wrote in the steam on the mirror: PACK. NO RETURN. As he wiped away the message, he saw her clearly for the first time — hair tangled, eyes half-closed, the lines of her face still soft with sleep. She nodded and ambled back into the bedroom.
He dressed in his civilian clothes as he had for Zurich, but with one difference. He slipped his Luger into the right-hand pocket of his trench coat. The coat- old surplus Wehrmacht-issue, picked up cheaply long ago — was baggy enough for the weapon not to show. He could even hold the pistol and aim it surreptitiously through the material of the pocket, gangster-style: “Okay, buddy, let’s go.” He smiled to himself. America, again.
The possible presence of a microphone cast a shadow over their preparations. They moved quietly around the apartment without speaking. At ten past eight she was ready. March collected the radio from the bathroom, placed it on the table in the sitting room, and turned up the volume. “From the pictures sent in for exhibition it is clear that the eye of some men shows them things other than as they are — that there really are men who on principle feel meadows to be blue, the heavens green, the clouds sulphur-yellow…” It was the custom at this time to rebroadcast the Fuhrer’s most historic speeches. They replayed this one every year — the attack on modern painters, delivered at the inauguration of the House of German Art in 1937.
Ignoring her silent protests, March picked up her suitcase as well as his own. She donned her blue coat. From one shoulder she hung a leather bag. Her camera dangled from the other. On the threshold, she turned for a final look.
“Either these 'artists' do really see things in this way and believe in that which they represent — then one has but to ask how the defect in vision arose, and if it is hereditary the Minister of the Interior will have to see to it that so ghastly a defect shall not be allowed to perpetuate itself- or, if they do not believe in the reality of such impressions but seek on other grounds to impose them upon the nation, then it is a matter for a criminal court.”
They closed the door on a storm of laughter and applause.
As they went downstairs, Charlie whispered: “How long does this go on?”
“All weekend.”
“That will please the neighbours.”
“Ah, but will anyone dare ask you to turn it down?”
At the foot of the stairs, as still as a sentry, stood the concierge — a bottle of milk in one hand, a copy of the Volkischer Beobachter tucked under her arm. She spoke to Charlie but stared at March: “Good morning, Fraulein.”
“Good morning, Frau Schustermann. This is my cousin, from Aachen. We are going to record the images of spontaneous celebration on the streets.” She patted her camera. “Come on, Harald, or we’ll miss the start.”
The old woman continued to scowl at March and he wondered if she recognised him from the other night. He doubted it: she would only remember the uniform. After a few moments she grunted and waddled back into her apartment.
“You lie very plausibly/ said March, when they were out on the street.
“A journalist’s training.” They walked quickly towards the Volkswagen. “It was lucky you weren’t wearing your uniform. Then she really would have had some questions.”
There is no possibility of Luther getting into a car driven by a man in the uniform of an SS- Sturmbannfuhrer. Tell me: do I look like an Embassy chauffeur?”
“Only a very distinguished one.”
He stowed the suitcases in the trunk of the car. When he was settled in the front seat, before he switched on the engine, he said: “You can never go back, you realise that? Whether this works or not. Assisting a defector — they’ll think you’re a spy. It won’t be a question of deporting you. It’s much more serious than that.”
She waved her hand dismissively. “I never cared for that place anyway.”
He turned the key in the ignition and they pulled out into the morning traffic.
Driving carefully, checking every thirty seconds to make sure they were not being followed, they reached Adolf Hitler Platz at twenty to nine. March executed one circuit of the square. Reich Chancellery, Great Hall, Wehrmacht High Command building — all seemed as it should be: masonry gleamed, guards marched; everything was as crazily out of scale as ever.
A dozen tour buses were already disgorging their awed cargoes. A crocodile file of children made its way up the snowy steps of the Great Hall, towards the red granite pillars, like a line of ants. In the centre of the Platz, beneath the great fountains, were piles of crush barriers, ready to be put into position on Monday morning, when the Fuhrer was due to drive from the Chancellery to the Hall for the annual ceremony of thanksgiving. Afterwards he would return to his residence to appear on the balcony. German television had erected a scaffolding tower directly opposite. Live broadcast vans clustered around its base.
March pulled into a parking space close to the tourist coaches. From here he had a clear view across the lanes of traffic to the centre of the Hall.
“Walk up the steps,” he said, “go inside, buy a guide book, look as natural as you can. When Nightingale appears, bump into him: you’re old friends, isn’t it marvellous, you stop and talk for a while.”
“What about you?”
“When I see you’ve made contact with Luther, I’ll drive across and pick you up. The rear doors are unlocked. Keep to the lower steps, close to the road. And don’t let him drag you into a long conversation — we need to get out of here fast.”
She was gone before he could wish her luck.
Luther had chosen his ground well. There were vantage points all around the Platz: the old man would be able to watch the steps without showing himself. Nobody would pay any attention to three strangers meeting. And if something did go wrong, the throngs of visitors offered the ideal cover for escape.
March lit a cigarette. Twelve minutes to go. He watched as Charlie climbed the long flight of steps. She paused at the top for breath, then turned and disappeared inside.
Everywhere: activity. White taxis and the long, green Mercedes of the Wehrmacht High Command circled the Platz. The television technicians checked their camera angles and shouted instructions at one another. Stallholders arranged their wares — coffee, sausages, postcards, newspapers, ice cream. A squadron of pigeons wheeled overhead in tight formation and fluttered in to land beside one of the fountains. A couple of young boys in Pimpf uniforms ran towards them, flapping their arms, and March thought of Pili — a stab — and closed his eyes for an instant, confining his guilt to the dark.
At five to nine exactly she came out of the shadows and began descending the steps. A man in a fawn raincoat strode towards her. Nightingale.
Don’t make it too obvious, idiot…
She stopped and threw her arms wide — a perfect mime of surprise. They began talking.
Two minutes to nine.
Would Luther come? If so, from which direction? From the Chancellery to the east? The High Command building to the west? Or directly north, from the centre of the Platz?
Suddenly, at the window beside him, a gloved hand appeared. Attached to it: the body of an Orpo traffic cop in leather uniform.
March wound down the window.
The cop said: “Parking here suspended.”
“Understood. Two minutes and I’m out of here.”
“Not two minutes. Now.” The man was a gorilla, escaped from Berlin Zoo.
March tried to keep his eyes on the steps, maintain a conversation with the Orpo man, while pulling his Kripo ID out of his inside pocket.
“You are screwing up badly, friend,” he hissed. “You are in the middle of a Sipo surveillance operation and, I have to tell you, you are blending into the background as well as a prick in a nunnery.”
The cop grabbed the ID and held it close to his eyes. “Nobody told me about any operation, Sturmbannfuhrer. What operation? Who’s being watched?”
“Communists. Freemasons. Students. Slavs.”
“Nobody told me about it. I’ll have to check.”
March clutched the steering wheel to steady his shaking hands. “We are observing radio silence. You break
