The Wolf's Hour Part 36

"I took Krolle's motorcycle. That's how I got through the gate. A bullet must've punctured the gas tank, because I only got a few miles before the engine stopped. Then I started walking through the woods. I saw your flashlights, and I came in." Flimsy as h.e.l.l, he thought, but that's all he could come up with.

Chesna was silent for a moment, staring at him. Then she said, "We had a man watching the road. He saw no motorcycle."

"I didn't use the road. I went through the forest."

"And you just happened to find our camp? In all the woods? You stumbled onto our camp when none of the n.a.z.is could track us down?"

"I guess I did. I got there, didn't I?" He smiled wanly. "Call it destiny."

"I think," Chesna said, "that you've been breathing through another hollow reed." She came a little closer to the bed as Stronberg prepared a second injection. "If I didn't know you were on our side, Baron, I might have grave misgivings about you. To beat Harry Sandler at his own game is one thing; to travel, in your condition, over eight miles through the forest at night and find our camp-which was very well hidden, I might add-is something quite different."

"I'm good at what I do. That's why I'm here." He winced as the second needle broke the skin.

She shook her head. "No one is that good, Baron. There's something about you... something very strange."

"Well, we can debate this all day, if you like." He let feigned exasperation creep into his voice. Chesna's eyes were sharp, and they saw his evasion. "Have you got the plane ready?"

"It's ready, whenever I want it." She decided to let this matter go, for now. But this man was hiding something, and she wanted to know what it was.

"Good. When can we leave?"

"There'll be no traveling for you," Stronberg said firmly. He snapped his bag closed. "Not for two weeks, at least. Your body's been starved and brutalized. A normal man, one without your commando training, would be a basket case by now."

"Doctor," Michael said, "thank you for your attention and care. Now would you please leave?"

"He's right," Chesna added. "You're too weak to go anywhere. As far as you're concerned, the mission is over."

"Is that why you got me out? To tell me I'm an invalid?"

"No. To keep you from spilling your guts. Since you were imprisoned, Colonel Blok has closed down the Reichkronen. From what I hear, he's been questioning all the employees and going over their records. He's having the place searched room by room. We got you out of Falkenhausen because Bauman let us know Blok was about to start torturing you the following morning. Four more hours and a catheter would have been an impossibility."

"Oh. I see." In that light the loss of a leg was a minor inconvenience.

Dr. Stronberg was about to retreat to the door. But he paused and said, "That's an interesting birthmark you have. I've never seen anything quite like it."

"Birthmark?" Michael asked. "What birthmark?"

Stronberg looked puzzled. "Under your left arm, of course."

Michael lifted his arm, and had a shock of surprise. From the armpit to his hip were streaks of sleek, black hair. Wolf hair, he realized. With all the stress to his mind and body, he had not fully changed back since leaving Falkenhausen.

"Fascinating," Stronberg said. He leaned closer to look at the streaks. "That's one for a dermatologist's journal."

"I'm sure it is." Michael lowered his arm and clasped it to his side.

Stronberg walked past Chesna to the door. "We'll start you on solids tomorrow. Some meat with your broth."

"I don't want any d.a.m.ned broth. I want a steak. Very rare."

"Your stomach's not ready for that," Stronberg said, and he left the room.

"What day is this?" Michael asked Chesna after the doctor had gone. "The date?"

"May seventh." Chesna walked to a window and peered out at the forest, her face washed with afternoon light. "In answer to your next question, we're in the house of a friend, about forty miles northwest of Berlin. The nearest village is a small hamlet called Rossow, eleven miles to the west. So we're safe here, and you can rest easy."

"I don't want to rest. I've got a mission to finish." Even as he said it, he felt whatever Stronberg had given him beginning to work. His tongue was numb, and he was getting drowsy again.

"We received a radio code from London four days ago." Chesna turned from the window to look at him. "The invasion's been scheduled for the fifth of June. I've radioed back the message that our a.s.signment is incomplete, and that the invasion may be in jeopardy. I'm still waiting for a reply."

"I think I know what Iron Fist is," Michael said, and he began to tell her about his Flying Fortress theory. She listened intently, with no evidence that she agreed or disagreed: a poker face. "I don't think the plane's hangared in Norway," he told her, "because that's too far from the invasion beaches. But Hildebrand knows where the plane is. We've got to get to Skarpa..." His vision was fogging up, the taste of medicine thick in his mouth, "... and find out what Hildebrand's developed."

