Strang brightened. “Maybe this won’t be so bad.”

  “Let’s not get overly optimistic, Erich. There’s a reason Rainer asked me to make the trip.”

  “I hadn’t thought about that,” Strang replied. “What kind of trouble are you getting me into?”

  “Hopefully, I won’t. I’m supposed to deliver guidance to an idiotic party functionary.”

  “Is there any other kind?” Strang paused. “Forget I said that.”

  “Your teeth are showing,” Gerhard grinned. “I imagine your job will be to look intimidating when we carry the courier packet into Daumer’s office.”

  “Oh, him. Even the SS director in Munich is disgusted with him. How did he ever end up with that position?”

  “I asked Rainer the same thing. He told me we had a wealth of bad choices.”

  Strang shook his head. “Mein Gott.”

  “Exactly. Anyway, we’re on the two o’clock train. I’ve already said my goodbyes to Katlin. How about we get together for lunch?”

  “Does that mean you’re throwing me out of your office?” Strang asked.

  “It does. I have about an hour to finish my day’s work before I can leave to play tourist in Munich.”

  “I know when I’m not wanted.”

  “Just be back at noon,” Gerhard replied.

  Gerhard began sorting through the paperwork stacked on his desk. Whenever Rainer didn’t want to deal with something, he routed it to Gerhard. Wicklein was honored that Karl Rainer trusted him to make decisions about many party matters. It meant that the workload was sometimes overwhelming.

  In about ten minutes, he had a stack of items that he felt safe delegating and carried them to Gottfried.

  “Grüß, Gottfried.”

  The balding, hook-nosed, fiftyish man looked up at the stack of paper and groaned.

  “No, you can’t do this to me again, Herr Wicklein.”

  “Why should this surprise you? You arranged my train tickets. You should know what flows downhill.”

  Brucks held his hands over his face. “Perhaps you will go away if I pretend not to see you.”

  Gerhard laughed. “No such luck. Listen, I’ve got a bigger stack on my desk to work through before I leave. So be a good boy and take care of this for me. You have good judgment, and you do good work.”

  “I sometimes wonder why I come to work in the morning. I never know when you will ambush me.”

  “It’s all for a good cause.”

  “That’s what they all say,” Brucks replied.

  He accepted the stack from Gerhard and began paging through it as Wicklein retreated to his office. In truth, he was delighted to receive these tasks. Everyone knew Gerhard Wicklein was an up-and-coming party functionary. Brucks could do worse than working for the rising star. He was unsure when Schloss swept in as the new Parteileiter, but Schloss and Rainer were very decent people, and he liked Wicklein a lot, too.

  To be honest, Schloss was a huge improvement over Bormann. Schloss was as ruthless as the other Nazi leaders, but he seemed to have a core of decency. There was no question that the new Parteileiter had murdered or executed Bormann, but there was no longer a constant sense of intrigue around the office. Bormann constantly schemed against other government members, but Schloss was focused on the job.

  § § §

  December 27, 1940; 6:30AM

  Brown House

  Munich, Germany

  Wicklein and Strang had a nice breakfast on the train and disembarked at 7AM when it arrived in Munich. Having nothing else to do, they proceeded to Brown House. Gerhard decided to take advantage of the extra time and snoop around the building. Most of the denizens would not arrive until eight o’clock, but Gerhard felt he could learn a lot from studying the offices.

  The German habit of fixing name plates on every desk was helpful. There were a lot of new people in the office.

  “And what are we doing, Gerhard?” Strang asked.

  “I’m mainly looking for new names,” Gerhard replied.

  “Are you finding any?”

  “A lot. Herr Daumer appears to sweep a wide broom.”

  “Is that a good thing?” Strang asked.

  Gerhard shook his head. “It would be in many of the party offices I have visited. But Herr Schloss and Rainer were careful to put good people into jobs here.”

  “So Daumer is filling the place with his cronies from the SA?”

  “You got it. That’s what the courier packet is about.”

  Strang said nothing more as he followed Gerhard through the building. A stocky, crude-looking man walked around the corner.

