Greg Iles - The Spandau Phoenix

terrorists use it successfully against the Cologne police."

"Oh."

The Lufthansa jet leaned sixty-five degrees to starboard, banking for

final approach. Hans gripped the armrests of his seat and stared

straight ahead. Hauer watched him silently, wishing he could reassure

his son more. At least he had spared Hans what he himself knew: that

the terrorists who had used his hostage-exchange plan had escaped the

Cologne football stadium only to be blown to pieces in a train station

an hour later. Escaping an exchange point with Ilse might not be too

difficult; escaping from South Africa was another thing altogether.

Hauer laid his callused hand over Hans's and squeezed tightly.

"We'll get her, boy," he said softly.

Hans looked over at his father, fils jaw resolute. "I'm ready.

But there's something I can't get out of my mind.

Who cut the throat of that Afrikaner who attacked Professor Natten-nan?

Why did he do it? And where did he go? Did he just disappear?'3

Hauer's face darkened. He knew exactly why the unknown killer had cut

the Afrikaner's throat, and if Hans opened the foil packet in his inside

coat pocket, he would know too. The killer had escaped with three pages

of the Spandau diary. At Hauer's orders the packet had remained hidden

for the duration of the flight. But sooner or later, Hans would have to

be told the truth. Otherwise he would find it out for himself.

"Hans," he said, "I've got a feeling we may meet our elusive killer

sooner than you think."

2.2il A.M. El Al Flight 331: Over Tai Aviv, Israel

The El'Al 747 flew a lazy racetrack pattern over Ben-Gurion eet, Airport

at a comfortable twenty-eight thousand f One Of a dozen tiny blips on

the emerald air-traffic screens belowAn equipment malfunction on an

Eastern whisperedt on runway 3 had caused a delay, and until the men who

monitored the skies over Tel Aviv granted clearance, Professor Natterman

and his reticent Jewish companion would have to wait in the sky along

with two hundred and seventy other impatient travelers.

"What are these mysterious things we need to pick up?"

Natterman asked. "Weapons? Explosives?"

ess. "We will need weapStern looked out at the darkn them in South

ons," he murmured. "But we'll have to get Africa, not Israel. I

arranged it all from your cabin."

Natterman tried without success to ignore the acid stomach he had

developed during the flight from Hamburg. Combined with the stinging

pain radiating from his ripped pected delay almost nostril, the

indigestion made the unex unbearable. "Do you think they've arrived in

Pretoria yet?"

he asked.

Stern looked at his watch. "If they took the first flight out of

Frankfurt, they should be landing in Johannesburg right about now."

"God help them."

Stern grunted skeptically.

"I've been thinking about what you told me back in Frankfurt," Natterman

said. "About that Lord Granville character. The one who owns the

corporation called Phoenix AG. If Granville is English, and his company

is based in South Africa, why did you come to Berlin at all?"

"That's a good question, Professor. But the answer is complicated, and

for now at least, private' "

"If you're not going to tell me anything," Natterman grumbled, "why did

you bring me along in the first place?

A man like you doesn't do things without a very good reason."

"That's true, Professor," Stern said. "I brought you with me for two

reasons. One is that you may be able to provide historical information

that might help me. I know you're bursting at the seams to tell me your

theories about Rudolf Hess, and there is some of it I need to hear. But

first, let me explain how this is going to work. You want information

about what I think is going on in South Africa. Fair enough.

But you are going to have to earn it. You will answer my questions

about the Hess case now; then I will decide how much information to give

you in return. If you tell me things I do not already know, I'll reward

you in kind. But this is the only time we will discuss Rudolf Hess. Do

you agree?"

Natterman sat without speaking for nearly a minute. Then he cleared his

throat and said, "What do you want to know?"

"Tell me about Hess and the British. Was there a pro-Nazi clique high

in the British government in 1941?"

Natterman folded his hands together on his lap. "It's very complicated,

Stern."

"I think I can stay with you, Herr Einstein."

"All right, then. Yes, there was a group of Nazi appeasers-very highly

placed-who wanted to make a deal with Hitler. That's been proved. Or

at least it's being proved, by an Oxford academic. The question is, was

that group sincere? Do you follow me, Stern? Were the members of this

group English fascists who loved the swastika? Or simply war profiteers

out for all the gold they could get? Were they paranoid anticommunists

who wanted peace at any price so that Hitler would be free to crush

Russia? Or d here's the rub-were they patriotic Englishmen leading

Hitler by the nose until it was too late for him to invade England?

Do you see my point about complexity?"

Stern waved his hand.

"And if they were genuinely pro-Nazi," Natterman went on, "were they

truly operating in secret? Or was British Intelligerice aware of them

all along? After all, what better stalling ploy could mI-5 have come up

with than to a real traitors to lead Hitler on-letting him think he

could neutralize England without an invasion-until he could no longer

wait to attack Russia? Remember, these 'traitors' weren't the class of

people one likes to arrest for treasonWe're talking about the backbone

of British government and industry. What if mI-5 decided to use these

blue-blooded turncoats while they could, and then slap them on their

noble wrists when it was all over? Are you with me, Stern?"

"I'm ahead of you, ProfessOr- What if the top officers Of British

Intelligence-expecting a few closet Reds from Oxford-were virulent

anticommunists? Brothers-in-spirit with your alleged aristocratic,

pro-Hitler clique? What if for strictly pragmatic reasons British

Intelligence wanted to do a deal with Hitler, thereby freeing him to

crush Stalin? Or ... British Intelligence could have been ordered to

explore such a deal. In that case the impetus to make peace with Hitler

would have originated at the highest level of British government.

And I mean the very top. Excluding Churchill, Of course. But including

the- monarchy." Stern winked at Natterman. "Are you with me,

Professor?"

Natterman gave him a black look. "You should have been a historian,

damn you. You've struck the main pillar of my thesis-the Duke of

Windsor British Intelligence has been helping to conceal Windsor's

shadowy past for years. All records of the duke's wartime activities

are sealed forever by order of Her Majesty's government.

Yet in spite of that, there's a growing body of hard evidence linking

Windsor to the Nazis. It's almost certain that in 1940 the duke met

Hess secretly in Lisbon to try to reach an acconunodation with Hitler

that would put him back on the throne. Windsor was the archetype of the

privileged, Russophobic, Jew-hating British admirer of Hitler. And I'm

sure you're aware of the fact that many informed sources believe British

Intelligence murdered Number Seven in Spandau last month."

"Yes. But I have my doubts about that. I'm not sure that in this day