light?"
"Yes," replied the woman.
"I speak englisch little, not good."
With those words she snapped on the foyer light. The blond girl was fully dressed, her purse and overnight case in hand. Witkowski stepped forward.
"We go now, ja?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Frdulein," said the colonel in German.
"Business comes first."
"I have been promised!" she cried.
"A visa, a passport protection for me to go to America!"
"You'll get it all, miss. But short of carrying Traupman out of here, where are the tapes?"
"I have fifteen-the most grotesque of the lot-in my bag here. As to taking the Herr Doktor out of the apartment house, it is impossible. The service entrance is locked with an alarm from eight o'clock in the evening until eight in the morning. There is no other way, and television cameras record everything."
The colonel translated for Drew, who replied, "Maybe we can get Traupman past the security desk. What the hell, his guards are gone." Witkowski again translated, now for the German woman.
"That is foolishness leading to the death of us all!" she countered emphatically.
"You don't understand this place. The owners are the richest in Nuremberg, and what with the kidnappings of the wealthy throughout Germany these days, a resident himself must inform the desk that he is leaving the premises."
"So I'll use the phone and be Traupman, so what? Where is he, incidentally?"
"Asleep in the bedroom; he's an old man and easily exhausted by the wine .. . and other methods But you really don't understand. The rich all over Europe travel with guards and bulletproof automobiles. You may have gotten in here, and I congratulate you on doing so, but if you think you can leave with the doctor, you're mad!"
"Ve'll sedate him, just as we did the guard outside the door."
"Even more foolish. His limousine must be called up from the garage before he leaves the building, and only his bodyguards have the combination for the key vault-"
"Key vault?"
"Automobiles can be stolen or tampered with-you really don't understand."
"What the hell are you two talking about?" Drew broke in.
"Stop with the German!"
"We're screwed," said the colonel.
"The Deuxieme report didn't go far enough. How about armored vehicles under the canopy before he goes outside, and combination vaults in the garage for the keys?"
"The whole damn country's paranoid!"
"Nein, mein Herr," said Traupman's woman for the evening.
"I understand a little of what. you say. Not entire Deutschland-parts, sections where the rich live. They are frightened."
"How about the Nazis? Is anyone frightened of them, lady?"
"They are garbage, mein Herr! No decent person supports them."
"What the hell do you think Traupman is?"
"A bad man, a senile old man-"
"He's a goddamned Nazi!"
It was as though the young woman had been struck in the face.
She winced and shook her head.
"I have no .. . no knowing of such a thing. His Freunde .. . in der Medizin, they have respect. Many are berfibmt. So famous."
"That's his cover," said Witkowski in German.
"He's one of the leaders of the movement, that's why we want him."
"I can't do any more than I am doing, sir! I'm sorry, but I cannot.
You have the tapes, that's all I promised. Now,you must make it possible for me to leave Germany, for if what you say is true, I will be marked by the Nazi pigs."
"We honor our agreements, miss." The colonel turned to Latham and spoke in English.
"We're out of here, cb1opak. We can't take the bastard without jeopardizing the whole operation. We'll fly to Bonn in an hour or so on a Deuxieme plane and wait for the son of a bitch there."
"Do you think he'll still go to Bonn tomorrow?" asked Drew.
"I don't think he has a choice. Also, I'm counting on a German chain of command, which is a lot more rigid than ours. Blame is to be avoided at all costs, which is pretty much the same as ours, actually."
"Clarification, please?"
"Each of Traupman's bodyguards has been drugged. They'll come to in twenty or thirty minutes, scared shitless no doubt, and immediately check on the penthouse."
"Where they'll find Traupman peacefully asleep," interrupted Latham.
"But what about the tapes, Stosh?"
Witkowski looked at the young blond woman and asked the same question. Tratipman's lady of the evening opened her purse and pulled out a key.
"This is one of the two keys to the steel cabinet that holds the rest of the tapes," she answered in German.
"The other is in the Nuremberg National Bank."
"Will he miss the key?"
"I don't believe he'll even think about it. He keeps it in the second drawer