Faked Passports (27 page)

It was a tricky business but Gregory managed it well, and Freddie played up splendidly to the leads he was given. As soon as he could Gregory switched the conversation to the Finnish crisis. Having explained that although Germany and England were at war it was to their common interest that Finland should resist Russia, he disclosed to the von Kobenthals—who knew Goering—the reason for his presence in Finland and the extremely difficult situation which had arisen as the result of the loss of his papers. Then he went on to outline his plans for a raid on the Gestapo Headquarters that night.

When he had finished, his secret hopes were gratified as von Kobenthal said at once: “I'm heart and soul with the Finns; they're splendid people and have been extraordinarily kind to my wife and myself since we've made our home here. They've got to fight unless they want to be exterminated, and as you're acting for Goering that's quite enough for me; I'll come with you.”

Freddie then took his cue and said in halting German: “I'm not interested in Field-Marshal Goering but I'd do anything to give these poor wretched Finns a hand, and since my country is fighting to maintain the rights of small nations, in this particular case our interests, so far as I can see, are identical. You can count me in too.”

It was an amazing situation that a German and an Englishman, and an Englishman who was posing as a German, should be quite prepared to forget that their countries were in a death-grapple for world supremacy and make common cause for what they all considered to be right to the extent of risking their lives in the same venture; but the crisis was having an extraordinary effect on the psychology of everyone in the Finnish capital and by the time champagne-cocktails had been served they were all talking together as though no state of war had ever existed between Germany and Britain.

Dinner would have been on the cards, had it not been for the undercurrent of fear for their men which tugged at the heartstrings of the two women, but they both did their best to hide
their anxiety and the party was still busy with coffee and liqueurs when Wuolijoki was announced.

With him he had brought a little wisened individual with shaggy hair who smiled politely at everybody in a rather embarrassed way.

The Finnish diplomat was an old friend of the von Kobenthals so Charlton was the only member of the company unknown to him. Erika performed the introductions and informed him at once that everyone there knew about the projected raid. Wuolijoki returned Freddie's smile with a frigid bow but he accepted the story that the British airman had earned his freedom from a prisoners-of-war camp by flying Gregory to Finland and made no comment on the Englishman's willingness to co-operate with the Germans in their anti-Gestapo activities. He then presented his small companion as Mr. Suki, a gentleman with very extensive knowledge of safes and a particular aptitude for dealing with combination-locks.

Mr. Suki nodded to them with a rather sheepish grin and gratefully accepted the drink that von Kobenthal poured out for him, as Wuolijoki hurried on:

“There has been a major development since I was here this afternoon. The ‘peace' party in the Cabinet have gained the upper hand and have now agreed to all the Russian demands with the exception of two.”

“That means giving up the Mannerheim Line, then,” Erika said quickly.

“Yes,
Frau Gräfin.
We shall be delivering ourselves, naked and bound, into the hands of the Bolsheviks unless something can be done in the next few hours. For that reason the matter of securing Field-Marshal Goering's report now becomes of the greatest urgency. It is the last hope by which Field-Marshal Mannerheim might yet induce the Government to reconsider their decision and make a stand.” Wuolijoki turned to Gregory. “You are still determined to make this attempt,
Herr Oberst-Baron
?”

Gregory nodded. “Yes. And these two gentlemen have volunteered to come with me.”

“Good. I had hoped that you might secure private help, since it is impossible for me to give you any officially. You realise, of course, that this whole affair is illegal and that if you are caught you will be answerable for your actions to the Finnish law?”

“Yes, we know that.”

“For that reason I am most anxious that there should be no shooting if it can possibly be avoided. I have brought two bombs, one explosive and the other incendiary. It is to be hoped that they will be sufficient to distract all the occupants of the house while you are at work. If not, you must try to hold up anyone who interrupts you until you have finished, and the more deadly your weapons the more likely a successful hold-up without bloodshed will be. To help you in this I have brought you two of our
Suma
automatic rifles which fire twenty-five rounds a minute and, of course, if you
are
compelled to fight they will give you a much better chance of escaping alive than if you were armed only with pistols.”

