Day of Vengeance (14 page)

Gottschalk's Plan

Pendelshape had lost weight. He was thinner and the lines on his forehead had become more accentuated with stress and fatigue. His deep-set eyes had dark bags under them and his grey hair, usually closely cropped and neat, had grown dishevelled and wispy. The plumpness in his face had gone and his cheeks had hollowed out. He sat opposite Jack and Angus in the cellar with his arms clasped around his knees. He looked tired and old and seemed to be ageing still further with the barrage of questions he was enduring from the two boys. They had already pumped him for information on his miraculous escape from the Armada in 1588, the attack on VIGIL and his mission to 1940. Pendelshape was stunned to discover Jack and Angus had escaped the Revisionist assault and had even witnessed his kidnapping in London.

“What about Gottschalk?” Angus asked. “What do you know about him?”

Pendelshape snorted disdainfully, “One of the worst. An ambitious Nazi, drunk on military success and power. A rising star. Known to the
Führer
personally. In fact, I think he might want to
be
the
Führer
.” Pendelshape put his head in his hands. His shoulders started to shake. “I have been an idiot. It's all gone wrong. A disaster. A nightmare.”

“You need to tell us everything – from the beginning,” Jack said.

Pendelshape dropped his hands into his lap and stared blankly at the floor as he spoke.

“The Second World War was the worst disaster in human history. We could stop it in its tracks. Millions of lives would be saved and we could guide a democratic coalition of nations to rapid global dominance. Our plan was to go to the British government and offer them modern technology that would give them an unassailable military advantage.”

“What do you mean?”

Pendelshape looked at him guiltily. “We needed something that would defeat Nazi Germany. We modelled a number of scenarios before we selected the preferred one. But we knew it was no good trying to intervene in history if VIGIL could stop us. We had to destroy VIGIL once and for all to make our plans stick. We had thought about it before, of course, but VIGIL security is too good…”

Jack felt anger welling up inside him. “Unless you have help on the inside… right?”

“Yes – we managed to turn Belstaff and Johnstone… and with them on board, the assault on VIGIL finally became possible.”

“You realise that your thugs nearly killed us? When we left, it wasn't looking great for the others,” Jack said angrily.

Angus jumped to his feet and bellowed into Pendelshape's face, “YOU ARE NOT MUCH BETTER THAN THAT NUTCASE UPSTAIRS!”

Pendelshape curled up in fear. Jack pulled Angus back.

“I know you can't understand… but nothing is more important than our work… we can change history… change the world.”

“Just tell us what you did.”

“When I got the signal from Johnstone and Belstaff that VIGIL would be under our control, I started on the next phase of the plan. I travelled back to England in early 1940. Using our research, I made an initial contact. He was a physicist based in Cambridge. He was called Petersen – he met all the criteria. He could help me. Slowly I gained his confidence, showed him blueprints and plans and we started to work together to prepare our approach to the British government. But then something happened.”

“Your kidnap in London?”

“No Jack, something else. Something before that…”

“What?” Jack said.

Pendelshape sighed. “You don't know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“It's your father, Jack, he's here in 1940.”

The words hit Jack like a blow from a sledgehammer. “What?”

“Yes. In fact I think he's in France. I just hope to God he's still alive.”

“But…” Jack was confused yet excited at the same time.

“Let me try to explain. After I had been in London for a while, your father turned up. Out of the blue. I was shocked to say the least… and we had, er, an extremely tricky conversation. He was angry. Very angry. Anyway, he had infiltrated the Revisionist base – he knows all the systems well, of course, but still, I think he must have been helped. I should have known better, taken better precautions, but I suppose I was too eager. I was finally free to implement our plans, I didn't imagine that….”

“Get on with it…”

“Right. Well, your father had been watching me for a while in 1940 and finally he confronted me in London. He had devastating news. He claimed my contact in Cambridge, Petersen, had betrayed me. The Nazis were blackmailing him. Your father said that Petersen had passed all my blueprints over to them. I was mortified. We hadn't even started our approach to the British government.” Pendelshape's breathing quickened. It was as if he were about to have some sort of panic attack.

“Get a grip.”

“I'm trying,” Pendelshape paused and took three slow, deep breaths. “Your father and I had to work out how far the Nazis had taken my plans and how we could undo the damage. I stayed in London, keeping a low profile, and your father travelled to the continent. He took a risk, but it was necessary. I got a message from him to say that the Nazis had made startling progress. Gottschalk had been put in charge of their operation. His ruthlessness made him ideal. Your father said he was going to try and stop them.”

“I don't get it – what are you talking about – these blueprints that the Nazis stole from you… what are they?” Angus asked.

Pendelshape squirmed, reluctant to say any more.

“Spit it out,” Angus said.

