Dennis Wheatley - Traitors' Gate

'I don't know it,' Gregory spread out his hands. 'But I may be able to get it for you in a few days' time.'

'That, and the date of D-Day and the objective. All these I must have if to do as you wish is to be worth my while.'

I will do my best; and I have already given you something for nothing. It is up to you now to investigate the situation and, if possible, to arrange for one of the tugs to be available on the Essex coast early in November. I suggest that you come here again at the same hour on Saturday next. That is, the 31st; by then both of us should be in a position to say whether we are able or unable to carry out our sides of the deal.'

The Moldavian agreed and left soon afterwards. When he had gone Gregory mixed himself another very stiff whisky and soda. In one way the interview had terminated far better than he had thought at all likely. They had actually agreed on a possible means of getting Sabine out of the country, and with out the dangers and delays incumbent on transporting her to Eire. But he had had to pass on some of the secret information that he had extracted from Sir Pellinore the previous night. He could not think that the Germans were going to derive any important benefit from learning the names of the principal Commanders of the expedition; but, all the same, that had been graded 'Most Secret,' and the knowledge that, owing to him, it would shortly be known in Berlin made him gulp the whisky down more quickly.

How he was to keep the ball rolling on Saturday was a matter that he did not yet care to think about. It was clear now that Kasdar was not prepared to go through with the business unless he received his pound of flesh; and to give it to him without one drop of good red blood seemed practically impossible. It could be done only by positively split-second timing. That meant, Gregory knew, that during the final preparations for Sabine's rescue he would be walking on eggshells; and he knew too that if he went through them he would deserve to be shot.

It was not until Thursday that he saw Sabine again. In accordance with their arrangement, she had used the pills he had left with her to keep herself in a state of low fever for the past five days, but was now reported well again. With him he took to the Tower some warmer clothes for her, which included a black turtleneck sweater, black slacks and a black coat, and three bottles of port wine.

He unpacked the suitcase in which he had brought these items in front of Mrs. Sutton, gave the wine into her charge and said, 'I have had to pay for this myself, but I'm hoping that it may help to loosen up our prisoner's tongue. What I want you to do is to give her a bottle each evening after she has had her meal and let her drink as much as she likes. At the end of the week I mean to pay her some evenings visits, and if she has been knocking back the port for an hour or two before I put in an appearance I may get something really worth while out of her.'

'Very good, sir.' Mrs. Sutton accepted his instructions and remarked: 'I bet the Nazis would find a less expensive way to make her talk.' Then she added with a laugh, 'A drop of anything good is so hard to come by these days, it almost makes me wish 1 were in her shoes.'

Gregory laughed too, and, taking the clothes, went in to see Sabine. He told her nothing about his talk with Kasdar and only, to keep her spirits up, that although he had as yet not been able to formulate any definite plan for getting her out, he had various ideas on the subject and was determined to make the attempt when he had decided which offered the best prospect of success.

First thing next morning he went to the M.I.5 office and made his report, disclosing some more of the information that he had received from Sabine on his first visit, and adding that he felt almost certain now that Nichoulic had been her contact at the Moldavian Embassy.

'You are doing very well,' said Colonel 'Himmler' briskly. 'Stick to it. Try to get us confirmation about Nichoulic; so that we can ask the F.O. to require his removal. I have a lot to do. You must excuse me now. I'll be seeing you.'

As Gregory was on afternoon duty in the War Room, he went straight down to the Tower, and he spent the best part of two hours with Sabine. He told her that in order to prolong the interrogation it was necessary to break new ground, and suggested that although she had refused to tell him about her visits to Berchtesgaden when they were in Budapest, she should do so now.

At first she showed reluctance, but Gregory told her that her only chance of freedom lay in providing him with material for feeding M.I.5; so that no arrangements to bring her to trial would be made for at least another week and that, as it would be checked up, should she tell a lot of lies the interrogation would be called off and her trial brought forward. He added that, since she was convinced that Hitler would win the war, nothing she could say about him and his entourage was really going to cut very much ice.

Persuaded by these arguments she gave him some most intriguing data about Hitler's private life and those of the people round him. By twelve o'clock they were through, so Gregory was in time to catch Colonel 'Himmler' in St. James's Street before he went out to lunch.

He reported that Sabine had now definitely admitted Nichoulic to be her contact, upon which the Colonel beamed through his bifocals and said, 'Well done, you've been a great help to us. Now I can tell the Provost Marshal’s people to go ahead and arrange about her trial. You'll be wanted as a witness, of course.'

'I wonder if it wouldn't be worth while to postpone her trial for a bit,' Gregory suggested tentatively. 'It is nothing to do with me, but this morning I got her talking about the top Nazis. As Ribbentrop's mistress she knew them all personally, you know. I found the low-down she was giving me fascinating, and I'm sure I could get a lot more out of her. Still, perhaps that sort of thing isn't of much value?'

It was a critical moment. If his proposal were rejected he would have to fall back on Sabine's taking more of the temperature raising pills he had given her as a means of postponing her trial and, far worse, he might find it difficult to pay more than another one or two visits to her on the excuse of tying up loose ends. However, he felt on fairly safe ground and almost at once the Colonel gave the sort of answer he had expected.

'That kind of material is of no value to me, but it would be of great interest to the branch of the firm that operates abroad. I'll have a word with them and one of their people will get in touch with you at the Cabinet Offices.'

Greatly relieved, Gregory walked across the Park to lunch in the basement mess at the end of the corridor in which the War Room lay, then went on duty. That evening one of the Royal Marine orderlies came in to say that there was an officer outside who wished to see him. Out in the corridor he found a small grey-haired Major who introduced himself and said in a naturally low voice, 'I've come to talk to you about the prisoner in the Tower.'

As there was no waiting room Gregory took him down a side passage and into one of the emergency bedrooms always kept in readiness for members of the War Cabinet it happened to be Mr. Attlee's. It was furnished simply with an iron bed, washstand, small table for use as a desk, scrambler telephone and two hard chairs. They sat on the bed talking for a few minutes then the Major moved to the table and took notes of Sabine's disclosures. When they had finished, he said:

'This stuff may come in very handy some time or other. Please get from her all you can; particularly about any of the top Generals she happens to know, but even the names and peculiarities of Hitler's servants might prove useful. The Chief of my branch is rather against people coming to our office; so I'll come to see you here again, if you don't mind. What times suit you best?'