Agent in Peril, page 25
‘That is indeed my recollection,’ said Barney Allen. ‘We were almost over the target when Crown picked up the signal. It sounds as if we need to feed this back to Switzerland.’
‘Indeed: this was the Mark Three version we were using. Loszynski now needs to be told to come up with a Mark Four with a stronger signal.’
‘And then what, Frank?’
‘Then we need someone to take it back into Germany, Roly. And this time, I think we need to go for key targets in the Ruhr.’
* * *
They met in the workshop in the basement on Rue Kléberg, where Roman Loszynski was enthusiastically demonstrating the machinery to Basil Remington-Barber and Noel Moore. Noel suggested they have a chat, about the purpose of their trip down to Geneva. They joined Sophia and Jack at a table at the back of the workshop.
‘Today is Thursday, isn’t it? One week since Sophia returned from her trip to Germany. Two days ago, there was a meeting in London to assess the damage caused by the bombing of the factory in Mannheim. They are of the view that the bombing was broadly a success, in that part of the factory was hit: they say that… where are we?’ He’d paused to look at a sheet of paper and tutted as he put on his reading glasses. ‘Here we are… twenty per cent of the factory seriously damaged, a further twenty per cent moderately damaged. The damage was to the southern end of the site. There was also substantial damage to two residential streets south of the factory. There’s a lot of technical stuff here for you to look at, Roman, mathematical formulae and the like, but what they seem to be saying is that the Lancaster bomber picked up a faint signal when they were around five miles north of the target. Lots of calculations follow, but in essence they seem to be saying that if a Mark Four could be produced with attention being given to making the signal stronger then they think that will work?’
‘Does it say what altitude the aircraft was when it received the signal?’
‘Nineteen thousand feet, it says here, Roman.’
‘Well, that’s too high: I have said that the aircraft needs to be no higher than fifteen thousand feet. The speed is crucial too. Do you know what speed it was travelling at?’
‘It’s all here. Perhaps you have a good look at it and then work on a Mark Four. How does that sound?’
‘It sounds very much as I expected. In my field, getting a complicated device like this to work is very much a matter of trial and error. I think with the refinements I’ll make and your air force understanding the need to fly lower and slower, then the results could be even better. I’m confident of that.’
‘And how long do you think it will take you?’
Roman Loszynski shrugged. ‘Today is the tenth: perhaps by the end of next week?’
‘So, by the eighteenth of June?’
‘Possibly. May I ask a question while you’re all here? It’s about my family. It is unspeakably difficult for me to concentrate on my work when I know my family are still in Poland. I’d understood they would follow me here, but I hear nothing. I feel beyond despair. I don’t know how much longer I can cope with this situation.’
‘We do understand, Roman, we really do.’ Noel was looking him in the eye and patting his arm. ‘I can assure you we have a plan and we’re working to bring your wife and children to Switzerland. But you did the journey yourself, Roman, you know how perilous it is and I’m sure you’ll understand it will be even more so for a woman and two children who speak no German.’
‘When will they be here?’
‘In July, Roman, I very much hope in July.’
* * *
The two British diplomats walked back across the Pont du Mont-Blanc with Sophia and Jack. They strolled along the Promenade du Lac until they came to Quai Gustave Ador where they stood watching the jet d’eau, the enormous water fountain on Lac Léman.
‘When you said his family would be here in July, Basil: did you mean that?’
‘I think I said I hope they’d be here in July, Sophia. I hope they’ll be here by then, but I very much doubt it. But so long as Roman believes it while he continues to work on his device…’
‘So, we’re tricking him?’
‘We’re trying to defeat the Nazis, Sophia. On which subject, who would you say are your most reliable agents in the Ruhr, Jack?’
‘Lotte in Gelsenkirchen, unquestionably… and then I’d say Felix in in Düsseldorf.’
‘Düsseldorf is out of the question, the agent who was captured in France knew about it, though why they’d told him that is beyond me. What about that chap in Duisburg?’
‘Rainer? I’d say he’s less willing and more nervous than Felix.’
‘They want to try the Mark Four device out in the Ruhr. Gelsenkirchen and Duisburg will be ideal.’
Basil turned to face the fountain, wiping the water from its fine spray from his face. ‘All you’ll need to do is deliver the device to the two agents, Sophia. You’ll be miles away once the raids take place.’
Chapter 27
Duisburg, Germany
June 1943
Roman Loszynski had been as good as his word – a point not lost on him as he reminded Basil about his promise to bring his family to Switzerland in July. Basil muttered something about ‘July’ and said he was very grateful Roman had completed the Mark Four version of the Tatra boxes.
They were gathered round the table in the workshop in the basement on Rue Kléberg in Geneva. Roman turned on an angle poise lamp so they could see it even better and looked at it admiringly, an artist proud of his creation.
‘I’ve made a number of modifications, which I’m confident will significantly enhance the performance of the transmitter. I think this is as close as we’ll get to it being an operational version. Briefly, I’ve adjusted both the oscillator and modulator, which ought make the signal stronger. I’ve also rectified a fault on the battery.’
