Clandestine (45 page)

‘Three suitcases stuffed with forty-five thousand fivers, Werner.'

Those big, beautiful white notes of the English, but had he heard him correctly? Enough not only to buy one's way out of France and into Spain, but to retire in comfort forever. ‘In exchange for what?'

As if he didn't already have a good idea. ‘A kilo of boart.'

The cheapest of the cheap and at an agreed-upon price like that? ‘And you need me.'

‘Definitely. Few others would know how to do it.'

‘Then perhaps we should first consider that truck I stopped early this morning. Nothing in the back, my Hermann, but two small and rather shabby suitcases, forgotten, I think, in the haste to leave it. A bicycle as well.'

Scheisse!
‘And the driver?'

That was better, and even more humble when handing the cigarette back. ‘His papers leave a lot to be desired and when questioned not only was he evasive, he tried to buy me off with this.'

A baguette brilliant, a beautifully cut oval, clear-white, and of about two carats.

‘Perhaps it is, my Hermann, that this girl you and that partner of yours have been chasing, felt I might weaken and let him go, but of course, when a whole city has been turned upside down looking for her by a
Sonderkommando
straight from Kaltenbrunner himself, even such as myself and my men have no choice but to do our duty.'

‘So you've kept his papers, taken the keys, told him to sit tight and have been waiting for me to show up.'

‘One Arie Beekhuis who sounds as if from of all places, Rotterdam—that is close to Amsterdam, is it not?'

‘Close enough. And those two little suitcases?'

Gut!
‘Nothing but scatterings of female underclothes, an extra blouse or two, a toothbrush that must have been shared—that sort of thing. And the bicycle, of course. A Belgian one, which is curious in itself, as was the city's name on it. Did that truck happen to come through Liège?'

There was nothing for it but to beg. ‘Let him go, Werner. Handing him over will only complicate what I have in mind.'

‘And that is?'

Did he need to hear it again? ‘The boart for the cash.'

‘But he's insurance, my Hermann, and I will need such a release in writing from you, stating, of course, that you have indeed checked his papers most thoroughly and have ordered me to release him, or is it that you …'

The son of a bitch. ‘How much?'

That was better, considering the risk. ‘Two of those three suitcases you mentioned, the last for yourself to do with exactly as you please.'

‘And still to pay Rudi Sturmbacher out of my share?
Ach
, I think I've got it.'

‘
Gut
. Just don't try to cross me.'

‘
Liebe Zeit
, how could I even think of such a thing? Just be there when needed. No sooner, no later than that 1830 hours and over and done in such a rush, no one but us will be the wiser.'

Downing three of the Benzedrine, spitting out the pocket fluff, he got back into the car.

Eighty-four avenue Foch was busy: cars and motorcycles out front, armed men in uniform and not and going to and fro, orders being given, and upstairs in that temporary office of Kleiber's, the billiard table as nerve centre.

Enlarged, a detailed street map of the eastern half of the Vaugirard clearly showed the abattoirs, arrows pinpointing the entrance off the rue des Morillons, but there was also a photo of the two life-size bronze bulls that still marked it in spite of the Reich's incessant scrap-metal actions. Apparently nothing was to be left to chance. The routes in by foot, and the rail line which ran along the southern edge, were all indicated, the fences too, for it wasn't a place for the casual. Another enlargement detailed the sewers and pointed out suspected and known caverns, caves and tunnels in the Left Bank's bedrock that had supplied so much of Paris with its building stone, but had Kleiber thought of everything? He was using a cue to point things out to Johannes Uhl and Ulrich Frensel. And at the far end of the table was one of the suitcases: alligator leather, not inexpensive, and with the
LV
monogram of none other than Louis Vuitton.

By the travel stickers alone, its former owner had had a penchant for taking the waters: the Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden, the Grand at Italy's Montecatini Therme, the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz, Vichy, too, and Vittel's Parc Thermal where last February Louis and he had come up against nearly 1,700 British and a 1,000 American females in that internment camp.

