Sniper's Honor(80)
“I’ve tried them all, sir. Everywhere it’s crazy.”
“Damned strange,” he said again. But the radio buzzed, meaning incoming transmission. Von Drehle took up the telephone mike with the send button. “Hello, hello,” he said. “Oskar Leader here, I repeat, this is Oskar Leader.”
“Yes, dammit, Von Drehle, Zeppelin Leader here, where the hell have you been?”
“Advancing five kilometers into the mountains, Captain.”
“Are you in place?”
“Yes, we have arrived. We’ll wire the cliff for demo tomorrow and set up defensive lines. I do need to pick up that Flammenwerfer, old man.”
“Haven’t you heard? My God, man, get your head out of your ass!”
“I don’t—”
“Someone tried to assassinate the führer. Early reports were that he is dead. But he survived a bomb attempt.”
Von Drehle thought: It was bound to happen. The man is a maniac, without concern for his troops. But he could only say, “I receive.”
“Police Battalion has been dispatched on security duty. We are making arrests from an SA list of probable suspects. I need you to hold secure in your area, be very alert for partisan movement, make certain—”
“Arrests? Who are you arresting, goddammit? There’s no one to arrest in Fourteenth Panzergrenadier, for Christ’s sake, these men have been fighting for two years out here.”
“I am not at liberty to discuss direct orders from Berlin with some parachutist captain on a mountaintop. You will hold your position, build defensive breastworks, patrol for bandit activity.”
“Zeppelin Leader, I am in receipt of message. End transmit.”
“End transmit,” said Salid from wherever he was.
Von Drehle sat back, confounded. What the hell was going on? Arresting suspects? What did that mean? Who was in charge, how would things change, what was his duty now? You had to watch yourself in these crazy times; anyone could end up in front of a firing squad.
He decided he’d best double-check with 14th Panzergrenadier to make certain his orders remained as the Arab had said. He told Signals to reach division headquarters. Certainly there’d be no way he could get to Von Bink, but one of Von Bink’s able assistants would at least know what the policy was.
It took a while, but he got through, at least to a low-level command.
“Hello, hello, this is Oskar calling for anyone at kingdom headquarters.”
“Oskar, Oskar, we can’t raise headquarters, either. This is Lieutenant Colonel Rungen, Fifth Battalion, Third Regiment, Fourteenth Panzergrenadiers.”
“Sir, Major Von Drehle, Twenty-one Para, Battlegroup Von Drehle.”
“Yes, Major.”
“Colonel, what is going on?”
“It’s a confused situation, and I have to say, it doesn’t look good. But be careful who you talk to. They’re going around arresting people and hauling them off. Just before a Red offensive, too. Excellent timing.”
“Sir, I’m up at Natasha’s Womb with orders to hold until relieved. I just wanted to make sure that was still in accordance with General Von Bink’s orders.”
“I would have no way of knowing. SS has sealed off division headquarters. Now SS Panzer Muntz, that moron, is in command of all armored units. I regret to inform you—General Von Bink has been arrested.”
CHAPTER 37
Yaremche
The Bridge
THE PRESENT
And you, Ms. Reilly,” Jerry Renn continued, “I have to say, ma’am, ever since I’ve been in Moscow, I’ve read your Post stuff and I don’t think anyone gets this place better than you. Incredible job.”
Swagger and Reilly looked at each other. Then Swagger said, “Cut the shit, sonny. Who are you, what do you want? Who do you work for?”
“People who like you.”
“You like me so much, you tried to nail me in Lviv.”
“Let’s say we’ve abandoned that policy. It was a mistake.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“We could have taken you standing here on the bridge if we’d wanted to. No, we want to try something else. Cooler heads have prevailed. I’m sure we can get it squared away. Just so you know, I’m unarmed. Except for this.”
He pulled out a pistol. It was the suppressed Makarov that Bob had taken from his would-be assassin in Lviv, which he’d left in his room. Jerry tossed it over the bridge and it disappeared with a splash.
“Make your pitch, junior. What’s this all about? What’s it to anybody what happened in Ukraine seventy years ago? Where’s an American interest?”
“What you’ve discovered just so happens to shine a light where we don’t want light to shine. It could begin a process of unraveling. I know, it’s such a little thing, one event in a war over seventy years ago, who on earth could give a damn? But it leads somewhere.”