Where Eagles Dare

While he was ordering, Mary glanced quickly at her watch and a momentary expression of desperation crossed her face, but by the time von Brauchitsch turned back she was smiling sweetly at him. She said: 'You were saying about Dusseldorf -- '

The company in the gold drawing-room had now been increased by one, a tall, cold-faced and hard-eyed sergeant who held a carbine cradled in a pair of strong and very capable looking hands. He was standing behind the couch on which Carraciola, Thomas and Christiansen were seated, and he was giving them his entire attention, apart from a frequent sideways glance at Schaffer. He had about him a reassuring air of competence.

'A very much more civilised arrangement,' Smith said approvingly. He rose, leaving his Schmeisser lying on the floor, crossed to the brandy decanter on the sideboard, poured himself another drink and made his way back to the fireplace where he placed his glass on the mantelpiece.

'Colonel Kramer!' Carraciola said desperately. "This is madness! Are you going to allow -- '

'Guard!' Smith's voice was harsh. 'If that man talks again, silence him!'

The guard jabbed his carbine muzzle none too lightly into Carraciola's back. Carraciola subsided, fuming, his fists clenched till the ivory showed

'What do you take Reichsmarschall Rosemeyer and Colonel Kramer for?' Smith demanded cuttingly. 'Credulous fools? Little children? Imbeciles of your own calibre, who imagine you can get away with a cretinous masquerade of this nature? The scopolamine will be used after I have established my own bona-fides and after I have disproved yours. Anne-Marie?'

Anne-Marie smiled and marched away. It was not every night that she got the chance to administer three injections of scopolamine. Then she stopped and turned, eyebrows raised in interrogation, as Smith called her name again.

'One moment, Fraulein.' Smith, brandy glass in hand, was staring unseeingly into the middle distance and the watchers could see a slow smile coming to his face, a smile obviously heralding the birth of a new idea and one that pleased him very much. 'Of course, of course,' Smith said softly. 'And bring three note-books will you, my dear?'

'Three note-books?' Colonel Kramer's tone was neutral, his eyes watchful. 'Three capsules? You give the impression that we have four enemies of the Reich here.'

'Only three enemies that matter,' Smith said in weary patience. 'The American?' The fact that he neither bothered to glance at Schaffer nor even permit a trace of contempt to creep into his voice showed unmistakably his opinion of the American. 'He doesn't even know what day of the week it is. Now then.' He picked up a cigar from an inlaid marquetry box, lit it and sipped some more brandy. 'Let's be fair and establish my bona-fides first. Pointers first, then proof. In the best judicial fashion.

Because I wanted to increase the odds against myself. Secondly, why didn't I-kill Colonel Weissner and his men when I had them at my mercy -- -if, that is, I'm an enemy of the Third Reich -- earlier this evening? I had some difficulty, I might tell you, in restraining our fire-eating young American here from turning himself into a one-man firing squad. Very aggressive,.he was.'

'I'll damned well tell you why,' Carraciola said viciously.. 'Because you knew the shots would be heard!'

Smith sighed, lifted the flap of his jacket, produced an automatic and fired. The sound of the impact of the bullet thudding into the couch inches from Carraciola's shoulder completely blanketed the soft plop made by the automatic itself. Smith carelessly threw the silenced Luger into a nearby empty chair and smiled quizzically at Carraciola.. 'Didn't know I had that, did you? I didn't kill Colonel Weissner because German does not kill German.'

'You are German?' Kramer's eyes were still watchful but the tone perhaps a shade less neutral.

'Johann Schmidt, at your service.' This with a little bow and click of the heels. 'Captain John Smith of the Black Watch.'

'From the Rhineland, by your accent?'

'Heidelberg.'

'But that is my home town.'

'Indeed?' Smith smiled his interest. 'Then I think we have a mutual friend.'

'Ah, and the fountain in the courtyard of the dear old Friedrichsbau,' Smith said nostalgically. He glanced at Kramer, and the nostalgia gave way to a pseudo-mournful reproof. 'How could you, my dear Colonel? To proceed. Why -- third point, I think -- why did I stage this elaborate car accident -because I knew those three impostors wouldn't dare come into the open until they thought I was dead. Anyway/ if I were the impostor, would I have come back when I knew the game was up? Anyway, to come back for what?' He smiled wearily and nodded at Jones. 'To rescue another impostor?'

Kramer said thoughtfully: I must say I'm rather beginning to look forward to hearing what our three friends here have to say.'