‘Kohler,
ach
you're just in time. Two of the suitcases are being fitted with their transmitters. That was an excellent idea of yours. The Reichssicherheitschef was most impressed and has given his full support. We are to let those
verdamte Banditen
believe they are getting away and will track them with the wireless-listening vans. Already those are in place, others on patrol, and still others on foot with the hidden listening devices up the sleeve or in the fedora for the close-in work. Already, too, and I must inform you of this, we have located one enemy wireless which will be taken out as soon as our
Mausefalle
has sprung.'

Louis would have sadly shaken his head and said of the irony, Didn't Hector Bolduc use freshly baited mousetraps in that garage of his? But real coffee, schnapps and
Lebkuchen
had been laid on, the warmers holding sausages, with mustard, sauerkraut and dill pickles to the side, and another with no less than strudel: the cherry, the plum and the apple-and-raisin. Freshly whipped cream, sweetened with real sugar, was to help that last one go down and stay there.

‘Those were for that traitorously incompetent Kriminalrat,' said Uhl. ‘Herr Frensel and myself were unaware of his having been recalled in such disgrace.'

‘There will be no more of his mistakes, Kohler,' said Frensel. ‘Now we are to accomplish the inevitable seizure of the black diamonds those filthy
Juden
tried to hide from such as myself.
Mein Gott
, you'd think they might have learned.
Ach
, they even tried to use their children, thinking that I wouldn't know where to look!'

In bundles of one-hundred notes, and piled in a heap, even with some still in the pale green linen packets they had come in, the fivers were near that suitcase. Each packet had been sealed with red wax, stamped with the swastika signet and labelled
Geheime­ Reichssache.

Stark white against the flowing dark black script, each note had Britannica on a throne in its upper left, the signature of K. O. Peppiatt, chief cashier, in the lower right, and in those and elsewhere would be the hidden security checks that would expose the counterfeit. Additionally, of course, there were all the marks and signs of having been well used: those of the banks each had passed through, the shops, the scribbled signatures, et cetera, and the consequent­ wear.

All the packets were addressed to Munimin-Pimetex and though Göring must have had them sent, all had come directly from none other than Heinrich Himmler. But even knowing of these, if not of the privileged, would carry the death sentence, to which Louis would have said, And didn't I tell you we were digging a bottomless hole for ourselves?

‘You'll be checking in with Bolduc, will you, Kohler?' asked Kleiber. ‘Be sure to tell him that the van, with himself as driver and Serge de Lenz as assistant, is to be here and ready at no later than 1500 hours. I must be absolutely certain that everything is in order. We've clocked the route several times and will be using the Pont d'Iéna and an average of seven minutes, thirteen seconds. French traffic police are already stationed at every interchange to clear the way, the speed not too fast, you understand, so as to avoid unnecessary attention.'

Given the repeats and the traffic
flics
, lots would be sure to watch.

‘I'll have the suitcases for you, Kohler, and right inside the rear door of that van. I'll hand them out and take the boart in, you then closing that door and handing them the cash.'

‘A kilo,' said Uhl. ‘It'll be in a white cotton bag with the usual tie.'

‘Only one of those suitcases will need to be opened for checking, Kohler—that one,' said Kleiber. ‘Here's the key. You can tell them it will open the others.'

If bought at the same time, Louis would have said. Also,
une souricière du diable
.

‘Doubtless they'll be using the same car as at
place
de l'Opéra when they executed that fool of an actor Kriminalrat Ludin insisted on using,' said Kleiber. ‘A Ford Model C Ten, the same as were made in the Reich from 1935 to 1940.'

‘The Eifel accelerates from zero to 80.5 in 18.2 seconds, Kohler,' said Frensel. ‘Cruises at no less than 106.2.'

‘Has three forward gears and a four-stroke, side-valve, four-cyclinder­ engine,' added Uhl.

‘Witnesses have sworn that the car's wheels were not wire-spoked, Kohler, like those of the British models,' said Kleiber.

A probable guess and nothing more, though a terrific car, but it was now all but 1200 hours and there was still far too much to do. ‘I'd better be getting over to Hector Bolduc's bank, Colonel. Louis will be wondering where I am.'

