Spandau Phoenix Read Online Free PDF
Author: Greg Iles
Though his rational mind resisted it, the first seeds of recognition had been planted in his brain. The haughty bearing ... the dark, heavy-browed patrician face ... Hamilton could scarcely believe his eyes.
And despite the duke's attempt to conceal his astonishment, the pilot saw everything in an instant. The dizzying hope of a condemned man who has glimpsed deliverance surged through him. My God! he thought. It could still work! And why not? It's what I have trained to do for five years!
The duke was waiting. Without further hesitation-and out of courage or cowardice, he would never know-the pilot stepped away from the iron discipline of a decade.
"I am Reichminister Rudolf Hess," he said stiffly. "Deputy Fuhrer of the German Reich, leader of the Nazi Party."
With classic British reserve, the duke remained impassive.
"I cannot be sure if that is true," he said finally.
Hamilton had strained for skepticism, but in his eyes the pilot discerned a different reaction altogether-not disbelief, but shock.
Shock that Adolf Hitler's deputy-arguably the second most powerful man in Nazi Germany-stood before him now in a military hospital in the heart of Britain! That shock was the very sign of Hamilton's acceptance!
I am Reichminister Rudolf Hess! With a single lungful of air the frightened pilot had transformed himself into the most important prisoner of war in England. His mind reeled, drunk with the reprieve.
He no longer thought of the man who had parachuted from the Messerschmitt before him.
Hess's signal had not come, but no one else knew that. No one but Hess, and he was probably dead by now. The pilot could always claim he had received a garbled signal, then simply proceeded with his mission as ordered. No one could lay the failure of Hess's mission at his door.
The pilot closed his eyes in relief. Sippenhaft be damned! No one would kill his family without giving him a chance to explain.
By taking this gamble-the only chance he could see of survival-the desperate captain unknowingly precipitated the most bizarre conspiracy of the Second World War. And a hundred miles to the east, alive or eat rea u Hess-a man with enough secrets in his head to unleash catastrophic civil war in England@isappeared from the face of the earth.
The Duke of Hamilton maintained his attitude of skepticism throughout the brief interview, but before he left the hospital, he issued orders that the prisoner be moved to a secret location and held under double guard.
BOOK ONE
WE T BERLIN, 1 7
A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.
PROVERBS 11.13
CHAPTER ONE
The wrecking ball arced slowly across the snow-carpeted courtyard and smashed into the last building left on the prison grounds, launching bricks through the air like mosscovered mortar rounds. Spandau Prison, the brooding redbrick fortress that had stood for over a century and housed the most notorious Nazi war criminals for the past forty years, was being leveled in a single day.
The last inmate of S andau, Rudolf Hess, was dead. He had committed suicide just four weeks ago, relieving the West German government of the burden of one million pounds sterling it paid each year to maintain the aged Nazi's isolated captivity. In a rare display of solidarity, France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union-the former Allies who guarded Spandau by monthly turns-had agreed that the prison should be destroyed as quickly as possible, to prevent its becoming a shrine to neoNazi fanatics.
Throughout the day, crowds had gathered in the cold to watch the demolition. Because Spandau stood in the British sector of Berlin, it fell to the Royal Engineers to carry out this formidable job. At first light an explosives team brought down the main structure like a collapsing house of cards.
Then, after the dust settled into the snow, bulldozers and wrecking cranes moved
And despite the duke's attempt to conceal his astonishment, the pilot saw everything in an instant. The dizzying hope of a condemned man who has glimpsed deliverance surged through him. My God! he thought. It could still work! And why not? It's what I have trained to do for five years!
The duke was waiting. Without further hesitation-and out of courage or cowardice, he would never know-the pilot stepped away from the iron discipline of a decade.
"I am Reichminister Rudolf Hess," he said stiffly. "Deputy Fuhrer of the German Reich, leader of the Nazi Party."
With classic British reserve, the duke remained impassive.
"I cannot be sure if that is true," he said finally.
Hamilton had strained for skepticism, but in his eyes the pilot discerned a different reaction altogether-not disbelief, but shock.
Shock that Adolf Hitler's deputy-arguably the second most powerful man in Nazi Germany-stood before him now in a military hospital in the heart of Britain! That shock was the very sign of Hamilton's acceptance!
I am Reichminister Rudolf Hess! With a single lungful of air the frightened pilot had transformed himself into the most important prisoner of war in England. His mind reeled, drunk with the reprieve.
He no longer thought of the man who had parachuted from the Messerschmitt before him.
Hess's signal had not come, but no one else knew that. No one but Hess, and he was probably dead by now. The pilot could always claim he had received a garbled signal, then simply proceeded with his mission as ordered. No one could lay the failure of Hess's mission at his door.
The pilot closed his eyes in relief. Sippenhaft be damned! No one would kill his family without giving him a chance to explain.
By taking this gamble-the only chance he could see of survival-the desperate captain unknowingly precipitated the most bizarre conspiracy of the Second World War. And a hundred miles to the east, alive or eat rea u Hess-a man with enough secrets in his head to unleash catastrophic civil war in England@isappeared from the face of the earth.
The Duke of Hamilton maintained his attitude of skepticism throughout the brief interview, but before he left the hospital, he issued orders that the prisoner be moved to a secret location and held under double guard.
BOOK ONE
WE T BERLIN, 1 7
A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.
PROVERBS 11.13
CHAPTER ONE
The wrecking ball arced slowly across the snow-carpeted courtyard and smashed into the last building left on the prison grounds, launching bricks through the air like mosscovered mortar rounds. Spandau Prison, the brooding redbrick fortress that had stood for over a century and housed the most notorious Nazi war criminals for the past forty years, was being leveled in a single day.
The last inmate of S andau, Rudolf Hess, was dead. He had committed suicide just four weeks ago, relieving the West German government of the burden of one million pounds sterling it paid each year to maintain the aged Nazi's isolated captivity. In a rare display of solidarity, France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union-the former Allies who guarded Spandau by monthly turns-had agreed that the prison should be destroyed as quickly as possible, to prevent its becoming a shrine to neoNazi fanatics.
Throughout the day, crowds had gathered in the cold to watch the demolition. Because Spandau stood in the British sector of Berlin, it fell to the Royal Engineers to carry out this formidable job. At first light an explosives team brought down the main structure like a collapsing house of cards.
Then, after the dust settled into the snow, bulldozers and wrecking cranes moved
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