Wewelsburg Castle, NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, Germany
April 18, 1939
7:30 p.m.
“Enter.”
Pfeiffer stepped forward into the shadows of the reichsführer’s circular office in the North Tower.
“Please sit,” Himmler said, his head still turned down to the papers he was working on.
Pfeiffer walked toward the desk to do as he was ordered. For five minutes, he waited in silence, taking in the medieval room around him, the intricately carved heavy oak desk he was sat before, even the granite stand adorned with iron skulls and SS runes that served as a paper knife holder. Above him, the doglegged spokes of the black sun painted onto the circular ceiling radiated out to the tower wall like some form of antenna.
Something was wrong. What information had been sucked into that office? How was he involved? Trying to anticipate what it might be, Pfeiffer questioned his recent actions. They had all been in service of the reichsführer, all successful. He appreciated he had been heavy-handed in dealing with that group of Czech intellectuals agitating against increased German control in Bohemia and Moravia but it was no worse than anything Reinhard Heydrich was doing.
A final signature and the closure of the letter blotter signaled Pfeiffer was about to find out what was the problem.
“The British know about Operation Sisyphus,” the reichsführer said reaching for another file. Opening it, he took out a letter. “I have heard from Hans Fischer in Darjeeling. Evidently, the British Army liaison officer on Schmidt’s expedition sounded the alert not long after Obergefreiter Becker left for Tibet.”
“This is disappointing, Herr Reichsführer. Do the British know where Becker is going?”
“At the moment it seems not, but I suspect that in time they will work it out. I have called you in as I wish to invoke the contingency detailed in your file note WBB12/125a should this operation be compromised.”
“But it is not yet compromised, Herr Reichsführer. Becker could be climbing the mountain as we speak.”
“He could be, but on the other hand, he could also be in the hands of the British. His family, the mother and two sisters, should be immediately moved into protective custody in Lichtenburg. Next month we will be opening our first facility solely for women at Ravensbrück. They are to be transferred there as soon as possible. Have them terminated twenty-four hours after their arrival and make a report to me of how well Director Koegel handles the process. He needs to get that camp to maximum efficiency as soon as possible. It will be an interesting early test of its readiness.”
“But—”
“No buts, my dear Jurgen. What about the mischling in India?”
“Magda von Trier is in Hyderabad now.”
“Our reach is long. Send an agent from our embassy in Calcutta to deal with her.”
“All this can be done, but if Becker climbs the mountain, won’t we have some explaining to do when he returns?”
“We will explain nothing. I always considered that your plan had a fatal flaw and these actions are also appropriate to its remedy should Operation Sisyphus prove to be successful.”
“Herr Reichsführer?”
“You can’t make a common criminal one of the most famous men in the Reich. Even if Obergefreiter Becker succeeds, his moment in the sun will be extremely brief. I suspect it will end in a fatal climbing accident in the mountains of Bavaria that he loves so much, not long after his return.”
“I understand, Herr Reichsführer.”
“I knew you would. Now tell me about what you have been up to in Bohemia. I have heard good things from Reinhard.”