‘I’ll drink to that, but I would have loved to have seen him paraded to the world in a cage. I’ll fix a flight for you to get you home. First thing tomorrow suit you?’

‘That’ll be fine.’

‘Via Wiesbaden if that’s OK. You can give me a full briefing. By the way, who else have you told about this?’

‘No one.’ Not even Paula Jaeger, though she might have made a guess.

‘Well, keep it that way for a while. We’ll work out how to play it. President Truman might want a say. In the meantime, give me the coordinates and I’ll get a squad up there to examine the scene. Your job is done, Professor Wilde.’

Wilde put down the phone and it rang immediately. Wilde guessed it was for Angie, but picked it up anyway. ‘Apfelwald medical centre,’ he said.

‘Is that you, Wilde?’

‘Colonel?’

‘Thank God I got you, Wilde. I had no idea where you were,’ Appache said.

‘What is it?’

‘Professor, we have a problem.’

Chapter 47

Chapter 47

Wilde was incredulous. As he listened to Appache, he realised his hearing was almost back to normal, but he held the phone hard against his ear because he simply couldn’t believe what he was being told.

‘And that’s it,’ Appache said finally.

‘You’ve been protecting Julius Boden?’

‘I had no option. This was orders from on high – maybe right the way from the Oval Office, though they’ll never own it.’

‘But why would you do that?’

‘I’ve explained this all to Lieutenant Heck, who’s standing right beside me here at Garmisch, and he is as angry as you, Professor. I’ve got a bruised jaw to prove it.’

‘Did he slug you?’

‘I got off lightly. With his right arm out of action, he had to hit me with his left. I guess I deserved it,’ Appache said. ‘There will be no report made. To tell the truth, I’m pretty mad myself. I should never have been put in this position.’

‘You’re going to have to explain this better,’ Wilde said. ‘Why would anyone protect an SS officer?’

‘Because I was ordered to. Because word has come down from on high that we are to recruit and protect the more biddable senior Nazis, however vile their past. The world might not know it yet, but it seems that Nazism is no longer enemy number one. Communism is, and these guys will help us root it out in the new Germany.’

‘That just sounds crazy.’

‘I’m not going to argue about that, Professor.’

‘But why Boden in particular?’