Midnight in Berlin by James MacManus Read Free Book Online Page A

when they got back. Primrose poured more drinks, threw her arms around him and danced a slow waltz in the drawing room. He tried gently to break away but she would not let him go. She pressed herself against him. For the first time in months she wanted him to make love to her and flung herself naked on the bed, arms and legs spread wide, urging him to take her with a string of profanities that shocked and excited him. He came quickly, then fell asleep, waking later to hear her deep gasping breaths from the far side of the bed, and then silence.
    After that, Macrae and Koenig had kept in touch discreetly. The information exchanged was always political rather than tactical. Koenig helped Macrae track the manoeuvring between the German High Command and the Nazi leadership. The extent to which the Nazis and their policies were despised at a senior level was surprising. Koenig never revealed such details as the development of new weaponry. That would transgress his oath of loyalty, he said. He was not a traitor. He was a Prussian officer and a German patriot. Yet he was prepared to take elaborate precautions to arrange ameeting at the Berlin zoo that morning. He must have his reasons as well, thought Macrae.
    â€œI don’t really deserve my promotion,” said Koenig. “I am good at what I do and I like it, but it was my family background, the record of my brothers in the war, that really got me to full colonel.”
    â€œI heard. Congratulations.”
    â€œBut you didn’t get in touch.”
    â€œI thought it best not to – anyway we have only just arrived.”
    â€œAnd now?”
    â€œI need your advice.”
    Koenig smiled. “‘Advice’?”
    â€œBlomberg has just got married, we hear.”
    Koenig stopped smiling. He drained his coffee and poured more cognac into the cup.
    â€œYou’re well informed. But what advice could you want about that?”
    â€œApparently the bride has a history.”
    Koenig finished the cognac, coughed, patted his chest and stood up.
    â€œFeeding time for the lions has finished, I think.”
    Macrae got to his feet.
    â€œI need to wake people up in London.”
    Koenig picked up the bill, placed some coins on the table.
    â€œFollow me,” he said.
    They went back into the reptile house and walked through the first gallery into a second, a smaller room. This was the insectarium, and behind glassed windows an array of beetles, spiders, cockroaches, ants, millipedes, scorpions and other arthropods were to be seen, if you looked carefully enough. The two men peered through the glass windows as if really interested in the bug life on display. Finally, Koenig turnedand leant against a window. He took a zoo guide from his pocket and began to study it.
    â€œDon’t look round and don’t try to take notes,” he said. “Do you have a guidebook?”
    Macrae nodded and took the leaflet from his pocket.
    â€œRead it.”
    Macrae studied the leaflet.
    â€œThis is what he has been waiting for,” said Koenig. “There is going to be a purge. Blomberg and Fritsch will be fired. The Führer will take their positions and become supreme commander and war minister.”
    â€œThe army will stand for that?”
    â€œHe’s going to remove a dozen or so generals and transfer all the senior field commanders to new posts.”
    â€œA reverse coup?”
    â€œExactly. He’s going to get them before they get him. He is going to set up a new armed forces high command, with Keitel as his deputy. Keitel is a loyalist and his younger brother Bodewin will be made head of army personnel. That means Hitler will control the appointment and promotion of all officers.”
    â€œSurely he won’t get away with that?”
    â€œYou’re dealing with a man who wants to make history. He’s clever and he has the devil’s luck. Make sure your people in London understand what this means.”
    Koenig