Pierre Frei - Berlin - A Novel

Armand sleeps in the next room. You'll leave him alone, d'accord?'

'Don't you worry. I've had enough of the lords of creation to last me quite some time.' Marlene inspected the little spirit stove in the kitchen corner and made herself a coffee, ignoring Yvonne, who went off in a huff.

Armand was out almost all the time, returning only to sleep. The other members of the group, about a dozen in all, lived scattered around Paris. Bertrand's Velotaxis gave them freedom of movement and a perfect cover for their Resistance operations. There was a battery-powered transmitter in one of the vehicles, which moved constantly, thereby avoiding German tracking devices. They had it tuned to London, from where orders for the Resistance workers came. Marlene learned all this over the next few days. There was much hectic coming and going, indicating that an operation was about to take place. What role was she to play?

Meanwhile, she was bored. She didn't dare venture out into the streets: she wouldn't have known where to go. The group had no time for her, although Yvonne kept a suspicious eye on her, particularly when Armand came back in the evening.

Men were just about the last thing Marlene had on her mind. Bastards, the whole lot of them, was her summary of her many years of experience. Well, almost all of them. Old Herr Eulenfels had been all right. Frank Saunders too, in his way. She thought of Franz Giese, and suddenly had an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. Longing? She didn't know. But she did know one thing, she'd been off her head back then. If you'd said yes you'd be Frau Giese today, and you'd have been spared all that shit, she told herself. Then she realized that she alone would have been spared. Nothing would have been different for Jana, for the little professor, for all the wretches in Blumenau.

On the third day after her arrival a large red Panhard limousine with Paris number-plates drove into the yard. A German officer got out. Marlene was horrified. When she recognized Armand she breathed a sigh of relief. He was in the uniform of a Wehrmacht colonel, and he had brought a German Red Cross nurse's uniform for Marlene.

Marlene wrinkled her nose. 'Stinks to high heaven.'

Armand laughed. Our Maghrebi tailor finds inspiration in garlic when he's copying German uniforms.'

Their orders had come from London. The Germans had shot down an RAF plane on a reconnaissance flight. The pilot and his observer had parachuted to safety and were taken prisoner.

'We're not interested in the pilot,' Armand told her. 'It's the other man we want. Lieutenant-Colonel Colby is the RAF's chief strategist. He knows all the bomber targets from Bordeaux to Berlin. He broke his arm coming down, and now he's in the German officers' hospital in Neuilly. The Gestapo have got wind of their patient's identity, and they've sent him Edelgard in the role of a nurse.'

'Edelgard?'

'Edelgard Bornheim is a trained psychologist. She likes to think she can make anyone talk. She was transferred to Gestapo headquarters in Paris because of her perfect French, and her English is just as good. A dangerous opponent. She'll use any means she can. She can be sympathetic, understanding, sweet as sugar. If it serves her ends she'll sleep with her victim, whether it's a man or a woman. She'll try to win Colby's confidence, and we have to get him out of there as fast as possible. Here, take this, just to be on the safe side.' He gave Marlene a small pistol. A 6.35 Beretta. Deadly at close quarters. If you have to use it on yourself, the best way is to put it in your mouth and pull the trigger. It won't hurt. Come on, Bertrand will drive us.'

Bertrand was wearing black chauffeur's livery and a peaked cap. A German officer in a French limousine with a French driver?' she wondered aloud.

All part of our camouflage. Get in, Nurse Magda,' Armand told her.

'How do you come to speak such good German?' she asked as they drove through the streets of Paris.

'I'm from Alsace. I first saw the light of day as a subject of His Majesty Kaiser Wilhelm II, but I grew up as a citizen of the Republique. My heart belongs to France. Now I'm German again and due to be called up. If they catch me they'll shoot me as a deserter.'

'In such a case the best way is to put your pistol in your mouth and pull the trigger. It won't hurt,' said Marlene, unimpressed.

The German officers' hospital was housed in a large villa in Neuilly park, dating from the time of Napoleon III. An ornate gateway led to an inner courtyard. 'If they close the gate we won't never get out,' said Marlene, her accent reverting to her Berlin roots.

'Pick up the raincoat and follow me, Nurse Magda,' Armand cut her short. A lance-corporal orderly jumped to his feet and saluted. 'I'm Colonel Klemens. Who's in charge here?'

'Medical Officer Fahrenkamp.'

'Take us to him.'

'Yessir.' The lance-corporal hurried ahead, brushing past several nurses, and flung open a double door. 'Colonel Klemens, Dr Fahrenkamp, sir,' he announced.

And this is Nurse Magda. She'll be looking after our patient,' Armand introduced her.

'Colonel, Nurse Magda…' The medical officer clicked his heels. 'Which patient do you mean?'

'Haven't you recived a telex from the Fiihrer headquarters, then? I don't believe it! Well, we can go into this bungling incompetence later. Now let's get the Englishman ready to travel.'

'Lieutenant-Colonel Colby?'

Armand lowered his voice. 'This is secret state business. Colby is a close relation of the British royal family. We have orders to take him to Schloss Siidmaringen, the internment camp for VIPs. It could be that we'll exchange him for Hess, but remember, you never heard that.'

Of course not, colonel.' The medical officer sniffed in surprise.

Armand grinned. 'You'll have to forgive us, Dr Fahrenkamp. Nurse Magda and I were dining on snails with garlic butter last night. Now, back to business. We mustn't attract any attention in moving the patient. Hence my French car and its French chauffeur. We've brought a raincoat with us, for Nurse Magda to put over his uniform.'

'Can I see my patient now, please?' Marlene was very much the energetic nurse.

'Lance-Corporal Fink, take Nurse Magda to our prisoner. May I offer you an Armagnac meanwhile, colonel?'

'No thank you, there's no time. Hurry up, will you, nurse? The Luftwaffe won't keep that plane waiting for ever.'

The lance-corporal led Marlene to a bright, pleasant room. A thin man in a khaki shirt and braces rose from the edge of the bed, and reached for his uniform jacket. 'You must excuse me. I didn't expect visitors.'

'I'm Nurse Magda. Let me help you.' She helped him to fit his right arm into its sleeve, and draped the jacket over his left shoulder so that his arm in its plaster rested comfortably in the sling. 'We're going to get you out of here. Please trust us,' she said in a low voice. And now your raincoat.' She was about to put the raincoat round him when the door opened.

Here comes trouble, she thought.

The woman who entered the room was good-looking, around thirty. She wore a stylish, blue tailored suit and a starched nurse's cap. 'I see our patient has a visitor,' she said, smiling. 'I'm Nurse Edelgard. How do you do?'

'Nurse Magda,' Marlene introduced herself.

'Glad to meet you, nurse.' Edelgard offered her hand with natural friendliness. Are you new here?'

'We've come to collect the prisoner. He's being transferred to Schloss Sudmaringen.'

Armand came in. 'Colonel Klemens,' he introduced himself.

'How do you do, Colonel,' the Englishman replied formally, and winced. He was clearly in pain.

'Nurse Magda has painkillers in her bag. She'll see to your arm on the way,' Armand told him.

A fracture of the femur,' said Nurse Edelgard. It will soon heal. Let me make you a cup of tea before you go.' She opened the door of a cubby hole, where a gas boiler and kettle stood on a table — as well as a field telephone with a line leading out through the open window.