The Swiss Spy (35 page)

‘The car has been hidden in Weissensee since before
the war began,’ Kato had told him. ‘A mechanic who’s a secret Party member has
been looking after it. He now works in an SS garage, so he’s been able to
obtain the correct documentation. I’ve kept the paperwork up to date. I was
keeping it for an emergency, but if Viktor says… The identity cards won’t be
easy, not with so little time. It’s possible to purchase these things though;
the black market is very active at the moment. Do you have money I can use, by
any chance?’

He had handed her a substantial sum of Swiss Francs
and her eyes lit up. ‘That should make it much easier,’ she said. ‘I’ll do what
I can.’

A policeman had walked past the car and now, in his rear-view
mirror, Henry could see him turning around and heading slowly back in his
direction. He needed to move, but first he removed from his pocket a tightly
wrapped piece of paper, from which he produced the Nazi Party membership badge
he had taken from the perfume shop owner in Essen. He pinned it carefully to
his lapel and checked in the mirror it was at a proper angle. The car started
first time, if rather noisily and lurched forward as he selected the gears. He
drove slowly down
the side streets to get a feel of the car before
turning
into
Kurfürstendamm.

Create a commentary: decide your route, write it
down then memorise that route in the spoken form. When you’re driving along,
keep reciting the commentary, it means you can avoid using a map and drawing
attention to yourself.

East along Kurfürstendamm
, then
right into Joachimstaler Strasse, which becomes Kaiser Allee.
There was
surprisingly little traffic on the road, though he had to be careful of the
trams. The Opel was heavy but powerful, and he had to concentrate hard to keep
his speed under control.

Through Wilmersdorf and Friedenau. Kaiser Allee
leads into Rein Strasse. At the end of Rein Strasse you will see the
Botanischer
Garten
signposted. Turn right into Grunewald Strasse: you will know
where you are from there
.

It was 11.20. The journey had been quicker than he
imagined and the Opel now handled beautifully: he had little doubt that once it
got out on the open road it would perform well, assuming they got that far. In
Kaiser Wilhelm Strasse he eased the car slowly to a halt in a position where he
could see the house on the corner of
Arno-Holz Strasse.

At various stages since he had arrived in Berlin he
had been telling himself he did not need to do this, that he could pull out
now. No-one would know if he did, with the possible exception of Kato. He could
drive on towards Tempelhof, abandon the car and still have time to catch the
12.30 flight to Berlin – there was just about enough time – and for a brief
moment he hesitated.

Then the image of Roza appeared again, smiling this
time and the sense of calm that he had first encountered in the air-raid
shelter in Stuttgart station returned.

He left the car and walked over to the house,
knowing there was no going back.

***

Henry
Hunter’s career as a secret agent ceased the moment he knocked on the door of
the house where Rosa Stern was hiding. He had been a Soviet spy since 1930 and
a British one for a year and half. Serving first one then two masters had
required him to be constantly on his guard, and to be in control and exercise
caution all the time. Despite sometimes affecting an air of detachment and
possibly coming across as a bit too questioning, Henry knew he had survived
because he had actually always done what he was told.

Now, he was doing the opposite. From this moment on
he was turning his back on the obedience that had dictated his life for
previous ten years. He would be exploiting his training for his own interests.

When Rosa opened the door she looked as though she’d
seen a ghost.

‘What on earth are you doing here? I told you it was
too dangerous to return: you have to leave now! Oh my God Henri this is so
dangerous. Please go. Please!’

‘Let me in Rosa. I need to explain. You’ll
understand when I tell you why I’m here. You know it’s dangerous for me to
stand here. Please.’

So she let him in and hurried him upstairs while she
settled Frau Hermann. When she came up to the small lounge on the first floor
she look flustered and stood by the closed door, arms folded.

‘What is it Henri – and how come you’re still in
Berlin? My God – what’s that?’ She was pointing at the
Nazi Party
membership badge on his lapel. ‘You’re not…’

‘Don’t worry Rosa; it’s to stop me looking
suspicious.’

She laughed sarcastically. ‘A Swiss citizen walking
round Berlin wearing a Nazi Party badge: you think that doesn’t look
suspicious?’

‘Listen to me Rosa. You’re in danger, you and
Sophia.’

‘Thanks for telling me that Henri. Don’t you think I’m
already very well aware of that?’

‘No, no… What I mean is you’re in immediate danger. You
have to leave the house now!’

She gasped and moved away from the door, moving to
the sofa opposite Henry.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I saw Franz this morning. He told me he’s heard
through a contact that the Gestapo have been informed you’re hiding in this
area: they’ve been told you’re in a house in one of the roads just north of the
Botanischer
Garten. They’re planning to search every house. The search could begin at any
time.’

