comrades, loyal Germans to a man. A captured communist later claimed
the Reds had lined the prisoners up and sl;of them one by one.
Among all the communist crimes, Hess vowed, this was the one for which
he would exact revenge in Russian blood'Herr Reichminister?' the sentry
asked tentatively.
'What?' Hess looked up. 'Oh. The message. To Karlheinz Pintsch: Have
my Messerschmitt fully fueled and ready for a round-trip flight to
Berlin. I want nine-hundredliter drop tanks fitted and filled. Got
that?'
'Jawohl, Herr Reichminister!'
Hess kicked the Mercedes into gear and raced down winding mountain road
as fast as the snow would allow.
I ma God! he thought with exhi aration- I am the n who will seal the
peace with England ... and open the road to Moscow!
With Reinhard Heydrich's help, Hess remembered uneasily. He touched the
envelope in his coat pocket. With a shiver he suddenly recalled the
story he had heard about Heydrich. Apparently the 'blond beast'-after
an exhausting night of drinking and whoring-had caught sight of his own
reflection in a lavatory mirror. Wild -eyed and sweating, scum!' then
he had screamed, 'At last I've got you, whipped out his pistol and
emptied it through the glass.
Hess felt a cold chill of presentiment, but he quickly shook it off. One
could not pick one's allies in the war against the Bolshevik and the
Jew. Sometimes it took a beast to slay a beast. If the Fuhrer trusted
Heydrich, there was nothing more to be said. Hess had other things to
worry about. A night flight to Britain, for example.
Englishmen who had survived the hell of Hermann Goring's terror bombing
would not mince words if Hess landed alone and unprotected in their
country. They would do their talking with bullets. And that's fine,
Hess thought. I've faced bullets before; I can do it again. The mere
thought of his destination brought a strange quickening to his blood.
England!
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
January 7, 1941, The Bavarian Alps Obergruppenfiihrer Reinhard Heydrich,
Reich Commissar for the Consolidation of German @tock and chief of the
SD, landed at Ainring Airport near Berchtesgaden just two hours after
Rudolf Hess delivered Hitler's unexpected message to Berlin. Like Hess,
Heydrich piloted himself, and upon landing he commandeered a convertible
Porsche from a local Gestapo sergeant. The sergeant professed great
pleasure at being able to help the Obergruppenfiihrer, but inside he
felt only despair. He knew that even if the beautiful car were returned
a burned-out wreck, he could say nothing. Men who angered Reinhard
Heydrich had been known to disappear without a trace.
The open Porsche rocketed along the blacked-out highway, half-sliding
around curves made deadly by a sudden winter shower.
Heydrich drove stonefaced despite the brittle drops that stung his skin
and eyes. The frigid wind would have driven any normal man to groan in
pain, but the young Obergruppenfiihrer prided himself on his ability to
control his human weaknesses. The fact that he was quite mad aided him
considerably in this task.
Unlike most of Hitler's chieftains, Heydrich seemed the incarnation of
the mythical Aryan superman. Tall and blond, blue-eyed, spare and
muscular of frame,.he carried himself with the self-assurance of a crown
prince. A jarring amalgam of opposites, Heydrich put every man he met
off balance. A world-class fencer, he had been asked to join the German
Olympic team, yet tales of his homosexual conquests were whispered in SS
barracks throughout the Reich.
He was an accomplished violinist who not only brought tears to the eyes
of his audiences, but sometimes cried himself during particularly
beautiful passages. Yet his sadistic rampages through Eastern Europe
would eventually cause Czech partisans to christen him the 'Butcher of
Prague,' and British intelligence to order his assassination. And the
most telling paradox of all: Reinhard Heydrich-the man who had vowed to
'eliminate the strain' of Jewry from the world-had Jewish blood flowing
through his veins.
At the outer gate of Obersalzburg, the SS guards eyed the approaching
Porsche with suspicion. When they recognized its driver, however, they
snapped to attention and waved Heydrich through. The sentries at the
inner gate displayed the same deference, and he soon reached the summit
of the mountain. The Berghof appeared to be under siege.
Most of the High Command had arrived during the afternoon; long black
staff cars overflowed the parking lot and encircled the rear of the
house. Heydrich picked a path through the cars, made his way around to
the front of the house, and opened the door without knocking.
An SS sergeant of the Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler had been posted in the
entry hall to meet him. After a curt salute, the sergeant whisked
Heydrich up the stairs to the bedrooms and indicated the door he wished
the SD chief to enter.
'You're to wait here, Herr Obergruppenftihrer. By order of the Fuhrer.'
Heydrich looked mystified- 'Am I not to attend the conference
downstairs?'
'Nein, Herr Obergruppenflihrer. Reichleiter Borrnann instructed me to
have you meet the Fuhrer in the teahouse, but I just received word that
he won't have time for the walk.'
'We could drive,' Heydrich suggested.
'The Fuhrer never drives to the teahouse.'
The sergeant seemed to think this explanation sufficient.
Heydrich dismissed him and reached for the bedroom door handle, then
paused as another door opened farther down the hall. A blond woman
leaned furtively out; Heydrich registered an ample bosom beneath a
rather plain face before she ducked back inside. Only after entering
the small bedroom designated for his meeting with the Fuhrer did he
realize that the woman he had just seen must be Eva Braun. With an
extreme sense of discomfort Heydrich put the incident out of his mind.
The Fuhrer in a carnal entanglement with a
peasant -girl? Preposterous!
Out of habit Heydrich surveyed the Berghof grounds from the small
bedroom window. He saw SS guards and dogs silhouetted against the snow
at regular intervals all over the compound. Nodding with satisfaction,
