Maria didn’t hesitate. “Thank you, Señor Ortiz, I think that’s very fair.”

A couple of minutes after Maria left the pawnshop, clutching four one-hundred-dollar bills in her hand, the old pawnbroker made a phone call to Theodor Consultants.

Chapter Nine

22 May 1945

Atlantic Ocean

The crossing was proving to be laborious and miserable for the three VIP passengers. They had been at sea for more than three weeks and were only halfway through the journey.

The conditions were appalling; there was no way of showering or washing clothes and the boat stank of urine and faeces. As Küpper had predicted, the hot water and heating only worked intermittently and Hitler and Braun spent most of the time in their cabins, lying on their bunk beds, huddled under piles of blankets.

The Führer suffered from frequent bouts of seasickness and had lost nearly a stone in weight since they’d boarded the boat. The only time he’d left his cabin had been during the second week of the voyage when he spent three days in the medical area being worked on by Doctor Friedrich Hipke, the plastic surgeon, who had reluctantly joined them on board for the course of the voyage. Hitler had insisted Bormann be first to go under the knife a few days earlier, as he wanted to be sure Hipke could work safely in such a confined space.

The Berlin-based surgeon was a master of his craft, lauded by the rich and famous, who paid huge sums for his much sought-after handiwork. He specialised in facial implants, chin augmentation, rhinoplasty and eyelid surgery. Hipke enjoyed his celebrity status and was mortified when four Waffen-SS soldiers turned up unannounced at his private surgery. He was put under immediate arrest and, despite the obvious dangers of travelling through a war zone, was transported by car, under armed guard, to Kiel, where he boarded the Santa Cruz III, totally unaware of the task that lay ahead. The SS soldiers ransacked his surgery, collecting his surgical implements and medication, which were also transported onto the boat.

He was astounded when, on the second morning of the voyage, he discovered the identity of his two new clients. Without any notice, he was escorted by one of the crew members to the captain’s cabin, where Bormann and Hitler were waiting. Bormann did all the talking, presenting Hipke with a series of detailed artist drawings, which were to be used as a guide for the reconstructive surgery. He was terrified by the unsolicited commission but could only be impressed by Bormann’s extensive knowledge of plastic surgery; a level of comprehension he had never encountered before in a layman.

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