Greg Iles - The Spandau Phoenix

feet across, with a round wooden table and easy chairs. it reminded

most people of cozy country holidays before the shadow of war fell

across their lives.

Heydrich did not even notice the blazing fire. Nothing existed for him

in that space save himself and Hitler-two unalloyed souls staring at

each other across a gulf of limitless ambition.

"So?" Hitler snapped. "You have brought me my plan?"

"Yes, my Fuhrer," Heydrich said proudly.

"And it took you only two months. Two months! What were you thinking

oP."

Heydrich stepped back in surprise.

"Did I ask you for the impossible, Herr obergruppenfiihrer? No!

I asked you to plan two simple murders! Surely that could not be too

difficult for you? They tell me you left Gregor Strasser's brains on

the wall of a Gestapo cell for weeks!"

Stunned by Hitler's fury, Heydrich waited in silence"is it in that

briefcase?" Hitler asked sharply.

"Yes, my Fuhrer."

,you wrote ii down?"

Heydrich nodded uncertainly.

,I am surrounded by fools." Hitler crossed the room and collapsed into

a leather easy chair opposite Heydrich"Well?" he said finally.

"Report!"

Too shocked to do anything else, Heydrich sat stiffly in one of the easy

chairs and emptied the contents of his brief case onto the coffee table.

His notes, clear and concise. And a stack of eight-by-ten photographs

held neatly together by a paper clip.

"My Fuhrer," he began, "my orders entailed finding a way to remove

Churchill and George the Sixth from power on the tenth of May, without

leaving any clue ' that might possibly point to Germany. While this

seems@ "I am aware of the orders I issued you!" Hitler exploded.

"I want to hear your plan, not a description of the problem!"

Heydrich's notes slipped from his clammy palms. Standing erect, he

screwed up his courage and locked his blue eyes onto Hitler's black

ones. "Accountability," he said slowly. "That, my Fuhrer, is the

paramount consideration in this operation. Even if Churchill and the

king could be killed without leaving a trace of their killers, the

finger of accusation would still point to Germany. More than anyone, we

have the motive-and in time of war, motive is the only consideration. To

avoid making 'Remember Churchill!' the new rallying cry against us, we

must accomplish two things.

First, we must leave no German at the scene of the crime.

Second-and most important-we must provide the British with a culprit

they cannot ignore."

He watched Hitler for a reaction, but the dictator sat sullenly

immobile. "So," he continued, "who to blame? My Fuhrer, the solution

came to me that first night as if screamed in my ears! Who besides

yourself do the English fear most? The communists. You've said it

yourself a thousand times: 'The communists are the enemy of all

civilized nations.' We know the English industrialists share this view.

The march of Bolshevism since 1917 has every nation in Europe

trembling." Heydrich drew himself to his full height.

"And so, my Fdhrer, the men who assassinate Churchill and the king must

be communists!"

Heydrich sensed a stirring in Hitler's eyes, a heightening of awareness.

"If communist agents were to assassinate Churchill and the king," he

went on, "England would explode into panic. Instead of being united

against Germany, every Englishman would begin t@ fear his own

neighborhis own brother! Communism would become Britain's new enemy-its

new Satan. And what. is the source of world communism?

Russia! 'Strike back at Russia!' will be the new rallying cry in

Britain."

Heydrich raised one delicate finger into the air. "But can they?

Bombed and beaten almost beyond rising, England is virtually powerless

against a nation so distant and strong.

But you are not, my Fuhrer. Adolf Hitler is the most implacable foe

Communism has.ever known-the whole world knows it! Your nonaggression

pact'with Stalin means nothing-a temporary alliance of convenience. One

look at Mein Kampf will tell the most skeptical Briton that your primary

aim has always been Russia. Lebensraum!

Expansion eastward into Russia over the bodies of the subhuman Slavic

barbarians!"

Hitler opened his mouth to speak, but Heydrich rolled on, caught up in

the momentum of his emotions. "And most important, my Fuhrer, every

word, every warning ever given by your friends in England will be proved

true! German' will finally be recognized as the last bastion shielding

England from the fanatical hordes of the East! Isn't that what the Duke

of Windsor has argued all along? That another war between England and

Germany can only end in common slavery under the communists?"

While Heydrich paused for breath, Hitler rose slowly to his feet and

folded his arms. "An interesting plan, Herr obergruppenftihrer," he

said, his voice edged with excitement. "I myself was thinking along

similar lines just the other day. But tell me, who will commit these

murders? No Russian communist will attempt such a thing without Stalin

behind him. And if a German communist does it, we are lost. To the

English, Heydrich, a German is a German. They will not split hairs when

they ask America for our blood in revenge."

"I've thought 'of that, my Fuhrer," Heydrich said smoothly, his cruel

lips cracking into a smile. "There is but one way that this thing can

be accomplished-one way that British fury can be turned away from us and

against Russia."

He paused like a magician reluctant to reveal his last, best trick.

"The communists who assassinate Churchill and the king must be British

subjects."

Hitler sat still as stone. "Explain."

Heydrich frowned. "That is all, my Fuhrer. That is the key.

The men who carry out the assassinations must be British subjects-of

course I mean British communists."

Hitler ground his teeth slowly. "Are you about to tell me, Herr

Obergruppenfiihrer, that you have devised a way to get Stalin to order

his English cadres to execute Churchill and the king at the time and

place of our choosing?"

"No, my Fuhrer "I hope not!" Hitler shook his hand in the air.

"It's all I can do to keep Stalin out of my Rumanian oil fields!

For a while you were making sense, Now ... w@ shall see."

Heydrich squinted with a gambler's concentration. "What I propose, my

Fuhrer is not really so far from what you just suggested.

But before I can give you the mechanics, I must explain a little recent

history.

I The idea of playing history pupil did not please Hitler, but he held a

fitful silence while Heydrich laid the foundations of his plan.

"Do you recall the communist takeover of Bavaria in 1919, my Fuhrer?

Specifically Munich?"

Hitler scowled. "I fought in it, you fool. With Hess at my side I

battled in the streets, and Hess with only his tattered old uniform for

clothing!"

"Of course, my Fuhrer!" Heydrich said quickly. "Yes ...

well, during the final Friekorps assault on the Hauptbanhof-where the

communists chose to make their final stand-we had a man inside the

building."

"We?" Hitler said disparagingly.

"The Friekorps, my Fuhrer."

"I thought the communists in the Hauptbanhof were wiped out to a man."

"The real communists were. It was a massacre. But one Friekorps spy-a

loyal young German who provided critical information during the

crisis-managed to escape. With Friekorps help, of course. His name was

Heimut Steuer, and he became known among the communists as the 'Survivor