"So, Gestapo, eh?" he suddenly blurted out with a sneer he couldn't hold back. "I suppose you suspect that spies are members of my Staff, eh?"
But Freddy didn't walk into the trap. He knew perfectly well that a Gestapo member as young as he looked wouldn't know too much.
"I suspect no one, Herr Field Marshal," he said with stiff respectfulness. "I have only been given my orders to carry out. If you wish to complain to Herr Himmler? There is the phone. He is in his Berlin Headquarters now."
Dave held his breath. Was Freddy begging for death? He must be mad. He was mad! What in thunderation was he trying to pull off? What did Freddy think all this insane business was going to get them? Dave didn't have the ghost of an idea. But whatever it was, it was all Freddy's party now. Dave didn't dare speak a word, or do anything. But when he glanced at his pal and saw the typical cold haughtiness of the Gestapo that seemed to surround the English youth, a wild thrill raced through him. Perhaps—just perhaps—Freddy wasn't out of his mind. Maybe he did have something by the tail.
At any rate, the bluff worked. Field Marshal von Staube made no move to reach for one of the many phones. And Dave felt a little as though he had been reborn. No, not reborn. More like a condemned man who has received a stay of execution.
"I will make my complaints at the right time, and in the right places!" the German Field Marshal suddenly boomed. "Well? What is your mission here, anyway? What about Herr Luftwaffe Marshal von Gault's pilots? What about them?"
Freddy Farmer made as though to reach into his upper left tunic pocket, but seemed to change his mind.
"Perhaps nothing, Herr Field Marshal," he said evenly. "However, there are one or two questions I should like to ask Herr Captain Kohle and Herr Leutnant von Stebbins. In your presence, of course, sir. And yours, too, Herr Luftwaffe Marshal von Gault. This much I can say. If they speak the truth, their answers to my questions may be very interesting, and enlightening."
Von Staube scowled still more deeply, drummed his fingers on the desk some more, and then looked across at von Gault. He seemed to see something in the other's eyes, though von Gault didn't nod or shake his head.
"Herr Captain!" von Staube suddenly roared at the black-eyed officer. "Go find the two officers mentioned, and bring them here at once. Just that, mind you! Bring them here, and keep your mouth shut!"