‘But Franz was here yesterday, he never said a word
about this. I’d have known if something was wrong, surely?’

‘I saw him early this morning: he’d only just heard.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure. Why else do you think I’m here?’

‘But Franz had a plan we’d use if we’re ever in
danger: he’d telephone and use a code word, then Sophia and I would go to
Pankow, where a friend of his has a shop and we’d be able to hide in the attic.
He…’

‘There’s no time Rosa. I’m sure Franz made all these
plans but maybe he panicked. I told you, they could start the house-to-house
search at any time. We have to leave now.’

‘We?’

‘Yes. I’ve got a car. I’m going to take you and
Sophia, but we need to leave now.’

‘This is madness Henri. We have no proper papers and
what about Frau Hermann? I can’t just abandon her.’

‘I have papers Rosa, here – look.’

He handed her the identity cards Kato had left for
him in the car, hers in the name of
Dagmar Keufer, Sophia’s in the name
of Gisela Keufer. Rosa studied them carefully.

‘The photographs Henri – they’re not even of us!’

‘No, of course not – there was no time. But they
could
be of you: they ought to be good enough for a basic check, they’re not too bad
and I have a card in the name of Erich Keufer, so we’ll be able to pretend to
be a family. You see our address is in Frankfurt: we can say we’re driving
there.’

‘To Frankfurt – are you mad? We’ll be lucky to get
out of Berlin. And what do we do when we get to Frankfurt – buy a house, join
the Nazi Party?’

‘We’re not going to Frankfurt, Rosa. We’re going to
Switzerland. I’ve got Swiss papers for you and Sophia, too, I had them prepared
only last week. They’re very good, but I think we can only risk using them when
we’re much closer to the border.’

Rosa was pacing around the room in a circle, shaking
her head and running her hand through her hair. ‘I’m sorry Henri but this
doesn’t make sense to me. You seem to have got hold of these papers very
quickly – I thought you said it was only this morning that Franz told you he
heard we were in danger?’

 ‘Can be honest with you Rosa? When I first visited
you here it was apparent your situation was too dangerous. I thought something
like this would happen, but I didn’t want to voice my fears to Franz as he’s
been so good to you. I was so worried I had these identity cards prepared: just
in case.’

Rosa sank back in the sofa, looking overwhelmed and
confused. She clearly thought Henry’s plan was crazy, but then so was remaining
in the house if there really was a chance it was about to be searched by the
Gestapo. Henry was sure she was far from convinced but he was counting on her
not risking her life and that of her daughter by ignoring him.

‘And Frau Hermann?’

‘Make her comfortable and tell her you’ll be back
later. Franz will come round after work. Rosa, we need to move fast – you need
to get Sophia ready. Pack a few things, but nothing that identifies you or
Sophia. We also need to take food and blankets; we might not be able to stop.’

Rosa was back by the door now, her hand on the
handle. She peered at Henry sceptically.

‘Perhaps I should contact Franz? We’ve got an agreed
system to use in an emergency – I telephone him pretending to be a secretary
from another law firm.’

 ‘No Rosa! Under no circumstances! Franz said he
thinks they’ll be listening in to all telephone calls in this area – maybe that’s
why he hasn’t contacted you himself. If you phone him at his office it could
reveal your location and bring him under suspicion. You must do nothing that
would draw attention to this house, do you understand?’

Once Rosa decided she had no alternative but to go
along with Henry, she moved fast and decisively. She gave Frau Hermann her
lunch early and told her she would be back later. She packed a small suitcase
for her and Sophia, telling the little girl they were going on a long journey
and if she was a very good girl and did everything she was asked to, and told
anyone who asked her name was Gisela, she would see Alfred.
But only if you’re
good. And only if you remember your name is Gisela.

Henry decided to bring the car right outside the
house rather than risk Rosa and Sophia being seen crossing the road with a
suitcase.

***

Always
see a car journey in the same way as one on foot – as a series of short
journeys: a car trip from London to Edinburgh, for example, should be broken
down into a series of shorter stages – London to Northampton, Northampton to
Nottingham, Nottingham to Sheffield, et cetera. These are much easier to
explain if stopped, as long as you have a feasible story ready to explain that
journey.

This aspect of his British training and more was
racing around in Henry’s mind as they left the house in Arno-Holz Strasse at
noon. They were just ahead of the schedule he had in his mind when they pulled
into a layby just outside Potsdam 40 minutes later. He turned off the engine
and took out a road map from beside his seat.

‘Here, let me show you our route.’

‘Where to?’

‘To Switzerland, I told you.’

‘You’re serious, aren’t you? How are we going to get
that far?’

‘Let me show you, I have it all planned.’

