Dennis Wheatley - Traitors' Gate

Playing With Dynamite

Chapter 24

The Moldavian stood up to leave. Gregory stood up too, 1 but instead of turning towards the door he picked up the whisky bottle and said in a casual voice:

'You might as well have the other half before you go.'

Without waiting for a reply he began to pour out. While he did so his brain was working with the speed of a dynamo. If he could not, here and now, secure the Colonel's promise to help him he might not get another chance. Knowing what he intended to attempt Kasdar might consider it dangerous to have anything further to do with him.

He could, of course, try blackmail threaten to have Sabine tell the truth about the Colonel's having been her contact instead of saying that it was Nichoulic but he had a feeling that would not come off. Gregory was a shrewd judge of character. In his secret work he had to be, for there were times when a mistake in assessing trustworthiness could have cost him his life. In the past half-hour he had summed up Kasdar and would have reported on him as:

'A typical Balkan soldier of good family. Not very clever, but brave, proud, ambitious, honest according to his lights, and likely to be very touchy about anything reflecting on a somewhat outmoded code of honour that was held by his class.'

His acting, although a neutral, as a Nazi Agent could no more be held against him than it could against Gregory that he, in the previous year, had gone as a spy to Russia, although that country was Britain's ally. The great majority of upper and middle class Central Europeans, having for the past twenty years lived under the menace of their countries being overrun by the Soviets, had seen their own protection in entering the Fascist and Nazi camps; so it was natural that most of the Moldavians were hoping that Germany would win the war. It was that, no doubt, rather than payment for information received, which had led Kasdar to help the Nazis. In fact, if he were well off and most military attaches were chosen from among the richer officers of their armies he might strongly resent an offer of money from either side. The odds were still greater that he would resent an attempt to blackmail him. It was liable to arouse in him all the primitive instincts of his type anger, courage and defiance. The only hope was to handle him with velvet gloves and to titillate his ambition.

As he sat down again, Gregory said with a smile,' "Nothing" is an all embracing word. I hardly think you would stick to it if, in exchange for your cooperation, I were in a position to make you President of Moldavia or, say, Chief of the Moldavian General Staff.'

Kasdar gave a deep laugh. 'But, my friend, you are not.'

'True. Yet you give as your reason for refusing your help fear of ruining your career. Hasn't it occurred to you that I might be able to assist you in it?'

'I do not see how.'

'Just now, when I spoke of my wish to gain for myself a privileged position, should the Germans ever occupy this country, you remarked that we were birds of a feather. If you really meant that you must have been thinking on the same lines. Moldavia, we both know, is at Herr Hitler's mercy. He has allowed it to remain isolated and neutral only because it suits him to do so; just as is the case with Switzerland. When the war is over and he remakes Europe he will either absorb Moldavia, or at least see that it is run by a puppet government under Nazi direction. When that day comes, it will be the officers who have shown their Nazi sympathies during the war who will be certain of rapid promotion, and the better they have served Germany the higher the posts to which they will be appointed.

'Naturally. And I admit that it is with just such a future in mind that I serve the Germans.'

'Well, I could enable you to serve them better. As you know, I work in the Offices of the War Cabinet.'

Kasdar's eyes opened wide and he suddenly sat forward. 'You… you mean that you would supply me with valuable information.'

Gregory nodded. 'By doing so I should be securing my future as well as helping yours. But I shall be taking a far greater risk than you will; so I want part payment in advance. You may think it quixotic of me to wish to save Sabine for Herr Ribbentrop, but I love her, and there it is. My price is that if I can get her out of the Tower you should get her safely out of the country.'

"That is easier said than done.'

'I feel confident you could arrange it. To fly her out would, I imagine, be impossible. But she could be picked up by a U-boat from some lonely spot on the coast.'

'I cannot see the Germans risking one of their U-boats for such a purpose unless, that is, we could first get her to Eire. I gather that they look in fairly frequently at secret rendezvous along the southwest coast. As Eire is neutral, simply to get her there would be enough. It could then be left to the German Embassy in Dublin to make further arrangements for her.'

'Yes, she would be safe from recapture in Eire, but how would you get her there? Remember, she would not have a passport.'

'I could get a Moldavian passport faked up for her.'

'No good.' Gregory shook his head. 'If I get her out of the Tower it will be known by eight o'clock the following morning. M.I.5's security network is extremely efficient. Within half an hour officials at every port in Britain will be on the lookout for her. There aren't a great number of Moldavians here, and as she is known to have been turning her stuff in to the Moldavian Embassy, anyone attempting to leave on a Moldavian passport is certain to be subjected to special security. No disguise, however excellent, could possibly stand up to it. They would get her for certain.'

T fear you are right.'

'Surely you have other recourses, or by a secret cypher telegram to Germany could have them made available to you. I know that M.I.5 has succeeded in clearing the country of active German agents; but among the enormous number of refugees who settled in Britain before the war, and kept on coming in right up to the time of Dunkirk, there must be a number of Nazi sympathisers who are listed and could be made use of at a pinch. If Sabine is to be got to Eire she will need places to lie hidden in for a few days until the hunt slackens off, then a small boat and a crew that will ask no questions to run her across from some little fishing village in Wales. If you cannot manage such requirements, I've no doubt Berlin could provide them for you.'

Kasdar waved the suggestion away. 'You are wrong, my friend, and I will tell you why. The Germans have three separate secret services. First that of the Abwehr: the original Military Intelligence Branch, run by Admiral Canaris. Second and now far bigger, that built up by Heydrich as the ears and eyes of the Nazi Party, which operates as a Department of the Gestapo, under Himmler. Third, a quite small organization run as a private intelligence service by Herr Ribbentrop, whose sources are confined to diplomatic channels. Not only are all three independent, but the jealousy of their Chiefs is such that none of them would lift a finger to help an agent of one of the others. It is possible that the Gestapo have the sort of facilities here that you suggest, but I doubt if the Abwehr have, and I am quite certain that Ribbentrop's private system has nothing of the kind and, of course, it is with this last that Sabine and myself are associated.'

The statement confirmed what Gregory had supposed to be the situation; so he said: 'In that case we are thrown back on our own resources. I am in no position to hide Sabine with anybody even for a night, much less find a crew to take her across the Irish Channel. Could you not secure the help of some of the Moldavians who are living in the country? It should be possible to buy a boat and perhaps you could get hold of some Moldavian seamen to man it?'