'Isn't that right? Isn't that where the two of you met?'
Hess smiled distantly.
'Zinoviev never went back to Germany as his journal claimed, did he?'
Hess chuckled.
'And in spite of your eye wound,' Stern guessed, 'the two of you escaped
together to South America, and finally ended up here.' Stern's eyes
flashed as he looked at Hess.
'Zinoviev tried to warn us, you know. In 1967. He must have realized
then how mad you were.'
Hess flung out a scarecrow-thin arm. 'Zinoviev was weak! All he cared
about in the end was his precious Mother Russia! Holy Russia.
He was practically a religious fanatic by 1967.' Hess sighed.
'We found out about that warning, though, didn't we, Pieter? And dear
Vasili had to meet his maker a bit earlier than even he wanted to.'
'Why didn't you return to Germany?' Hauer asked.
Hess looked genuinely sad. 'I was confused. It was never even
considered that things could turn out as badly as they had. You must
understand: I had long accepted in my mind that by May eleventh I would
have succeeded in my mission or I would be dead.
Yet I had failed, and I was still alive. It seemed foolish to kill
myself at that point. And stranger still, Churchill's government had
chosen to believe-publicly at least-that my double was, in fact, me.
Day after day, hiding on the coast, I listened to reports of my capture
while Zinoviev t@ended my eye. And then came the news from Germany-from
the Fuhrer himself-that I was mad. I had suggested he say that if the
worst happened, but it was unnerving all the same! The pronouncement
told me how things stood. The Fuhrer had assumed that eidier I had
committed suicide as planned or the British had indeed captured me. His
only option was to discredit me publicly. It was the most difficult
moment of his life, I am sure. Not only had he lost his most faithful
friend, but he now faced the impossible situation we had sought to avoid
in the first place! With the failure of my mission, war -on two fronts
was inevitable.'
Hess took a deep breath. His face was pale and sweating.
'Nine days later, I managed to get a message to the Fuhrer.
I told him what had happened, that I was alive, and asked for
instructions.' Hess's face steeled with resolve. 'I mentioned nothing
of my wound, and I offered to do what cowardice had not let me do on May
tenth-take my own life.
Hitler's reply came two weeks later. First, he awarded both myself and
Helmut the Grand Cross. As a foreign national, Zinoviev received only
the Iron Cross. Then came my orders: I was to sail to Brazil, and there
administer a massive network of assets and companies that the Fuhrer had
moved for safety to South America. The coming two-front war had sobered
him. At this time he was still of sound mind, and he knew the chances
for ultimate victory were problematical.
The Fuhrer was surrounded by traitors; Himmler plotted ceaselessly to
take his place. Some of the@ Party's top bankers had already fled
Germany. Hitler wanted-he neededsomeone he could trust outside the
country, preparing a place for him should his position become
untenable.' Hess's face glowed with pride. 'I was that mant When the
time came, Zinoviev killed the agent who had hidden us, and he and I
traveled to South America. Just as Alfred Horn had become Rudolf Hess
to the world, I became Alfred Horn.
Zinoviev served as my lieutenant and bodyguard until we emigrated to
South Africa.' Hess looked up at Smuts. 'And Pieter assumed that
position after I arrived.'
'There's one question you haven't answered,' Stern said, recalling
Professor Natterman and his obsession with the Hess mystery. 'Was the
Duke of Windsor really a traitor?'
Hess mopped his forehead. 'Who knows? Windsor was a fool. He just
wanted to be king again.'
'Yes, but did he knowingly conspire with the Nazis to regain the throne?
That's what I want to know.'
'It never came to the test!' Hess snapped. 'Don't you understand, Jew?
It was a setup! A double-cross from the very beginning. They used us.
Me, Windsor ... even the Fuhrer.
British Intelligence discovered their own bloody traitors and played
them back against us! They lured me to England, damn them. Of course
Windsor conspired with us! Would he really have assumed the throne as
Hitler's vassal? Would he have stolen the throne from his murdered
brother? No one will ever know!' Hess shook his head in desolation.
'Lies ... all lies. Letting us hope for peace with England until it was
too late . . .'
Hess's head swayed oddly on his neck. He seemed to have forgotten his
audience. 'Bor-mann,' he murmured. 'Ilse always knew. Abandoning the
Fuhrer in his hour of need!'
Smuts tried to calm Hess, but the old Nazi slapped the Afrikaner across
the face. 'Borrnann terrorized my family! My own wife! He tried to
evict my Ilse from our house! Thank God Himmler stopped him!'
'My God,' Ilse murmured. 'No wonder he had a fixation on me.'
Hess's eye came clear again. 'The swine paid for his impudence!
In 1950 1 I saw him hanged with piano wire by members of the ODESSA!
I have the film in my study!'
'Enough!' Stern cried, stepping in front of Hess. 'Everyone, stand
back! The time has come to bring down the curtain on this farce.
Dr. Sabri, prepare the weapon for detonation.'
'Wait!' Hans cried, springing up to Stern. 'Listen to me.
To hell with Hess! To hell with the Nazis! I understand your love for
Israel, but not everyone here is a Jew. I am German.
General Steyn is South African. We want to live. Does that make us
cowards? If it does, I'm a coward! Look at my wife. She's pregnant,
you understand? We want our child to live! What right have you to take
that away from us?'
'The right of the greater good,' Stern said soffly. 'I'm sorry,
Sergeant.'
'You're sorry? Do you plan to murder everyone who doesn't agree with
you?' Hans pointed to the South Africans Gadi had shot. 'How are you
different than the Nazis?'
