Spandau Phoenix (57 page)

"Just as I said!"

Heydrich's face assumed a surgeon's impassivity. "As I said before, motivation is not a problem. These men believe that Churchill is dragging the English working class into yet another worldwide slaughter for capitalist greed. They've already proved their sympathies by sabotaging the British war effort, albeit in small ways, and they certainly have no moral compunction against killing. No, my Fuhrer, the problem is one of authority. These men idolize Helmut, but Helmut alone simply hasn't the authority to order an action on that arty execuscale.

Not even Britain's National Communist Party could order the assassination of a head of state-much less two. An order like that must originate"-Heydrich looked Hitler dead in the eye-"from Moscow."

"Then we are lost!" Hitler bellowed, leaping to his feet. "I told you about my Rumanian oil fields! How can I possibly persuade Stalin to mount an operation like this? That crafty old bear would immediately guess our true intent!"

"You need not persuade Stalin of anything," said Heydrich. "I've solved the problem already. That is what took me two months, my Fuhrer, solving problems like this.

But I have the answers with me tonight. All of them."

,I'm tired of this game, Heydrich! Get to the point!"

The young SD chieftain nodded slowly. "MY Fuhrer, do you remember a @Russian nwned ZinovievT' Hitler knitted his brow. 'The Bolshevik leader of 1917?"

"No." Heydrich cracked a reptilian smile. "A Russian as opposite from a Bolshevik as any man could be-He was captain in the Okhrana, the tsar's secret POlice.@ Hitler tugged at his forelock. His eyes darted around die ry here but at Heydrich. The fire had teahouse, looking eve w died, but neither man noticed. Finally Hitler sat down again, perching on the edge of the leather easy chair. "Proceed," he said.

As trim and hard as a rapier, Reinhard Heydrich stood before the most powerful man on earth and outlined the plan that would place him first in the line of succession to the black throne of the Nazi empire.

With each new revelation, his voice rose in excitement, and Hitler-, spellbound, followed him up the scale.

"And the genius of the concept," Heydrich exulted, with the duill of consummation, ,the -beauty of it, is that England will not simply be neutralized, it will join us in our war against Russia! Think of it!

Paralyzed by grief, the British people will cry out to their new leaders for guidance, and they will be told by those leaders-your men-to do exactly what they so desire to do-take revenge on the godless enemy ! On Russia, the cradle of assassins! And to do that they must reach out to you! Barbarossa will become an Aryan crusade!"

Hitler's facial muscles had seized into an almost catatonic spasm.

His right hand shook as if from palsy. The genius of Heydrich's plan had burst into his brain with the brilliance of a dying star. All his life Hitler had fed upon the intellects of more timid men, seizing upon their revolutionary ideas and charging forward without looking back.

Now-given Heydrich's plan like a gift from heaven itself-he reveled in the knowledge that he would once again beat all the odds, once again prove himself right and all his generals wrong!

This certainty coursed through his veins like a blast of morphine.

Visions of conquest flashed behind his eyes: the Kremlin, shattered and smoldering in black ashes; tall young Germans tilling the great fields of the Ukraine; German ships sailing forth from Odessa and Archangel "I see it!" Hitler cried. "I see it all now!" @e' scurried around the table like a human lightning rod attempting to discharge itself "It can work! Churchill is going to die!"

"And the king!" Heydrich added euphorically. "My Fuhrer, Helmut assures me that it can be done. Zinoviev is already preparing for the mission!"

"My God," Hitler murmured, suddenly mortified. "How do you communicate with Helmut?"

"I don't. It's always been a one-way conduit. "Because of that@'

"Yes?"

"I had to send a man into England with a message."

" What? "

"I take full responsibility, my Fuhrer. I felt that this mission was simply too important to risk by using radio communications.

I trust no one. I never even contacted Lord Granville."

"And what if your messenger had been captured?"

"He wasn't."

"And what if he read your message, Herr Obergruppenfiihrer? What if he decided to sell it to the highest bidder!"

