the one person who could teach Anni how to penetrate Mossad.’
‘Which she did very well.’ Bond glanced at the pretty face next to him. ‘Why did you mention her name to me? That first time – when I questioned you, following the knife fight at your place?’
She sighed. ‘Why do you think, James? I was in a very difficult situation. It was the only way I could pass on some kind of clue.’
‘All right. Now, tell me the whole story.’
Paula Vacker had been in on the entire NSAA affair from the start – even before the first incident at Tripoli. SUPO, through informers and observation, knew that Tudeer had returned to Finland, taken the name of von Gloda, and appeared to be up to something just over the border, in Russia. ‘After every possible intelligence agency had been called in on the National Socialist Action Army, I suggested it could be the work of Tudeer,’ she told him. ‘For my pains, my masters ordered that I infiltrate. So I put myself in the right places and said the right things. It got back, I was a good healthy Aryan Nazi.’ Eventually, von Gloda had made contact. ‘I was finally appointed to his staff as resident in Helsinki. In other words, I was doubling with the full knowledge of my superiors.’
‘Who refrained from passing information to my Service?’ There were many things that still puzzled Bond.
‘No. SUPO was, in fact, preparing a dossier. Then the storm broke at the Ice Palace – over Blue Hare – and there was no need to make any reports. Kolya’s superiors set up Icebreaker and I was supposed to be there for your protection. I gather your Service was put in the picture – late on – after you’d left for the Ice Palace.’
Bond pondered on this for a few kilometres. Eventually he said, ‘I find it hard to swallow – the whole business about Icebreaker and the deal with Kolya.’
‘It would be difficult to believe unless you were actually there, unless you really got to know von Gloda’s deviousness, and Kolya Mosolov’s cunning mind.’ She gave her delightful laugh. ‘They were both egomaniacs, and power mad – though each in his own way, you understand. I did the journey from Helsinki to the Arctic and across to the bunker a dozen times, you know. I was also there, and trusted, when the balloon went up.’
‘What? Blue Hare?’
‘Yes. That was all absolutely genuine. You have to take your hat off to von Gloda. He had nerve. Incredible nerve. Mind you, I think the Soviets were keeping more of an eye on him than he imagined.’
‘I wonder.’ Bond took an icy bend a little fast, swore, left-footed the brake, came out of the skid with power, and had the car under control all in a matter of seconds. ‘You know a British General has said that the Russians should be awarded the wooden spoon for ineptitude? They can do the most stupid things. Tell me what happened with Blue Hare.’
‘I was completely accepted within the, so-called, Fuhrer’s inner circle. He seldom let us forget how clever he was in bribing those stupid NCOs at Blue Hare. He really did pay them a pittance for the equipment; and they didn’t seem to think about being caught.’
‘But they were.’
‘Indeed they were. I was there when it all happened. The fat little Warrant Officer came dashing up to the bunker. Like the rest of them, he was really only a peasant in uniform. Stank to high heaven, but von Gloda was terrific with him. I have to admit the man could be exceptionally cool in moments of crisis. But of course he believed in his destiny as the new Fuhrer. Nothing could go wrong, and every man had his price. I heard him tell the Blue Hare CO to get the army people to call in the GRU. He knew they would pass it on to the KGB. Oddly, it worked. Quicker than a wink, Kolya Mosolov was there.’
‘And asked for my head on a charger.’
Paula gave a secretive smile. ‘It wasn’t quite like that. Kolya had no intention of ever letting von Gloda get away with it. He simply played along, gave him some rope. You know the Russians; Kolya’s one chink was that he wanted to bury the problem of Blue Hare. On the other hand, I think von Gloda saw himself as the Devil tempting Christ. He actually offered Kolya his heart’s desire.’
‘And Kolya said: J. Bond, Esquire?’
‘Von Gloda’s mad dream was of power to control the world. Kolya did not think that big. All he wanted was to bury Blue Hare – which meant doing away with von Gloda’s set-up. He could have dealt with it all in a couple of days, on his own. But von Gloda, being the kind of man he was, set his own delusions of grandeur to work. In turn they fired Kolya’s imagination.’
