Traitor's Gate Read Online Free PDF Page A

said.
    ‘Very good,’ Schalke said. He picked up Conrad’s passport and opened it. ‘It says here you were born in Hamburg. The seventh of March 1911.’
    ‘That’s true,’ Conrad admitted. ‘My mother is German: Joachim Mühlendorf is my cousin. But the family moved to Britain in 1914.’
    Schalke frowned. ‘A family of traitors.’
    Conrad ignored the insult.
    ‘And what is this? The Hon .Conrad William Giles de Lancey?’
    ‘My father is a peer. A viscount.’
    ‘Noble traitors.’ Schalke put the passport down. ‘Will you tell me what you and your cousin were discussing?’
    ‘No. Absolutely not.’
    ‘And who is Johnnie von Herwarth?’
    ‘I have no idea.’
    There was silence as the Gestapo officer studied Conrad through his wire-rimmed glasses. His blue eyes were not cold or cruel, but intelligent, warm, almost friendly. Conrad sat in silence. Then the big man rose to his feet. ‘Joachim Mühlendorf was brought in ten minutes ago. He didn’t get far; they caught him hiding behind some dustbins. A cat gave him away, a good National Socialist cat.’ Schalke laughed at his little joke, a high-pitched giggle that seemed incongruous coming from such a large man. ‘Some of my colleagues are just making him comfortable now. You can wait in here while I go and ask him some questions. I am sure he will be more forthcoming than you. An hour or two of intensive interrogation should suffice.’
    ‘I demand that you inform the British Embassy of my pres­ence here!’ Conrad called after the man’s back as he left the room. The stenographer rapidly typed out these last words and then followed her boss.
    After all that, they had caught Joachim! Conrad shuddered as he thought of what his cousin would be going through some­where else in the building. Joachim wasn’t exactly tough. Once the Gestapo put pressure on him, he would talk, Conrad was sure of that. And after he had talked, there was not much Conrad could do for him.
    He thought about his own interrogation. Would they torture him? If they did, what kind of torture would they use? How good was his protection as a British citizen?
    He had no idea who on earth Johnnie von Herwarth was, nor about a plot to overthrow Hitler. If that was what Joachim had discussed with Theo at the Kakadu, no wonder Theo had been concerned. He just hoped that the Gestapo would believe in his own ignorance.
    And what about Joachim’s message to Theo, that he wanted to see him and that he had friends who could help him? Joachim was hardly tough: if his cousin cracked under interrogation, which was very likely, he would tell the Gestapo all about it. Conrad decided there was no point in denying the message if it was raised by the Gestapo, but he wouldn’t volunteer the information until that point.
    It sounded as if Theo himself would be in trouble pretty soon and there was not much Conrad could do about it.
    Conrad had been loath to tell the Gestapo who his father was, he always hated to do that, but in this case, once they realized his father was not just a peer of the realm but a former Cabinet minister, they would have to release him. Wouldn’t they? The key thing was to convince them that he was not a spy.
    Because if he failed, there would only be one outcome. Some­where he had read that they beheaded spies in Germany.
    As Klaus Schalke walked along the familiar corridor from one interrogation room to the other, he considered the British prison­er. He had not expected a full and frank explanation; there would be plenty of time to extract that. What he had been seeking in the interview was a preliminary assessment of the man. He dis­counted the bluster: it disguised a calm intelli­gence. De Lancey could be a spy. His fluency in German and his mother’s back­ground would be convenient for an agent.
    There would be time enough to find out. For the moment he had to consider Mühlendorf. He paused outside the interview room. Inside he could hear grunts and muffled