Spandau Phoenix by Greg Iles

Author:Greg Iles [Iles, Greg]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 1991-12-31T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Two Months Later

Reinhard Heydrich felt like a god. Seventy days ago, when he had first heard Hitler impose his operational restrictions on Plan Mordred, Heydrich had thought his meteoric rise through the Nazi ranks was assured, but the elation he had felt had stopped dead. To find a way to assassinate not only Winston Churchill but also King George VI, and to do it on a specific day, without leaving a smoking gun in German hands? Ridiculous! Yet, even before he had landed his Fieseler-Storch back at Berlin-Staaken Airport on that frozen January night, the essential elements of a plan had flashed into his mind as if by divine inspiration. The concept was so ingeniously simple that—if brought off successfully—not only would Britain be left with little more than the protection of sporadic small-arms fire, but she would become Germany’s strongest ally!

It had taken the Obergruppenführer SD a further sixty-eight days to determine whether his unprecedented plan could actually be put into operation. Sixty-eight nerve-wracking days of frantic intelligence work, carried out under the lidless gaze of Heinrich Himmler: a dozen trips taken under false pretenses; a hundred agents lied to about the reason for the questions he had asked them; a thousand scraps of information gathered from around the globe and funnelled through the sieve of the SS/SD intelligence complex, each tiny piece sucked out of the system without the knowledge of the ruthless little tyrant who controlled it.

Now, driving back to Obersalzburg beneath a cold, starlit sky, Heydrich knew that he was ready. The leather briefcase on the seat beside him contained his ticket to the most exclusive club in the world. Two months ago he had been a mere subaltern—a loyal centurion charged by his Caesar with nailing millions of Jews to the Iron Cross of the Reich. But now—now the centurion had glimpsed the keys to the palace!

Behind Heydrich’s glacier-blue eyes, a seething blast furnace of all-consuming desire fired his brain. Only one man alive possessed the kind of power he craved, and Heydrich was on his way to see that man now. With him he carried the plan that would prove his worthiness to Hitler beyond doubt, and one day—one day very soon—the mantle of dictatorship would pass to him!

Passing through the Obersalzburg gates, he noted the almost casual attitude of the SS guards. Desultory fighting on all fronts was taking its toll in efficiency throughout the Reich. What everyone needs is another good blitzkrieg to wake them up, he thought. And they’ll get one soon enough. He reminded himself to give the laggards a good dressing down on his way out.

He parked in the garage beneath the Berghof’s enormous picture window and walked around to the front of the house. A sergeant of the SS Liebstandarte barred the door. Before Heydrich’s boot even touched the first step, the guard instructed him to turn around. When he did, he saw the last thing he expected: Adolf Hitler, outfitted in a dark suit, homburg hat, and carrying a walking stick, stood silent in the snow, watching him.

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