'In the teahouse,' Hitler said tersely, and set off again.
Mystified, Heydrich hurried after him. Another twenty minutes' silent
marching brought them to their destination
the round, rustic building where Hitler liked to hold court after
dinner. In contrast to the opulent Berghof, the teahouse had been
furnished for comfort. The circular main room was about twenty-five
feet across, with a round wooden table and easy chairs. it reminded
most people of cozy country holidays before the shadow of war fell
across their lives.
Heydrich did not even notice the blazing fire. Nothing existed for him
in that space save himself and Hitler-two unalloyed souls staring at
each other across a gulf of limitless ambition.
'So?' Hitler snapped. 'You have brought me my plan?'
'Yes, my Fuhrer,' Heydrich said proudly.
'And it took you only two months. Two months! What were you thinking
oP.'
Heydrich stepped back in surprise.
'Did I ask you for the impossible, Herr obergruppenfiihrer? No!
I asked you to plan two simple murders! Surely that could not be too
difficult for you? They tell me you left Gregor Strasser's brains on
the wall of a Gestapo cell for weeks!'
Stunned by Hitler's fury, Heydrich waited in silence'is it in that
briefcase?' Hitler asked sharply.
'Yes, my Fuhrer.'
,you wrote ii down?'
Heydrich nodded uncertainly.
,I am surrounded by fools.' Hitler crossed the room and collapsed into
a leather easy chair opposite Heydrich'Well?' he said finally.
'Report!'
Too shocked to do anything else, Heydrich sat stiffly in one of the easy
chairs and emptied the contents of his brief case onto the coffee table.
His notes, clear and concise. And a stack of eight-by-ten photographs
held neatly together by a paper clip.
'My Fuhrer,' he began, 'my orders entailed finding a way to remove
Churchill and George the Sixth from power on the tenth of May, without
leaving any clue ' that might possibly point to Germany. While this
seems@ 'I am aware of the orders I issued you!' Hitler exploded.
'I want to hear your plan, not a description of the problem!'
Heydrich's notes slipped from his clammy palms. Standing erect, he
screwed up his courage and locked his blue eyes onto Hitler's black
ones. 'Accountability,' he said slowly. 'That, my Fuhrer, is the
paramount consideration in this operation. Even if Churchill and the
king could be killed without leaving a trace of their killers, the
finger of accusation would still point to Germany. More than anyone, we
have the motive-and in time of war, motive is the only consideration. To
avoid making 'Remember Churchill!' the new rallying cry against us, we
must accomplish two things.
First, we must leave no German at the scene of the crime.
Second-and most important-we must provide the British with a culprit
they cannot ignore.'
He watched Hitler for a reaction, but the dictator sat sullenly
immobile. 'So,' he continued, 'who to blame? My Fuhrer, the solution
came to me that first night as if screamed in my ears! Who besides
yourself do the English fear most? The communists. You've said it
yourself a thousand times: 'The communists are the enemy of all
civilized nations.' We know the English industrialists share this view.
The march of Bolshevism since 1917 has every nation in Europe
trembling.' Heydrich drew himself to his full height.
'And so, my Fdhrer, the men who assassinate Churchill and the king must
be communists!'
Heydrich sensed a stirring in Hitler's eyes, a heightening of awareness.
'If communist agents were to assassinate Churchill and the king,' he
went on, 'England would explode into panic. Instead of being united
against Germany, every Englishman would begin t@ fear his own
neighborhis own brother! Communism would become Britain's new enemy-its
new Satan. And what. is the source of world communism?
Russia! 'Strike back at Russia!' will be the new rallying cry in
Britain.'
Heydrich raised one delicate finger into the air. 'But can they?
Bombed and beaten almost beyond rising, England is virtually powerless
against a nation so distant and strong.
But you are not, my Fuhrer. Adolf Hitler is the most implacable foe
Communism has.ever known-the whole world knows it! Your nonaggression
pact'with Stalin means nothing-a temporary alliance of convenience. One
look at Mein Kampf will tell the most skeptical Briton that your primary
aim has always been Russia. Lebensraum!
Expansion eastward into Russia over the bodies of the subhuman Slavic
barbarians!'
Hitler opened his mouth to speak, but Heydrich rolled on, caught up in
the momentum of his emotions. 'And most important, my Fuhrer, every
word, every warning ever given by your friends in England will be proved
true! German' will finally be recognized as the last bastion shielding
England from the fanatical hordes of the East! Isn't that what the Duke
of Windsor has argued all along? That another war between England and
Germany can only end in common slavery under the communists?'
While Heydrich paused for breath, Hitler rose slowly to his feet and
folded his arms. 'An interesting plan, Herr obergruppenftihrer,' he
said, his voice edged with excitement. 'I myself was thinking along
similar lines just the other day. But tell me, who will commit these
murders? No Russian communist will attempt such a thing without Stalin
behind him. And if a German communist does it, we are lost. To the
English, Heydrich, a German is a German. They will not split hairs when
they ask America for our blood in revenge.'
'I've thought 'of that, my Fuhrer,' Heydrich said smoothly, his cruel
lips cracking into a smile. 'There is but one way that this thing can
be accomplished-one way that British fury can be turned away from us and
against Russia.'
He paused like a magician reluctant to reveal his last, best trick.
'The communists who assassinate Churchill and the king must be British
