Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [62]
Sean sat in Dante’s jeep. Starving alley cats screamed in protest, for there was no garbage to scavenge. The rancid smell and the stillness of a death-haunted street enveloped him.
Two o’clock: Sean dozed for an instant and awoke, heart pounding with remembering where he was and what was happening. There might have been a tinge of envy, but it was drowned in anger and sorrow for Dante. What was it like to steal love in a slimy pit? ... burning with fear ... with guilt. What kind of love was it? Would not the urge to choke the German woman in her bed be too tempting?
Two-thirty: soft, quick footsteps. A shadow over the rubble. A trot. A long, deep and uneven sigh. Dante Arosa lit a cigar.
He felt someone alongside him. Bum joke in the darkness ... no ... he lit another match. Sean was there, beside him ... no dream! Dante gripped the steering wheel and emitted only a single pathetic groan of despair.
“Drive to my office,” Sean said coldly.
When they were there Sean slammed the door behind them. Dante began to cry and Sean slapped his face.
“You stupid son of a bitch!”
“Oh God! What will my mother and father say?”
“You stupid son of a bitch!”
“She loves me!” Dante cried in desperation.
“She loves her father! You’ve been had! You’re a stupid son of a bitch! “
“Oh God! I’ve brought shame to my family ... oh God ...”
“Thanks for remembering them.”
Dante began to shake and sweat at the same instant. “What are you going to do to me, Sean?”
Chapter Twenty-eight
COUNT LUDWIG VON ROMSTEIN could feel any shift in the wind. Already, he could detect a softening attitude on the part of the Americans. New American troops, who had not been in the battle for Germany, were coming in; they were not nearly so filled with righteous anger. Chinks were showing in the nonfraternization armor. It was a ridiculous rule, particularly for Americans. Americans wanted to be loved, even by their enemy. This was an exploitable weakness.
Weakness? The Americans were full of them. Another conqueror would have left the German people to shift for themselves in the ashes. They would have taken what they wanted as booty ... as the Russians were doing; but the noble American seemed inflamed by the desire to restore city, state, and country to its inhabitants and return the rule to them. The Americans showed little physical brutality ... they were childish in their de-Nazification procedures with their silly questionnaire.
There was one sure way to de-Nazify Rombaden that Ludwig knew of. That was, line them up against a wall and shoot them down. If, indeed, the first month had passed without an execution, the Nazis would worm their way back into power. To be sure they would keep in hiding until the climate was more receptive, but they would return, nonetheless. Germany boasted of sixteen million Nazis. Germany had no other trained people capable of running the country ... the Nazis would return.
“Good morning, my dear Major O’Sullivan,” Ludwig said with contempt when Blessing brought him in. I am informed by your police that I am to be arrested.”
Sean was haggard from the ordeal of the affair with Dante Arosa and grunted hoarsely at the German.
“And for what horrendous crime am I to be charged?”
“Don’t glorify yourself. You’re being locked up as a common thief.”
Ludwig Von Romstein smarted. “I beg your ...”
“Your passion for post-impressionist art ran away with you.”
“You refer of course to the Van Goghs, Gauguins, and so forth in my apartment in Castle Romstein.”
Sean nodded.
“Well, that can be easily explained. If I had any guilt, I would have hidden them. They were gifts.”
“The Glyptotek in Copenhagen begs to differ.”
Lout! Ludwig thought Had he again underestimated the American? How the devil did he find out so quickly? “I ... I am astonished to hear they belong to a museum.”
“I’ll bet you are.”
“On my word, they were presents to me from various high officials in occupied countries. You see, I had occasion to visit Denmark, the Low Countries, and France as a member of the armaments board ...”
“Stop the horse crap.