60

Spangler felt the gout beginning to throb in his right foot; the headache was becoming unbearable. He clenched his teeth and watched the road through the darkness. They had started the ascent into the Alps. Klempf was driving. Tolan sat manacled in the rear seat.

Another farm provided prearranged food and lodging. All three men slept in the same room. They were up before dawn.

Klempf moved in behind the steering wheel. Tolan was about to duck into the rear door. Suddenly he froze.

“Look!” he shouted to Spangler, gesturing with his bound wrists, “Look on the roof!”

Spangler moved forward and inspected the top of the car. A thick cross of grease was evident.

“They’ve been following us by airplane,” Tolan shouted. “It’s been a trap all along!”

Klempf hurried out and stared numbly at the roof. “I don’t know where it came from,” he stammered.

“It wasn’t there when we got out last night,” Tolan insisted. “I looked. It wasn’t there.”

“Maybe someone in the house marked it,” Klempf said nervously.

“Who brought us here?” Tolan demanded. “And who was the only man alone at the car last night? We were inside. You came out for cigarettes, remember? You came out alone.”

“I didn’t put it there.”

“He lies!” Tolan said, spinning toward Spangler. “He almost had me convinced on the train, but now I see what it is.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Klempf implored.

“How stupid I was!” Tolan laughed. “Von Schleiben could never kill Klempf—he’d be lost without him. Klempf has always done the thinking. Klempf’s ideas have made von Schleiben successful. Kill him!” he told Spangler.

“You must listen to me,” Klempf said, coming around to Spangler. “I know nothing of this. You must take my word.”

“Your word?” Tolan scoffed. “The word of a lying butcher?”

“Is it any worse than that of the court pornographer?” Klempf shot back. “The practiced degenerate who trains young girls with animals? Who sent his own daughter into a whorehouse and then shared her with Heydrich and von Schleiben? And when that wasn’t enough he used her as a star in his famous movies!”

“It wasn’t I who thought of sending Jean-Claude to the Bubel,” Tolan replied calmly.

Klempf blanched. “You cannot listen to him,” he said, grabbing Spangler’s arm. “Do you know who this man is? He’s worse than we are. He’s worse than any camp guard. He volunteered to spy on his fellow prisoners. He enjoys it! He has killed and tortured more inmates than the worst of the green-triangles. He volunteered to make the movies and train the girls. Von Schleiben wanted to put him in a prison where he’d be safer from his old political enemies—but Tolan refused. He loves the brutality of the camps.”

“Who put the cross on the car?” Spangler asked, staring at Klempf.

“I didn’t, I swear I didn’t!”

“Then how did it get there?”

“I—I—”

Spangler motioned with his Luger. “Get going.”

“No,” Klempf cried, “you must believe me—”

“Start walking.”

Tolan watched Spangler prod Klempf out into the orchard. The pair vanished below a rise. Several minutes later Spangler returned alone, holding a key. He unlocked Tolan’s handcuffs, turned and slipped into the car and started the engine.

“You’re not going to leave me here?” Tolan shouted into the window.

“You’ll find your way out all right.”

“You can’t leave me!”

“Why not?”

“Because you need me.”

“You’re mistaken.”

“But you came into the camp to get me.”

“No I didn’t.”

Tolan paled.

Spangler shifted gears and started forward.

“Wait!” Tolan shouted, running after the slowly moving car.

Spangler stepped on the brake and waited.

“All right, I’ll tell you,” Tolan called, catching up. “It was a trap.”

“What was a trap?”

“The escape. The entire escape. I didn’t have to be bound or gagged. Klempf and I planned it that way.”

“Why?”

“To find out who you were. We thought you’d gain confidence in one or the other of us—that you’d say who you were or where you wanted to go. That was what von Schleiben wanted. He wanted positive identification.”

“Then why did you betray Klempf?”

“That was also planned. If you hadn’t revealed who you were by the time we arrived here, one of the farmers was to mark the car without Klempf’s knowledge, then I was to accuse him of lying to us.”

“So I would break his neck?”

“Yes. This place is partially surrounded. They’ll wait until we leave, then one of the farmers will check the body. He’ll notify the SS up ahead. Then they’ll take you. But we can get out of here, avoid them. Turn around and go back the way we came. No one’s back there. I’ll show you how to get out.”

“What makes you change your mind now? Why have you decided to go against von Schleiben?”

“I didn’t know what was involved. I hadn’t heard those records—no one ever told me about them. I didn’t know about the German Provisional Government.”

“What difference does that make?”

“I must be part of it.”

“Why?”

“Look, my friend, everything Klempf accused me of is true. There is even more that makes less pleasant listening. I admit everything. I deny nothing. I apologize to no one. I am who I am. Von Schleiben kept me alive for his own reasons. For that I am thankful—but there my obligation ends.

“We—the storm troopers—created the Reich! Without us it never would have been. And what was our reward? We were murdered, tortured and humiliated, dispersed.

“Himmler and Goering robbed me of my rightful position in Germany. Hitler allowed it to happen. Now I can reclaim that which was mine. I can take that place that was denied me.”

“It sounds as if you want to take over the exile government rather than be part of it.”

“Who is better qualified? I heard those names: Vetter, Nebel, Zahn. Do you know what they are? Runts. They are nothing to Germany and they mean nothing to Germany. It is I who have a following, the only following that exists in Germany today. There are two and a half million former storm troopers who have not forgotten what was done to them. They will rally to me when the time is right. Yes, that is why I will head the government in exile. That is why they need me so desperately. That is why they sent you for me.”

Spangler began to laugh. “Get in,” he finally said.

“Then you will take me to them?”

“Why the hell not? You suit one another.”