Berlin
1545 10 May 1943
SS-Obersturmbannführer Karl Cranz took one step inside the office of Reichsprotektor Heinrich Himmler, came to attention, and with a click of his heels rendered a stiff-armed Nazi salute. “Heil Hitler!” he barked.
Himmler returned the salute with a casual wave of his hand, but said nothing for a moment, “I didn’t expect to see you so soon, Cranz,” Himmler said finally. It was both a statement and a question.
“I’m afraid I might be wasting the Herr Reichsprotektor’s valuable time—”
Himmler interrupted him by raising his hand from the wrist. “What do you have, Cranz?”
“I met the Condor from Buenos Aires—”
“You met?” Himmler interrupted again.
“Boltitz and I, Herr Reichsprotektor.”
“To properly set the stage, don’t you think you should tell me about Korvettenkapitän Boltitz?”
“My initial reaction, Herr Reichsprotektor, is that he is highly intelligent and quite competent.”
“I didn’t think Canaris would send a man who wasn’t,” Himmler said.
“I saw nothing that suggests, Herr Reichsprotektor, that he is anything but a reliable professional officer.”
“Fully qualified to take Grüner’s place in Buenos Aires?”
“Yes, Herr Reichsprotektor.”
“Perhaps I should have said ‘reliable enough to take Grüner’s place’?”
“Based on what little I have seen of him, yes, Herr Reichsprotektor.”
“I don’t like qualified answers, Cranz.”
“I beg the Herr Reichsprotektor’s pardon. My judgment is that he will unquestioningly obey his orders.”
Himmler thought that over a second, and then said, “You went to Lisbon?”
“Yes, Herr Reichsprotektor. We took the three of them from the Condor, took them to dinner that night, and then brought them to Berlin via Swiss Air today. I came here directly from Templehof.”
“And which of the three do you suspect?”
“Permit me to say, Herr Reichsprotektor, that I have nothing that removes any of them from suspicion.”
“I was rather hoping that it was the Austrian,” Himmler said. “He has already proved capable of treason.”
“He is, I think, the sort of man whose nervousness would betray something like that.”
“He’s a diplomat,” Himmler argued. “He has been tr
ained to conceal what he’s thinking, and to lie.”
“With respect, Herr Reichsprotektor, I considered that.”
“And our man?”
“Von Tresmarck is nervous—Boltitz quickly picked up on that—but that may very well be because of what is in his dossier.”