A New Kind of War

the only thing he said – apart from wanting to be taken into custody.’

Clinton shook his head. ‘Thin, Major Fattorini, thin.

Gehrd Schild liked Amos de Souza, he once told me so. He said Amos would have made a good German officer –he had the Wehrmacht touch with his men, Gehrd said. And he liked young Audley too, oddly enough. So ... he disobeyed orders, anyway.’

Fred stared at him. ‘ Gehrd- ?’

‘Oh yes. Gehrd Schild is his real name. Otto the pork-butcher from Minden was his elder brother. Gehrd used to help in the shop when he was on leave, so he knew all about the family business. And so when Otto was killed at the very end – killed by one of our delayed action bombs while digging survivors out, actually . . .

dummy4

when he was killed, Gehrd quietly took over his identity as he mingled with the refugees. Quietly and prudently . . . and, of course, he was well-placed to doctor the necessary documents, even apart from his acquired pig- butchering skills, you see.’

Fred didn’t see, but waited nevertheless.

‘Gehrd was an Abwehr man.’ Clinton nodded. ‘Same rank as you, major. Division II – anti-sabotage and

“special tasks”, stationed in Northern France until the Hitler bomb-plot. And then the Sicherheitsdienst and the Gestapo moved in on the German military intelligence, of course, when they went for his boss, Admiral Canaris . . . Not that Canaris was really in on the Hitler plot. But the Nazis had been gunning for him for a long time. But . . . but our Major Schild was in the clear, having run his particular “special tasks”

efficiently – ’

‘What special tasks?’ Fred could understand very well why a German major of intelligence might want to swop identities with his civilian brother, whatever his tasks might have been. But if Brigadier Clinton was turning a blind eye to the imposture for his own purpose, and now he, Major Fattorini, was being admitted to the secret, he needed to know how deep the water was under such thin ice. ‘What was his job?’

Clinton lifted a hand again. ‘Fortunately nothing too embarrassing – nothing worse than Majors dummy4

McCorquodale and Macallister might have pleaded guilty to if things had gone the other way, let’s say.

But . . . since Herr Major Gehrd Schild no longer exists, for our purposes, that is a hypothetical question.

And, in any case, our concern is only with what Otto Schild did next, Fred – eh?’

Now he was being tested. But he didn’t know enough yet. ‘What did he do?’

‘He was seconded to co-ordinate Abwehr Division III personnel, in support of the Gestapo and the civil police in certain investigations in Germany,’ Clinton answered him suavely. ‘So what do you think that involved, then?’

With teacher’s help, suddenly the test wasn’t so difficult. ‘He drew Professor Schmidt’s name from the hat – ?’ Even as he asked the question it became unnecessary. ‘How did you get on to him, sir?’

‘I didn’t. Gehrd Schild – I beg your pardon! Otto Schild now . . . he got on to me – ’ Clinton watched him ‘ – now are you beginning to add two and two, eh?’

‘Yes – ’ That wasn’t quite true, because the information was coming to him too fast now, as he tried to marry it to what David Audley had told him.

And already, as he thought about it, there was a bone sticking in his throat; but he couldn’t work out the dates and the timing ‘ – he didn’t go to Colonel Colbourne – ’

dummy4

‘Precisely.’ Clinton almost looked pleased. ‘The truth is that the Abwehr knew about Professor Schmidt’s little game from way back, is what he told me. But Canaris sat on the information. Or, rather, he didn’t sit on it, we have reason to suspect – he fed it to a man named Rosseler – Rudolf Rosseler . . . who worked for the Russians. And that’s how the Russians got on to Professor Schmidt – this is what Schild came to tell me: that Moscow had been after Number 16 for months, you see?’

Fred saw. And saw also that once Clinton had known that, after Schild had learnt that the British were also hot on the trail of Professor Schmidt’s Romano-German archaeologists, then Schild had a new master.

And then the Brigadier would have realized at last that TRR-2’s misfortunes weren’t just bad luck, but treason.

But all this brought him to what he still couldn’t quite believe, even though it must be true. ‘The Colonel, sir –

Colonel Colbourne? Levin was his man – ?’

‘Gus Colbourne?’ The nuances of the Brigadier’s range of facial expressions were as indiscernible as ever. But this time he almost looked sad. ‘Gus Colbourne is another of our casualties, I’m afraid. Maybe not as final as poor de Souza . . . but, for our purposes . . .

final, I’m afraid – ’ he took the responsibility to the gunner colonel quickly. ‘ – Gus belongs to you, Tommy – ?’

dummy4

‘Yes, sir.’ Colonel Stocker took his dismissed predecessor on the chin, for the benefit of his newly-appointed adjutant. ‘These are early days yet, major.

We’ve got a lot of checking still to do. But for my money, Colonel Colbourne is no traitor.’

‘Sir – ?’ It galled Fred that a gunner was bemusing a sapper.

‘Of course, we shall never be able to clear him absolutely. And, for this war ... of the Brigadier’s – ’

Stocker steadfastly didn’t look at Clinton ‘ – we can only use men who have no mark against them – who are utterly above suspicion, major. So he has to go. But it’s a pity, all the same.’ Stocker watched him digest this