"The message was in code," Heydrich replied evenly. "He simply delivered an envelope and returned with a one-word answer: Ja."

.Hitler's voice went shrill with-paranoia. "And you think this courier knows nothing? Can reveal nothing? What if he decides to sell his knowledge now?"

"That would be impossible, my Fuhrer-I shot him myself, five minutes after he delivered Helmut's reply."

Hitler said nothing for a long while. Putting his hand to his chin, he looked out through one of the small-paned windows near the fireplace.

Outside, the snow had begun to fall again. "Remarkable," he murmured.

He took his walking stick from its resting place on the hearth and turned back to Heydrich. "Let's return to the Berghof- 'we can talk on the way back."

They walked through the darkness without speaking. The crunch of Heydrich's boots on the hard-packed snow punctuated their progress across the mountain. Now and then the howls of German shepherds reverberated across the rocky slope. After twenty minutes they reached the parking area.

Hitler fixed Heydrich with his dark gaze.

"Are you confident that Helmut's Englishmen can reach their targets, Herr Obergruppenfiihrer? Can they kill both men on the tenth of May?"

"My Fuhrer," Heydrich said confidently, .1any man can be assassinated on any day, if one critical condition is satisfied."

"What condition?"

"That the assassin be prepared to die in the doing of the deed."

Hitler's eyes narrowed. "And you believe these Englishmen will die for Helmut?"

Heydrich blinked against the wind. "No. They will die for their lost ideals. They will die for their gods-Leniii and Marx. For Moscow, perhaps. But most of all, they will die believing they have delivered their country from the clutches of ruthless oppressors who have held England's poor-and half of the rest of the world's-in slavejy for a very long time. They will die to become martyrs."

"Remarkable," Hitler said finally. "You seem to have considered every possibility."

Heydrich nodded with formal correctness.

"I shall leave you here, Heydrich-Is there anything further you require from me?"

,Yes," Heydrich answered without hesitation. "A diversion. if you could possibly arrange some type of limited attack on England on May tenth-a small commando attack on a Channel port, perhaps? A U-boat raid near London?"

"I've already taken care of that," Hitler said. "Have no fear, your assassins will have all the confusion they need. On the night of May tenth, I shall unleash the most devastating air attack London has ever known. And it will be the last raid against Great Britain. At least until Russia has been conquered. Perhaps then He trailed off, his voice soft and ruminative.

Heydrich licked his wind-burned lips. Unexpectedly, he had discovered the courage to ask the question which had haunted him since the night Hitler first gave him his assignment. "My Fuhrer?" he said tentatively.

"Yes?"

"With all respect, you have not told me much about the political side of the mission. To be quite frank, it worries me. The success of the entire operation hinges on a single factor, and that factor is beyond my control."

"What are you talking about?"

"My Fuhrer, again with all respect, do you have Englishmen ready to assume control of the government when Churchill dies? When the king is dead? My sources indicate-"

"That does not concern you!" Hitler jabbed a stiff finger into Heydrich's chest. "You have Lord Grenville's name!

You know all you need to for now! Just make certain that your cripples carry out their orders! Hess has the names. He will handle the political side of the mission."

Too shocked to be afraid, Heydrich raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Reichminister Hess, my Fuhrer? But ... I was under the impression that your confidence in him was waning. Both Goring and Himmler speak of him a@' "Goring and Himmler? You should spend less time listening to gossip and more time studying how the Party rose to the position it now holds!

Hess has done more for me than . . ."

Hitler shook his fist in the air. "Let me tell you something, Heydrich.

It took Hess just one month to do what you could not do in a year. Hess rooted out the traitor in our midst. And that traitor is your own boss-Himmler! Yesloyal Heinrich. Already he searches for ways to usurp my power. And you, working right under his nose, you could not see it!"

Hitler's face suddenly darkened. "Or could you?"

Heydrich blanched. "No, my Fuhrer! I swear to you ...

What can I do to prove my loyalty? I shall arrest the Reichsfiihrer myself!" r arr "Don't be ridiculous," Hitler s_offed"We cannot est the head of the SS for treason. No, we shall rely on the safety mechanism already in place."