  “Doing some snooping, hey, Gerhard?”

  “Oh, hi, Merten. I hadn’t been here for a while and decided to walk around. Oh, and this is Lieutenant Erich Strang of the SS.”

  The other man clicked his heels and gave a short bow. “Merten Burkhart at your service, mein Herr.”

  Strang stared at Burkhart long enough to melt through the other man’s self-assurance.

  “Yes,” Erich said, “I have heard of you. How did you manage to stink up Brown House with your carcass?”

  “I’m doing a job here,” Burkhart spat. “I suppose Herr Himmler sent you along to wipe Gerhard’s nose.”

  “That’s why the party has the SS,” Strang replied. “Where is your Arsch-wiper?”

  Burkhart clenched his fists. “I will not be spoken to in such a manner?”

  Strang’s glare turned icy. “Are you ready to discover what happens to people who assault an SS officer? I can assure you that once you are in the basement of the SS offices, no one will hear you scream.”

  Burkhart wilted. “Perhaps I was hasty.”

  “Have a care, Herr Burkhart. Other SS people are not as kind and patient. Now, I suppose you have things to do.”

  “Of course, Mein Herr.”

  As they watched Burkhart scurry away, Erich turned to Gerhard. “What is it with these swine?”

  Gerhard sighed. “I will tell you about Merten sometime. I think, for now, we should head to Herr Daumer’s office before we run into another annoyance.”

  “In other words, Gerhard, I have been shooting off my mouth again.”

  “I think you achieved precisely the correct tone, Erich. Plus, it’s much safer than dressing down a Gestapo agent.”

  Strang shook his head as they walked towards the stairs. “Let’s not talk about that. Heydrich still reminds me about it, and not in a good way.”

  “We all have our feet of clay,” Gerhard chuckled.

  At precisely 8:30, they stood in front of Marcel Daumer. Gerhard extracted the envelope from the attaché case and handed it to Daumer.

  “Thank you, meine Herren,” Daumer said. “If you kindly wait in the outer office, I will review the message and determine if there will be a reply.”

  “Of course, mein Herr,” Gerhard said smoothly. “Herr Rainer has instructed us to catch the ten o’clock train.”

  “And if you must remain here for the rest of the day for a reply, you will do so. Is that understood?”

  “Of course, mein Herr?”

  “And what is he doing here?” Daumer demanded, pointing at Strang.

  “The Parteileiter and the Reichsprotektor are concerned about the security of our couriers,” Strang barked. “I am here to prevent interference with Herr Wicklein’s duties.”

  Daumer stared at Strang for a few moments. “Are you suggesting that I might interfere with the security of this courier?”

  “Of course not, Herr Daumer,” Strang replied. “I am speaking in general. However, we have had problems before and do not wish to see it happen again. I’m sure you understand.”

  Whatever else Wicklein could say about Daumer, the man was no fool. He could read between the lines as well as anyone.

  “Very well. If you wait outside, I will inform you if I have a reply in time for you to make your train.”

  “Of course, Herr Daumer,” Gerhard said. “Thank you.”

  The two men left the director’s office and found a pair of chairs along one wall of the outer office.

  “Mein Gott, Gerhard, what rock did he crawl out from under?” Strang muttered under his breath.

  “I’m glad we can have this agreement of the minds, Herr Lieutenant,” Gerhard replied. “He resembles something my Da used to scrape off his boots.”

  Within a half hour, Daumer called them back into his office and wordlessly presented a sealed envelope. Gerhard signed his acceptance, placed it in the attaché case, and they left Brown House. For once, they maintained the schedule and arrived in Berlin at 10:30 that evening.

  CHAPTER THREE

  January 4, 1941, 7:00AM

  Karl Rainer’s Office

  Nazi Party Headquarters

  Berlin, Germany

  “The verdammte English bombed Bremen last night,” Rainer said. “They took out a bridge over the Kiel Canal, and it fell on a ship. The canal is closed for the moment.”

