In the dim light of the room the old lady mistakes Peter for a priest. Peter goes to the hospital, tells the doctor he's the old lady's nephew and gets to visit her instead since Winzer cannot be found. Readers know why: the ODESSA has just phoned Winzer and warned him to not be there when they 'take care of Herr Miller'.īut Winzer's maid tells Peter her boss ordinarily visits his dying ex-housekeeper in hospital today, so she is perplexed. He is surprised to learn Winzer has abruptly left town. Unaware the ODESSA know who he is, where is or what he's up to, Peter visits Osnabruck and the home of one Herr Winzer, who makes fake passports for the ODESSA. The ODESSA would have been completely fooled if not for a chancy co-incidence. He does such a good job that when Peter is eventually questioned by an ex-SS lawyer he stands at attention like a stormtrooper and answers each question perfectly. For weeks he trains Peter into walking, talking, saluting, and thinking like an SS man. They send Peter to the home of an ex-SS man who saw the error of his ways years ago and promised to help Leon and the rest of revenge squad. Once they make him look ten years older he will be able to contact the ODESSA without raising suspicion. Not only is he determined to infiltrate the ODESSA and find Roschmann, he is a genuine German Aryan. Twice they have tried to infiltrate the ODESSA but their agents couldn't pass for Germans and died. They are a sort of 'revenge squad' who sometimes work with the Mossad but usually just track down the war criminals on their own and kill them. They are not part of the Mossad but they too are eager to find Roschmann, plus as many others as possible. At first he thinks this is the end, then he is surprised to learn these men are actually Jewish.

They 'persuade' him to come with them in their own car (blindfolded). One night, after being warned by an ODESSA agent to drop his inquiry and go home, Peter is walking to his car and suddenly surrounded by thugs.

The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth