Hitler's Secret (10 page)

As soon as Otto saw the flashlight beam flash three times he felt he could breathe again. Leni had done it. She’d got Angelika, and she was on her way to the jetty. He responded with four flashes and almost immediately received two in return. That was the sequence they had agreed over their supper. If someone had got her, she would have flashed four times and Otto didn’t really know what he would have done. Made a run for it or tried to rescue her? He liked to think he’d have tried to rescue her, but … Well, he didn’t need to think about that now. It was just after midnight, according to the convent’s clock and his own watch. They were ahead of schedule.

Five minutes later he made out Leni and the figure of a young girl hurrying down the jetty, their feet thrumming on the wooden boards. He made his way quickly to the stern of
the boat. They were puffing hard, but they were there. That was all that mattered.

“We ran the whole way,” Leni said, gasping for breath.

He felt her shaking as he helped her climb aboard. Then he held out his hand to the younger girl as she stepped down into the boat. So this was the child. She was smaller than he had imagined, her brown hair bouncing on her shoulders. She looked like a typical Bavarian country girl. Why was she so important? He put the question to the back of his mind. As far as he was concerned, he had a job to do. And the job was to deliver this girl to MacPherson in Switzerland pronto.

“I’m Otto, by the way,” he said.

“Angelika. Pleased to meet you.” She gave a little curtsy.

He laughed. He supposed she’d been taught to greet people like that by the nuns. “And me you,” he said, bowing formally. “Have a seat. Make yourself comfortable on our luxury yacht.” He grinned at her, then glanced back at Leni. “I was getting worried,” he whispered. “You’ve been gone a long time. Did it go all right?”

Leni nodded, catching her breath. “Yes … sort of … mostly.” She peeled off her pack and dropped it on the deck.

“She knocked out Sister Margareta,” Angelika said breathlessly, glancing at Leni with something like admiration.

“What?” said Otto.

“I know!” replied Angelika. “Can you believe it?”

“It’s nothing …” Leni’s breathing was still ragged.

“She tied her up and stuffed her in the bed.” Angelika giggled nervously. “It was …” She searched for the right word. “… spectacular!”

“Sounds like it,” muttered Otto.

“Can we just get out of here?” said Leni.

Otto nodded and untied the stern rope.

The boat floated free of its mooring. Otto wasn’t sure which way the current in the lake would take them, but, as luck would have it, they started to drift north, away from the buildings. They all sat quietly for a few minutes until he could see the outline of the convent bell tower against the night sky and judged they were a few hundred yards from the island. Then he turned the skeleton key in the ignition, listened for a moment to the fuel pumps whirring, and stabbed his thumb down on the starter button. The engines turned and fired. The sound was like a gunshot in the silence of the night, but it would be fainter by the time it reached the convent.

He threw the throttle lever forward and the launch pulled away from the island, heading out across the lake towards Stock. The bow sliced through the water, its blue hull gleaming darkly, a thick white wake opening up behind them.

Leni leaned forward and pulled the bedsheet rope she had slung across her chest over her head. She stood up, got her balance, and flung it overboard. Then she sat back down and put her arm around Angelika in the well of the cabin. An occasional tuft of spray caught their faces.

“Are you feeling all right?” Leni asked the girl.

Angelika looked up at Leni and smiled. “I think so,” she said. She squeezed Leni’s hand. “I feel like I’m in a dream.”

“I know what you mean,” said Leni.

Otto prayed it wouldn’t turn into a nightmare. He dropped the engines to a low idle a few hundred yards from the main jetty and aimed for a large paddle steamer moored there. When he was fifty yards away he cut the engines completely, letting the boat drift in. It bounced gently on the steamer’s cork fenders. He couldn’t believe it. He’d finally managed a good landing. If only the manor’s instructor could have seen it!

He let the girls climb off, then jumped onto the jetty and released the rope. What they needed now was for the current to hide their trail by catching the boat and taking it out onto the water.

