He might well own Otto’s whole bank before he was through! To implicate the banker’s brother with Count Stauffenberg and the anti-Hitler plot was of monstrous import—even by innuendo, whether it was true or not!

This information would cost Otto everything, possibly even his life, and would make him a rich man.

He might not need to seek asylum in Russia at all! He could live comfortably in Switzerland, or perhaps South America, for the rest of his life! He would bleed the coward dry!

One thing was certain—he would handle this arrest personally. He would take enormous pleasure in spitting in the face of the pompous Christian artistocrat Heinrich von Dortmann!

All these thoughts ran swiftly through the guileful brain of Emil Korsch in but a few seconds. As quickly as the reaction had come, however, he had stifled it and now showed no trace of emotion. It would not do to let the young fool think the information he’d brought was too valuable.

“There is one item more,” said Gustav slowly, drawing out his words. He was not quite the fool Korsch considered him. He well knew the turbulence he had set into motion inside the other man’s brain and now, in his turn, took pleasure in toying a bit, even with a man so dangerously high in Himmler’s estimation as Emil Korsch.

“And what would that be?” said Korsch, trying to sound dispassionate.

“I made a little discovery in the baron’s garden.”

“In his garden?”

“Yes, just a tidbit of information that could perhaps prove useful.”

Again he paused for effect.

Korsch was growing weary of the young fool’s machinations, but sat patiently waiting.

Gustav told him of the plants he had seen and what they signified.

“So you see, not only are there connections with the Christian underground, but with the Jewish as well…”

For once in his life the facial features of Emil Korsch showed instant expression. His eyes shot wide, and his already-pale face turned sallow as a corpse.

Of course!

How could he not have thought of the connection before! All those religious idiots were alike, and they stuck together at such times. The trail of the Jewish network led directly to the home of the banker’s brother, Baron Heinrich von Dortmann!

“…and the conclusion of the matter,” added Gustav with a triumphant flourish, “is nothing less than that the baron’s wife is herself a Jew! It is quite possible, mein Herr, that the baron’s home has been acting as more than a Christian underground center, but has been part of the Jewish escape network as well, helping to move Jews either to the coast or along the routes we suspect that lead down to Switzerland. I suspect there are Jews hiding there right now, even as we speak!”

An evil light dawned over the countenance of Emil Korsch.