The Eagle Has Flown

‘I certainly have.’ Devlin grinned. ‘I lived long enough in Berlin for that. General now, is it, and the SD at that? Are you something to do with the two idiots who had a try at me earlier this evening?’

‘I regret that, Mr Devlin. The man you shot is the police attaché at the Legation. The other, Major Berger, is Gestapo. He’s with me only because the Reichsführer ordered it.’

‘Jesus, are we into old Himmler again? Last time I saw him he didn’t exactly approve of me.’

‘Well he needs you now.’

‘For what?’

‘To go to England for us, Mr Devlin. To London, to be more precise.’

‘No thanks. I’ve worked for German Intelligence twice in this war. The first time in Ireland where I nearly got my head blown off.’ He tapped the bullet scar on the side of his forehead.

‘And the second time in Norfolk you took a bullet in the right shoulder and only got away by the skin of your teeth, leaving Kurt Steiner behind.’

‘Ah, so you know about that?’

‘Operation Eagle? Oh, yes.’

‘A good man, the Colonel. He wasn’t much of a Nazi …’

‘Did you hear what happened to him?’

‘Sure – they brought Max Radl into the hospital I was in in Holland after his heart attack. He got some sort of report from intelligence sources in England that Steiner was killed at a place called Meltham House trying to get at Churchill.’

‘Two things wrong about that,’ Schellenberg told him. ‘Two things Radl didn’t know. It wasn’t Churchill that weekend. He was on his way to the Tehran conference. It was his double. Some music hall actor.’

‘Jesus, Joseph and Mary!’ Devlin stopped playing.

‘And more importantly, Kurt Steiner didn’t die. He’s alive and well and at present in the Tower of London which is why I want you to go to England for me. You see I’ve been entrusted with the task of getting him safely back to the Reich and I’ve little more than three weeks to do it in.’

Frear had entered the café a couple of minutes earlier and had recognized Schellenberg instantly. He retreated to a side booth where he summoned a waiter, ordered a beer, and watched as the two men went out into the garden at the rear. They sat at a table and looked down at the lights of the shipping in the Tagus.

‘General, you’ve lost the war,’ Devlin said. ‘Why do you keep trying?’

‘Oh, we all have to do the best we can until the damn thing is over. As I keep saying, it’s difficult to jump off the merry-go-round once it’s in motion. A game we play.’

‘Like the old sod with the white hair in the end booth watching us now,’ Devlin observed.

Schellenberg looked round casually. ‘And who might he be?’

‘Pretends to be in the port business. Name of Frear. My friends tell me he’s military attaché at the Brit Embassy here.’

‘Indeed.’ Schellenberg carried on calmly. ‘Are you interested?’

‘Now why would I be?’

‘Money. You received twenty thousand pounds for your work on Operation Eagle paid into a Geneva account.’

‘And me stuck here without two pennies to scratch myself with.’

‘Twenty-five thousand pounds, Mr Devlin. Paid anywhere you wish.’

Devlin lit another cigarette and leaned back. ‘What do you want him for? Why go to all the trouble?’

‘A matter of security is involved.’

Devlin laughed harshly. ‘Come off it, General. You want me to go jumping out of Dorniers again at five thousand feet in the dark like last time over Ireland and you try to hand me that kind of bollocks.’

‘All right.’ Schellenberg put up a hand defensively. ‘There’s a meeting in France on the twenty-first of January. The Führer, Rommel, Canaris and Himmler. The Führer doesn’t know about Operation Eagle. The Reichsführer would like to produce Steiner at that meeting. Introduce him.’

‘And why would he want to do that?’

‘Steiner’s mission ended in failure, but he led German soldiers in battle on English soil. A hero of the Reich.’

‘And all that old balls?’

‘Added to which the Reichsführer and Admiral Canaris do not always see eye to eye. To produce Steiner.’ He shrugged. ‘The fact that his escape had been organized by the SS …’

‘Would make Canaris look bad?’ Devlin shook his head. ‘What a crew. I don’t much care for any of them or that old crow Himmler’s motives, but Kurt Steiner’s another thing. A great man, that one. But the bloody Tower of London …’

He shook his head and Schellenberg said, ‘They won’t keep him there. My guess is they’ll move him to one of their London safe houses.’

‘And how can you find that out?’

‘We have an agent in London working out of the Spanish Embassy.’

‘Can you be sure he’s not a double?’

‘Pretty sure in this case.’ Devlin sat there frowning and Schellenberg said, ‘Thirty thousand pounds.’ He smiled. ‘I’m good at my job, Mr Devlin. I’ll prepare a plan for you that will work.’

Devlin nodded. ‘I’ll think about it.’ He stood up.

‘But time is of the essence. I need to get back to Berlin.’

‘And I need time to think, and it’s Christmas. I’ve promised to go up country to a bull ranch a friend of mine called Barbosa runs. Used to be a great torero in Spain where they like sharp horns. I’ll be back in three days.’

‘But Mr Devlin,’ Schellenberg tried again.

‘If you want me, you’ll have to wait.’ Devlin clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Come on now, Walter, Christmas in Lisbon? Lights, music, pretty girls? At this present moment they’ve got a blackout in Berlin and I bet it’s snowing. Which would you rather have?’

Schellenberg started to laugh helplessly and behind them, Frear got up and went out.

Urgent business had kept Dougal Munro at his office at SOE Headquarters on the morning of Christmas Day. He was about to leave when Jack Carter limped in. It was just after noon.

Munro said, ‘I hope it’s urgent, Jack. I’m due for Christmas lunch with friends at the Garrick.’

‘I thought you’d want to know about this, sir.’ Carter held up a signal flimsy. ‘From Major Frear, our man in Lisbon. Friend Devlin.’