There were still a good few hours of darkness left and the village was deserted. They made their way to the small stone church Otto had spotted the day before. It was the only building that would definitely be unlocked and empty at this time of night.

Once inside, Otto led them to the vestry at the side of the altar and they crowded into the little room. He slid the bolt shut on the door, then struck a match and lit the wall lantern. Leni stripped off her novice’s habit and indicated for Angelika to follow suit.

“What are you doing?” Angelika asked as Otto rummaged through one of the packs before retrieving some smaller clothes.

“These are for you; they should fit fine,” he said.

Leni started to help Angelika dress. Like Leni, she would be wearing the summer uniform of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, the League of German Girls.

Otto stepped across to her with a tube of what looked like oil paint. “We also need to dye our hair a different color, Angelika.”

“Why?” Angelika frowned.

“It’ll help us get to Switzerland faster, that’s all. Stand still, please.” He squirted a dollop out of the tube and started to rub it into her hair. Leni finished buttoning her dress and took over from Otto. He squeezed some of the paste into his own hair.

“Is it like a disguise or something?” asked Angelika. “Like dressing up?”

“That’s right,” said Leni. “We’re going to pretend to be a family, traveling across Bavaria together.”

“A family?” Angelika stared at them. “You mean, like you’re my brother and sister?”

“Yes, your big brother and sister,” said Otto, adding, “so we all need to look the same. If that’s all right with you.”

Angelika frowned. “But what’s our name?”

“We’re the Fischers from Salzburg. We’ll tell you all about us as soon as we’re on the road.”

Leni finished rubbing the dye into Angelika’s hair and quickly started on her own.

“I’ve always wanted a brother and sister.”

“Well, now you’ve got them.”

They waited twenty long minutes for the hair dye to act, then rinsed their hair under the tap as best they could. The water was freezing, and Leni yelped with shock. She rubbed Angelika’s hair dry with her novice’s robe, then did the same to her own before using a comb on them both. Otto combed his hair with his fingers. The three of them were now blond. Standing together in their uniforms they looked like poster children for the Third Reich.

Leni’s voice was quiet but there was no mistaking the anger in it. “I hate these stupid clothes.”

“Me, too.” Otto touched her arm. “But let’s try not to think about it.” He handed Angelika a child’s pair of tortoiseshell spectacles. “There’s only clear glass in them.”

Angelika took them tentatively from him and slipped them on. She blinked owlishly through them. “I love them! The nuns in the library wear glasses. Do I look like a librarian?”

Leni smiled approvingly. The transformation was remarkable.

“No one will recognize you now, little sister,” she said.

Angelika frowned again. It was a lot for her to take in, but she was coping with it remarkably well so far. “Why shouldn’t people recognize me? Is someone going to look for us?” she asked.

“The nuns. Just the nuns,” said Leni hurriedly.

“Let’s get moving, shall we? The sooner we go, the sooner we’ll be in Switzerland.” Otto was anxious now not to make her any more apprehensive. He took a step towards her.

She stepped away from him. “But what’s in Switzerland? Why are we going there, really?” Angelika stuck out her jaw. Now that they were away from the convent, and she was in a new place with new people, she seemed to be realizing just what she’d done.

Leni shot a look at Otto. He nodded: They had to tell her something. Now was the time to give her MacPherson’s story.

Leni took the girl’s hand. “Because your parents are in Switzerland, Angelika.”

The girl’s eyes widened. “My parents? But … that’s not possible! I don’t know anything about my parents …”

Leni put her other arm around her. “Well, we’re here to help you get to them. You’re a very special child, and the people who’ve been keeping you in that place didn’t want you to know the truth.”

“But why?” the girl asked. She was starting to look confused, and, worse, her eyes were filling with tears.

“We don’t know,” said Otto. “Our job is to get you across the border in the next twenty-four hours before they realize what’s happened and try to recapture you.”

“Recapture me?”

