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six-thirty. At eight the first four dozen patients were allowed entry to the guarded outer lobby. SS processing was the first stage. Curfew permits, work identification cards, passports, food ration books, work leave-of-absence permits and transportation passes were all inspected, recorded and temporarily confiscated. The group was reassembled and shuttled on to the Medical Processing Section with their clinic permits.
    â€œName?” asked the Czech volunteer nurse.
    â€œGrebic, Anatol.”
    â€œMiddle name?”
    â€œNo middle name.”
    The woman looked up into the wide, flat face of deep-set black eyes, thick nose and bushy red mustache. “Every Czech has a middle name.”
    â€œThis one doesn’t.”
    â€œNo insolence or you’ll be sent to the end of the line.”
    â€œForgive me, but I was born without a middle name.”
    The woman returned to the application form. “Factory?”
    â€œKulitz Works.”
    â€œPosition?”
    â€œForeman, hand-grenade inspection, Division Two.”
    â€œType of permit?”
    â€œDental.”
    â€œPriority?”
    â€œBlue.”
    â€œWhat doctor are you to see?”
    â€œSadarski.”
    Sadarski set the alarm clock for nine minutes and began pumping the foot pedal. The drill burrowed into the second molar. He leaned closer to Grebic’s ear. “Word has just been received over the Goliath Line,” the dentist said softly in Russian. “The Germans believe that Vetter was intercepted by a man named Erik Spangler. This Spangler has been raiding their concentration camps for some time under various aliases, but he’s never taken out a political prisoner before.”
    Sadarski stood up and glanced down the long row of dentists working on their patients. No one was watching. He leaned forward and resumed the drilling. “The Germans had known very little about this Spangler until the Vetter escape. The tighter security around political prisoners seems to have provided their first tangible information. A secret meeting of the Council for Extreme Security was called yesterday to consider it. The session took place in Munich. Von Schleiben presided. Carrol was provost. The four permanent members in attendance were Platt for Gestapo, Zieff for Abwehr, and Frankel and Lenz for Sipo-SD and Kripo respectively. Six alternate delegates were also present—Waffen-SS, Totenkopf, Frontier Police, Alpine Detachment, Luftwaffe Supply and the subcommandant of Oranienburg.
    â€œThe evidence on Spangler was presented by an SD-Ausland colonel named Webber—”
    The patient pushed the drill away. “What is SD-Ausland doing on a camp case? The camps are under Gestapo jurisdiction.”
    The drill was replaced by a chisel. “Too many new camps are being built. Too many guards are being called to the front. Escapes are increasing. It is too much for the Gestapo alone. SD-Ausland went on the Spangler case two months ago. Webber was operations chief.”
    The chisel was set aside, the cavity examined by the mirror explorer. The drill went back into action. “Webber presented the council with a letter addressed to the commandant of Gusen. It was received several days before Vetter’s escape. It was supposed to have been written by Vetter’s mother, asking permission for something or other. Letters like this are never seen by the commandant, nor are they ever answered. They are read by prisoner secretaries and then burned. Two of these prisoner secretaries were members of the Weeping Nuns, a Catholic secret society at Gusen. The Weeping Nuns were Spangler’s contact. The two secretaries and a third Weeping Nun, the man who led Vetter to the fence, were captured shortly after the escape. They appeared as witnesses at the council meeting. They confirmed the SD-Ausland claim that the letter from Vetter’s mother contained a secret message. They demonstrated how the message text was extracted