He reached under the table and produced an umbrella. ‘The same one as you used before to conceal the antenna: there are two in here now.’
They all nodded admiringly and Noel asked when it would be ready and Roman said it was ready now, as he’d promised.
‘I always keep my word,’ he said, looking directly at Basil. ‘And I expect you to do the same.’
* * *
They travelled from Geneva to Basel the following morning, the Saturday, going straight to a safe house on Maien Gasse, close to the Women’s Hospital, and when they gathered in the lounge later that afternoon the shutters had been closed and Noel said this would be a good time to start the briefing.
‘We have decided that it would be safer for you to travel to the two target cities on your own, Sophia.’ He spoke very deliberately, as if he’d rehearsed what he was saying. ‘You are, after all, German and, as fluent as Jack is, you are inevitably more… credible, that’s the right word. Plus of course you’re a woman, which always give less rise to suspicion: with Jack there’s always a question mark as to why he’s not in the forces.’
Jack started to speak, but Noel told him to wait. ‘I’m about to explain everything to you: the idea, Jack, is that you will be back-up for Sophia. You will travel with her as far as Düsseldorf and wait for her there.’
‘What’s the point of that?’
‘As a military man I can tell you that the strength of an army is in the way it deploys its forces. A rash senior officer will commit all his forces to an attack, a wise one holds some back, placing them in the most effective strategic positions. You’ll be Sophia’s back-up, Jack.’
‘Thank you for your seminar on military strategy, Basil, but with respect, as you English say, this is a clandestine operation in Nazi Germany, not the trenches on the Somme.’
‘Exactly: all the more reason to exercise caution. Now let me go through the journey with you. Gather round.’
* * *
Sophia and Jack were left alone on the Saturday evening at the safe house on Maien Gasse. There’d been the briefing soon after they’d arrived, but it had been shorter than they were expecting.
Basil fussed around for a while and then left – they were given to understand he was staying at a hotel – but Noel remained in the house along with two of the security officers. They ate a largely silent dinner with Noel who said he was having an early night and suggested they did the same: there’d be more briefings the next morning and then they’d be heading off. Good night.
Their room was the only one on the top floor and there was a door at the top of the stairs, giving them more privacy than they’d expected in a safe house the day before a mission into Germany. Sophia was noticably more relaxed than Jack.
‘No one can hear us up here, Jack.’ She’d checked their bedroom door was shut and had led Jack over to the bed.
‘I think we should do what Noel suggests and get an early night.’
‘Really, Jack? That’s not like you!’ She’d slipped off her dress and was running her fingers through his hair. He moved away from her.
‘What’s up, Jack?’
He shook his head and walked over to the window. ‘Aren’t you nervous, Sophia? We’re going into Germany tomorrow. I can’t believe you can think about anything else.’
‘It would take your mind off it, Jack.’
‘I doubt it. Remember, I was a prisoner of the Gestapo just two months ago. I was lucky: I escaped. There’s only so much luck someone can have. In English there’s a saying about a cat having nine lives. I feel like I’ve used all of mine up.’
‘But you’re not a cat!’
‘Come on, Sophia.’ He moved over to the bed and sat next to her, taking her hand in his, his thumb stroking her wrist. ‘I never imagined I’d be going back there so soon. It’s all very well sitting in these briefings, isn’t it? Basil and Noel being terribly polite and reassuring and telling us we’ll be fine as long as we’re careful, but – it’s not really like that, is it? Sitting here in Basel, waiting to leave… it feels like we’re standing on the edge of a cliff in the dark, about to step into the void…’
‘And you think this will be a holiday for me in my homeland? I’m as scared as you are, Jack, but we have to do this. We have an obligation. We should see this as a religious mission. But we must be positive in the way we approach it. We must conquer our nerves. Come now.’
She placed her hand behind his head and pulled him towards her and this time there was no resistance from Jack.
* * *
Late on the Sunday evening – 20 June – the city was silent as they headed north along St Johanns Vorstadt, the car eventually stopping by a park.
Noel said it shouldn’t be too long and maybe it would be a good idea for them to run through their identities just once more, dates of birth et cetera.
Erich and Alma Walter… from Cologne… Erich a teacher and Alma a leading light in the Frauenschaft, hence her visits to Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen to help other German women and…
A torchlight blinked a few yards ahead of them and Noel told them to wait. He left the car and walked towards the figure behind the torch. Moments later he returned.
‘Follow him, keep at a distance and don’t talk, not even to each other. Hurry up now, take care.’
Basil turned round in the passenger seat and started to wish them the very best of luck and said he’d see them very soon, but by then they were on the pavement and the figure ahead of them had started to walk, so they followed him.
Ten minutes later they were on the banks of the Rhine, the river silent apart from a chopping sound as the water lapped the side. The man slowed down, allowing them to come closer. They were just a couple of yards behind him when he turned round and gestured towards a barge docked at a small quay. He nodded and said they should get on board quickly and go straight below deck.
As Sophia climbed on board, she spotted the name on the side.
