End of Spies by Alex Gerlis (best free ereader txt) 📗

there are plenty of flights home from Neubiberg.’

‘When do we leave?’ Hanne sounded less conciliatory than her husband.

‘Straight away: London isn’t keen on you hanging around in Trieste.’

‘They obviously don’t trust us,’ said Prince. ‘And what about you, Bartholomew: staying behind to check we don’t sneak back in?’

Bartholomew said he’d follow them in due course. Evans would look after them on their journey to Klagenfurt.

‘And you’ve no idea why they’ve called the whole thing off just when we have them in our sights?’

‘I’ve told you, Prince: it’s not my decision. I daresay Gilbey will enlighten you when you’re back in London, but…’ Bartholomew hesitated and adjusted his tie. He was a man who chose his few words carefully.

‘But what, Bartholomew?’

‘It doesn’t matter, Prince. This is Gilbey’s show.’

‘I think we have some role in it, don’t you agree, Mr Bartholomew?’ Hanne sounded less obviously angry than she had been. She even smiled at Bartholomew.

‘Look… this may just be gossip, and I’m only sharing it because I admire you both enormously and because…’

‘…because we are on the same side?’

‘Exactly. You didn’t hear this from me, understand?’

They both nodded and moved closer.

‘There’s talk that the Americans have signed up Wolfgang Steiner.’

‘What do you mean, “signed up”?’

‘Recruited him.’

‘To work for them?’

Bartholomew was still playing with his tie. ‘They’re up to it all over Europe, seeking out Nazis they think can help them: senior military types, rocket and aircraft scientists… From what I’ve been told, even before the Germans surrendered, the United States were clear that their enemy was now the Soviet Union and started recruiting Nazis to work for them on the basis that their enemy’s enemy is their friend.’

‘That’s outrageous! So because the Americans have recruited Wolfgang Steiner, they’re leaning on Gilbey to call off the chase for his son? Steiner’s a bloody Nazi, and his son’s a…’

Bartholomew said nothing, but did raise his eyebrows. ‘I know, Prince, I know… But as I say, once you’re in London, Gilbey will tell you more.’

‘By which time it will be too late.’

Bartholomew shrugged and made a gesture with his hands to indicate he’d said enough.

‘We’ll need to go back to the hotel to collect our things,’ said Hanne. She was standing up and buttoning her raincoat.

‘Evans will meet you outside the hotel in, what… ten minutes?’

‘Make it twenty,’ said Prince.

‘Fifteen – and nothing clever, understand? The Field Security Section is still watching the warehouse, in case you had any ideas. And one other thing…’

‘Go on.’

‘Don’t take it out on Evans. This isn’t his fault either.’

‘We’re being followed, Richard.’

‘Of course we are. What should we do, Hanne? We can’t just allow Friedrich to go free… and what about Bormann? You don’t seem to be as angry as I’d thought you’d be.’

The rain had now turned into sleet, and Hanne linked her arm into her husband’s and moved closer to him. ‘The Slovenians are here.’

‘Who?’

‘The Slovenian partisans, the ones who were in Villach: they followed us to Trieste. When I said I went out for some fresh air this morning, I actually met Jožef and told him the Germans were in a warehouse in Porto Vecchio and we were going in this morning. I didn’t want them to stop us arresting the Germans, but of course now… If I can somehow get a message to them, maybe they can…’

‘What are you saying, Hanne?’

‘You know full well.’ They’d reached the hotel entrance and watched as the two men who’d been following them carried on past.

Prince nodded. Hanne said he should go up to the room and collect their things. ‘I’ll meet you down here. I just need ten minutes.’

‘Hanne, be…’

‘What Richard – careful? Come on, we don’t want Friedrich Steiner to escape, do we?’

‘I don’t want your Slovenians to be too rash. In any case, I have another plan.’

The journey to Klagenfurt was a largely silent one, other than the near-constant sound of Evans blowing his nose. Hanne and Prince were in the back of the British army car, Evans in the front next to the driver. When Hanne had returned to the hotel, she’d just had time to whisper to her husband that everything was fine and he wasn’t to worry before Evans bustled into the reception area.

They crossed the Southern Alps from Slovenia into Austria on the precarious Loibl Pass. An hour later, they stopped to refuel at the British base in Ferlach, south of Klagenfurt. When Evans went to find a toilet, Prince and Hanne left the car and made sure they were out of earshot of the driver.

‘I was thinking during that drive, Hanne.’

‘Thinking? I thought you were sleeping!’

‘We agree we can’t let these people get away with it – Friedrich Steiner, Palmer, Myrtle Carter, Bormann… maybe. I know who can help us.’

‘Who?’

‘Remember I mentioned before we left Trieste that I had another plan? When I met Iosif in Vienna, he told me about the Slovenians and how he’d tipped them off about Villach. He also gave me a telephone number in Vienna to use if I needed to contact him. Now we’re in Austria, I should call that number.’

‘I thought he was in Berlin?’

‘I don’t know – I just need to be able to get to a telephone. If the Russians hear the British are letting Nazis go free just to please the Americans, they’re bound to intervene.’

‘How?’

‘Iosif will think of something.’

‘Won’t Gilbey realise we’re behind it?’

‘How could he prove it?’

Hanne nodded: what Prince said made sense. In the distance they saw the large figure of Evans ambling towards them, a handkerchief pressed to his face.

‘Bad news, I’m afraid.’ He was struggling to light a cigarette in the wind while still clutching his large white handkerchief, which was blowing horizontally from one hand like a flag of surrender. ‘The plan was to take you straight to the airport for this afternoon’s flight to Munich, but apparently the area’s cloaked in fog and all flights are cancelled until tomorrow: damned shame.’

They agreed it was indeed a terrible shame, and when Evans said