The Berlin Traitor by A.W. Hammond

Author:A.W. Hammond
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, historical fiction, Post WW2, Post World War 2, Cold War, Soviet Union, Soviets, history, Europe, twentieth century, 20th century, Nazi, Holocaust, German, Berlin, crime, thriller, mystery, undercover, spy, detective, Auguste Duchene, series, The Paris Collaborator, espionage, survival, suspense, morals, decisions, betrayal, blackmail, The Imitator, All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr, The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, Jane Harper, The Alice Network, Kate Quinn, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris, Cara Black, Tanya Blanchard, The Girl from Munich, Suite Française, The German Girl, Armando Lucas Correa
ISBN: 9781760687540
Publisher: Echo Publishing
Published: 2023-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

‘It’s not funny,’ Raye said as Duchene handed back the pistol.

‘Which part? I agree there’s nothing funny about a dead man who’s no longer able to stand trial.’

‘I’ve spent enough time around you to know what’s going through that brain of yours. You’re impressed by her.’

‘She’s my wife. I’m allowed to be impressed by her.’

They were sitting outside the clinic as American and French soldiers walked about the square, handing out chocolate and trying to establish where the Russians might have disappeared to. It seemed obvious to Duchene – outnumbered and without a target, Sabine would have pulled her team back across to the Soviet zone.

He picked up the medical kit from beside Raye and waved it meaningfully.

‘Sure…fine. There’ll be a few in the back of the truck. I’ll get one of the boys to bring them over.’

Duchene knocked on the open door of the clinic.

‘At least you enter in a more civilised way this time,’ the doctor said.

‘Sorry about that. My colleague, he’s a little hot-headed when it comes to war criminals.’

‘Hot-headed? That’s one way to describe it.’

She had covered the Oberführer’s body with a mouldy blanket and was using a rag to clean the blood from the walls. Two women were helping her, their hands dipping in and out of the spent artillery shells they were using as buckets.

Duchene held out the medical kit. ‘For you. To help the people. I’m Auguste.’

‘Helene Scheidecker,’ she replied.

‘That’s not a German name.’

‘Swiss,’ she said. ‘May I also have one of your cigarettes?’

Duchene took one for himself and gave her the rest of the packet.

‘Did he say much when he was here?’

‘Very little. Just asked me to remove the tattoo on his arm. So I used hydrogen pills and rubbed their contents on the skin. It would have been raw for a few days, but once it was healed the tattoo would have been gone.’

‘What was it?’

‘His blood type.’

Duchene lit their cigarettes. A private arrived, carrying three more medical kits. Scheidecker gestured to the empty shelves on the wall.

‘The Americans will remove his body,’ Duchene said.

‘Will he be buried?’

‘I’m not sure. He was a war criminal, Gestapo, SS. I think they’ll probably cremate him. Are you sure he didn’t say anything else, about meeting with someone? We’re looking for the head of the Gestapo, Heinrich Müller. Trying to bring him to the Hague war trials.’

‘I’m afraid not.’

‘Well, thank you for your time.’

As Scheidecker led him back into the corridor, Duchene looked again at the faded writing on the door.

‘What did you have to quarantine against? Typhus?’

‘The Russians,’ she replied.

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