The Burning Sky Read Online Free PDF Page B

because if they did, I would have been taken as I walked in here, as would my refugees. Germans are methodical, it is not in their nature to take chances, and the first thing I checked was that no one had been here since my last visit. Not even the most careful entrant could have passed by the precautions without leaving a trace.’
    ‘Supposition, brother.’
    ‘What else have I got? If the Gestapo knew this was the way out they would have been all over it to make sure they did not cock up, and they haven’t. It is also true that if your chum in the Berlin embassy knew certain things, then Jerry knows too.’
    ‘My man knew what you were up to but not how you go about it.’
    ‘Did he tell you how he found out?’
    ‘No, and I did not ask.’
    ‘There’s a lot of competition in intelligence-gathering in this neck of the woods, the new boys created by the Party treading on the toes of the old police and spy agencies, like the Abwehr. Your embassy contact wasn’t the military attaché by any chance, was he?’
    ‘Clever boy, Cal.’
    ‘Rumour has it there’s a turf war going on between the Abwehr and the SS, who want all counter-espionage to be in their hands, so the army boys might not be averse to queering their pitch by passing on certain bits and bobs, as you called them, to our embassy. What do you think?’
    ‘It’s a reasonable prognosis, but that does not explain the thugs we avoided earlier.’
    ‘If relations are bad between the SS and the Abwehr, they are truly diabolical between the SS and the SA. If my name and location came up as a suspect, the Brownshirts would jump at a chance to beat their rivals to it so they can claim to be the true guardians of the Nazi faith, and they spy on each other all the time. We will never know, but it is very possible that a party of Gestapo were on their way to the Reeperbahn when that truckful of club-carrying beauties alighted.’
    ‘And here and now?’
    ‘Why would the army intelligence boys tell the Berlin attaché half a tale? – which backs up my theory that this escape route is unknown to the Gestapo. They have only got part of the story and that is there is a cell in Hamburg, of which I am a part, queering their pitch of stripping the departing Jews of their wealth. They would deduce we areusing the Elbe to get them out with their possessions, but that only allows you to block the obvious routes, like the main dockyard gates.’
    ‘They could search the departing ships.’
    ‘It would take too long and upset the ships’ owners, who would divert their cargoes elsewhere. I would guess they have limited information about the where and when of any alternative exit, and it is obvious we must have one that does not involve normal tickets, so they would have to spread themselves around the whole area, which is huge. These docks are close to the size of Liverpool.’
    ‘They might also be inside on the quays?’
    ‘Perhaps, but again distributed very thinly and wondering what to cover, and we have to hope no idea of which vessel we will be heading for, given there are dozens of them sailing in and out of the port every day.’
    ‘Have you asked yourself how they came by whatever knowledge they do have?’
    ‘Of course, but I don’t think there’s a leak at the Jewish end. That could only come through interrogation and I am unaware of anyone being arrested who knows anything.’
    ‘And you would know?’
    ‘My Jewish contacts would know.’
    ‘If I was running this show from the Hun end, they wouldn’t.’
    ‘Is that what you’re in now, Peter, counter-intelligence ?’
    ‘Good God, no! You know me, Cal, I couldn’t run the sock counter at Harrods.’
    The absurdity of that would have made Jardine laughat another time; now was too serious. ‘Since I am making assumptions, I must give you a choice. If you wish to go, do so now, through the tunnel; give the captain my name and he will get you out of here even if me and my party don’t manage to