‘Eighteen thirty hours, Kohler, and make sure Lenz is with Bolduc. Since I've decided to bring Mérode and the rest of his gang in on this, they'll be watching the flank areas. Sealed, I tell you, Kohler. This whole area and the rest of the city as well.'

‘Eighteen-thirty it is, Standartenführer.
Meine Lieben
, until later. Chez Kornilov, I think, and the champagne first, then that partner of mine can get to sample the trout with the walnut sauce that he ordered last night but had to miss and has been complaining about ever since.'

Now here, now there, occasional mushroom seekers scavenged this part of the Bois de Vincennes, hoping to find what the weekend's traffic might have missed and what the last few days and nights of new growth would have produced. Sticks were immediately snapped into small pieces so as to be hidden in rucksacks, acorns quickly pocketed since it was illegal to gather anything save those feelings of being outdoors and the Bois was exceedingly popular, especially on weekends.

Two bicycles, not where they should have been, were locked, the chain linking them having been wrapped around a tree trunk and given a further padlock, bicycle theft being a major concern these days.

Ludin had unfortunately found the needed: a somewhat out-of-the-way dead end leading to one of the Bois's inevitable road closures that favoured wilderness walking. Leaves were settling on the windshield, and for once the sun was being cooperative, and were it not for the present circumstance, an afternoon in the forest would have been a delight, but there had been absolutely no opportunity of breaking free. The wrists were not just linked by Sûreté bracelets; those of the Gestapo had been used to tie the first to the grip-bar that had been installed above this seat in the autumn of 1940 for use in high-speed chases. A more awkward and increasingly uncomfortable position could not have been found.

Hermann would have said, Rocheleau should see you now, but Hermann would have other things on his mind and had probably downed still more of those damned pills

Side windows open, the Kriminalrat was giving the ‘Toasted' Lucky Strikes a brief rest and the present circumstance considerable thought.

St-Cyr would have to be persuaded to tell him everything, but how? wondered Ludin. ‘A kilo of boart for what?'

‘Forty-five thousand fivers.'

Himmler would have had to agree. ‘And then?'

‘Is that why the jerry cans of gasoline? Are you on the run, eh?'

‘Don't taunt. Just tell me.'

The Walther P38 was again in hand, but while a delay might mean a few more hours of life and perhaps a chance to deal with him, to answer correctly would be to put at risk all that Anna-Marie had sought. ‘If I knew, I would tell you, Kriminalrat, but since she didn't show up at that
Lokal
, I haven't a clue.'

‘Would Kohler have met with her?'

‘Since she had never seen him?'

‘Just answer.'

‘Then that is rather doubtful, especially as Hermann had things to do and tends always not to hang around once he's dropped me off someplace.'

‘Meyerhof did move diamonds for others. Thousands and thousands of carats. Those two from Berlin were certain.'

‘And since they kept whispering such a fiction to others, especially to Kaltenbrunner, a
Sonderkommando
was needed, otherwise, that one would have had to answer to none other than Heinrich Himmler. Come, come, Kriminalrat, surely the Sicherheitsdienst can do better? A girl shows up quite by chance in Amsterdam, not once, but on a second visit and Josef Meyerhof who is constantly being watched and behind ghetto wire just happens to see her and make contact and entrust her not only with the family's life diamonds but the route to whoever knows where all those so-called “black” diamonds are hidden? Why not the son, please?'

‘Meyerhof knew it was chancy enough trying to get the boy and his family through France. Once they were safely in Nice and the Italian zone, things could change.'

‘But then that zone was no longer safe and the son and family arrested.'

‘So Meyerhof had to find another way of hiding what he valued most, and with all the other diamonds he had already hidden not just for himself, but for others. By the way, I gather you and Kohler got that girl to free those two I had consigned to the KZ at Mauthausen, not the one at Stutthof.'

Grâce à Dieu!
‘I hadn't known.'

‘And now you do, so you will tell me where that girl will have to run to once that supposed sale has been concluded?'

If it ever would be. ‘Shoot if you like, but give me a moment since I must argue with my conscience and everything depends on Hermann.'