  “Did it get a lot of people killed?” Gerhard asked.

  “What is a lot?” Rainer asked.

  Wicklein shrugged. “One is too many.”

  “I haven’t seen the death count. The Parteileiter lets me see the morning Military Digest. I suppose it’ll have the details of the raid in the next couple of days.”

  “A bad way to end the week, Herr Rainer.”

  Now Rainer shrugged. “When you start a war, you can expect things like this.”

  “What is this, Karl? Cynicism?”

  “It is what it is. Now that I have you here let’s discuss your Munich trip. Strang didn’t tangle with any Gestapo people, did he?”

  Gerhard nodded. Rainer had been too busy to meet for the previous week. He liked getting Wicklein’s report about a courier run if it involved potentially sensitive situations.

  “He leaned on Merton Burkhart pretty hard. I thought for a minute he was going to tear into Daumer. The intimidation worked well, though.”

  “Okay, you’d better tell me about that,” Rainer said.

  “What? About Merton or Daumer?”

  “Both.”

  “We arrived early at Brown House, so we did a walk-through of the building. We ran into Merten, and he asked if I was snooping, which, of course, I was. I introduced Erich, who promptly asked Merten how he had managed to stink up Brown House. Merten asked Erich if Himmler had sent him along to wipe my nose. Erich agreed and then asked Merten who wiped his Arsch. Merten acted like he wanted to attack Erich.”

  “I can assume that the lieutenant put Burkhart in his place.”

  “Oh, he did. He mentioned that nobody would hear him scream is he was in an SS cell.”

  “Ouch,” Rainer winced. “I assume that solved the problem.”

  “Oh, it did.”

  “Strang doesn’t play games. It will get him into trouble one day, but it sounds like he hit the right note at Brown House. And you say he tangled with Daumer?”

  “In so many words. I told Daumer that you wanted us on the ten o’clock train out of Munich. He said we could wait all day for a return message if necessary. He suddenly got polite when Erich mentioned he was along to prevent interference with my duties.”

  “You’d better tell me exactly what Daumer said.”

  “I wrote it down. If you like, I can grab it from my files and bring it to you.”

  “Just bring it after we get done here. What did you find from your walk-through?”

  “There are a lot of new name plates,” Gerhard said.

  “That confirms what I have been hearing,” Rainer replied. “He’s bringing in his cronies and hangers-on. That was the reason for the courier message.”

  “He wasn’t happy about that, Karl.”

  “I somehow did not expect him to appreciate it. But Herr Schloss is very concerned about Herr Daumer.”

  “Daumer sure moved fast to leave his mark on the place.”

  “That’s exactly it,” Rainer replied. “You should expect the director of a local party office to manage staffing to support the mission. But Daumer hasn’t been in place long enough to understand Munich party operations. I don’t know if it’s ignorance, arrogance, or simple incompetence.”

  “Probably some combination of the three,” Gerhard said. “Or maybe greed.”

  “Just don’t say anything about it. Herr Schloss knows he made a mistake in appointing Daumer, but he doesn’t want to be reminded. Based on your reports about the other party offices, Daumer is no worse than many and probably better than some. So, we will need something credible before we can act.”

  Gerhard shook his head in disgust but said nothing.

  “I don’t like it either,” Rainer commented. “But as the Parteileiter, Herr Schloss has bigger problems than Herr Daumer. And don’t look so worried, Gerhard. That’s just part of his job. We have some powerful party directors and Gauleiters; many are real swine. If we try to act against them, they’ll run to Hitler.”

  “End of story,” Wicklein commented.

  “Not necessarily. Remember, the Führer did permit Herr Schloss to act against Bormann. In a very deniable way. Herr Hitler maintains power by playing the factions against one another. But Bormann was getting too dangerous. Herr Schloss won’t go to Hitler about a Party functionary unless somebody had pictures of said functionary in bed with a young boy or if he had stolen a few million Reichsmarks from the Party treasury.”

  “That’s disgusting, Karl.”

  “You remember Röhm?”