“That was a grand thought. Did you manage to secure a plan of the house?”

“Yes.” Wuolijoki drew a paper from his pocket and spread it out. “The house, as you will see, stands in its own grounds with a drive up to its front but with one of its sides abutting on a lane. The whole garden is surrounded by a wall but, fortunately, out there in the suburbs there will be few people about at this hour of night, so you should have no difficulty in getting in, unseen, over it. The front room on the lane side of the house is used as a dining-room. Behind it are the kitchens. The front room on the garden side of the house is used as an office. The room behind it is a private office also used for conferences, and it is there that you will find the safe.”

“All right,” said Gregory, taking charge. “Then I shall place the bombs in the lane so that their explosion, which should blow a hole in the wall and set fire to it, will bring everybody running to that side of the house. If they can't get in unseen at the gate, the rest of the party will come in over the front wall the moment the first bomb goes off and break open a window of the back room on the garden side. I shall rejoin them directly I have placed the bombs. Mr. Suki and I will then enter the house and while he works on the safe I will hold the door with one of the sub-machine-guns. In the meantime the other two will remain in the garden to deal with anybody who comes round the house and protect our retreat. Is that all clear?”

“It will not do,” Wuolijoki shook his head. “If you place the bombs in the lane they may injure or kill some innocent person who is passing at the time.”

“They must be on that side of the house,” Gregory insisted, “in order to draw its occupants in that direction and give us a
free field on entering the back room; otherwise we should be compelled to start a shooting match at once.”

“I think Fredeline and I could help you there,” Erika said, glancing at her cousin.

“No, no,” von Kobenthal protested. “Neither of you must be mixed up in this.”

“Oh, I'm not suggesting that we should play any part in the burglary or run any risk,” Erika smiled, “but we could stand in the lane about a hundred yards on either side of the bomb, or far enough away to be out of danger; then if either of us saw anyone coming along at the critical moment we could engage them in conversation and keep them with us until the bomb had gone off. We could pretend that we had lost our way—or anything.”

“Excellent,
Frau Gräfin,
excellent!” Wuolijoki cried. “In that case the plan is good. Let us set off. I have my car outside so I can drop some of you there and I will wait near-by so that there will be no delay in the Colonel-Baron's handing the packet to me if he can manage to get it.”

“We shall want a second car in any case,” von Kobenthal said, “as we ought to have at least one in which we can make a quick get-away.” He glanced at his wife. “We'll take ours, dearest, and you had better drive. You can park it at the entrance to the lane, stand a few yards from it in case you have to delay a pedestrian for a few moments, then get back into the driver's seat immediately the bomb has exploded.”

“Oh, Oscar,” she laughed, “how thrilling! It's almost like a gangster film, isn't it?”

“I wish we
were
only making a film,” said Erika soberly as she looked across at Gregory.

They filed out, put on their furs, distributed the weapons and bombs and entered the two cars. Twenty-five minutes later the cars entered a long, lonely road right on the outskirts of the city and drew up a hundred yards short of the house. It was pitch-dark, as a black-out rehearsal was in progress—a piece of unexpected luck which cheered Gregory enormously, since he knew that it would make it much easier for them to get in and out over the garden-wall without being spotted by a patrolling policeman or some civic-minded citizen; which was a part of the operation that had been worrying him considerably.

Gregory, Charlton, von Kobenthal and Suki got out, and Wuolijoki turned his car round; while Fredeline von Kobenthal drove hers on, with Erika in it, to the corner of the lane. The
raiding-party then made an inspection of the front wall, with the aid of a small torch which Suki carried hung round his neck so that when it was on he could work by its light with both hands free.

