Five Past Midnight - James Thayer [168]
"Yeah, maybe so." He led them around a delivery truck lying on its side.
Dietrich raised his voice in exasperation. "Isn't it incumbent on you to argue that I'm a patriot and not a traitor?"
"It's incumbent on me to see that we don't die in the next few minutes. I'll worry about your feelings later." Cray narrowed his eyes, searching the next intersection. He had heard something.
Searching for deserters, an SS patrol rounded a mound of rubble, three storm troopers, two of them carrying submachine guns. One trooper signaled for Cray and Dietrich and Kahr to stop.
Cray shifted his pack to his other shoulder, then said under his breath, "Unless you have a better idea, Inspector, I'm going to kill all three of these fellows five seconds from right now."
"Wait."
The troopers surrounded the trio. The leader, an SS sergeant, ordered gruffly, "Show me your papers."
Moving his hand slowly, Dietrich pulled out Himmler's letter and showed it to the Scharführer, who rasped, "Sorry, sir. Thank you." He saluted either Dietrich or the letter and led his men away.
Cray and the others crossed Tiergartenstrasse and entered the park.
Bombs had turned the Tiergarten over as thoroughly as if it had been done with a giant plow. Little remained that was level — only holes and mounds of dirt. Acres and acres of craters and hillocks of blasted earth had replaced the lovely grass fields.
"Slow down," Dietrich said, panting. "My leg is killing me." His pants were bloodstained from the knee to his shoe.
Cray glanced at Dietrich's wound. "Hell, I've been hurt worse playing poker with my Ranger buddies."
As they passed the remnants of a pergola, Dietrich grabbed Cray's arm to stop him, perhaps too roughly. The knife was instantly in the American's hand, held politely, almost out of sight. The detective said, "You are the only person who will ever know my reason for turning my pistol on Koder and the SS guard and freeing you to go back into the bunker after trying desperately to stop you. I want you to listen to me a minute, without any of your ghastly American optimism or dumb wisecracks."
"I'll try."
The air-raid sirens began again, drifting over the Tiergarten, their tones shifting with the breeze.
"The Reich killed my wife. She died in front of my eyes. It didn't break my loyalty to the Fatherland. Not then. It took some time, working on me every day and night. And I could push it aside, chasing you, doing my job. That's all I had after she died, my job. And so I did my job, pushing away the senselessness of Maria's death."
Cray was looking around, moving his head right and left, searching for the SS or the Gestapo.
The detective grabbed his arm to get his attention. "Listen to me, goddamn it." He wet his lips. "But my rage worked like a worm inside me. And when I saw you dragged into the garden, I broke. Müller was going to toss me back into prison anyway, and I owed the Fatherland nothing, not anymore, not after they took my wife from me. I just broke, right then, just as Koder was about to shoot you. And I knew how to strike back. Through you. So I drew my pistol on Koder and the guard, and let you go back down into the bunker with Koder's pistol."
Cray reached for Dietrich's arm. "I'm touched, really. Now let's get to the airstrip."
Dietrich asked harshly, "Are all Americans as tough as you?"
"The tough ones are over fighting the Japs."
Dietrich hurried after Cray, Ulrich Kahr in the rear.
Cray pursed his lips, his eyes at an amused angle. "It had become personal between you and me, hadn't it. You weren't going to allow yourself to break until you had bested me."
Dietrich admitted solemnly, "Yes. It had become personal." After a few more steps he asked, "How'd you infiltrate the TeNo squad?"
"I knew exactly when Sergeant Kahr was going to fill the bunker with smoke and fire. And I knew the Mauerstrasse TeNo station responded to Chancellery and bunker emergencies. So I put detonators into several mines, and half blew up the TeNo squad headquarters just as the emergency call was coming in. In