the Valhalla Exchange (v5) by Jack Higgins Read Free Book Online

gentlemen who interest me. The prisoners of Arlberg.'
    'I'm afraid several have already been moved since my visit, on your instructions, two months ago. Orders of the Reichsfuhrer,' Rattenhuber told him.
    'Yes, for once Uncle Heini moved a little faster than I had expected,' Bormann said dryly. 'What are we left with?'
    'Just five. Three men, two women.'
    'Good,' Bormann said. 'A nice round number. We'll start with the ladies first, shall we? Refresh my memory.'
    'Madame Claire de Beauville, Reichsleiter. Age thirty. Nationality, French. Her father made a great deal of money in canned foods. She married Etienne de Beauville. A fine old family. They were thought to be typical socialites flirting with their new masters. In fact her husband was working with French Resistance units in Paris. He was picked up in June last year on information received and taken to Sicherheitdienst headquarters at Avenue Foch in Paris. He was shot trying to escape.'
    'The French,' Bormann said. 'So romantic'
    'The wife was thought to be involved. There was a radio at the house. She insisted she knew nothing about it, but Security was convinced she could well have been working as a - pianist?'
    He looked up, bewildered, and Bormann smiled. 'Typical English schoolboy humour. This is apparently the British Special Operations Executive term for a radio operator.'
    'Oh, I see.' Rattenhuber returned to the file. 'Through marriage, she is related to most of the great French families.'
    'Which is why she is at Arlberg. So - who's next?'
    'Madame Claudine Chevalier.'
    'The concert pianist?'
    'That's right, Reichsleiter.'
    'She must be seventy at least.'
    'Seventy-five.'
    'A national institution. In 1940 she made a trip to Berlin to give a concert at the Fuhrer's special request. It made her very unpopular in Paris at the time.'
    'A very clever front to mask her real activities, Reichsleiter. She was one of a group of influential people who organized an escape line which succeeded in spiriting several well-known Jews from Paris to Vichy.'
    'So - an astute old lady with nerve and courage. Does that dispose of the French?'
    'No, Reichsleiter. There is Paul Gaillard to consider.'
    'Ah, the one-time cabinet minister.'
    'That is so, Reichsleiter. Aged sixty. At one time a physician and surgeon. He has, of course, an international reputation as an author. Dabbled in politics a little before the war. Minister for Internal Affairs in the Vichy government who turned out to be signing releases of known political offenders. He was also suspected of being in touch with de Gaulle. Member of the French Academy.'
    'Anything else?'
    'Something of a romantic, according to the security report. Joined the French Army as a private soldier in 1915 as some sort of public gesture against the government of the day. It seems he thought they were making a botch of the war. Flirted with Communism in the twenties, but a visit to Russia in 1927 cured him of that disease.'
    'What about his weaknesses?'
    'Weaknesses, Reichsleiter?'
    'Come now, Willi, we all have them. Some men like women, others play cards all night or drink, perhaps. What about Gaillard?'
    'None, Reichsleiter, and the State Security report is really most thorough. There is one extraordinary thing about him, however.'
    'What's that?'
    'He's had a great love of skiing all his life. In 1924 when they held the first Winter Olympics at Chamonix, he took a gold medal. A remarkable achievement. You see, he was thirty-nine years of age, Reichsleiter.'
    'Interesting,' Bormann said softly. 'Now that really does say something about his character. What about the Englishman?'
    'I'm not too certain that's an accurate description, Reichsleiter. Justin Fitzgerald Birr, 15th Earl of Dundrum, an Irish title, and Ireland is the place of his birth. He is also 10th Baron Felversham. The title is, of course, English and an estate goes with it in Yorkshire.'
    'The English and the Irish really can't make up their minds about each other, can they,