Upton Sinclair - Dragons’s teeth

"Oh, Lanny!" exclaimed the young sports director. "That’s an awfully serious thing to be trying!"

"I know that well. I’ve been hesitating and figuring it for a year. But this news about the torturing decided me—I just can’t stand it, and I’m willing to run whatever risk I have to. It’s something that ought to be stopped, Hugo, and every decent Nazi ought to help me, for the good name of the party. Is that guard you told me about still there?"

"I’d have to make sure."

"I don’t ask you to tell me anything you’re doing, or thinking of doing. I have complete confidence in your judgment. It’ll be up to you to make some friends in the camp and decide who are the right ones to trust. Don’t mention me to them, and I won’t mention you to anybody, now or later. We’ll carry this secret to our graves."

"There’ll be the question of getting your man over the border."

"You don’t have to bother about that part of it. All I ask is for you to deliver Freddi to me on some dark night at a place agreed upon, and without anybody to stop me or follow me. I don’t want to rush you into it—take your time, think it over, and ask me all the questions you want to. Let’s have a complete understanding, so that you’ll know exactly what you’re getting in for, and each of us will know exactly what we’re promising."

Hugo did his thinking right there in the car. He said it was a deal; but when Lanny asked him how he wanted his first payment, he was afraid to take the money. He said he wouldn’t dare to carry such a sum on his person, and he had no place to hide it; he was a poor man, and had no right to have money, but Lanny, a rich man, did, so keep it for him until the job was done and the danger was over. Lanny said: "I am touched by your confidence."

They worked out their arrangements in detail. Neither would ever visit the other’s hotel. When Hugo wanted Lanny he would telephone, and always use the code name of "Boecklin." They agreed upon a certain spot on a well-frequented street, and whenever they were to meet, Lanny would stop at that spot and Hugo would step into the car. They would do all their talking in the car, so there could never be any eavesdropping. All this having been agreed upon, Lanny drove his fellow conspirator to Dachau and left him near the concentration camp, so that he might start getting in touch with his friend.

The art expert telephoned the American consul in Munich. He had taken the precaution to meet that gentleman on his previous visit and to invite him to the Detaze show. Now he took him to dinner, and over a bottle of good wine they chatted about the affairs of Germany and the outside world. Lanny contributed an account of the riots in Paris, and the consul said that this kind of thing proved the need of a strong government, such as Hitler was now furnishing to the German people. The official was sure that the excesses of the Regierung had no great significance; National Socialism would soon settle down and get itself on a living basis with the rest of Europe. Lanny found this a sensible point of view, and his conversation showed no faintest trace of Pinkness.

Incidentally he mentioned that he was in Munich to arrange for a picture deal with Baron von Zinszollern. He wondered if the consul knew anything about this gentleman, and his reputation in the community. The reply was that the baron bore an excellent reputation, but of course the consul couldn’t say as to his financial situation. Lanny smiled and said: "He is selling, not buying." He knew that the consul would take this inquiry as the purpose for which he had been invited to dine; it was a proper purpose, it being the duty of consuls to assist their fellow countrymen with information. They parted friends, and the official was satisfied that Lanny Budd was in Munich for legitimate reasons, and if later on Lanny should get into any sort of trouble, the representative of his country would have every reason to assist him and vouch for him.

Lanny stayed in his room the rest of the evening and read the Münchener Neueste Nachrichten from page one to the end. He learned a little of what was happening in Germany, and still more of what the Nazis wanted the Germans to believe was happening. The Reichsführer was in the Rheinland, attending the wedding of one of his Gauleiter. He was stopping at the Rhein Hotel in Essen, and had visited the Krupp works and conferred with several of the steel magnates. That was in accord with what Hugo had said; and so was the fact that Minister-Präsident General Göring was accompanying him. Flying in the rear cabin in a plane was the best of occasions for one man to whisper into another man’s ear; and what was Göring telling Adi about plots against him, and the urgent need to disband the S.A. and avert the "Second Revolution"? Lanny put his imagination to work; for it was a part of his job to point out these things to Hugo and have Hugo pass them on to discontented members of the S.A. in Dachau. From the leading editorial in the newspaper Lanny followed the campaign now going on against those evil persons who were described by the German equivalents of grouches, knockers, and smart Alecks, soreheads, muckrakers, and wet blankets.

Late at night Lanny was summoned to the telephone. There being none in his room, he went downstairs, and there was the voice of "Boecklin," saying: "Can I see you?" Lanny replied, "Ja, gewiss" which in American would have been "Sure thing!"

He went to his car and picked up his friend at the place agreed upon. "Well," said Hugo, "I believe it can be arranged."

"Oh, good!" exclaimed the other.

"I promised not to name any names, and there’s no need of your knowing the details, I suppose."

"None in the world. I just want to know that I can come to a certain place and pick up my friend."

"There’s only one trouble: I’m afraid it will cost a lot of money. You see, it can’t be done by a common guard. Somebody higher up has to consent."

"What do you think it will cost?"

"About twenty thousand marks. I can’t be sure what will be demanded; it might be twenty-five or thirty thousand before we get through."

"That’s all right, Hugo; I can afford it. I’ll get the cash and give it to you whenever you say."

"The job ought to be put through as soon as it’s agreed upon. The longer we wait, the more chance of somebody’s talking."

"Absolutely. I have certain arrangements to make, and it’s hard for me to know exactly how long it will take, but I’m pretty sure I can be ready by Friday night. Would that be all right?"

"So far as I can guess."

"If something went wrong with my plans I might have to put it off till Saturday. Whenever you are ready for the money, you have to let me know before the bank closes."

All this was assented to; and after dropping his friend on a quiet street Lanny went to one of the large hotels where he would find a telephone booth, and there put in a call for Jerry Pendleton, Pension Flavin, Cannes. It takes time to achieve such a feat in Europe, but he waited patiently, and at last heard his old pal’s sleepy voice.

Lanny said: "The Detazes are ready, and I’m waiting in Munich for you. I am buying some others, and want to close the deal and move them on Friday. Do you think you can get here then?"

"By heck!" said Jerry. It was Wednesday midnight, and his voice came suddenly awake. "I can’t get visas until morning."

"You can hunt up the consul tonight and pay him extra."

"I’ll have to go and make sure about Cyprien first." That was a nephew of Leese, who did truck-driving for Bienvenu.

"All right, get him or somebody else. Make note of my address, and phone me at noon tomorrow and again late in the evening, letting me know where you are. Come by way of Verona and the Brenner, and don’t let anything keep you from being here. If you should have a breakdown, let Cyprien come with the truck, and you take a train, or a plane if you have to. I have somebody here I want you to meet on Friday."