“The Revisionist plan was to deliver to the British government a weapon and a delivery system to go with it. To you, that means a rocket. We have detailed blueprints and plans – all based on materials that can be sourced in 1940. It would give the allies an unassailable military advantage. The war would be over. You've heard of the V-2 rocket?”

“Hold on, you are saying that the Nazis, led by Gottschalk, have copies of your blueprints to build a rocket – a V-2 rocket – and they have had these plans for months?”

“Yes.”

“But you said two things. A ‘delivery system' – that's the rocket – but also you said ‘weapon'. You need a weapon to go in the rocket. What do you mean? What is the weapon?”

Pendelshape grimaced. “I…”

“Tell us!” Angus hissed.
“What is the weapon?”

Pendelshape said the words quickly and quietly as if hoping they might not be heard, “A nuclear weapon.”

“
What
?” Jack was stunned.

“A nuclear dirty bomb. Not anything like the Hiroshima bomb. That would be too sophisticated. Our weapon is lower tech – one that can be built more easily in 1940. Sand impregnated with a cocktail of radioactive materials and a dispersion device, but in many ways just as devastating as a real nuclear weapon. It could render a city uninhabitable for years. One demonstration of its capabilities would end the war.”

“But, how on earth would you create that kind of thing… you need a nuclear reactor or something, don't you?” Jack said.

Pendelshape shrugged. “It's not hard if you know how.”

“So, let me get this right. The Nazis, led by Gottschalk, have plans that tell them how to build a V-2 rocket and to create radioactive material to go inside it. And they have had these plans for months. And now they have you.” Jack's voice rose an octave, “You thought you had it all worked out, didn't you? You thought you could change the world… and now look what you've done.
You've got a madman running around with a rocket and an actual
nuclear bomb
– only trouble is… he's on the WRONG SIDE!”

Something inside of Jack snapped. He rushed forward, bunched his fist and smashed it into Pendelshape's face. He would have landed a second punch but Angus just caught him. Blood oozed from Pendelshape's nose and he held his hand up to his face.

“Enough…” Angus held Jack in a vice-like grip. “But you deserved that, I've a good mind to finish you off.”

Pendelshape held his head in his hands and as they stared at him accusingly, his shoulders suddenly started to shake. He sobbed and tears poured down his face, mingling with the blood from his nose until his shirt was wet and pink. Between the sobs they caught an occasional word, “We… are… trying to… do… good… trying… to save mankind… from itself…”

Jack eased himself from Angus's grip. He'd felt a strange sense of release by lashing out at Pendelshape. Perhaps it had been a long time coming. But now, looking at him sobbing in a heap, the man with the great intellect and driving, warped ambition to change the world, didn't look so great. In fact, he looked pathetic.

“The British government, what about them?”

“They don't know anything. I agreed with your father that I would do nothing and say nothing until we understood how far the Nazis had got with my plans. Only then could we determine the intervention we needed to reverse the situation. Your father took my time phone and all my original plans and blueprints. In the meantime, I kept up a pretence with Petersen. But I think he was getting nervous about staying in England. Somehow the
newspapers had got onto something, they knew the government was searching for ideas and Petersen is quite a well-known scientist; they must have guessed that the government would probably consult him. There was even an article where some journalist had spotted Petersen with me. Gottschalk finally decided that it was too risky to leave us both in London. That's why they kidnapped me. They've got Petersen now as well.”

Somewhere from up in the chateau they could here muffled voices.

Jack cocked his ear to the ceiling. “I don't know how we get out of this. Gottschalk gave me an hour to come up with something and that's nearly up.”

Jack tried to assimilate all he had learned from Pendelshape. The Revisionists were out of control. They had got rid of his father – clearly the only person who could give them the leadership they needed. They had hatched a new plan – a new intervention in history. This time it was even more dangerous than before – taking back detailed plans for a rocket and a nuclear weapon to a continent already at war. It was madness. A nuclear weapon under the control of Hitler and the Nazis did not bear thinking about, but the Revisionists had delivered one right into their hands.

“One last thing,” Jack said. “Why are they all here – you know, Gottschalk, the military garrison… what's special about this place?”

Pendelshape shrugged. “Obviously it must be near here…”

“What's near here?”

“The launch site of course… for the rocket.”

“Of course. That explains all the activity. Hitler was coming
here to visit the site. Maybe even to watch the launch. And that cave with all the equipment and the clearing with the outhouses… it's all part of it. No wonder Gottschalk is so paranoid.”

There was a moment of silence as they pondered this. Finally, Angus said, “Your dad's, still out there, Jack, he knows about the plans – the rocket and the bomb. He knows he must stop it and so he must know about this place. He must know about Villiers.”

Jack nodded. “Yes, you're right. He's our only hope. If he's still alive.”