Otto saw she was really alarmed now. He cursed his choice of words.

“Not
recapture
you, as such. But the nuns will be worried, quite naturally. They’ll want to find you, make sure you’re safe.” He smiled as reassuringly as possible.

“I’m sorry. I know it’s all a terrible shock,” Leni added.

The three of them stood in silence. Leni bent down and tied Angelika’s shoelaces tight with a double bow. Then she stood up and put her hands on the little girl’s shoulders.

“How long have you been on that island?” she asked.

“Four years, three hundred and sixty-two days, and about thirty minutes. I was five when I arrived. And this Sunday,” she added with a touch of pride, “it’s my birthday. I’m going to be ten.”

Admiral MacPherson hadn’t told them she had a birthday coming up. Perhaps it wasn’t relevant, thought Otto. But he wondered now what else had been kept from them.

“Well, you’ll be able to have the most wonderful party with your parents, won’t you?” said Leni brightly.

“Do you think so?” Angelika said anxiously. “I’ve never met them. No one ever told me a thing about them.”

“We’re sure of it, aren’t we, Otto?” Leni and Angelika both looked at him.

Otto nodded as sincerely as he could. But all he knew for certain at that moment was that they should be getting away from this village as fast as they could. There was still no light in the sky but dawn would be here soon enough.

“But look,” Leni said, “if you really don’t want to come with us, it’s fine.”

Otto stared at Leni. What was she playing at?

“We’ll drop you at the dock,” Leni went on, “and you can explain everything to the mother superior in the morning.”

“Leni, what —” Otto began.

“But if you choose to come with us now, we promise to do everything in our power to keep you safe and get you to Switzerland.”

“And my parents are really there?” Angelika looked at Leni. “I could find out who they are?” The hope in her eyes was almost painful to see.

Otto wondered what Leni would say. Was she capable of telling this young girl such an awful lie?

“Yes,” said Leni firmly, but she flinched slightly as she said it.

The church clock suddenly struck the hour, making them all jump. It seemed to jar the girl into making a decision.

“I’m sorry,” said Angelika. “I am grateful that you’ve helped me get out of that place. Honestly, I am. It’s just …” She hesitated. “I’ll come with you.”

Leni leaned forward and hugged her.

Otto quickly collected up all the evidence that they’d been there and dropped everything onto Leni and Angelika’s discarded robes. Then he rolled them up and tied them into a ball.

“What are you going to do with that?” asked Leni.

“We’ll drop it in a ditch on the way.” He took a quick look around to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. “Ready?”

The three bicycles were still where they had hidden them under a tarpaulin at the back of the boatyard.

“It’s a couple of hours to Rosenheim,” Otto said, wheeling his bike out towards the street. He glanced back. Angelika was standing still, holding the bike by the handlebars. “What’s the matter, Angelika?”

The girl’s eyes finally filled with tears. “I don’t know how to ride this,” she said.

Leni and Otto looked at each other in horror. They hadn’t thought of this. They’d assumed every child could ride a bike.

“I asked the nuns once,” Angelika went on, “but the mother superior refused. She said she didn’t want me to injure myself in any way. She was always saying that, making sure I didn’t do anything fun, like running and jumping and climbing.”

Otto walked back to her. “It’s all right, you can sit on the back of mine.” His was an adult bike with a strong steel pannier
over the back wheel. He helped Angelika on, then pushed the bike onto the street. It would slow them down. But he could only hope it wouldn’t slow them too much.

He kicked up the pedal and placed his foot on it, a sudden sense of urgency gripping him.

“Hold tight!” he said, glancing back at Angelika sitting sidesaddle on the pannier.

“I will,” she answered quietly.

He pushed the pedal down hard, trying not to wobble as he adjusted to the extra load on the back wheel, and soon started to build up some speed. Then Leni was beside him.

They exchanged a quick look between them. A mixture of relief and disbelief. They’d got the girl, but what in the world had they taken on?