Henry opened out the map, allowing it to rest on the
dashboard and their laps. He moved towards Rosa as they looked at it. As he got
closer he caught the scent of a delicate perfume. She flicked her hair out of
her eyes, looking carefully at the map as he pointed at the Swiss border.

‘I know where Switzerland is.’

‘There are two possible routes, Rosa. This one here
– I’ve called that the east route. It’s more direct. We’d go south-west in more
or less a straight line: Leipzig; Bayreuth; Nuremberg; Ulm. The plan would be
to cross the border around Lake Konstanz…’

‘Attempt to cross the border, Henri.’

‘Attempt to cross the border then. I understand the
Lake Konstanz part of the frontier can be a bit less dangerous than some other
crossings. But that’d take us through Bavaria and close to the border with the
Protectorate, where I’m told security is especially strong’.

Henry leant over Rosa to unfold more of the map. Her
hair brushed his face.

‘This is what I call the west route: it’s much more
circuitous. We’d drive to Brunswick then down towards Stuttgart before crossing
the border around Singen, with an option to go over the mountains. It has the
advantage of taking us close to Frankfurt, which is where our identity cards
say we are from.’

Rosa studied the map for a while. She frowned.

‘I suppose your west route is the lesser of two
evils. Do you know how long it’ll take us?’

‘From here to Brunswick is just over 110 miles, but I’m
planning to come off the main roads and stick to the side roads as much as I
can. If anyone asks why, just say you get car sick on main roads. I think we’ll
get south of Brunswick – maybe as far as Göttingen – before it gets dark. We
can then look for a wood to drive into and hide for the night. We’ll be 200
miles from Stuttgart: we can be there by Wednesday night and drive to
Switzerland on the Thursday.’

Rosa said nothing, but shrugged as if in reluctant
agreement. Henry restarted the Opel and they pulled out into the road.

‘You must drive slower, please – and not so close to
the centre of the road. You had this all planned, didn’t you?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You’re too near the kerb now, just slow down a bit,’
said Rosa. ‘Are you seriously telling me you saw Franz this morning and since
then you’ve sorted all this out, including working out how long it’s going to
take?’

‘Yes and no. I told you Rosa, since I first met you I’d
been so concerned at the danger you were in that I’d given some consideration
to this. And when Franz told me this morning I had to move fast.’

To the surprise of both of them, the journey to
Brunswick was uneventful. Where they could, they dropped off the main road: the
Lower Saxony countryside was ideal for this kind of driving, with plenty of
small narrow roads leading off the larger ones. On the occasions they passed
police or military vehicles no interest was paid to them: a husband and wife
and their daughter out for a drive. A few miles to the north of Göttingen, with
the light beginning to fail, they came across a wood with a track leading into
it from the road. Henry stopped the car and managed to open a creaky wooden
gate, then drove as deep into the wood as possible. When he walked back to shut
the gate it was impossible to see the Opel from the road. It was when he
returned to the car, feeling pleased with himself and almost relaxed, that Sophia
started crying. It was a soft cry at first, almost a series of sobs, but then
it became louder.

‘What is it darling?’

When Sophia replied she spoke so quietly her mother
had to lean across the front seat to hear her.

‘I can’t hear you darling; you’ll need to speak up.’

‘But I can’t, Mama,’ she whispered. ‘You told me to
whisper. You said people mustn’t hear me speak.’

Rosa turned around and stroked her daughter’s face.

‘It’s alright now darling. You don’t need to whisper
here in the car: only if there are other people around. Now, what were you
going to say?’

 ‘I’m frightened.’ Each word punctuated by a noisy
sob.

‘What are you frightened of?’

‘The goblins! There are always goblins in a forest.’

‘There are no such thing as goblins,’ said Henry
impatiently. ‘And, in any case, this is not a forest, it’s a wood.’

This only seemed to make things worse and Sophia’s
cry turned into a wail. Rosa left the front seat and went to sit next to Sophia
in the back. After a long cuddle, the little girl calmed down.

‘Where are we going?’

‘You should rest now darling.’

‘But where are we going?’ Sophia sounded as if was
pleading with her mother.

‘Somewhere safe darling. Now, please rest.’

‘If we’re going somewhere safe, does it mean we’ll
see Alfred there?’

‘Yes darling, I told you we would, especially if you’re
a good girl. You should rest now.’

‘Will we also see papa in the safe place? Why don’t
you tell me?’

Rosa didn’t reply. Henry glanced back at her, her
head had dropped and she was tapping her teeth with her knuckles as her eyes
filled with tears. Sophia was sitting with her legs hunched up to her face, her
enormous dark eyes unblinking as they looked up at him from behind her
kneecaps. In the gloom her pale skin now appeared chalky-white. She gave him
the beginnings of a smile and waved one of the paws of the dirty, white,
one-eared rabbit she was clutching at Henry, who waved back awkwardly.