Bond nodded. ‘Kolya, what do you want in all the world? Kolya thinks:
‘That’s it. The old SMERSH – Department V as they now are – wanted you. So he asked for you.’ She began to laugh. ‘Then von Gloda had the gall to do a deal which meant that Kolya had to work very hard. After all, it was through Kolya that the CIA, Mossad and your Service were brought in; it was through Kolya that you, James, were asked for personally; it was Kolya who set everything up.’
‘Under the instructions of von Gloda? It somehow doesn’t ring true.’
‘No. No, James, it doesn’t, until you take into account the personalities involved, and their motivations. I told you, Kolya had no intention of letting von Gloda get away with it. But his own private thirst for power and advancement allowed him to use the whole of von Gloda’s organisation for the one purpose of luring you into Russia. It took a lot of doing – the specially printed maps, the replacement of Tirpitz . . .’
‘Getting Rivke appointed to the team?’ Bond suggested.
‘Von Gloda suggested that Kolya should ask for her, just as he suggested Tirpitz from the Americans. Kolya, of course, wanted you – he spent hours using von Gloda’s telephone, talking to Moscow Centre. They were sticky about it to begin with, but Kolya concocted some kind of tale. His superiors agreed, and put in their formal requests to America, Israel and Britain. Everyone was furious when you couldn’t be brought in straight away. The fellow Buchtman arrived first. He was some contact of von Gloda’s, and they sent him off to meet the real Tirpitz and dispose of him. Then Rivke arrived in Finland. That was very worrying. I had to keep clear most of the time. Von Gloda appointed me as liaison officer for Kolya, which was handy, and by this time Moscow Centre had given Kolya a free hand. They thought he was simply clearing up some nest of dissidents on the Finnish border and wiping the slate clean of Blue Hare, using the Americans, British and Israelis as fall guys if anything went wrong. I suppose they imagined that the NSAA was only a small cell of fanatics.’
She paused, took one of Bond’s cigarettes, then continued. ‘For me, Rivke was the most difficult part. I did not dare see her, and Kolya wanted messages passed to her in Helsinki. I had to do it through a third party. Then everyone was really waiting for a chance to have you brought out. Rivke came into play, when von Gloda hatched his little scheme, as a standby . . .’
‘Which particular scheme?’
She sighed. ‘The one that made me very jealous. That Rivke should worm her way into your heart, then disappear in case von Gloda needed to use her to trap you. The business on the ski slope took one hell of a lot of organisation – and not a little nerve on Anni’s part. But, then, she was always a good gymnast . . . As you certainly discovered,’ she added pointedly.
Bond grunted. ‘You think von Gloda had any idea that he wasn’t going to be allowed to get away with it?’
‘Oh, he suspected Kolya enough. He didn’t trust him. That was why I liaised with the Russians. Von Gloda had to know everything. Then, of course, we got to the point where our noble Fuhrer needed to know about the man your people captured in England. You were already under sentence of death. So was Kolya. Von Gloda’s plan was to get all his people out to Norway.’
‘Norway? That was where his new Command Post had been built?’
‘So my chiefs tell me. But they also knew of another hiding place he had in Finland. I should imagine that was where everyone was going when Kolya’s airstrike was called in.’
They travelled in silence for a long way, Bond going over the facts in his mind. ‘Well,’ he said finally, ‘my trouble is that von Gloda’s the first real enemy against whom I’ve had to pit my wits at long range. Most of my assignments allow me to get close; to know the man I’m dealing with. Von Gloda never let me really come near him.’
‘It was his strength. He didn’t let anyone gain his complete confidence – even that woman he took around with him. I think Anni – Rivke – was the only one who really knew him.’
‘And you didn’t?’ Bond’s voice was laced with suspicion.
‘What do you mean?’ Paula’s tone turned cold, as though offended.
