrance and stood at the top of the steps. ‘I’ll make arrangements for the immediate transfer of you and Noval and Conde today. You’ll leave for Lisbon tomorrow, in civilian clothes naturally. I’ll arrange priority seats on the Lufthansa flight. As regards the purchase of the Catalina our man at the German Legation will be your banker. Once you’ve checked the plane out, report back to me on the Embassy secure phone. I’ll expect to hear from you by Thursday at the latest.’

‘Mother of God, but you don’t hang about, Hans, do you?’

‘I could never see the point,’ Ritter said, and started down the steps to the Mercedes.

The River Tagus, as someone once said, is the true reason for the existence of Lisbon, with its wide bays and many sheltered anchorages. It was from here that the great flying boats, the mighty clippers, left for America and it was here, attached to two buoys about three hundred yards out to sea from the waterfront, that Carlos Romero found the Catalina. He had arrived at the dock close to the Avenida da India together with Javier Noval and Juan Conde ten minutes early for the appointment with the owner’s agent, a man called da Gama. They stood at the edge of the dock looking out at the amphibian.

‘It looks good to me,’ said Noval, a tough young man around Romero’s age, who wore an old leather flying jacket.

Conde was older than either of them, thirty-five and stocky. He also wore a flying jacket and looked across at the Catalina, shading his eyes from the sun.

‘What do you think, Juan, can you handle it?’

‘Just try me.’

A motor boat nosed in to the dock and a man in a brown suit and Panama hat waved from the stern. ‘Señor Romero?’ he called in Spanish. ‘Fernando da Gama. Come aboard.’

They went down the steps and joined him, and he nodded to the boatman, who took the motorboat away.

‘She looks good?’ da Gama suggested.

‘She looks bloody marvellous,’ Romero told him. ‘What’s the story?’

‘A local shipping line had the idea of regular flights down to the island of Madeira. Purchased the Catalina in the United States last year. It has performed magnificently, but they wanted to concentrate on passengers and the capacity is limited – too limited for there to be any money in it. May I ask what your requirement would be?’

Romero stayed very close to the truth. ‘General freight in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, flying as far as Goa perhaps. It’s a new venture.’

‘I know that area,’ da Gama said. ‘The Catalina would be perfect.’

They bumped alongside a small floating dock and as the boatman killed his motor, Noval and Conde grabbed a line and tied up. Da Gama opened the cabin door and led the way in. Romero looked into the cockpit with conscious pleasure, took one of the pilot’s seats and reached for the control column. Noval took the other seat and examined the instrument panel.

‘What a beauty.’

Da Gama, Conde at his shoulder, opened a file. ‘I’ll just give you approximate dimensions. Length sixty-three feet, height twenty, wingspan a hundred and four. The twin engines are Pratt and Whitney, twelve hundred horsepower each. Cruising speed a hundred and eighty miles an hour. Remarkably long range. Without freight it is possible to fly for four thousand miles before the need to refuel. I can’t think of another aircraft that could do this.’

‘Neither can I,’ Romero told him and got up. ‘You can take us back now.’

As they scrambled into the motor boat da Gama tried the usual tack. ‘Of course, a number of people are interested.’

The motor boat pulled away and Romero said, ‘Drop the sales pitch, my friend, just draw up the contract. I’ll give you my lawyer’s name, we sign tomorrow and you’ll receive a cheque for your asking price. Satisfied?’

Da Gama looked astonished. ‘But of course, Señor.’

Romero took out a cigarette and accepted a light from Noval. He looked back at the Catalina and blew out a long plume of smoke.

‘Looks like we’re in business, boys,’ he said.

Baron Oswald von Hoyningen-Heune was Minister to the German Legation in Lisbon. An aristocrat and career diplomat of the old school, he was no Nazi and, like most of his staff, was thankful to be as far away from Berlin as possible. Initially wary of the strange Spaniard who was a Hauptsturmführer in the SS, and resigned to following orders from Berlin, he had been pleasantly surprised, had taken to Romero.

He rose to greet him now as the Spaniard entered his office. ‘My dear Romero, it went well?’

‘Couldn’t have been better. Da Gama will be in touch with the lawyer you gave me. You provide the funding and we conclude tomorrow. I’ll need to speak to Captain Ritter at Abwehr Headquarters at once, by the way.’

‘Of course.’ The Baron reached for the red secure phone on his desk and placed the call. ‘It shouldn’t take long.’ He stood up. ‘Cognac?’

‘Why not?’

Romero lit a cigarette and sat on one of the sofas. The baron handed him a glass and sat opposite. ‘All very intriguing, this business.’

‘And also highly secret.’

‘But of course. I’m not prying. In fact, I’d rather not know.’ He raised his glass. ‘But I’ll drink to your success anyway.’

At that moment the red phone rang. Romero said, ‘With your permission?’

‘But of course. I’ll leave you to it.’

The Baron went out and Romero picked up the phone. ‘Hans, is that you?’

‘Who else?’ Ritter said. ‘How did it go?’

‘Perfect,’ Romero told him. ‘A superb aircraft. I couldn’t be more pleased. Tell the Admiral we’re on our way.’

Ritter knocked on the door and went in. Canaris was drinking tea, one of the dachshunds on his lap. He looked up.

‘What is it, Hans?’