As he sat down again, Gregory said with a smile,' "Nothing" is an all embracing word. I hardly think you would stick to it if, in exchange for your cooperation, I were in a position to make you President of Moldavia or, say, Chief of the Moldavian General Staff.'
Kasdar gave a deep laugh. 'But, my friend, you are not.'
'True. Yet you give as your reason for refusing your help fear of ruining your career. Hasn't it occurred to you that I might be able to assist you in it?'
'I do not see how.'
'Just now, when I spoke of my wish to gain for myself a privileged position, should the Germans ever occupy this country, you remarked that we were birds of a feather. If you really meant that you must have been thinking on the same lines. Moldavia, we both know, is at Herr Hitler's mercy. He has allowed it to remain isolated and neutral only because it suits him to do so; just as is the case with Switzerland. When the war is over and he remakes Europe he will either absorb Moldavia, or at least see that it is run by a puppet government under Nazi direction. When that day comes, it will be the officers who have shown their Nazi sympathies during the war who will be certain of rapid promotion, and the better they have served Germany the higher the posts to which they will be appointed.
'Naturally. And I admit that it is with just such a future in mind that I serve the Germans.'
'Well, I could enable you to serve them better. As you know, I work in the Offices of the War Cabinet.'
Kasdar's eyes opened wide and he suddenly sat forward. 'You… you mean that you would supply me with valuable information.'
Gregory nodded. 'By doing so I should be securing my future as well as helping yours. But I shall be taking a far greater risk than you will; so I want part payment in advance. You may think it quixotic of me to wish to save Sabine for Herr Ribbentrop, but I love her, and there it is. My price is that if I can get her out of the Tower you should get her safely out of the country.'
"That is easier said than done.'
'I feel confident you could arrange it. To fly her out would, I imagine, be impossible. But she could be picked up by a U-boat from some lonely spot on the coast.'
'I cannot see the Germans risking one of their U-boats for such a purpose unless, that is, we could first get her to Eire. I gather that they look in fairly frequently at secret rendezvous along the southwest coast. As Eire is neutral, simply to get her there would be enough. It could then be left to the German Embassy in Dublin to make further arrangements for her.'
'Yes, she would be safe from recapture in Eire, but how would you get her there? Remember, she would not have a passport.'
'I could get a Moldavian passport faked up for her.'
'No good.' Gregory shook his head. 'If I get her out of the Tower it will be known by eight o'clock the following morning. M.I.5's security network is extremely efficient. Within half an hour officials at every port in Britain will be on the lookout for her. There aren't a great number of Moldavians here, and as she is known to have been turning her stuff in to the Moldavian Embassy, anyone attempting to leave on a Moldavian passport is certain to be subjected to special security. No disguise, however excellent, could possibly stand up to it. They would get her for certain.'
T fear you are right.'
'Surely you have other recourses, or by a secret cypher telegram to Germany could have them made available to you. I know that M.I.5 has succeeded in clearing the country of active German agents; but among the enormous number of refugees who settled in Britain before the war, and kept on coming in right up to the time of Dunkirk, there must be a number of Nazi sympathisers who are listed and could be made use of at a pinch. If Sabine is to be got to Eire she will need places to lie hidden in for a few days until the hunt slackens off, then a small boat and a crew that will ask no questions to run her across from some little fishing village in Wales. If you cannot manage such requirements, I've no doubt Berlin could provide them for you.'
Kasdar waved the suggestion away. 'You are wrong, my friend, and I will tell you why. The Germans have three separate secret services. First that of the Abwehr: the original Military Intelligence Branch, run by Admiral Canaris. Second and now far bigger, that built up by Heydrich as the ears and eyes of the Nazi Party, which operates as a Department of the Gestapo, under Himmler. Third, a quite small organization run as a private intelligence service by Herr Ribbentrop, whose sources are confined to diplomatic channels. Not only are all three independent, but the jealousy of their Chiefs is such that none of them would lift a finger to help an agent of one of the others. It is possible that the Gestapo have the sort of facilities here that you suggest, but I doubt if the Abwehr have, and I am quite certain that Ribbentrop's private system has nothing of the kind and, of course, it is with this last that Sabine and myself are associated.'
The statement confirmed what Gregory had supposed to be the situation; so he said: 'In that case we are thrown back on our own resources. I am in no position to hide Sabine with anybody even for a night, much less find a crew to take her across the Irish Channel. Could you not secure the help of some of the Moldavians who are living in the country? It should be possible to buy a boat and perhaps you could get hold of some Moldavian seamen to man it?'
After considering for a moment, the Colonel replied, 'As you must be aware, we Moldavians are not a seafaring people. Most of the ships we owned were cargo vessels trading in the Mediterranean. Since the war they have been chartered to the Axis. A few, of course, were on the oceans, and those that have not been sunk are under charter to the Allies; but there are never more than a handful of Moldavian sailors in British ports. The only ones actually resident here, as far as I know, are the crews of our tugs.'
'Tugs!' repeated Gregory quickly. 'How do you come to have tugs here?'
'We had four on order in British shipyards when the war broke out. Normally, when completed they would have been sent round by the Black Sea to us for work on the Danube. Two were actually about to sail and the British made a move to commandeer them. But we resisted it, and a compromise was reached by which it was agreed that we should supply crews for them and they should fly the Moldavian flag, but be chartered by the Ministry of Shipping for the duration. They are powerful vessels so suitable for coastal work, and are employed in bringing strings of coal barges down from Newcastle to London. One has been sunk but three are still in service.'
Gregory leaned forward with sudden excitement. 'I believe this might be the solution to our problem. The essence of success is to get Sabine away quickly. Once the hunt is on police all over Britain will be holding up cars to check the people in them. That's why I don't like the idea of taking her right across England. We would probably have to make two bites at the cherry; and we'd certainly not be able to get her away to sea the same night. On the other hand, a car could run her down to the. Kent or Essex coast before her escape had been discovered, and if one of your tugs could pick her up she would be pretty well in the clear.'
'You speak of my tugs. But they are chartered by the British Government.'