The Valhalla Exchange

He moved away. Hoffer said in a kind of awe, 'Over forty planes — forty, and for what?'

'To tell him in person what he could have told him over the telephone,' Ritter said. 'A remarkable man, our Fuhrer, Erich.'

'For God's sake, Major.' Hoffer put out a hand, for the first time real anger showing through. 'Keep talking like that and they might take you out and hang you. Me, too. Is that what you want?'

* * *

When Bormann went into his office, Rattenhuber was waiting for him.

'Did you find General Fegelein?' the Reichsleiter inquired.

'He left the bunker five hours ago.' Rattenhuber checked his notes. 'According to my information, he is at present at his home in Charlottenburg — wearing civilian clothes, I might add.'

Bormann nodded calmly. 'How very interesting.'

'Do we inform the Fuhrer?'

'I don't think so, Willi. Give a man enough rope, you know the old saying. I'll ask where Fegelein is in the Fuhrer's hearing later on tonight. Allow him to make this very unpleasant discovery for himself. Now, Willi, we have something far more important to discuss. The question of the prominent prisoners in our hands. You have the files I asked for?'

'Certainly, Reichsleiter.' Rattenhuber placed several manilla folders on the desk. 'There is a problem here. The Fuhrer has very pronounced ideas on what should happen to the prominenti. It seems that he was visited by Obergruppenfuhrer Berger, Head of Prisoner of War Administration. Berger tried to discuss the fate of several important British, French and American prisoners as well as the Austrian Chancellor, Schuschnigg, and Haider and Schacht. It seems the Fuhrer told him to shoot them all.'

'Conspicuous consumption, I would have thought, Willi. In other words, a great waste.' Bormann tapped the files. 'But it's these ladies and gentlemen who interest me. The prisoners of Arlberg.'

'I'm afraid several have already been moved since my visit, on your instructions, two months ago. Orders of the Reichsfuhrer,' Rattenhuber told him.

'Yes, for once Uncle Heini moved a little faster than I had expected,' Bormann said dryly. 'What are we left with?'

'Just five. Three men, two women.'

'Good,' Bormann said. 'A nice round number. We'll start with the ladies first, shall we? Refresh my memory.'

'Madame Claire de Beauville, Reichsleiter. Age thirty. Nationality, French. Her father made a great deal of money in canned foods. She married Etienne de Beauville. A fine old family. They were thought to be typical socialites flirting with their new masters. In fact her husband was working with French Resistance units in Paris. He was picked up in June last year on information received and taken to Sicherheitdienst headquarters at Avenue Foch in Paris. He was shot trying to escape.'

'The French,' Bormann said. 'So romantic'

'The wife was thought to be involved. There was a radio at the house. She insisted she knew nothing about it, but Security was convinced she could well have been working as a — pianist?'

He looked up, bewildered, and Bormann smiled. 'Typical English schoolboy humour. This is apparently the British Special Operations Executive term for a radio operator.'

'Oh, I see.' Rattenhuber returned to the file. 'Through marriage, she is related to most of the great French families.'

'Which is why she is at Arlberg. So — who's next?'

'Madame Claudine Chevalier.'

'The concert pianist?'

'That's right, Reichsleiter.'

'She must be seventy at least.'

'Seventy-five.'

'A national institution. In 1940 she made a trip to Berlin to give a concert at the Fuhrer's special request. It made her very unpopular in Paris at the time.'

'A very clever front to mask her real activities, Reichsleiter. She was one of a group of influential people who organized an escape line which succeeded in spiriting several well-known Jews from Paris to Vichy.'

'So — an astute old lady with nerve and courage. Does that dispose of the French?'

'No, Reichsleiter. There is Paul Gaillard to consider.'

'Ah, the one-time cabinet minister.'

'That is so, Reichsleiter. Aged sixty. At one time a physician and surgeon. He has, of course, an international reputation as an author. Dabbled in politics a little before the war. Minister for Internal Affairs in the Vichy government who turned out to be signing releases of known political offenders. He was also suspected of being in touch with de Gaulle. Member of the French Academy.'

'Anything else?'

'Something of a romantic, according to the security report. Joined the French Army as a private soldier in 1915 as some sort of public gesture against the government of the day. It seems he thought they were making a botch of the war. Flirted with Communism in the twenties, but a visit to Russia in 1927 cured him of that disease.'

'What about his weaknesses?'

'Weaknesses, Reichsleiter?'

'Come now, Willi, we all have them. Some men like women, others play cards all night or drink, perhaps. What about Gaillard?'

'None, Reichsleiter, and the State Security report is really most thorough. There is one extraordinary thing about him, however.'

'What's that?'

'He's had a great love of skiing all his life. In 1924 when they held the first Winter Olympics at Chamonix, he took a gold medal. A remarkable achievement. You see, he was thirty-nine years of age, Reichsleiter.'

'Interesting,' Bormann said softly. 'Now that really does say something about his character. What about the Englishman?'

'I'm not too certain that's an accurate description, Reichsleiter. Justin Fitzgerald Birr, 15th Earl of Dundrum, an Irish title, and Ireland is the place of his birth. He is also 10th Baron Felversham. The title is, of course, English and an estate goes with it in Yorkshire.'

'The English and the Irish really can't make up their minds about each other, can they, Willi? As soon as there's a war, thousands of Irishmen seem to join the British Army with alacrity. Very confusing.'

'Exactly, Reichsleiter. Lord Dundrum, which is how people address him, had an uncle who was a major of infantry in the first war. An excellent record, decorated and so on, then in 1919 he went home, joined the IRA and became commander of a flying column during their fight for independence. It apparently caused a considerable scandal.'

'And the earl? What of his war record?'

'Age thirty. DSO and Military Cross. At the beginning of the war he was a lieutenant in the Irish Guards. Two years later a lieutenant-colonel in the Special Air Service. In its brief existence his unit destroyed 113 aircraft on the ground behind Rommel's lines. He was captured in Sicily. Made five attempts to escape, including two from Colditz. It was then they decided that his special circumstances merited his transfer to Arlberg as a prominento.'

'Which explains the last and most important point concerning the good Earl of Dundrum.'

'Exactly, Reichsleiter. It would seem the gentleman is, through his mother, second cousin to King George.'

'Which certainly makes him prominent, Willi. Very prominent indeed. And now — the best saved till last. What about our American friend?'

'Brigadier General Hamilton Canning, age forty-five.'

'The same as me,' Bormann said.

'Almost exactly. You, Reichsleiter, I believe, were born on the 17th of June. General Canning on the 27th of July. He would seem typical of a certain kind of American — a man in a perpetual hurry to get somewhere.'

'I know his record,' Bormann said. 'But go through it again for me.'

'Very well, Reichsleiter. In 1917 he joined the French Foreign Legion as a private soldier. Transferred to the American Army the following year with the rank of second lieutenant. Between the wars he didn't fit in too well. A troublemaker who was much disliked at the Pentagon.'