"You can't go anywhere. Not in the shape you're in. It would be better if I chose a team myself and flew them up."

"No! Listen to me... your friends may be good at breaking into a prison camp... but Skarpa's going to be a h.e.l.l of a lot tougher. You need a professional for the job."

"Like yourself?"

"Right. I can be ready to go in six days."

"Dr. Stronberg said two weeks."

"I don't give a d.a.m.n what he said!" He felt a flush of anger. "Stronberg doesn't know me. I can be ready in six days... providing I get some meat."

Chesna smiled faintly. "I believe you're serious."

"I am. And no more tranquilizers or whatever it is that Stronberg's stuck into me. Understand?"

She paused, thinking it over. Then: "I'll tell him."

"One more thing. Have you... thought about the possibility that... we may run into fighter planes between here and Skarpa?"

"Yes. I'm willing to take that risk."

"If you get shot, I don't care to... go down in flames. You'll need a copilot. Do you have one?"

Chesna shook her head.

"Talk to Lazaris," Michael said. "You might... find him very interesting."

"That beast? He's a flier?"

"Just talk to him." Michael's eyelids were getting heavy. It was hard to fight against the twilight. Better to rest, he thought. Rest, and fight again tomorrow.

Chesna stayed beside the bed until he was asleep. Her face softened, and she reached out to touch his hair but he shifted his position and she pulled her hand back. When she'd realized he and Mouse had been captured, she'd almost gone crazy with worry, and not because she feared he would spill secrets. Seeing him emerge from the forest-filthy and mottled with bruises, his face hollowed by hunger and the ordeal of captivity-had almost made her faint. But how had he tracked them through the woods? How?

Who are you? she mentally asked the sleeping man. Lazaris had inquired how his friend "Gallatinov" was doing. Was the man British, or Russian? Or some other, more arcane nationality? Even in his drained condition, he was a handsome man-but there was something lonely about him. Something lost. All her life, she'd been brought up on the taste of silver spoons; this was a man who knew the taste of dirt. There was a cardinal rule in the secret service; do not become emotionally involved. To break that rule might lead to untold suffering and death. But she was tired-so very tired-of being an actress. And living life without emotion was like playing a part for the critics instead of the audience: there was no joy in it, only stagecraft.

The baron-Gallatinov, or whatever his name might be-shivered in his sleep. She saw the flesh of his arms rise in goose b.u.mps. She remembered washing him, not with a hose but with a scrub brush as he lay unconscious in a tub of warm water. She had scrubbed the lice from his scalp, his chest, beneath his arms, and in his pubic hair. She had shaved him and washed his hair, and she had done all that because no one else would. That was her job, but her job did not require that her heart ache as she'd cleaned the grime from the lines in his face.

Chesna pulled the sheet up around his neck. His eyes opened-a glint of green-but the drugs were strong, and he went under again. She wished him a good sleep, beyond this world of nightmares, and closed the door quietly when she left.

2.

Less than eighteen hours after he'd first awakened, Michael Gallatin was on his feet. He relieved himself in a bedpan. His urine was still blushed with blood, but there was no pain. His thigh throbbed, though his legs were st.u.r.dy. He paced the room, testing himself, and found he walked with a limp. Without painkillers and tranquilizers in his system, his nerves felt raw, but his mind was clear. It had turned toward Norway, and what he had to do to get himself ready.

He lay on the pinewood floor and slowly stretched his muscles. Deep pain gnawed at him as he worked. Back on the floor, legs up, crunch head toward knees. Stomach to the floor, lift chin and legs at the same time. Slow push-ups that made his shoulder and back muscles scream. Sit on the floor, knees bent, and ever so slowly lower the back almost to the floor, linger past the point of agony, and come up again. A light sheen of sweat glowed on Michael's skin. Blood pumped through his veins and gorged his muscles, and his heart reached a hard rhythm. Six days, he thought as he breathed raggedly. I'll be ready.

A woman with gray-streaked brown hair brought his dinner: strained vegetables and a hash of finely chopped beef. "Baby food," Michael told her, but he ate every bit. Dr. Stronberg returned to check him again. His fever was down, and the wheezing in his lungs had decreased. He had, however, popped three st.i.tches. Stronberg warned him to stay in bed and rest, and that was the end of the visit.