  “The SA guy who tried to overthrow the government.”

  “Yes, that one,” Rainer explained. “He wasn’t actually trying to engineer a putsch. Hitler decided he was too dangerous, plus the Wehrmacht didn’t like him. And at that time, Hitler was trying to placate the generals.”

  “That sounds complicated.”

  “You have no idea. But Röhm habitually recruited young men to the SA and then lured them into his bed.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Wicklein exclaimed. “That’s revolting.”

  “It’s the truth. Hitler certainly knew about it but did nothing until it was necessary to dispose of Röhm.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t say anything about it, Gerhard. This is background information for your ears only. But you can understand why Daumer is untouchable at the moment.”

  “I understand.”

  “Good. And, understand that sometime in the future, Herr Daumer will discover he has no friends.”

  Gerhard shivered. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Rainer smiled. “I don’t tell you these things to frighten you; rather, I want you to maintain awareness wherever you might be. It’s important you understand how things work.”

  “I have a lot to learn.”

  “And you know a lot more than you did at this time last year.”

  “That is certainly true,” Wicklein chuckled.

  “Okay, next project,” Rainer announced. “I want you to find out how many party members we actually have in Alsace.”

  Gerhard thought about that for a few moments. “Very well. I will probably have to travel out there for a couple of weeks. I assume the records they have sent us here in Berlin will differ from what they have there.”

  “Party director there, or higher?”

  “We think the Gauleiter is heavily involved. But Herr Schloss is not in a position to directly challenge him.”

  “So then, why even bother?”

  “Listen carefully, Gerhard. We want you to go out there and make a lot of noise. They will hand you records that bear no close acquaintance to reality. You will smile and compliment them on their meticulous work and write a report accordingly.”

  Wicklein gazed at Rainer for a few moments before speaking. “Herr Schloss is sending a message?”

  Rainer nodded. “Correct. Everybody knows what is going on in Strasbourg. Herr Schloss wants Wagner to understand that there are limits to what the party will tolerate. Robert Wagner is one of the Führer’s privileged children right now. He’s one of Hitler’s earliest supporters. So, we cannot move against him. But this will put him on notice that we are watching him.”

  “Should I recognize any risks for the trip?” Wicklein asked.

  “You should. The Parteileiter and the Reichsprotektor have agreed to permanently detail Lieutenant Strang to the Party Offices to manage security-related issues. He will travel with you to Strasbourg.”

  “Erich will be thrilled, particularly if we travel in one of the JU88 executive transports,” Gerhard said.

  “Those aren’t the most comfortable in the wintertime.”

  “They are not comfortable at any time.”

  “At least most of the route is out of the range of the Spitfires,” Rainer commented.

  “Oh, you really didn’t need to mention that.”

  Rainer laughed. “You don’t have to leave immediately. I want you to send a letter to the documents clerk in the Strasbourg party offices announcing the audit and when you will arrive.”

  “And I don’t tell them the reason, of course.”

  “Of course. Let them sweat a little bit. Herr Schloss will probably receive a query from Wagner about the audit, which he will delegate to me to answer. So, you will probably leave in a couple of weeks. That will give you time to work up the courage to tell Katlin about it.”

  “Oh, thank you very much, Herr Rainer. I will tell her tonight. But your guesses about her reaction probably aren’t far off the mark. She doesn’t like it when I travel. That’s when interesting things happen to me.”

  “I understand. Tell her the lieutenant is riding along to keep you out of trouble.”

  Gerhard raised an eyebrow. “Then we need to determine who will keep Erich out of trouble.”

  “Being the responsible adult in the room,” Rainer answered, “I would say that is Himmler’s problem.”

  Wicklein was sipping his coffee while Rainer spoke and inadvertently swallowed deeply.

  “That coffee is hot!”

  “You must learn not to react to outside stimuli,” Rainer said.

  “So, you are now making this a mentoring session?”

  “Of course. As you said, Gerhard, you are still learning.”

  “I think a knife was hidden somewhere,” Wicklein replied.

 

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