Malacou's dark eyes gleamed with excitement. `I knew something of this kind would happen. The stars foretold it and the stars never lie.'
`Aren't you a little scared at the thought of having to face him and, perhaps, influencing him into committing some act that may come back on us like a boomerang?' Gregory asked. `I don't mind confessing that I am.'
`Yes; I have not concealed from you that our lives will be in danger. Towards the end of April things look very black for both of us; but I have good hopes that we will survive. This present project causes me no special fears for myself, because I am convinced that I shall outlive Hitler. After that, my horoscope is obscure. To me there comes danger from an impulse of my own. There is a possibility that I may lose my life in an attempt to save someone else. As I am not of the stuff of which heroes are made, I cannot see myself making such an attempt; so perhaps my death may be the result of an accident. But sometimes one survives such periods of danger with only an injury; as was the case with you at Peenemьnde.'
They spent most of the day discussing Goering's idea and how best to prepare for it; then, shortly before midnight, Kaindl came to fetch Gregory. On their way the Colonel congratulated him on the excellent show he and Malacou had putt up the previous evening and said he felt sure that they need not fear to be sent back to Sachsenhausen. At that, Gregory smiled to himself and again expressed his gratitude to Kaindl for having rescued them from their harsh' captivity.
Two minutes later they entered the Reichsmarschall's study at the top of the house. It was as large as a small church and at the far end Goering was sitting at a desk the like of which
Gregory had never before seen. It was of mahogany, inlaid with bronze swastikas and twenty-five feet long. On it stood two great gold candelabra and a huge inkstand of solid onyx. Behind it sprawled the formidable figure, tonight dressed in the silks of a Doge of Venice and with the Phrygian cap crowning his broad forehead. With a smile at Gregory, he said:
`Sit down, both of you; and you, Kaindl, listen carefully to what I have to say.'
When they were seated, he went on, `As one of my fellow pilots in our fighting days I know that I can trust you, and I am. about to confide to you a secret that might land us both in a packet of trouble should it ever get out. We all know that the war is lost, although it is treason to say so. During the past six months scores of people in bars and tram cars have been picked up by the Gestapo and shot for saying no more than that. But we must face facts, and I've thought of a way by which there is just a chance that we may hasten the end of this senseless slaughter.
'Herr Protze here, and his friend the Turk, claim to have occult powers; so I intend to send them to the Fuhrer, as there is just a possibility that they may be able to influence him into asking for an armistice. But for two criminals on parole to gain the Fьhrer’s confidence would be far from easy; so I mean to practise a deception upon him. Herr Protze will become a member of my personal staff with the rank of Major. The Turk will accompany him as his batman.
`Now, the only danger to my plan is from people who saw the two of them perform for us last night. Have you any idea how many of them know that Herr Protze and the Turk are on parole from Sachsenhausen?'
Kaindl raised his eyebrows in surprise. `None of them, Herr Reichsmarschall. I naturally supposed you would not wish it to be known that they were convicts; so I have told no-one from where they came.'
`That is excellent. Then you have only to put it about among the household that Herr Protze is one of my staff officers who has been for a long time abroad. You can explain the fact that he was confined to his room with his man for the past week by saying that they had to be for many hours together to carry out their occult operations, and that they will continue to share a room while here for the same reason. Meanwhile, I'll see that it gets to the ears of all who dined with us last right that Herr Protze is in fact a Major of the Luftwaffe. You, too, can help in that.'
`Jawohl, Herr Reichsmarschall.'
`The next thing is uniforms. Get a tailor out here from Berlin first thing tomorrow morning and tell him that he must supply everything necessary within forty-eight hours. Finally there is the matter of instruction. You have not been with me very long, but long enough to have met most of the people at the Fuhrer's H.Q. It is important that Hen Protze should be as fully informed about them as possible. He will be attached as an extra adjutant to General Koller. I will, of course, see Koller about that myself. But he will not be in our secret; and I shall not introduce his new adjutant to him until Major Protze has his uniform and you have given him some idea of the duties he will be expected to perform. Is that all clearly understood?
'Jawohl, Herr Reichsmarschall. You may rely on me to do my utmost to assist Major Protze in any way I can.'
Goering nodded. `Thank you, Kaindl. I felt sure I could. You may leave us now.'
The Colonel stood up, clicked his heels, bowed sharply from the waist and marched off down the long room.
When the door had closed behind him Gregory smiled and said, `My congratulations, Excellency, on the speed with which you have thought of a good way to put me in contact with the Fьhrer in a respectable guise.'
After drawing heavily on a long cigar and exhaling the smoke, Goering replied, `It was the best plan I could think of, but I'm not altogether happy about it. We shall be gambling on your ability to act and talk like a staff officer.'
`Oh, you needn't worry about that,' Gregory laughed. `But, unwittingly, you have demoted me. At home I have the rank of Wing Commander which, as you know, is the equivalent of Lieutenant-Colonel.'
'Indeed!' Goering gave him a sharp glance. `How does that come about?
'It was simply a matter of convenience; so that I could be usefully employed during the long spells I have spent in England between my missions.!
'Where did you work
'Air Ministry Intelligence,' lied Gregory smoothly. `There were lots of other fellows in it who, like myself, had no flying experience: lawyers, schoolmasters, journalists and so on.'
`I see. Yes, that's the case with us, too; and why I can send you in without General Koller who, by the by, is my Chief Liaison Officer at Fuhrer H.Q. or any of my other staff officers being surprised to learn that you have never seen active service with the Luftwaffe.'
`I thought as much; but there remains one nasty snag. What am I supposed to have been doing all the five years the war has been on? It is going to be thought very strange that I won't have a single acquaintance in common with any of your other people. And I dare not lie by stating that I was in this or that department as it might easily emerge that I was not.'
For a moment Goering remained deep in thought, then he asked, `Do you know anything about pictures or objets d'art?'
`As much as the average educated man, but not enough to discuss such matters with an expert.'
`But you have traveled, I take it, and at one time or another visited most of the famous galleries?
'Oh yes. Florence, Madrid, Vienna, Munich, Brussels and the rest. I've been to nearly all of them more than once.'
`Good. That's quite enough. Ever since 1940 I've had eight or ten men going round Europe for me, picking up these sort of things.' The Reichsmarschall waved a hand vaguely round, indicating the Gobelin tapestries on the walls and the Bull cabinets filled with priceless Meissen. `You can have been one of them and spent most of the time in some of the remoter places, say Bulgaria and the Crimea. I've a splendid collection of jeweled ikons. You could have found a lot of those for me. But don't be too specific; give the idea that you were also on the lookout for Byzantine armour, silk Persian rugs and golden trinkets found in the tombs of ancient Greece. I've masses of all these things and you can spend a day or two examining and memorizing some of them before you go to Berlin. If you had been one of my collectors and I'd a personal regard for you, now we've been pushed out of all those countries from which I used to extract these little presents there would be nothing at all unnatural about my taking you on as an extra adjutant.'