The Beast in the Red Forest(31)

Abwehr HQ

To: German Embassy, Tokyo



Is US Embassy aware of his location?



Coded Message. Enigma Cipher. Rotor Configuration 513

German Embassy, Tokyo

To: Abwehr Headquarters, 72-76 Tirpitzufer, Berlin



Negative.



Coded Message. Enigma Cipher. Rotor Configuration 298

Abwehr HQ

To: German Embassy, Tokyo



Bring him in.





One week after the death of Commander Krug, and with Red Army troops now in full control of Rovno, Malashenko was contacted by another person who had been collaborating with the Germans during their occupation of the town.

Malashenko was astonished to discover that this person was nurse Antonina from the Rovno hospital, who had regularly supplied him with stolen medications and who had, more recently, been seen in the company of Commander Yakushkin. The meeting took place when Malashenko arrived at the hospital, ostensibly to receive treatment for scabies. In fact, he was there to collect penicillin, bandages and suture thread for the partisan medical officer, a former butcher named Leiferkus, who had turned his old trade of disassembling the carcasses of animals into reassembling his fellow men as best he could when no actual doctors could be found.

Even though the Germans had pulled out of Rovno, most of the Atrads, the Barabanschikovs included, had no intention yet of simply laying down their arms before the Soviets. This meant that, for Malashenko, his missions into Rovno continued just as they had done before.

In the dozens of times Malashenko had met with Antonina over the years, he never once considered that she might also be collaborating with the enemy. But this, Malashenko realised, was the genius of the disguise which Krug had fashioned for her. Krug had said there were others, and Malashenko wondered how many, whose paths he crossed each day, were hiding the same lie as his own.

Antonina, for her part, was equally amazed to learn the truth about Malashenko. She had received a message from Berlin on a radio provided by Krug, to be used only if Krug himself was captured or killed by the enemy. In two days, you will receive a visitor,' she told Malashenko.

What visitor?' he asked nervously.

I don't know who,' replied Antonina, but they have ordered you to rendezvous with him three days from now.'

Ordered?'

Did you think you were finished with these people?' Antonina laughed. You will only be finished when you, or they, or both of you are dead.'

All right,' grumbled Malashenko, but I expect to get paid.'

That is between you and them,' she said. Where shall I say you'll be meeting this visitor?'

Malashenko thought for a moment and then gave her directions to Pitoniak's cabin. Tell them I'll be there at dusk. I'd feel better if I knew what this was about.'

So would I,' replied Antonina, but neither of us do so there's no point in worrying about it.' She put several vials of penicillin in front of him, along with a stack of bandages, medical tape and suture thread. You'd better carry those out of here, in case your people wonder what you're doing.'</ol>
 
 

 

Malashenko rolled up his trouser leg and used the medical tape to strap the vials to his calves. Bald patches on his skin showed where previously applied strips of tape had been pulled away, leaving freckles of dried blood in the flesh.

How are you planning to get out of here,' asked Antonina, now that the Red Army has arrived?'

Out?' replied Malashenko. Where would I go?'

Any place at all, as long as it is far from here.'

I hadn't thought about it.'

Well, you'd better start,' Antonina told him. If they find out you've been collaborating with the Germans . . .'

Malashenko stopped wrapping the tape around his leg. Why would they find out,' he asked menacingly, unless somebody told them?'

You should worry less about somebody giving you up and a little bit more about how things will change for us now that the Red Army is here. Better to leave and find some place where you can start again.'

Is that what you're going to do?' asked Malashenko, suddenly nervous that he did not have a plan of his own.

I've got an idea,' she answered cryptically, and if all goes well, I'll be riding out of here in the arms of Commander Yakushkin.'

You're a cold-hearted bitch, thought Malashenko, but he just nodded and smiled and hurried on his way.



The operation to assassinate Colonel Andrich had begun within hours of Krug's message arriving at Abwehr Headquarters. Admiral Canaris, head of German Intelligence, had immediately grasped the vulnerability of the Kremlin's plan. If Andrich could be liquidated, the Red Army would become bogged down in a war with their own people, diverting valuable troops from the front line and weakening the strength of the Soviet advance. All this, and significantly more if the full extent of the Admiral's plan could be achieved, would be accomplished with the death of a single man, provided he was found in time.

