'I know the man,' Grauber piped. `I've known him for years. His name is Sallust and he is the most dangerous agent in the British Secret Service.'
`When did you see him last?' Bormann asked.
`In the summer of 1942, Herr Parteifьhrer,' Grauber replied promptly.
`But damn it, that is getting on for three years ago. However good your memory may be for faces that is a bit long for you to be so sure you recognize a man. Can you produce anyone else who could identify him as this British agent?'
Grauber hesitated, sucked at his bleeding hand, then admitted sullenly, `No, Herr Parteifьhrer. No. But I am certain of what I say. He was then passing himself off as a French collaborator. I ran into him in a night-club in Budapest.'
His hopes rising again, Gregory burst out, `That's a lie. This whole business is an absurd mistake. I've never been in Budapest in my life.'
`And that is a real lie,' said another voice, that came from the far doorway. In it Ribbentrop had just appeared, having arrived to attend the conference. Addressing. Hitler with a smile, he went on:
`The Obergruppenfьhrer’s is right, mein Fьhrer. When I first saw this man here a few weeks ago I knew I'd seen him somewhere before, but could not place him. It was in Budapest in the summer of 1942. He is an exceptionally able British agent and his name is Sallust.'
It was the coup de grace. Up to that moment Gregory had still hoped that with von Below's help and by calling on Koller to protect him he might managed to get the issue postponed for long enough to escape and disappear among the ruins of Berlin or, if he were placed under arrest pending investigation, at least get them to insist on his being confined in the bunker and allow him to telephone Goering. What attitude the Reichsmarschall might have taken up there could be no telling. He would certainly not have been willing to admit that he had knowingly foisted an English spy on to his Fьhrer and with everything going to pieces he might cynically have declined to intervene. On the other hand, out of loathing for Himmler, he might have used his still great powers in some way to thwart Grauber.
But Ribbentrop's appearance on the scene had now rendered such speculations futile. It had been Gregory's ill luck that, apart from Goering, the only other Nazi in all Germany who could identify him had arrived at that moment. The Obergruppenfьhrer’s solitary eye gleamed with triumph: He passed his tongue swiftly over the thin lips of his mean little mouth and cried in his feminine falsetto:
`I thank you, Herr Reichsaussenminister. Your arrival is most opportune. Now I'm proved right I'll have my people take this fellow to pieces and we'll learn what filthy game he has been playing here.'
Gregory paled; but he possessed that fine trait in the British character-he was at his best in defeat. Whatever he said now could not save him, but he might yet win himself a quick death instead of one after prolonged, excruciating torment. Facing Hitler he burst into a torrent of words, shouting down Bormann's efforts to check him.
'Mein Fьhrer You are a just man. I ask you to see justice done. It is true that I am an Englishman. But I am not a British agent. Many years ago I realized that any democratic government dominated by Jews must lead- to corruption and the exploitation of its people. I became a Fascist but disguised my beliefs in order to enter the British Secret Service and work against the decadent Government. In the early years of the war I twice managed to get sent to Germany with the intention of offering my services to the Nazi Reich; but on both occasions I came up against the Obergruppenfьhrer’s. He had already known me in London as a member of the Secret Service so would not believe the honesty of my intentions. On both occasions. I was forced to go to earth and return to England. Otherwise he would have had the Gestapo torture me to death.'
`You lie screamed Grauber. `This is a tissue of lies. He never offered to come over to us. In Budapest he was plotting to persuade those accursed Hungarians to go over to the Allies.' 'On the contrary,' shouted Gregory. `I was persuading some of their leaders to give more active support to Germany. And from the Baroness Tuzolto I was receiving invaluable assistant. Everyone knows that she is a wholehearted Nazi.' Suddenly he swung round on Ribbentrop and cried:
`You can vouch for her, Herr Reichsaussenminister. Is it likely she would have given me her aid if I had been working for the British? But the Obergruppenfьhrer’s vindictiveness wrecked everything. I had to get out to save my skin and to save hers from this ham-fisted lieutenant of Herr Himmler's I had to take her with me. And it was you who enabled us to escape. Isn't that true?'
Ribbentrop had helped them to get away in order to spite Himmler, and he was quick enough to see that, since Gregory had been Sabine's lover, if she were brought into the matter she might side with him. As he could not afford to be accused of aiding a British agent to escape, he decided to hedge and replied:
`I knew only that he was an Englishman and that Sabine Tuzolto vouched for him. I've known her for years and she is above suspicion. When Grauber got after them it occurred to me that by helping this man to escape I might make use of him; so I sent the Baroness with him to London hoping that through her high connections there she would obtain valuable information for us.'
`And she did,' added Gregory. `With my help she obtained for you the Allies' plans for their entry into the Mediterranean -Operation "Torch".'
Suddenly Hitler spoke. His memory for facts, figures and events was prodigious and, despite the shocking deterioration in his health, his memory had not suffered. In his hoarse, rasping voice, he said:
`I recall the affair. A few days before the North Africa landings, through the help of the Moldavian Military Attach, the Baroness got back to Germany. She brought the plans with her. But they proved to be false. False!'
`Mein Fьhrer,' Gregory cried, `that was no fault of mine. I had them from a man I knew in the Offices of the War Cabinet. But the swine had sold me the Deception Plan. That, though, is only half the story. M.LS had got wise to the Baroness's activities. She was arrested; sent to the Tower of London. She was to have been court-martialled and would have been shot as a reprisal for the Gestapo's having executed British women landed in France by parachute. And what then? Did I leave her there to her fate? No! At the peril of my own life I rescued her from the Tower, and with Colonel Kasdar's help succeeded in getting her away. Is that not proof enough that I believed the plan she took with her to be the genuine one and did my best to serve Germany?'
Ribbentrop nodded. `That is true, mein Fьhrer. She could never have escaped had it not been for this man's skill and daring.'
`And I paid for it,' Gregory went on quickly. `I was caught within a few minutes of having got her into the motor boat that Kasdar had brought alongside the Tower water front. I was court martialled and received a long prison sentence. I was lot out only because the British knew that I know Berlin better than most of their agents and they wanted an eyewitness account of the bomb damage. They offered me my freedom if I would get it for them and dropped me outside the city by parachute. I went to the Reichsmarschall and laid my cards on the table. He had the sense to see that my intentions were honourable and that I could be of use.'