iron pirate (23 page)

Froebe saw another figure rise from a chair and then slip through a curtained door.

It was the flag-lieutenant. He suppressed a groan. In about three minutes the admiral would know all about this.

The doctor moved after Theil and said mildly, 'Don't any of you get sick until I return!'

Froebe leaned on the bar and stared at the steward. 'You didn't hear that.'

The man bit his lip. 'No, sir.'

Froebe saw the curtain sway across the doctor's back. The poor sod was drunk too. God, what a mess.

Suppose it was true.
If it was, would it make any difference if they held up another convoy, or two dozen of them,
really
make a difference in the end?

He thought suddenly of his wife and two children. Near the Dutch frontier.

He felt like a traitor as he gave silent thanks that the Allies and not the Russians would reach there first.

Hechler clipped the door behind him and stood inside the admiral's bridge. It was illuminated only by the light immediately above the main table against which Leitner was leaning, his hands flat on the chart.

'You sent for me, sir?'

Leitner glanced up. 'I like to know where you are. At all times, eh?'

Hechler watched him as he peered down at the chart again. He had expected Leitner to lose control, to scream at him. It was obvious that he must know about Theil and the doctor.

Hechler had been in his quarters when Theil had come searching for him, his eyes ablaze with anger and indignation. Hechler had closed the door to his sleeping cabin where the girl lay drugged and unconscious after being treated by the doctor. One of Stroheim's attendants had sat nearby, and Hechler had stood beside the bunk, not moving, hardly daring to breathe as he looked down at her. She had seemed so much younger, like a child's face, eyes tightly shut, beads of perspiration on her upper lip and forehead.

A splinter had hit her in the side, just above the left hip. Stroheim had explained that she had lost a lot of blood, and a bone had been chipped, how badly he did not yet know.

Hechler had turned down the sheet and stared at the neat bandages, a small red stain in the centre. She was dressed in a pyjama jacket, and he pulled it across her breasts, one of which was exposed in the bunk light.

He remembered the touch of her skin against his fingers as he did so. Burning hot, like some inner fire, or fever. Otherwise, apart from bruising from her harness when she had made a desperate attempt to steady the aircraft as it had smashed down in a deep trough, she was unmarked. It was a miracle.

He thought of Theil's outrage, and Stroheim's apparent indifference. He was still not sure what he would have done, but the telephone had called him here. It might give him time.

Leitner was saying, 'Lieutenant Bauer just brought me a new

batch of signals. I have been working on them, plotting what we shall do.'

Hechler studied his glossy head and waited. So it was Bauer.

He said abruptly, 'He is one of my officers, sir, and as captain I expect to be informed of every signal which affects this ship.'

Leitner looked up, his eyes cold. 'His first responsibility is to me. I will decide

Hechler could feel the armoured sides of the bridge closing in, just as he could sense his rising anger and disgust.

'So it's true about
Lubeck?

Leitner straightened his back, his face moving into shadow as he snapped, 'Yes, I knew about it. What had happened.'

'You told our people she had gone down in battle.'

Leitner replied, 'Do not adopt that tone with me. It was the right decision. Afterwards, they can believe what they like!'

I can't believe it.'

Leitner smiled gently. 'Because Rau was another captain, is that it? Death before dishonour? I can read you like a book. You've not changed, you with your outdated ideals and fancies!'

Hechler met his eyes.
‘Graf Spee
would have fought back. Her captain was ordered to scuttle too. It did more damage than losing the ship to the enemy. It was madness.'

Leitner banged his hand on the table. 'I believe he shot himself  after that, eh? Hardly the act of
a gallant captain]'

He moved back into the shadows, his voice barely under control. I will be questioned. I command here, so remember it. And

if that idiot Theil cannot keep order in his own wardroom, and shut the mouth of any foul, defeatist rumour, I will have him removed!' He strode about the small bridge, his shadow looming against the grey steel like a spectre. 'God damn it, I could order a man shot for such behaviour!' He swung round and said, 'After .ill 1 did for him, the ungrateful bastard!'

