By 1940, Derrick was eager to atone for his crimes and willing to take on the clandestine task of rescuing German military officers, political figures, and clergymen suspected of treason against the Third Reich from torture, imprisonment, and death. This he accomplished by spiriting them out of the interrogation cells of the Abwehr and SD to purported graves, bogus interrogation sites, concentration camps, and firing squads. The deliverance of these men involved nerve-racking, dangerous machinations. The slightest false move could result in the undoing of Colonel Derrick Albrecht, his family, Major General Konrad March, and the two men of his SD staff loyal to the cause of freeing Germany from Hitler’s stranglehold.

The latest candidate for rescue that Konrad had sent over from Abwehr headquarters, a Wehrmacht major, was a case in point. Already suspected of treason by the SS, he had agreed to be the scapegoat for the leak of the German agents. He was arrested, “interrogated,” and his “corpse” transported out of Paris. The man had made a slight noise in the wooden box used to transport him from his cell to the “disposal sites” where he would be deposited into friendly hands. A lance corporal on his staff exclaimed, “Wait! I thought I heard a sound coming from inside the coffin. Should we open the lid to see if the traitor is still alive?”

“Too bad if he is,” Derrick said coldly. “He’ll find it much more pleasant being buried dead than alive.”

The corporal had laughed. “Jawohl, Herr Colonel!”

Derrick took a final draw of his cigar before extinguishing it thoughtfully in the brass ashtray bearing his family’s coat of arms. Victoria Grayson… He knew, of course, exactly what his plans were for her, but first he had to obtain irrefutable proof that she was a spy. This he would accomplish on Sunday at the fencing school.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

Bucky heard about Dirk Drechsler’s defection Wednesday evening, November 13, when he returned to the boardinghouse at the end of his workday. Madame Dupree met him at the door before he had finished scraping his shoes on the front porch mat. “Come to the kitchen,” she said in a lowered voice. He followed her without comment, slipping by the door of the living room unseen by the other boarders, who were conversing in animated tones. “What’s happened?” he asked after Madame Dupree had closed the door firmly behind them.

“Your American friend has deserted and gone back to America,” she whispered. “The sergeant left a note to that effect. Captain Achterberg has just informed us.” His landlady’s lips arched into a rare smile. “We don’t have to worry about him anymore, eh, mon ami. He’s—how do you say?—out of our hair.”

“He’s gone for good?” Bucky could hardly believe it.