When Speer faced- his master and disclosed what he was doing, yells and curses rang through the bunker yet when Speer emerged from the ordeal, he left the bunker still a free man. Gregory felt that this miracle could be attributed only to divine intervention.
Of the satraps who visited the bunker in these days, the most frequent were Goebbels and Ribbentrop. The little doctor, with his twisted foot and twisted mind, although normally concerned only with inventing endless clever lies and distortions of fact to boost the morale of the German people, could at times show an unscrupulous brutality rivaling that of the worst of the other Nazis. On one occasion, infuriated by the mass air raid on Dresden, he demanded that the Fьhrer should repudiate the Geneva Convention, order the massacre of forty thousand Allied airmen prisoners as a reprisal, and bring into use two poison gases that had terrible effects on their victims.
Hitler, so his doctors said, was subject to a pathological blood lust. It is in any case certain that he always became happy and excited after ordering an execution; so the idea of this wholesale slaughter made a strong appeal to him. But Koller hastily sent for Goering who, with the aid of Doenitz and several Generals, all of whom feared mass reprisals on the prisoners of war in their own Services, succeeded in dissuading Hitler from carrying out this heinous crime.
Ribbentrop gave Gregory an extremely nasty moment; for one day they came face to face in the outer passage. It was two and a half years since Gregory had been a guest at a small supper party given for the Reichsaussenminister at a nightclub in Budapest, but from the stare he gave Gregory it was obvious that he was trying to remember where he had previously met him. Fortunately, Major Johannmeier, General Burgdorf s assistant, distracted Ribbentrop's attention by coming up just then and saying that his Chief would like a word with him while he was waiting to see the Fьhrer. After that Gregory always kept a wary eye out for Sabine's ex lover and, whenever he came to the bunker, stayed well out of his way.
For some time past, Gregory had been very worried by the thought of Sabine; for, knowing her unhappy state, he had had every intention of keeping his promise to go out and spend a few hours with her at least once a week. But once he had succeeded in interesting Hitler in Malacou's predictions and the subject of reincarnation he had felt that in no circumstances must he again leave his post for any length of time, in case he or both of them were sent for. Much as he owed Sabine, the war, and the millions involved in it, had to be put first.
To excuse his neglect of her he had several times tried to telephone, but the exchanges and lines in Berlin were constantly being destroyed by the nightly air-raids so he had failed to get through; and he felt it too risky to write, because a great part of the mail was being opened by Gestapo men at the post offices in a witch hunt for grumblers and pacifists, and he did not want it to be known that he was acquainted with her.
During the first days of April the Anglo-American advance
continued unchecked, but the Russian front remained quiet and, although any piece of bad news never failed to bring on one of Hitler's screaming fits, there were no special excitements in the bunker. Then, on the night of the 5th, he again sent for Gregory and Malacou.
The procedure was as before and the gist of Malacou's ramblings as translated by Gregory were as follows. The Russians were building up for another major offensive which would be launched in. the middle of the month. The Ruhr must be written off, because Field Marshal Model was surrounded by traitors and they would force him to surrender. There were traitors too among the senior members of the Government; at least two of them were secretly in touch with the enemy and endeavoring to bring about a peace; but they would not succeed. In spite of the present successes of the Anglo-American Armies they would never reach. Berlin, and they were shortly to receive a blow of the greatest magnitude, which could alter the whole political outlook.
Hitler had been crouching over his desk, looking extremely ill. At this point his head suddenly fell forward and, although he made an effort, he was unable again to raise it.
Springing up from his chair, Bormann ran to him and shouted to Gregory to go and get Dr. Morell. Malacou, arousing from his state of semi-trance, opened his eyes and Bormann told him to `get out'.
Morell occupied two rooms in the further bunker and rarely left them, so Gregory had no difficulty in finding him and telling him what had happened; then they hurried back to Hitler's study. There the slovenly, cringing old doctor gave his Fьhrer a shot in an arm that was already black with the marks of injections. Within a few moments he recovered, fixed his dull eyes on Gregory and said
`Your Turk is a wonderful medium. I am psychic myself, you know; so I can readily recognize the true gift in others. In my case it takes the form of remarkable intuition, and his prediction that the Anglo-Americans will never reach Berlin accords with my own firm belief. I am tired now, so we'll not call him back. But I'll send for you both again soon… quite soon.'
Waiting for him upstairs in the vast Egyptian-style hall on the ground floor of the Chancellery, Gregory found Malacou. With his dark eyes gleaming the Jew asked in Turkish, `Is the swine dead?'
Gregory shook his head. `No. His resistance is extraordinary. That unsavoury old brute who looks after him is the worst kind of crook, but he gave him a shot that brought him round almost immediately.'
Malacou muttered a few Hebrew curses. Then, as they left the building, he took something from his pocket. An air-raid was in progress and at that moment a bunch of incendiary bombs exploded in the street some forty yards away. By their light Gregory saw that Malacou was holding in his hand a long piece of cord with a noose at one end. His curiosity aroused, he asked:
`What is that?
'A garotte.' Malacou smiled. `I carry it as a talisman for our protection, and a focus by which I can draw down power. If I did not take something of the kind with me to these stances, at a vital moment Hitler's own evil radiations might destroy my contact with the Outer Circle.'
`What is there so special about that piece of cord to give it such a potent occult significance?' Gregory enquired.
Malacou gave a harsh laugh. `Astrology alone could not enable me to make such accurate predictions. Now and then I must make an offering to… well, the source of my power. In normal circumstances one would use a sacrificial knife and that would become the talisman. But as things are I would not be allowed to take a knife down into the bunker; so instead I carry the garotte. And it is highly charged, because I have recently used it several times to take life.'
Halting in his tracks Gregory grasped the Satanist by the arm, swung him round and exclaimed in horror, `D'you mean that when you sometimes go out on your own at night it is to murder people in the blackout?'
Shaking off his grasp, Malacou retorted, `If I had we would be far better protected. But, unfortunately, I have not the courage. For my victims I make do with animals.'
`What! Cats and dogs?'