I lechler said, 'He brought the doctor to me, sir.'

And I suppose you gave him a pat on the back! He can do no wrong, not one of
your
officers, oh no! Ingratitude, that's what it is. 1 am betrayed on every side

Tin sure he acted as he thought right, sir.'

'Not before half the ship's officers heard what Stroheim said.' Leitner paused by the table, his chest heaving with exertion. 'I should have known, should have overridden your belief in the man, damn him. No wonder his bloody wife was taken away

He paused at that point, his eyes staring, as he realised what he had said.

Hechler pressed his hands to his sides. 'When was that, sir?' He leaned forward. 'I must know!'

Leitner ran his fingers through his hair and replied vaguely, 'When we were at Vejle.'

All that time, while Theil had gone around the ship like a man being driven mad by some secret worry, Leitner had known.

'What had she done?'

Leitner took his calm voice as some kind of understanding. 'She had been making trouble. Her parents were arrested. Terrorists, I expect.'

'Is she in prison, sir?'

Leitner's gaze wavered. 'The Gestapo took her.' He looked at the chart without seeing it. That's all I know.'

Hechler thrust his hand into his pocket and gripped his pipe. He felt sick, unable to believe what he had heard.
Gestapo.

Leitner picked up a telephone and added, 'Well, you wanted the truth, Dieter. Sometimes not an easy thing to share, is it?'

Does Bauer know about it?'

'Yes.' It sounded like
of course.

'Anyone else?'

Leitner smiled very gently. 'Only you.'

Leitner spoke into the telephone and asked for the navigating officer to be awakened and sent to the bridge.

He put down the telephone and said, 'The war goes on, you see. Within the week we shall carry out an attack which will throw the enemy into utter confusion.'

’Are you going to tell me about it, sir?' He was surprised that he should sound so level. If he had had a Luger in his hand instead of a pipe he knew he could have killed him.

'When I have decided.'

Then I should like to leave, sir.'

Leitner watched him by the door. 'It is up to you whether you tell Theil about his wife. The ship comes first, you told me so yourself. If Theil is told, what good can it do? He is like the rest of us. A prisoner of duty until released, or killed. As it stands, stupid as he may be, he is a competent enough officer. I will not tolerate interference with my plans because of him, or anyone else, do I make myself clear?'

Perfectly, sir.'

Then you
are
dismissed.' He bent over the chart again.

I lechler opened the door and groped his way through the darkness, the night air clammy around him.

On the forebridge all was quiet, the men on watch intent on l heir various sectors, although Hechler guessed that Theil's con-I rontation with the doctor would by now' be common knowledge.

I ie thought of the men he commanded. The ones who had trusted him, who had listened to Leitner's passionate speech about the
Lilbeck.
Her sacrifice, he had termed it. Rau must have been ordered to scuttle his ship by no less than the Fuhrer. Was I here no room left for honour?

I ie knew Theil was waiting for him, could see his dark ou tline against the pale steel.

Theil said in a fierce whisper, 'I have sent him to his quarters, sir.'

Good.' Hechler walked past him. 'I will have a word with him in I lie morning.'

Theil persisted angrily, 'He was raving about the
truth
all the tune! Why should we be told everything, when security must come first! I did not believe him anyway - we would have been informed if -'

Hechler did not hear the rest.

What would you do with the truth, I wonder? If I told you here and now that your wife had been taken by the Gestapo?

He looked over the screen and allowed the spray to refresh his I ace. She was probably in some terrible prison. She might even be dead. God, it did not bear thinking about.

Theil finished, 'Duty first, I say. The truth can wait.'

Hechler slipped into the chair and touched his arm. 'If you say so, Viktor.'

It was as if Theil had decided for him.

Doubts

Konteradmiral Andreas Leitner appeared to shine as he stood in the entrance of the conning-tower and waited for Hechler to receive him.

All present, sir.' Hechler touched the peak of his cap and noted that Leitner was dressed in white drill, with a freshly laundered cap-cover to set it off.