Elfriede: Düsseldorf
They could just make out a man in the small wheelhouse: he smiled as they walked past and politely doffed his cap. At the bottom of the ladder another man was waiting: he appeared to be in his late sixties and behind him was a woman, wiping her hands on a towel and smiling at them as if they were entering her café. They were shown into a tiny cabin, which was taken up almost entirely by one narrow bed. On top of the bed were two sets of oil-stained working clothes.
The man they’d followed appeared in the doorway and told them to get changed quickly and then come out. ‘We set sail in half an hour: I’ll call you out when we’re ready.’
When he returned, he introduced the old man as Paul. ‘You—’ he pointed at Jack ‘—you go with Paul into the engine room and make yourself look busy. You, go with Dora here and make sure you’re busy too. Your hair looks far too neat: Dora, do something about that, maybe give her an old scarf. And just remember, both of you, you’re my crew, understand? The man in the wheelhouse is Emil, he’s my cousin.’
The German police came aboard as the barge crossed the Swiss border, just minutes after leaving the port. Jack heard little in the engine room and hardly looked up when someone opened the hatch and noted there were two of them there and said good before shutting the hatch. Sophia heard a bit more as she was squeezed next to Dora in the tiny galley. The policeman said something about Bruno having plenty of crew and Dora said it still wasn’t enough and turned round and handed a cake to him.
An hour later they were gathered round a table secured to the floor in the small area alongside the galley, off which were the cabins.
‘I’m Bruno, this is my wife, Dora. Paul came out of retirement a year into the war, he’s never happier than when he’s down there: he even sleeps alongside his wretched engines. Paul is totally trustworthy: I usually have one other crew member, Hans, but he’s remained in Düsseldorf and you have his papers and those of his wife. These identities are only to be used while you’re on the river, understand?’
Bruno was a large man, but as so often the case with men who spent their lives on boats, moved with a grace which belied his size. He had a thick mop of jet-black hair, flecked with grey. Dora looked nervous; a permanent smile set on her face.
Bruno said that as their cabin was so small, they should take it in turns to use the bed. Sophia said she wasn’t tired, and Jack should go ahead.
Dora went to their cabin and soon Sophia and Bruno were alone at the table. He said nothing as he busied himself with his pipe. Basil had spoken very highly of him.
If he survives the war, Bruno will be one of the richest men in Germany. The barge is his own and before the war he was struggling. Now he makes a fortune: he sails coal down from the Ruhr to Basel and then ships machinery back to Germany. His wealth comes from the extras he gets on board: he’s smuggled Jews out of Germany and God knows what else back into the country. He’s trustworthy and pays his crew well and, somehow, he doesn’t have a problem with the German authorities: he bribes them and is an expert at concealing things on his barge.
‘You’re from Berlin, yes?’
‘Pardon?’
‘I like to guess where people are from and I think you’re from Berlin.’
Bruno leant forward, looking for confirmation. Sophia shrugged in a manner she hoped he’d understand, that she wasn’t going to answer.
‘It’s not your accent, though there are traces of it – you don’t pronounce the letter “g”, that’s a giveaway. It’s more the way you hold yourself, you have a Berliner’s attitude. Do you know what I mean?’
‘I’m not sure I do, to be frank.’
‘An air of arrogance, without necessarily being arrogant, if that makes sense.’
‘But I’m not arrogant!’
‘Ah ha! So, you are from Berlin. Don’t worry, I don’t care where you’re from. My job is where you’re going to. Your friend though, I don’t think he’s German, is he?’
Sophia smiled – as if she was going to tell him anything! – and Bruno smiled too, to show he understood.
‘Tell me, are you doing this for the money?’
She shook her head.
‘Shame: those of us who do it for the money, we’re far more trustworthy. It’s a commercial decision with us, like signing a contract and then honouring it, though it helps that I hate the Nazis. Paul and Emil, I’ve known them both all my life and they also like money and dislike Nazis. Dora, she dislikes the Nazis more than I do, and the money – she has plenty of plans for it once this damned war is over.’
‘I’m surprised that women are allowed on board?’
‘Before the war, it was rare to see a woman on board the Rhine barges. But now, so many of the crew who were on the boats before the war have been conscripted into the Kriegsmarine. That’s why we have retired crew like Paul and women like Dora on board. And you.’
He looked at her through the smoke from his pipe and then glanced at his watch. Soon it would be his turn in the wheelhouse he said.
‘When will we arrive in Duisburg?’
‘It’s three hundred and seventy nautical miles from Basel and I’ll try and keep to six knots, so allowing for stops, probably sometime Thursday morning. Fortunately, we’re now allowed to sail at night: at the start of the war, they didn’t want us to, but now with all the bombing they reckon its safer. I know this river like the back of my hand, it’s not a problem.’
‘And the authorities won’t cause any problems?’
Bruno shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t go as far as that but, look, we’re travelling in Germany, they’re not bothered so much. When we travel towards Switzerland or up to Rotterdam, it’s a very different story. Also, the wooden crates in the hold, I don’t know what’s in them – just machinery I’m told, but I know it’s to do with armaments. That’s why they checked it when we crossed the border. They’ll know the Elfriede is carrying important cargo for the war and they won’t want to delay us.’
