"No, I don't know who you are, monsieur, and I do not care to know. just get in the back with the rest of the fish, and I'll take you to another who does know you."
The ride to their destination was odious for Gerhardt, both in terms of the overpowering smell of iced fish and the fact that he was forced to sit on a hard-slatted bench while the tight-springed van raced over potholed roads that might have been the remnants of the Maginot line. Finally, after nearly thirty minutes, they stopped, and a harsh voice came over an unseen speaker.
"Out, monsieur. And please to remember, you never saw us, and we never saw you, and you never were carried in our truck."
The rear doors of the van opened mechanically. Kroeger grabbed his luggage, bent over so as not to hit his head on the roof, and squat-walked to his exit and fresh air. A youngish man in a dark suit, With closecropped hair, studied him in silence as the van sped away, its tires screeching in a hasty retreat.
"What kind of transport was this?" exclaimed Gerhardt.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Do you know who we are, Herr Kroeger? If so, your question is foolish. Our presence must be the most secret in France."
"We'll discuss that when I meet your superiors. Take me to them immediately!"
"There's no one superior to me, Herr Doktor. I insisted on meeting you myself."
"But you're-you're .. ."
"So young, sir? .. . Only the young can do what we do. Our reflexes are at the height of their powers, our bodies superbly trained. Old men like you would be disqualified during the first hour of indoctrination."
"That said and agreed to, you should be disqualified within two hours for not carrying out your orders!" . "Our unit is the best. May I remind you that they killed one of the targets under the most hostile conditions-"
"Not the right one, you imbecile!"
"We'll find the other. It's merely a question of time."
"There is no time! We must talk further; you've missed something. Let's go to your headquarters."
"No. We talk here. No one goes to our offices. We've made arrangements for you; the Hotel Lutetia, once the headquarters of the Gestapo. It has changed, but the memories are in the walls. You will be comfortable, Herr Doktor."
"We must talk now."
"Then talk, Herr Kroeger. You will go no farther."
"You're insubordinate, young man. I am now the commandant of Vaclabruck until a replacement for Von Schnabe is named. You'll take your orders from me."
"I beg to differ, Herr Doktor. Since General von Schnabe's removal, we've been instructed to take our orders solely from Bonn, from our leader in Bonn."
"Who is?"
"If I knew, I would have been sworn to secrecy, but since I don't, it doesn't matter. Codes are used, and through them we recognize their absolute authority. All our assignments must be sanctioned by him, and only him."
"This Harry Latham must be hunted down and killed. There's not a moment to waste!"
"We understand that, Bonn made it clear."
"Yet you stand there and say to me quite casually that it's 'merely a question of time'?"
Chapter Fourteen
"It-wouldn't help matters to shout, mein Herr. Time is measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and-"
"Stop it! This is a crisis and I demand that you accept the fact."
"I do-we do, sir."
"So what have you done, what are you doing? And where in hell are your two men? Have you heard from them?"
The young Blitzkrieger, his body rigid but his eyes flickering with insecurity, answered slowly, quietly.
"As I explained to Catbird, Herr Kroeger, there are several possibilities. They escaped but both were wounded, how severely we don't know. If their situations were hopeless, they would have done the honorable thing, as each of us has sworn to do, and taken themselves out with cyanide or gunshots to their heads."
"You're saying you haven't heard from them."
"Correct, sir.
But we know they escaped in the car."
"How do you know it?"
"It was in all the papers and on the news broadcasts. Also, we've learned that there is a massive search for them, a manhunt employing the police, the Sfiret&, even the Deuxieme Bureau.
They've spread out everywhere: towns, vi ill ages even the hills and the forests, questioning every doctor within two hours of Paris."
"Then your conclusion is dual suicide, yet you said there were several possibilities. What others?"
"That is the strongest, sir, but it is conceivable that they are getting their strength back, minimally recuperating,