she opened her eyes at once and gazed blankly at him, and then she smiled. “I’m sorry, I’m so tired I could sleep for a week.”
She turned to Sir George. “May I add my thanks to Paul’s? I don’t know what we’d have done without your help.”
He held her hand for a moment, admiration on his face. “You’re an extremely courageous young woman. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to serve you.”
She colored deeply and got out of the car without saying anything, and Chavasse walked to the door with her. “I want you to sit tight until I come back,” he said. “It might be late, because I’ve got to get this Hauptmann business sorted out.”
She suddenly looked very tired. “I don’t think I could go anywhere even if I wanted to.”
He kissed her lightly on the mouth. “That’s just something on account. Once all this is settled, we’re going to have a serious talk about the future – understand?”
She was too tired to argue. “If you like, Paul.”
She went up the steps to the front door. As she opened it, she turned and smiled and the smile seemed to get right inside him, filling him with an aching longing to hold her in his arms. For a moment or two, he stayed there staring up at the door after she had closed it, and then he went back to the car.
“A very remarkable young woman,” Sir George said as they drove away. “Pretty into the bargain.”
“She’s all that and more,” Chavasse told him.
Sir George smiled. “Do I detect a hint of romance in the air?”
Chavasse nodded. “I certainly hope so. I intend to get out of this game altogether when this Bormann affair is satisfactorily concluded.”
“Very sensible,” Sir George said approvingly. “You can’t last forever.”
It was a sobering thought. Chavasse considered some of the people he had known during his five years with the Bureau. It was a universal human failing to think that you were cleverer than the next man or that it couldn’t happen to you.
But how many intelligent, resourceful people had he known who had failed to return from one assignment or another? One of these days it would be his turn, because sooner or later, everybody made a mistake. It was sound logic to get out while he was still ahead of the game. He was still thinking about it when they reached the Atlantic.
Sir George had a suite on the second floor of the hotel. As they went up in the elevator, he glanced at his watch anxiously. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave you on your own to meet this German intelligence chap. I’ve got an appointment for seven. I’ve hardly got time to change into evening clothes.”
A thought suddenly occurred to Chavasse and he said, “Are you going to this reception that Kurt Nagel is giving for the delegates?”
Sir George raised his eyebrows in surprise. “That’s right. How did you know?”
“I read about it,” Chavasse told him.
“I think the conference as a whole owes its success to Nagel more than to any other man,” Sir George said as he unlocked the door of his suite. “Do you know anything about him?”
Chavasse shook his head. “I can’t say I do, but then I’ve been rather out of touch with the German scene until these last few days.”
Sir George told him to help himself to a drink, and disappeared into the bedroom. Chavasse examined the bottles on the side of the table, poured a brandy, took a cigarette from a silver box, and settled into a comfortable chair. He was about to pick up a newspaper when the telephone rang.
When he lifted the receiver, he recognized Anna’s voice at once. She sounded excited. “Paul, is that you?”
“What is it?” he demanded. “Has something happened?”
“About ten minutes ago, the porter brought a package up to my apartment,” she said. “It was delivered by mail this morning. When I removed the outer wrapper, I found it contained a letter and another sealed package.”
With a sudden elation, he knew what the answer to his next question would be before he put it to her. “Let me guess – the letter was from Katie Holdt.”
“Right first time,” Anna told him. “She says that she’s had to go away for a while and asks me to look after the package for her. Obviously, my time at the Taj Mahal wasn’t wasted after all. If I read or hear of anything happening to her, I’m to post the package to the authorities at Bonn.”
“Needless to say, you’ve already opened it,” Chavasse said.
She laughed. “Of course I have. Bormann’s handwriting covers more than four hundred closely packed pages. It should make very interesting reading. Shall I bring it over?”
“No, sit tight where you are,” he said. “I’ve still got this Hauptmann business to handle. Von Kraul hasn’t arrived yet. I’ll be with you as soon as I can possibly make it. In the meantime, you have that sleep you were talking about.”
She chuckled. “Nothing doing. I’ve never felt so wide awake in my life. I intend to curl up on the sofa with a good book until you get back.”
He replaced the receiver and turned to find Sir George standing just inside the room, adjusting his bow tie. “Presumably, that wasn’t for me?” he said.
Chavasse shook his head. “It was Anna. Believe it or not, the manuscript has turned up.”
“Well, I’ll be damned!” Sir George said. “How did that happen?”
Chavasse explained about Katie Holdt. “I suppose she got into a panic and decided to clear out for a while. Leaving the manuscript with Anna would seem like good insurance against being killed by the opposition if they caught up with her. She could always pull the old bluff about the authorities getting the manuscript automatically if anything happened to her.”
“Yes, I suppose that explains it.” Sir George pulled on his overcoat and sighed. “I wish I didn’t have to go to this damned affair just when things are getting exciting. I hope you’ll let me have a peep at the manuscript before it goes to the authorities.”
“I think we can manage that all right,” Chavasse told him.
“Well, I really must rush,” Sir George said. “Don’t be afraid to ring room service for anything you need.”
When he had gone, Chavasse poured himself another drink. He was filled with a feeling of tremendous exhilaration. The job was as good as finished. Getting the manuscript back to London was simply a matter of routine. There only remained the Hauptmann affair. Admittedly, it would have to be handled by German intelligence, but he still had a deep personal interest in seeing that Steiner and Nagel got what was coming to them. At that moment, a buzzer sounded sharply and he crossed to the door and opened it.
The man who faced him looked to be in his early fifties. He carried a walking stick in one hand and was wearing a dark blue overcoat with a fur collar. His face was round and benign, the flesh pouching a little beneath the eyes and chin as if from overeating. The rimless spectacles completed the picture of a reasonably average-looking German businessman. Only the eyes, shrewd and calculating and never still, gave him away to the trained observer.
“Herr Chavasse, I believe?” he said in German. “I am Colonel von Kraul.”
“How did you recognize me?” Chavasse said as he closed the door after the German had entered.
Von Kraul sat down in one of the easy chairs. “We have a dossier on you in our files. I’ve heard a lot about you. That’s why I came at once after our mutual friend spoke to me from London on the telephone. I trust I haven’t wasted my time.”
“You can judge for yourself,” Chavasse said grimly. “How important would you say Heinrich Hauptmann is to the future of Germany?”
Von Kraul was lighting a long, black cheroot. He hesitated for a fraction of a second and then continued with what he was doing. When the cheroot was burning to his liking, he said, “Hauptmann? No man is indispensable. But in German politics at the present time, Hauptmann comes closer to it than anyone else I know.”
“He’s going to be assassinated at nine-fifteen tonight,” Chavasse said.
For a long moment, von Kraul gazed steadily at him, and then he sighed and looked at his watch. “It is precisely seven o’clock. That gives us two and a quarter hours, Herr Chavasse. I suggest you tell me all you know as quickly as possible.”
Chavasse got to his feet. “Do you know a man called Kurt Nagel?”
“The steel magnate?” Von Kraul nodded. “A very well-known figure in Hamburg life. He’s extremely wealthy and
