Scent of New-Mown Hay, A by Blackburn John

Author:Blackburn, John [Blackburn, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Novel
ISBN: 9780450031380
Amazon: 0450031381
Publisher: New English Library Ltd
Published: 1958-01-01T03:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Von Zuler dragged his steel foot across the lounge of the Four Seasons Hotel, and he looked what he was; very cold, very hard and very efficient. He smelled slightly of scent, and the hand that took Trubenof’s was bright with rings.

He threw himself down on the sofa beside the Russian and smiled at him. There was a lot of gold in his smile.

“Well, my friend, I’m afraid I must apologize to you. I would so much have liked to meet you at the airport, but my masters are difficult people. It took a lot of time to persuade them to give me the powers we need. Ah, thank you.” He took the proffered glass and drained it in one swift movement.

“Anyhow, we are getting on. All the wheels are in motion, the spring is would up, the hounds are ready. Somewhere the fox will be preparing to come out of its hole, and if it does, I shall hold it in the hollow of my hand.”

He spread his palm on the table and it was as dry and smooth as a lizard.

“Now I have done all I can, Herr Trubenof, everything. Will you, in your turn, help me a little? Can you tell me why your General Kirk wants these people?”

“I’m sorry, von Zuler, truly sorry. If it were up to Kirk personally, I would tell you. He said that himself. Unfortunately, like you, he is merely a servant of his government. His orders were quite definite. At the moment nobody is to be told.”

“Very well, we will accept it. You are under orders from a higher authority, and we Germans respect authority. Perhaps it is our national vice, I don’t know. Once someone called us a race of carnivorous sheep. He may have been right, I don’t know.

“Anyway, I respect authority, therefore I respect your silence. Besides, I have an affection for your general. During the war we were almost opposite numbers, I suppose. He shot a great number of my people, and I—shall we say, I disposed of a great many of his. Still, that was long ago. The war is over, or is it? Is the war really over, Herr Trubenof?”

Trubenof looked very hard at him. “Yes, the war is over. What I want you to do has no political or military significance whatsoever. That I promise you.”

“Good, with that assurance I can satisfy my masters. Every man, every car, every ear in my department is à votre service, my friend.

“But still it is going to be difficult, very difficult. I wonder, living as you have done in nice peaceful, democratic England, if you can realize just how difficult it may be.

“You want to find Rosa Steinberg. In forty-five your masters let her escape. Too many of our big fish were falling into their nets for them to bother much about her, and she was forgotten. Now you want her again. You also want the three men who were arrested with her at Ruhleben, Messrs. Wolf, Becker and Tausch, and later released after short prison sentences.

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