Inside the conning-tower it was already stiflingly hot despite the fans, and the sunlight which cut through the observation slits seemed to add to the discomfort of the ship's heads of department who were crowded around the chart-table.

Leitner stepped over the coaming and nodded to his subordinates. For the next few moments at least
Prinz Luitpold
would be in the hands of her junior officers.

They were all there, Theil, beside the towering Gudegast, Froebe, and Kroll, even Stuck, immaculate in a white boiler suit and somehow out of place. Oberleutnant Meile, the stores officer, who could at any time tell you how many cans of beans or sausages were being consumed per every nautical mile steamed, and of course Bauer, the smooth-faced communications officer.

Hechler saw the new doctor's shape wedged in one corner, as if he was trying to stay out of sight.

Leitner cleared his throat and glanced at his side. 'Very well, Helmut, we will begin.'

Hechler saw Gudegast raise an eyebrow at Froebe, and the latter's brief grin. Leitner's familiarity with his flag-lieutenant was unusual in public.

Hechler felt their interest as the aide laid a new chart on the table. It was covered with arrows and estimated positions where Lietner had plotted the ceaseless stream of information gathered by the W/T office.

He thought of the hasty Crossing the Line rituals that morning as the ship had reached the Equator, the makeshift ceremony on the forecastle while the anti-aircraft guns had sniffed at the clear sky, and every lookout had scanned his allotted piece of ocean. There was no carrier within a hundred miles, nor had any more submarines been reported. But the spies and the intelligence network which had been built up into an efficient world-wide machine during the past ten years or so, could not be expected to have all the answers.

Hechler had been on the bridge and had watched the boatswain, Brezirika, dressed in a false beard of spunyarn and a flowing robe made of bunting. His cropped head had been topped by a   convincing crown, as he had challenged the cruiser's right to enter his domain. The rough ceremony was like a tonic after the strain and uncertainty, and even the young officers who were subjected

to the 'bears' ' rough handling and ducked in a canvas bath, took

it all in good part.

He thought of the girl who was confined to his own quarters, of his last, short visit there. She had been propped on a bank of pillows, dressed in another pyjama jacket which Stroheim's assis-lants must have found somewhere. She had greeted him with a smile; once again it had been an awkward greeting. Not as strangers this time, but like those who have been parted for a long while. 'Are they taking care of you?' Even that had sounded clumsy. He had wanted to tell her how he had touched her, had later sat on the bridge chair and thought about her, when the words had flowed so easily through his mind.

She had smiled and had tried to struggle up on her elbows. He had seen the sudden pain in her eyes, and helped her to be comfortable again.

She had said. 'You came to me when I got back.'

'Yes. We were all so proud of you.' He had looked at his hands. I was very proud. I thought when I saw the damage

She had reached out and their hands had touched. 'I knew you'd wait for me. Somehow I thought you'd pick me up,'

She had lain back., her hand still against his. 'How is the plane?' she had asked.

Then they had laughed together. As if it mattered.

Hechler looked up as Leitner's voice brought him into the present.

'It has been confirmed that the major convoy of enemy troops is going ahead.' He waited for his aide to rest a pointer on the chart. 'Around Good Hope, then escorted all the way to Gibraltar

to change to an even larger protective screen with all the air cover they need.' He eyed them calmly, and Hechler wondered if the others were thinking of the doctor's outburst about the Liibeck, the Allied successes in France and Holland. Equally, if Leitner was searching for doubt or disloyalty amongst them.

Hechler glanced at Theil. He looked very calm, but the hands which gripped the seams of his trousers made a lie of his composure.

Leitner continued, 'If the British have a weakness it is their overriding interest in protecting life rather than the materials of war. They do not seem to realise that without such materials, they can lose everything, including the lives of those they intended to defend. It is a false equation, gentlemen, and we shall prove just how futile it is.'

The pointer moved on past the Cape, where the Atlantic met the power of the Indian Ocean.

'In moments of crisis, whole armies have been forced to a halt by the inability to keep up a supply of fuel. Even our own forces in Russia have often been in a stalemate because of holdups, flaws in the supply-line.'