Greg Iles - The Spandau Phoenix

perching on the edge of the leather easy chair. "Proceed," he said.

As trim and hard as a rapier, Reinhard Heydrich stood before the most

powerful man on earth and outlined the plan that would place him first

in the line of succession to the black throne of the Nazi empire.

With each new revelation, his voice rose in excitement, and Hitler-,

spellbound, followed him up the scale.

"And the genius of the concept," Heydrich exulted, with the duill of

consummation, ,the -beauty of it, is that England will not simply be

neutralized, it will join us in our war against Russia! Think of it!

Paralyzed by grief, the British people will cry out to their new leaders

for guidance, and they will be told by those leaders-your men-to do

exactly what they so desire to do-take revenge on the godless enemy ! On

Russia, the cradle of assassins! And to do that they must reach out to

you! Barbarossa will become an Aryan crusade!"

Hitler's facial muscles had seized into an almost catatonic spasm.

His right hand shook as if from palsy. The genius of Heydrich's plan

had burst into his brain with the brilliance of a dying star. All his

life Hitler had fed upon the intellects of more timid men, seizing upon

their revolutionary ideas and charging forward without looking back.

Now-given Heydrich's plan like a gift from heaven itself-he reveled in

the knowledge that he would once again beat all the odds, once again

prove himself right and all his generals wrong!

This certainty coursed through his veins like a blast of morphine.

Visions of conquest flashed behind his eyes: the Kremlin, shattered and

smoldering in black ashes; tall young Germans tilling the great fields

of the Ukraine; German ships sailing forth from Odessa and Archangel "I

see it!" Hitler cried. "I see it all now!" @e' scurried around the

table like a human lightning rod attempting to discharge itself "It can

work! Churchill is going to die!"

"And the king!" Heydrich added euphorically. "My Fuhrer, Helmut

assures me that it can be done. Zinoviev is already preparing for the

mission!"

"My God," Hitler murmured, suddenly mortified. "How do you communicate

with Helmut?"

"I don't. It's always been a one-way conduit. "Because of that@'

"Yes?"

"I had to send a man into England with a message."

" What? "

"I take full responsibility, my Fuhrer. I felt that this mission was

simply too important to risk by using radio communications.

I trust no one. I never even contacted Lord Granville."

"And what if your messenger had been captured?"

"He wasn't."

"And what if he read your message, Herr Obergruppenfiihrer? What if he

decided to sell it to the highest bidder!"

"The message was in code," Heydrich replied evenly. "He simply

delivered an envelope and returned with a one-word answer: Ja."

.Hitler's voice went shrill with-paranoia. "And you think this courier

knows nothing? Can reveal nothing? What if he decides to sell his

knowledge now?"

"That would be impossible, my Fuhrer- I shot him myself, five minutes

after he delivered Helmut's reply."

Hitler said nothing for a long while. Putting his hand to his chin, he

looked out through one of the small-paned windows near the fireplace.

Outside, the snow had begun to fall again. "Remarkable," he murmured.

He took his walking stick from its resting place on the hearth and

turned back to Heydrich. "Let's return to the Berghof- 'we can talk on

the way back."

They walked through the darkness without speaking. The crunch of

Heydrich's boots on the hard-packed snow punctuated their progress

across the mountain. Now and then the howls of German shepherds

reverberated across the rocky slope. After twenty minutes they reached

the parking area.

Hitler fixed Heydrich with his dark gaze.

"Are you confident that Helmut's Englishmen can reach their targets,

Herr Obergruppenfiihrer? Can they kill both men on the tenth of May?"

"My Fuhrer," Heydrich said confidently, .1any man can be assassinated on

any day, if one critical condition is satisfied."

"What condition?"

"That the assassin be prepared to die in the doing of the deed."

Hitler's eyes narrowed. "And you believe these Englishmen will die for

Helmut?"

Heydrich blinked against the wind. "No. They will die for their lost

ideals. They will die for their gods-Leniii and Marx. For Moscow,

perhaps. But most of all, they will die believing they have delivered

their country from the clutches of ruthless oppressors who have held

England's poor-and half of the rest of the world's-in slavejy for a very

long time. They will die to become martyrs."

"Remarkable," Hitler said finally. "You seem to have considered every

possibility."

Heydrich nodded with formal correctness.

"I shall leave you here, Heydrich- Is there anything further you require

from me?"

,Yes," Heydrich answered without hesitation. "A diversion. if you

could possibly arrange some type of limited attack on England on May

tenth-a small commando attack on a Channel port, perhaps? A U-boat raid

near London?"

"I've already taken care of that," Hitler said. "Have no fear, your

assassins will have all the confusion they need. On the night of May

tenth, I shall unleash the most devastating air attack London has ever

known. And it will be the last raid against Great Britain. At least

until Russia has been conquered. Perhaps then He trailed off, his voice

soft and ruminative.

Heydrich licked his wind-burned lips. Unexpectedly, he had discovered

the courage to ask the question which had haunted him since the night

Hitler first gave him his assignment. "My Fuhrer?" he said

tentatively.

"Yes?"

"With all respect, you have not told me much about the political side of

the mission. To be quite frank, it worries me. The success of the

entire operation hinges on a single factor, and that factor is beyond my

control."

"What are you talking about?"

"My Fuhrer, again with all respect, do you have Englishmen ready to

assume control of the government when Churchill dies? When the king is

dead? My sources indicate-"

"That does not concern you!" Hitler jabbed a stiff finger into

Heydrich's chest. "You have Lord Grenville's name!

You know all you need to for now! Just make certain that your cripples

carry out their orders! Hess has the names. He will handle the

political side of the mission."

Too shocked to be afraid, Heydrich raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Reichminister Hess, my Fuhrer? But ... I was under the impression that

your confidence in him was waning. Both Goring and Himmler speak of him

a@' "Goring and Himmler? You should spend less time listening to gossip

and more time studying how the Party rose to the position it now holds!

Hess has done more for me than . . ."

Hitler shook his fist in the air. "Let me tell you something, Heydrich.

It took Hess just one month to do what you could not do in a year. Hess

rooted out the traitor in our midst. And that traitor is your own

boss-Himmler! Yesloyal Heinrich. Already he searches for ways to usurp

my power. And you, working right under his nose, you could not see it!"

Hitler's face suddenly darkened. "Or could you?"

Heydrich blanched. "No, my Fuhrer! I swear to you ...

What can I do to prove my loyalty? I shall arrest the Reichsfiihrer

myself!" r arr "Don't be ridiculous," Hitler s_offed"We cannot est the

head of the SS for treason. No, we shall rely on the safety mechanism