A night later, another helping of ghastly beef hash in his stomach, Michael stood in the darkness and eased his window open. He slipped out, into the silent forest, and stood beneath an elm tree as he changed from man to wolf. The rest of his st.i.tches popped open, but the thigh wound didn't bleed. It was another scar to add to his collection. He loped on all fours through the woods, breathing the fragrant, clean air. A squirrel caught his attention, and he was on it before it could reach its tree. His mouth watered as he consumed the meat and fluids, then he spat out the bones and hair and continued on his jaunt. At a farmhouse perhaps two miles from the cottage, a dog barked and howled at Michael's scent. Michael sprayed a fence post, just to let the dog know its place.

He sat atop a gra.s.sy knoll and stared at the stars. On such a beautiful night as this, the question had to be asked: what is the lycanthrope, in the eye of G.o.d?

He thought he might know the answer to that now, after the sight of the ma.s.s grave at Falkenhausen, after the death of Mouse and the memory of an Iron Cross being plucked from his broken fingers. After his time in this land of torment and hatred, he thought he knew; and if not, the answer would do for now.

The lycanthrope was G.o.d's avenger.

There was so much work to be done. Michael knew Chesna had courage-and plenty of it-but her chances of getting on and off Skarpa Island without him were slim. He had to be sharp and strong to face what was ahead for them.

But he was weaker than he'd thought. The change had sapped his strength, and he lay with his head on his paws under the clear starlight. He slept, and dreamed of a wolf who dreamed he was a man who dreamed he was a wolf who dreamed.

The sun was coming up when he awakened. The land was green and lovely, but it hid a black heart. He got up off his belly and started back the way he'd come, following his own scent. He neared the house and was about to change to human form again when he heard, above the song of the dawn birds, the faint noise of radio static. He tracked it, and about fifty yards from the house found a shack covered with camouflage netting. An antenna was mounted on the roof. Michael crouched in the brush and listened as the radio static ended. There were three musical tones, followed one after the other. Then Chesna's voice, speaking German: "I read you. Go ahead."

A man's voice, transmitted from a great distance, answered. "The concert is set. Beethoven, as planned. Your tickets must be purchased as soon as possible. Out." Then the crackle of dead air.

"That's it," Chesna said, to someone in the shack. A moment later Bauman emerged and climbed a stepladder to the roof, where he removed the antenna. Chesna came out, dark circles beneath her eyes indicating a troubled sleep, and began to stride through the forest toward the house. Michael silently kept pace with her, keeping to the green shadows. He sniffed her fragrance, and he remembered their first kiss in the lobby of the Reichkronen. He was feeling stronger now; all of him was feeling stronger. A few more days of rest, and a few more nights of hunting the meat and blood he needed, and- He took another step, and that was when the quail hidden in the brush shrieked and leaped out from beneath his paw.

Chesna whirled toward the sound. Her hand was already gripping the Luger and drawing it from her holster. She saw him; he watched her eyes widen with the shock as she took aim and squeezed the trigger.

The gun spoke, and a chunk of bark flew from the tree next to Michael's head. She fired a second time, but the black wolf was no longer there. Michael had turned and plunged into the dense foliage, the bullet whining over his back. "Fritz! Fritz!" Chesna shouted for Bauman as Michael winnowed through the underbrush and ran. "A wolf!" he heard her say as Bauman came running up. "It was right there, looking at me! G.o.d, I've never seen one so close!"

"A wolf?" Bauman's voice was incredulous. "There are no wolves around here!"

Michael circled through the woods back in the direction of the house. His heart was pounding; the two bullets had missed him by fractions of inches. He lay in the brush and changed as quickly as he could, his bones aching as they rejointed and his fangs sliding into his jaws with wet clicking sounds. The gunshots would have already roused everyone in the house. He stood up, newly fleshed, slipped in through his window, and closed it behind him. He heard other voices outside, calling to ask what had happened. Then he got into bed, pulled the sheet up to his throat, and was lying there when Chesna entered minutes later.

"I thought you'd be awake," she said. She was still a little nervous, and he could smell the gunsmoke on her skin. "You heard the shots?"

