Keramikos sighed. ‘That is true. That is very true. For the moment there is nothing left — just a loose organisation under the ground. But there are many Germans working, like myself, all over the world. We work without direction and without funds. That will change in time. At the moment our energy is wasted in the search for money. That is why I am here. I have an organisation in Greece. It must be paid, if it is to continue. Four million dollars in gold would help. But it will not always be like this. Some day Germany will begin to organise again. And next time — the third time — perhaps we shall not fail. Already you are saying that Germany must be prosperous so that she can take her place in the economic plan of Europe. We have no national debt like you. Each war has been paid for in the ruins of defeat. We starve now, and that means that the old people die. And that again is good for a nation. Our industry is destroyed. That, too, is good. Our industry, when we rebuild it, will be new and up-to-date, not old works adjusted to meet the changing needs, like yours. It will be the same with our armed forces. You will see. Last time it was twenty years. Twenty years is a long time. There will be a new generation then who will not remember that war is horrible.’
‘You’re very frank about it,’ Engles said.
‘And why not? You are a Colonel in the British Intelligence.’
‘Was,’ Engles corrected him. ‘I’m a civilian now.’
Keramikos shrugged his shoulders. ‘What does it matter what you call yourself? I call myself a shipping agent. But you remain of the Intelligence, and you must know that your people are aware that we exist. But what can they do? For example, what can they do about me? I am a Greek national. Greece is a free country. They cannot arrest me. And I shall do nothing foolish here in Italy. I shall get the gold. But I shall be careful. I shall not kill any one — if it can be avoided. Mayne and Valdini are different. They are both gangsters, and dangerous. Mayne is a deserter, as I told Blair.’
‘Yes, I know all about Mayne,’ Engles said. ‘What I am interested in is how you found out about this gold. You couldn’t have learned about it in Greece.’
‘I could not, eh?’ He seemed amused. ‘Yet this is the first time I have been out of Greece since I went to Alexandria. And that was a long time ago — just before the Greek mutiny. No, I heard about it in Greece. It was luck. The one man who escaped out of the wretched guard that brought the gold up from Venice sought the help of my people in Salonika. They asked him to account for himself. And he broke down under questioning. But you know the story of how Stelben got that gold, eh?’
‘Only by deduction,’ Engles replied. ‘Not from evidence. Stelben kept his mouth shut. And I certainly didn’t know any of the guard escaped. He even murdered his personal servant who had been with him for nearly six years. I’d like to know what your man had to tell. And Blair here knows nothing of the story as yet.’
‘Ah! Then you shall read the statement of the Korporal who escaped. And we will have a drink to fortify ourselves, eh?’ He ordered the drinks and I leaned closer, for Mayne had gone into something loud and sonorous, which, with the noise of the wind outside, made it difficult to hear.
When Aldo had put the drinks in front of us, Keramikos said, ‘This does not reflect well on the Gestapo. But all organisations, you understand, have their bad servants. You must remember it was near the end. And Stelben had killed many people before he shot down those nine soldiers. The gold was at a bank in Venice. It was the property of one of the Rome banking houses and had been transported to Venice for greater safety after your troops landed at Anzio. When we fell back to the line of the Po River, Heinrich Stelben was instructed to convey the gold to the Reichsbank at Munich. He was to take it by road, for you were bombarding the railways from the air, and the route chosen was through Cortina and Bolzano to Innsbruck. You must picture to yourselves that little convoy. There was the truck containing the gold. It was closed and sealed. And two Volkswagens. And there were seven honest German soldaten and Stelben — and gold to the value of over eight million dollars.’
Keramikes paused and glanced quickly round. Mayne was playing Danse Macabre now. The Contessa and Valdini were still talking together. And the snow streamed past the windows and piled up in great drifts on the belvedere. Then he took an old leather wallet from his pocket and brought out a folded sheet of foolscap. He smoothed it out on the bar and handed it to Engles. That is the statement made by Korporal Holtz of the Panzer Grenadiers,’ he said. ‘You may read it.’
