'I have been informed by the highest authority of your powers,' the SS officer replied loftily. 'They do not include access to the Signals Office. As to your placing me under arrest, I fear it is the other way round. If you take one step more forward I shall be compelled to place you under arrest…'
The SS officer glanced across the compound and Gruber swivelled to follow the direction of his gaze. The doorway to the but he had just left was open. Framed in the doorway stood the compact figure of Martin Bormann. Was it Gruber's imagination or could he see a bleak smile on the Reichsleiter's face?
He walked away, full of rage. You report direct to me – not to Berlin. So Bormann had said – and so Bormann had acted to ensure Gruber was isolated inside the Wolf's Lair. Someone would pay for his humiliation.
Mentally he went over the list of names compiled in his notebook before leaving Berlin – the list of personnel in this benighted swampland..Christa Lundt, secretary to. the Fuhrer. Yes, he would start there. He would give her hell…'
'Ah, Karl Gruber. Welcome to the seats of the Mighty.'
The Gestapo man swung round, his expression dark. Even though the ground was covered with crusted snow he had heard no one coming and that disturbed him. His temper was not improved when he saw who was addressing him.
'Hartmann! And how long have you been creeping around here, may I ask?'
'Long enough to give me a head start, Karl.' The Abwehr officer watched him as he stood and lit his pipe. 'You look unhappy. Won't they give you access to the teleprinter?'
'There is something wrong here, don't you sense it?' suggested Gruber, switching tack, trying to draw out his opponent.
'It's the mist which clings to the forest,' Hartmann responded amiably. 'Creates a depressing atmosphere and makes you imagine the end of the world is nigh..'
'You think we are losing the war?' Gruber interjected cunningly. Just one phrase – one defeatist- sounding phrase – from Hartmann and he would have him.
'You said that – I didn't..'
'Really, we two should cooperate, combine our forces – and share the credit when we have completed our mission.'
Gruber was switching tack again, hoping to milk any information Hartmann might have obtained by his earlier arrival. Because he was the best – Hartmann. Gruber, no fool, was only too conscious of the calibre of this quiet, grey-eyed man.
'I gather we have to work independently.' Hartmann sounded regretful. 'Bad luck with the signals people…'
He turned on his heel and walked away. His final remark left Gruber in a storming rage – as it was intended to. A man in a fury commits tactical errors. With his hand on the canteen door, Hartmann glanced over his shoulder. The Gestapo officer was entering Fraulein Lundt's hut.
'What the hell do you think you're doing…' God! You're hurting. Stop it..'
Christa Lundt, clad in only a dressing gown open down the front, stared up at Gruber who was twisting her arm viciously. He had thrown her down on to the sofa after marching inside the but without knocking. She had been about to take a shower and had snapped at him the moment he entered.
'Address your betters respectfully,' Gruber rasped as he gave her arm a further twist behind her back. 'You are the cow who attends all the Fuhrer's military conferences. Is that not so? Answer me! '
'Yes,' she gasped. One moment life had been normal – now this fat slug with the shrewd, lecherous eyes was staring at the open gap in her gown. She felt humiliated. Her breasts heaved as she winced with pain and the small eyes continued gazing at them with deep interest.
'So,' Gruber continued, still holding her helpless, 'what do you do with your notebook after you have typed out the signals and handed them in for encodement and transmission..?'
'It's kept locked in a drawer..'
'Which locked drawer? Where do you keep the key? Can anyone else read your shorthand.?'
'I don't know…'
'I think that's the wrong approach.' The voice came from behind Gruber. He swung round, released his grip on Christa, his stubby hand moving towards the gun under his armpit. The hand froze in mid-air. Hartmann stood facing him, pipe clenched in his mouth, his greatcoat unbuttoned.
'That's better,' the Abwehr man observed mildly. 'I'd have put a bullet through you before your fingers touched the butt..'
'You threaten an officer of the Gestapo?'
'I thought you were threatening me.' The same calm tone. 'And I have a witness..' Hartmann turned to Christa Lundt who had crossed her arms, closing the opened gown and massaging her arm which was badly bruised. 'We have an appointment, as you know, Fraulein.' His eyes conveyed a message. 'First, perhaps you'd like to retire and put on some clothes.'
He waited until the girl had left the room, closing the bedroom door. The mildness of manner changed.
He stepped close to the Gestapo officer, his tone low and grim.
'You stupid little toad..'
'How did you get in here? What is all this crap about you have an appointment?' croaked Gruber.
The outer door leading to the compound was shut. Hartmann had opened the door, slipped inside and closed it again without making a sound. Gruber was livid at the interruption, shaken by Hartmann's incredible ability to move like a ghost.
'The first question – I entered the same way you did. The second question – Fraulein Lundt and I have an appointment so I can begin my interrogation. Your methods are quite stupid – you scare her so her answers are likely to be confused. Beating people with a rubber truncheon may be your only normal resource – but it won't work here..'
'I shall report you to the Reichsleiter for interference in my duties.
'Supposing I report you for attempted rape..'
'A charge which I shall certainly corroborate,' called out Christa from the bedroom doorway. She had dressed hastily in a blouse and skirt and was finishing combing her long black hair. 'You caught him in the act, is that not so, Major Hartmann? The Fuhrer is most considerate to his staff, so what is the outcome likely to be?'
Hartmann possessed a splendid sense of timing. He knew exactly when to say nothing, when silence alone can break a man's nerve. Gruber's expression was a study in many emotions. He glanced from the Abwehr man to the girl with tilted head and contemptuous eyes and back again to Hartmann.
'You both know this is ridiculous,' he blustered. 'I was merely trying to shake some sense into her..
'When she was naked except for her dressing gown? A moment ago I hear her turn off a shower – which she was obviously about to take when you burst in on her. I find her pinned down on a sofa with you leaning over her…' Hartmann shrugged. 'For the moment I will record the events I witnessed, ask Fraulein Lundt to sign as a witness, and keep the report on file. Do I make myself very clear?'
Gruber picked up his hat from the table where he had tossed it on entering the hut. Hartmann noticed his hand was moist, that he had beads of sweat on his forehead. He left the building without another word, closing the door quietly. Christa came across the room.
'I am indeed in your debt, Major. Thank you seems a feeble reaction to what you saved me from. He is a lecherous brute..'
'No gratitude, please.. Hartmann raised a gloved hand which held the pipe he had courteously removed from his mouth as soon as Gruber had departed. 'But it is true that I must ask you a few questions. Do you feel up to it? If it is of any consolation to your dignity I start with you, then go on to the others – including Bormann, Keitel and Jodl.
'I will tell you anything you wish to know. Now would be a good time. But first, some coffee?'
'That would be most acceptable…'
Hartmann removed his greatcoat and cap while she was making the coffee out of sight. A less clever man than Hartmann would have refused the coffee and begun his interrogation at once – before Lundt had time to recover her poise. Hartmann preferred people to be at their ease – and his plan had worked far beyond what he had hoped for. I am, indeed, in your debt…'
Earlier outside in the compound Hartmann had manipulated the conversation with Gruber to trigger off his
