The Burning Sky Read Free Page B

hair and ringlets.’
    ‘And he is taking us to?’
    ‘A safe house, where there is a family waiting to be helped to leave the country.’
    ‘I assume they are Jews and filthy rich?’
    ‘Wealthy, yes, but not as well off now as they oughtto be. They are members of a family that have been in Germany for nearly three hundred years, since the time of Fredrick the Great; in fact, the Ephraims were his bankers during the Seven Years’ War. If we were in Berlin I could show you the house they were allowed to build, the first of its kind in the city and quite famous. Over time the family have bred and spread. This branch owned the department store and several other businesses in Königsberg.’
    ‘Owned?’
    ‘The local Nazis kicked them out of it without so much as a pfennig in compensation, but that’s East Prussia for you. The further east you go the worse the anti-Semitism gets.’
    ‘It’s the way of the world, Cal.’
    ‘Is it? Papa Ephraim has an Iron Cross, First Class, which he got fighting us at Third Ypres. He was a major in the Imperial German Army and now he’s a sort of non-person .’
    ‘One is sorry for the Jews, of course, but they have brought some of it on themselves.’
    ‘Have they? By being prudent when others were blind? By being strong families and good neighbours, a community who looked after each other when times were hard? Does it not occur to you they might have a superior way of living their lives than us?’
    ‘Have you converted, old boy?’
    ‘You know me, Peter, I don’t believe in anybody’s God. It’s about the only thing I share with Adolf Hitler. Have you read Mein Kampf ?’
    ‘Good Lord, no!’
    ‘I suggest you do, because it will tell you what the next twenty years are going to be like and, if we don’t stop these bastards, the next thousand years. The Kaiser was bad enough but this bugger is worse. He’s a criminal leader running a criminal government and they will kill anyone who they do not like. I am doing my little bit to thwart him.’
    While listening to this Lanchester had been casting his eyes about, across to the other side of the street and behind, his attention being taken by two men in dark double-breasted suits and big hats whose pace and route matched theirs.
    ‘You always were destined for sainthood, Cal, but I must tell you I think we are being followed, or maybe it’s your blond chum.’
    ‘We are and he is, Peter, by people who are there to make sure no one else is doing the same. If they speed up and pass us that is a signal to disperse, so we will take the next turning and make contact later.’
    ‘And your blue-eyed boy up ahead?’
    ‘Can take care of himself.’
    ‘How organised is this?’
    ‘Well enough to work, but they will need to find someone who is not Jewish to replace me.’ Jardine grinned. ‘Perhaps HMG will send someone.’
    ‘No fear,’ Lanchester replied, doing nothing to keep the distaste out of his voice. ‘I hope your charges are not headed for Blighty.’
    ‘Where else would they go but to the Mother of Democracy?’
    ‘We’ve got quite enough bloody refugees already. I don’t suppose you will take my advice to quit while you are still ahead, Cal. Don’t hang about, just go.’
    ‘No, when what you’re saying, Peter, is leave these people to their fate.’
    ‘Why did I say “sainthood” when I meant “martyrdom”?’
    That made Jardine laugh, which he was still doing as the blue-eyed boy turned and entered a recessed doorway in a long mansion block, the front door open still when the two Brits got to the bottom step. Lanchester followed as his companion skipped up and into a dark oak-floored hallway, smelling strongly of polish.
    He was then led towards the rear of the block to where a slightly ajar door took them into a well-appointed apartment full of good, heavy furniture, the seats of which were occupied by a middle-aged couple and four children of various ages. As they entered, the man stood up, his