"Yes. What's going on?" He sat up, pretending alarm.

"I almost got chewed up by a wolf. Out there, d.a.m.ned close to the house. The thing was staring at me, and it had..." Her voice trailed off.

"It had what?" Michael prompted.

"It had black hair and green eyes," she said, in a quiet voice.

"I thought all wolves were gray."

"No." She stared into his face, as if truly seeing him for the first time. "They're not."

"I heard two shots. Did you hit him?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Of course, it could've been a b.i.t.c.h."

"Well, thank G.o.d it didn't get you." He smelled breakfast cooking: sausages and pancakes. Her intense stare was making him jittery. "If it was as hungry as I am, you're very lucky it didn't take a bite out of you."

"I guess I am." What am I thinking? Chesna asked herself. That this man has black hair and green eyes, and so did the wolf? And what of that? I must be losing my mind, to even think such a thing! "Fritz... says there are no wolves in this area."

"Ask him if he'd like to go for a walk in the woods tonight, and find out." He smiled tightly. "I know I wouldn't."

Chesna realized she was standing with her back against the wall. What had been wheeling through her mind was utterly ridiculous, she knew, but still... no, no! That was crazy! Such things were the stuff of medieval fireside tales, when the winter wind blew cold and howled in the night. This was the modern world! "I'd like to know your name," she said at last. "Lazaris calls you Gallatinov."

"I was born Mikhail Gallatinov. I changed my name to Michael Gallatin when I became a British citizen."

"Michael," Chesna repeated, trying out the sound of it. "I just received a radio message. The invasion is still set for June fifth, barring bad weather in the Channel. Our mission stands: we're to find Iron Fist and destroy it."

"I'll be ready."

His color looked better this morning, as if he'd gotten some exercise. Or perhaps a vigorous dream? she wondered. "I believe you will be," she said. "Lazaris is doing better, too. We had a long talk yesterday. He knows a lot about airplanes. If we have engine trouble on the way, he might be useful."

"I'd like to see him. Can I have some clothes?"

"I'll ask Dr. Stronberg if you're up to getting out of bed."

Michael grunted. "Tell him I want some of those pancakes, too."

She sniffed the air, and found their scent. "You must have a very good sense of smell."

"Yes, I do."

Chesna was silent. Again, those thoughts-insane thoughts-crept through her mind. She brushed them aside. "The cook's making oatmeal for you and Lazaris. You're not ready for heavy food yet."

"I could've starved on gruel in Falkenhausen, if that's what you and the good doctor want."

"It's not. Dr. Stronberg just wants your system to recuperate." She walked to the door, then paused there. She stared into his green eyes and felt the hairs stir at the back of her neck. They were the eyes of the wolf, she thought. No, of course that was absolutely impossible! "I'll check on you later," she said, and went out.

A frown settled over Michael's features. The bullets had been a close call. He had been almost able to read Chesna's thoughts; of course she wouldn't come to the correct conclusion, but he'd have to watch his step around her from now on. He scratched his rough beard and then looked at his hands. There was dark German earth under his fingernails.

Michael's breakfast-watery oatmeal-was delivered in a few minutes. Stronberg entered a little later and p.r.o.nounced his fever all but gone. The doctor railed, however, about the broken st.i.tches. Michael said he was up to doing some mild calisthenics, so he ought to be allowed clothes to walk around in. Stronberg at first flatly refused, then said he'd think about it. Before an hour pa.s.sed, a gray-green jumpsuit, underwear, socks, and canvas shoes were brought to Michael's room by the same woman who prepared the meals. An added encouragement was a bowl of water, a cake of shaving soap, and a straight razor, with which Michael removed his stubble.

Freshly shaved and dressed, Michael left his room and roamed through the house. He found Lazaris in a room down the corridor, the Russian slick-bald but still heavily bearded, his proud prow of a nose made even more huge because of his gleaming dome. Lazaris was still pallid and somewhat less than energetic, but there were faint spots of color in his cheeks and his dark brown eyes had a glint in them. Lazaris said he was being treated very well, but his request for a bottle of vodka and a pack of cigarettes had been refused. "Hey, Gallatinov!" he said as Michael started to leave. "I'm glad I didn't know you were such an important spy! It might have made me a little nervous!"

"Are you nervous now?"