Heydrich wiped his brow @with relief. His hand was shaking. "My Fuhrer, a disturbing thought has occurred to me. It concerns the 'double'

program. If Reichsfiihrer Himmler is indeed a traitor, it is all the more frightening. I think you should place all the doubles from the Practical School under my direct command." ,What the devil are you talking about, Heydrich?" Hitler scowled in confusion.

"My Fuhrer, consider this: if, God forbid, a traitor succeeded in having you assassinated, the doubles could be of inestimable value to that traitor in gaining the confidence of the people and the army-if the traitor could present a trusted comrade of yours-Reichminister Hess, for example-a true people Nazi who would stand at his side like an ally, the might well accept the traitor's authority-Himmler is CeTtainly devious enough to have worked this out."

This terrifying possibility seemed to shrink Hitler in his very clothes.

"I want every double shot immediately!" he cried. "Such a risk cannot be tolerated!"

Heydrich replied very softly. "MY Fuhrer, perhaps YOu might reconsider?

Our political doubles represent a tremendous investment of time and resources. I believe they will ar with Russia. You prove invaluable to us in the coming w could remove the danger simply by placing them under my direct command."

Hitler's black eyes bored relentlessly into Heydrich's face, probing for disloyalty-After a full minute of silence, he said, ,Permission granted." Then he added, "For now."

tar ri I tu an tried Heydrich s ed in surp se as Hit er med d hu uP the frozen path. "MY Fuhrer!" he calledhastening up the slope after him.

"Nothing can stop us now! Failure is not a possibility!"

Hitler paused twenty meters from the Berghof-In a flat

6 pie d,

voice suddenly drained of anger, he said, "I am ase Heydrich.

When Barbarossa is completed, I shall not forget you. Once Russia's vast lands lie under our control, I will need a man of iron to rule her-a Reich-protector I can trustAre you that man, Heydrich?"

"As you command, my Fuhrer!"

Without a word Hitler turned and marched up the steps to the Berghof Heydrich stood motionless in the snow. The promise of a Reich-Protectorship made his heart pound, but a darker dread still ate at his confidence. in the face of Hitler's wrath, he had quailed from voicing his deepest doubt about Plan Mordred-his nagging suspicion that the Fuhrer's English "sympathizers"-whoever they might be-were actually I ure Germany into a for Britain nation, any human effort.

But w] it? The game had to be played sure that his part ran smoothly.

From this moment forward, Heydrich existed almost without sleep, without food. The Fuhrer had extended the light of power to him, and he moved through his days like he was sworn to a holy quest. His allies in that quest were an embittered Russian expatriate, and ' a oneeyed German agent living in the heart of beleaguered London. All @ lived only that a fat English warrior and a shy English king might die.

In Hitler's small study on the second floor of the Berghof, Rudolf Hess anxiously awaited his Fuhrer. Dressed in his gray uniform, he sat behind a desk littered with architectural plans and sketches. Most of the sketches were by Hitler; Hess recognized the cramped, untutored style. The building plans, though, had been drafted by Albert Speer.

Stronglined and well-proportioned, the great avenue of the Fuhrer's new Berlin stretched across the desk like a blueprint of the future.

The magnificent Imperial Palace, the Triumphal Arch that would dwarf the one in Paris@l seemed the natural fruit of the labor of the new Reich, a mighty city built to endure for a thousand years. Or so it see@ed on those happier occasions when Hess had studied these plans in the past.

He would never look at them in quite the same way again.

The Party and the Reich that he had once viewed as a united force-an unstoppable juggernaut destined for immortality-he now saw as a fragile alliance of ambitious men held together only by their common fear of Adolf Hitler. Since Hess's momentous meeting with the Fuhrer in January, both Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Goring had deduced the real reason for Hess's training flights. At Gestapo headquarters in Berlin, Hess had conducted a conversation with Reichsfiihrer Himmler that could only be described as a war of nerves.