"Hot, you idiot?" screamed Hohmann. He wet his forefinger and touched the metal of the drawer. There was a faint sizzle and Hohmann jerked his hand back too.
"Fire!" he yelled, racing for an extinguisher. With a hook, he hurled the drawer open and hit it with the spray. It exploded into a cloud, a cloud that choked them and sent them from the room in a hurry. Hot carbon tetrachloride vapor is not attractive.
Men piled into the room, followed shortly by the official palace firemen. Shortly the head man emerged.
"Führer," he said apologetically, "the cabinets are hot, but there has been no fire."
"No fire? Then how—"
The alarm rang again, and they raced to the office of General Friedrice, who was standing outside with a look of fear on his face.
"The file cabinets?" asked Hohmann.
The general nodded dumbly.
"Fire?"
"No—just hot."