Realising that the only way to achieve their objective would be to send an assassin, Admiral Canaris summoned SS Sturmbannf&uuml;hrer Otto Skorzeny of the Brandenburg Kommando to a private meeting.

Skorzeny had carried out numerous commando operations during the course of the war including, in September of 1943, the rescue of Benito Mussolini from the castle of Gran Sasso, where the Duce was being held in captivity by Italian Communist partisans.

At his office on the Bendlerstrasse in Berlin, Canaris explained the situation to the six-foot-four-inch Skorzeny, who stood uncomfortably in Canaris's drawing room, boots creaking as he tilted slowly between his heels and the balls of his feet, while the Admiral's two dachshunds sniffed at his legs.

It could be done,' said Skorzeny, when he had listened to the Admiral's plan, but doesn't Abwehr have agents of its own to carry out the task?'

We do,' replied Canaris. He was a tall man, with a gaunt face and deep-set eyes. His once blond hair had turned almost completely white and his lips twitched nervously whenever he listened to other people speak, as if forcing himself not to interrupt.

So why do you need me?' asked Skorzeny.

Because what we don't have is someone I can count on to deliver that agent to Rovno. That is why I've called on you, Skorzeny, because I know you can get the job done.'

As I understand it, Admiral, Rovno is now under Red Army control.'

And does that represent an insurmountable obstacle for you, Skorzeny?'

Skorzeny paused for a moment. Not at all, Admiral, provided I am given the necessary resources.'

You may have whatever you need.'

And who is this agent, Admiral?'

His name is Peter Vasko.'

That sounds vaguely familiar.'

He came to us through the Embassy in Tokyo, back in '38.'

Yes,' said Skorzeny, now I remember. The American.'

I would not call him that, if I were you. But yes, that is the man in question. Provided you can get him across the lines, Vasko will have no difficulty infiltrating Rovno as a Russian. He speaks the language and, thanks to his training with us, he is also an expert in firearms and explosives.'

At that moment, the phone rang, loud and jarring in the cramped space of the office.

Canaris picked up the phone. Yes?' As he spoke, he turned in his chair, until he was facing away from Skorzeny, and lowered his voice to a murmur.

Skorzeny took advantage of the disruption to kick one of the dachshunds and send it yelping under the Admiral's desk.

Canaris turned to see what had caused the commotion, but by then Skorzeny appeared to be engrossed in studying the books which lined one wall of Canaris's study.

Canaris hung up the phone. You leave tonight, Skorzeny. Vasko will be ready. Any questions?'

I do have one.'

Canaris held out a hand, palm up, in a conciliatory gesture. By all means.'

Are you certain it is wise to involve the SS in an Abwehr operation? Our two departments have been in conflict ever since the war began, and especially after Himmler took over the Intelligence Branch of the SS following the death of Reinhardt Heydrich.'

Skorzeny was telling the truth, and the source of this rancour between the two departments had largely been the result of a dispute between the SS and the Abwehr in the very area where Vasko would be carrying out his mission. Soon after the German invasion of Russia in 1941, Abwehr agents had begun working with local Ukrainian leaders to consolidate anti-Communist militias. Abwehr's Eastern Group I, which was given responsibility for this large-scale operation, operated out of Sulejowek, across the border in occupied Poland. They succeeded not only in winning the support of the influential partisan leader Melnyk, who worked for the Germans under the code name Konsul I', but they were also able to recruit several companies of Ukrainian troops, who became known as the Gruppe Nachtigall.

How far-reaching this operation might have been would never be known, because it was derailed by the arrival of SS execution squads, known as Einsatzgruppen, which began a series of mass executions in the same region where Abwehr had been working to win over the local population.

Disillusioned Ukrainians, who had initially welcomed the arrival of German troops, now turned upon those they had seen as liberators and began a struggle against both the Fascists and the Communists.

Canaris had never forgiven the SS for their role in the failure of the Abwehr's operations in the East. He had made no secret of that fact, which was why Skorzeny had good reason to wonder why the leader of the Abwehr would seek the assistance of an SS Sturmbannf&uuml;hrer.

I chose you,' explained Canaris, because you are the best we've got, and also because this operation is too important to be waylaid by departmental politics.'

I understand, Admiral, and I am grateful for your confidence in me.'