Weaver by Stephen Baxter Read Free Book Online Page A

that.’
    ‘Oh, come, Ernst, don’t be naive. All collaborators are whores; it’s just a question of the price. I mean, do you really imagine a girl like this would be seen with a man like you if not for the war?’ He winked. ‘It’s not as if you need to spend your money, you know. The SS will soon have their brothels set up. I could get you a pass. Come to that, as we are of good Aryan stock, it would be doing your country a service to spend your seed between the thighs of some busty blonde maiden.’
    Julia laughed, blowing out smoke. ‘It will be an Aryan paradise when the SS gets things sorted out, will it, Josef?’
    ‘For us it will be, yes, my dear.’ He peered at Claudine’s complexion disapprovingly, and plucked at a lock of her hair. ‘I suppose this one will do for now. I doubt if she will meet the racial criteria. Pity. I wouldn’t mind riding her myself.’ Ernst grew angry, but before he could speak Josef sipped his coffee, then spat it out on the ground. ‘Ach, what is this muck? Made from acorns, is it?’ He called more loudly, ‘Are you trying to poison us, barkeeper?’
    The barkeeper hurried to pour out replacements.
    Julia poked Josef’s elbow. ‘Don’t be so cruel to the poor old man.’
    ‘Well, he deserves it. I mean, look around you. I could have been posted to Paris. Boulogne! This must be the arsehole of all France.’
    Claudine said evenly, ‘And you are the turd that is passing through it, I suppose?’
    Ernst gasped. Even Julia looked shocked.
    Josef stared at her, then laughed out loud. ‘My word, Ernst, this half-breed of yours has a bit of spirit!’
    ‘Yes, she does,’ Ernst said testily.
    ‘So, Ernst, your training is going well? All that seasickness and lumping it up the beaches?’
    ‘The preparations are proceeding,’ Ernst said neutrally.
    ‘Yes, they are, in fact, at levels more elevated from you than the eagle flies,’ Josef said. ‘The Fuhrer has issued a final directive, I am told. The invasion of England even has a name now. Operation Sea Lion! But the details are still being argued over among the military command. I need something to draw on.’ He patted his pockets. ‘Damn.’ He lifted the cups and glasses from the table, and pulled away the lace tablecloth to expose a surface of old wood, dark and so polished it had the look of satin. He took out a pocket knife and with brisk strokes scraped a map into the table’s surface. ‘This will have to do.
    ‘Look here. This bit of coastline is the most suitable to mount an invasion, for it is here that Europe comes closest to England. One can simply hop across the Channel and assail the coasts of Sussex and Kent, and be only a few hours’ drive from London. The Navy want to plan on the basis of a narrow front, for that is more defensible from the sea than a long stretch of the Channel; the Army, though, don’t want to be bottled up on land, and argue for a wider front ...’
    He continued to sketch with his knife, drawing attack lines and defensive perimeters, cutting and splintering the tabletop. Ernst watched the faces of the women; neither of them reacted to this bit of petty vandalism.
    Claudine asked, ‘You are a mere standartenfuhrer. Why would you know all this? Perhaps you are simply trying to impress a woman you have called a whore.’
    ‘You do have spirit, don’t you? I am here advising the Waffen SS. The military arm of the SS, which strictly speaking is a Party organisation. But I work with the Ahnenerbe.’
    ‘Which,’ said Julia, ‘is Himmler’s research and cultural institute.’
    ‘I have worked with Himmler himself. So you see, my dear, your lover’s brother has contacts in high places. Aren’t you impressed?’
    Claudine said, ‘It is already a month since the surrender of France. By waiting so long you have given the English time to prepare.’
    Josef nodded, impressed again. ‘Actually some have said exactly that. General Milch, Goering’s second-in-command, for