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“Elena!” Aiden said sharply.
“Yes, yes, I heard you.”
“Then pull yourself together. There could be a splinter group here in Trieste, whatever the risk. Where are they going to strike, and above all, when?”
She pulled back and stared up at him. She breathed the words. “And whom?”
“Probably Dollfuss himself, in Vienna.”
“You mean…murder him?”
“No, probably take him captive and dictate what he must say, with a mixture of threats and blackmail, physical violence toward him or his family. He has a wife, you know. Very pretty woman. It will all look peaceful. He’ll announce some sort of alliance with Germany. To be led entirely by Hitler, of course.”
“Damnation!” she whispered.
“Pretty close,” he agreed. “Now come with me and meet my friend Baldur Wass. He has the final piece of information from which we can pretty accurately work out where they’ll strike. Then all we need to do is find out who killed poor Max, if he is dead, and what he told them before he died, so we can leave without running straight into their trap.” He held her a little more tightly and put his lips to her hair. “Or I could give you a copy of the list for Howard, and you could leave straightaway; make sure the list gets to London.”
“My job is to get you out.” She did not even have to think of her answer. “We don’t leave people behind, if we can help it. It’s bad for recruitment,” she added wryly.
“Very funny,” he said with a catch in his voice. “I’ve got the list with me. Can you hide it anywhere in that impossible dress? And not down your bosom. That’s the first place they’ll look. In fact, they’ll probably be looking at it anyway, if they’re halfway normal men.”
She stared up at him sharply.
He was laughing.
She felt a sudden sting of tears in her eyes and looked away, but she allowed him to pull her back a little closer. Any more, and she would risk falling over his feet.
* * *
—
They found Baldur Wass with a couple of other men, apparently friends or at least acquaintances of Aiden’s, in a nearby room. They had long ago lost sight of Gabrielle. Perhaps they would go home by her apartment so Elena could return her dress. One day, she would have to see if she could find one like it in London. Did MI6 provide a suitable wardrobe for necessary occasions? Probably, but not like this!
Elena was introduced to the men by nam
e, and she tried to remember them. She had agreed with Aiden that she would speak only in Italian, and she had kept her own name, Elena, simply taking on an Italian surname.
Baldur Wass was tall, almost Aiden’s height. Wass was as fair as his one friend Marek was dark. To judge by their accents, they were from southern Germany.
They all spoke companionably for ten or fifteen minutes, then suddenly Marek said something in what Elena took to be Hungarian, and the air in the room seemed to freeze.
There was a brief knock on the door and it was pushed open. A thin man strode in. He was beautifully dressed in dinner clothes and had a large, curled mustache.
“Hello, Ferdie,” Wass said tersely, in German. “You’re late. What have you got to say?”
“You’re still going ahead with your plans?” Ferdie asked, his eyebrows raised, his expression sarcastic.
“Why?” Marek asked immediately.
“Careless! Careless!” Ferdie said mockingly. “One mistake is enough. One could kill all of us.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Wass looked from one to the other of them.
“Ten men arrested! That’s what I’m telling you about. Ten!” Ferdie whipped around and stared hard at Aiden. “You! I trusted you, you bastard.” He swung back to the other two men, entirely ignoring Elena, as if she had been no more than an ornament on the table. “Ask our friend here,” he said, indicating Aiden. “He went to the old Front deliberately and told them about us! Now we’ve lost that moment of surprise! You tried to fool me,” he said directly to Aiden, “and that is betrayal.”
Aiden’s face was white, but he stood his ground. “Liar! I told no one. If anyone is trying to sabotage us, it’s you! Why? Who are you working for? Are you loyal to the Front…or…my God, Ferdie, who is paying you? Are you siding with the splinter group?” He looked at the others. “All of you?”
Elena looked at Ferdie and knew that his confused expression was forced, insincere.