The wall was broken only by a single gateway, and this was of solid wood. They tried it, but it was locked, and a long bell-pull that hung beside it indicated that anyone who wanted to get in had to ring for the porter. Gregory directed the other three to climb in over the wall at its furthest point from the lane, where it adjoined another property, and leaving them with a whispered “Good luck”, went along to the corner, where he found Erika waiting for him near Fredeline's parked car.

With Erika beside him he proceeded along the lane until they reached the side of the house, which was blank except for its kitchen-entrance. He set down the two bombs and the rifle that he was carrying and took her in his arms. They clung together for a moment, then she drew herself from his embrace and disappeared down the lane in the darkness.

There was a drift of snow against the wall. Gregory dug down into it for a couple of feet, put the bombs up against the brickwork in the bottom of the hole he had made and released the springs which Wuolijoki had told him would cause them to detonate in sixty seconds. He then began rapidly to tread the snow back on top of them with his foot, knowing that the firmer he could embed them the more shattering the explosion would be. For forty seconds he worked like a maniac, piling up the snow and stamping it down; then, snatching up his automatic rifle, he ran for his life.

Stumbling, with every ounce of speed he could muster, through the darkness and the heavy snow that clogged his steps, Gregory had barely covered fifty yards when there was a crash like a six-inch gun behind him, a reverberating roar and the sound of tumbling bricks and mortar. Turning his head he was just in time to glimpse a lurid sheet of flame that seemed to leap right up the wall of the house and, in its glare, he saw a score of brickbats hurtling towards him.

Next second he had flung himself flat in the drift of snow under the wall of the lane, escaping the pieces of flying brick except for one that caught him on his right foot, which was still outside the shelter angle. Jumping up again, he ran on past Fredeline von Kobenthal, who was standing on the corner, and round it, down the main street, to the extremity of the front garden. The garden wall was not a high one. Slipping one arm through the sling of his automatic rifle he ran up the slope of snow at the foot of the wall, jumped, grabbed at its top, hauled himself up and wriggled over.

On the far side he landed among some snow-covered bushes. Forcing his way through them he found a path and ran along it down the side of the house. As he ran he heard the shouts of its inmates which told him that, as he had planned, the explosion had thrown them all into confusion. Next moment he was brought up sharp by a swift challenge; but it came from von Kobenthal, who had the other automatic rifle. He was covering his two companions further along as they worked on the window.

“Good man. Stay where you are,” panted Gregory. “Don't expose yourself more than necessary—get behind a tree or something—and if anyone else comes from this direction don't
challenge but fire right away. Put a couple of rounds over their heads to check them.”

Leaving von Kobenthal groping through the darkness in search of suitable cover, Gregory hurried on. Just as he reached the other two Suki got the window open. At the same instant an electric burglar-alarm began to ring with a deafening clatter.

“Find some cover if you can, Freddie,” Gregory shouted, “and fire at anyone who comes round from the back of the house. Two rounds over their heads and the next at the flash of their pistols if they attack you.”

As Charlton moved off, drawing his revolver and a pistol that von Kobenthal had lent him, Suki got the inner window open and Gregory thrust in his hand, pulling the black-out curtains aside. The room was brightly lit but empty. He could hear the shouting in the house plainly now; a first-class rumpus was in progress. Grabbing the window-sill he hoisted himself up and over it.

There were two doors to the room. One led on to the passage, and somebody had left it half-open after dashing out, as was evident from a freshly-lit cigarette, the smoke of which was curling up from an ash-tray on a table-desk near the window. The other led to the room at the front of the house. Gregory saw that the key was in its lock, and tiptoeing over, turned it.

As Suki came in through the window Gregory reached the passage door. This also had a key in it, but on its outer side. Swiftly transfering it to the inner side of the door Gregory locked that too.

“Quick!” he whispered to Suki in German. “We must barricade ourselves in”; and between them they dragged the heavy desk up against the passage door. It was the only large piece of furniture that the room contained, so Gregory muttered: “Get busy on the safe; I'll see to the other door”; then, exerting all his strength he carried three tall, thin steel filing-cabinets across and set them against it.