Time was running out. Despite everything that Pendelshape had told them, there was only one thing on Jack's mind. He knew that he was supposed to tell Gottschalk all about the British involvement with the Network and what they knew about Villiers. He had already seen what Gottschalk did to people who did not do what he wanted. They would be his next victims. Jack clung on to one hope. It was a tiny speck of light in the darkness. It was the strange image that he had seen from the Taurus – of himself and the person he was sure must be his father, standing next to him. As the days had gone on and their nightmare had worsened, the memory had started to crumble. Jack was beginning to doubt he had seen anything at all. But Pendelshape had told him that his father was back in 1940. In fact he was
here
– in France – perhaps even near Villiers. With that revelation, the memory had suddenly appeared in his mind as clear as day. He didn't want to talk about it, because he still did not know what it really meant. But he clung onto it, because it was the only hope he had.

They heard a key in the door to the cellar and it creaked open. A soldier stood in the doorway. Sophie was standing just behind,
guarded by more soldiers. Her eyes were red and she looked very scared.

“Your time is up,” the soldier said. “You will all come with us.”

A Good German

They stepped down from the back of the army truck. Jack reckoned they must have been inside it for about an hour, but he had soon lost any sense of time or direction as they jiggled their way from the chateau. He blinked in the sunlight. The land in front of them was flat, surrounded on three sides by low woodland, which stood tall behind a high perimeter fence. They had parked up beside an aircraft hangar and, nearby, Jack counted five military aircraft. In the distance were some outbuildings and Jack saw a strip of concrete leading off into the far distance – a runway. He remembered what Pierre had told them about an airfield to the north of Villiers. Maybe this was it.

Parked outside the aircraft hangar was an army truck and two, six-wheeled armoured vehicles. There were also a couple of smaller, open-topped, army jeeps with spare tyres attached to the peculiarly angled front bonnets. There was a sudden roar as two BF109s flew low over the airfield before banking sharply in the distance. The German army and the Luftwaffe were here in force. Whatever was inside the hangar, it was important.

Jack saw a plume of dust kick into the air as two low-slung, black civilian cars emerged through the main entrance to the airstrip. They drew up next to the hangar. An SS soldier saluted, held open the passenger door on one side of the car and Gottschalk stepped out. He waited for the second car to pull up.
A man in civilian clothing got out. He was slim and wore a light suit and a dark tie. Gottschalk moved over to him and saluted. The man ignored the salute and just nodded in return. Gottschalk gestured towards the giant hangar. As they moved closer to where Pendelshape, Jack, Angus and Sophie stood, Jack suddenly recognised the civilian. It was the man they had seen enter Bonaparte’s café just before Gottschalk had shot Antoine. It was definitely him. What had Jean-Yves said his name was? Jack racked his brains. Altenberg. That was it. Albrecht Altenberg – the German physicist. It made sense. If you were dealing with radioactive material who else would you involve but your top nuclear physicist?

They were marched towards the hangar. It was a cavernous building and completely empty, but for one thing. Inside, there was a low concrete structure, a bit like an overgrown pillbox. It had two narrow, horizontally positioned windows built into its thick concrete walls at about eye level and between them there was a small, heavy-looking steel door. Next to the pillbox there was an area set aside for an array of engineering equipment.

A number of people were inside the hangar. There were soldiers, a few men dressed in white coats, who looked like doctors, and, strangely, two men dressed top to tail in all-in-one suits – a bit like the bio-hazard suits Jack had seen people in the army wearing. Jack was nervous enough already, but when he saw the men in these suits he started to feel scared. Very scared.

They were pushed towards the door in the concrete pillbox and a soldier heaved it open. Pendelshape tried to wriggle free, “Get off me…!”

A soldier jabbed his rifle butt into Pendelshape’s ribs and bundled him through the door, doubled over in pain. Jack thought that he, Angus and Sophie were also about to be thrust inside the concrete box, but they were held back. From his position Jack could see that inside there was a small chamber which led directly to an inner door – smaller than the outer door. This door was opened and Jack saw Pendelshape thrown inside and down some concrete steps into another chamber that was partially below ground. Both doors were slammed shut with Pendelshape inside.

“You stay here!” a voice ordered. Jack, Angus and Sophie were pushed to the side and found themselves standing next to the narrow slit windows, peering down, directly into the concrete box. The glass was very thick and the concrete walls of the box must have been at least a metre wide. Inside, they could see Pendelshape staring up at them. He was sweating profusely and shouting up at them, a look of panic on his face – but from where they stood, they could hear absolutely nothing he was saying.

Jack glanced across to where Gottschalk, Altenberg and the other officers stood, also peering at Pendelshape inside the box. Gottschalk was having an animated conversation with Altenberg in German. In fact, it looked like they were arguing. The other officers and guards looked on, somewhat embarrassed, Jack thought, as Altenberg kept pointing into the box and then looking across at Jack and remonstrating with Gottschalk. Suddenly, Gottschalk shouted something at Altenberg and Altenberg went quiet, his face red with anger. Gottschalk barged passed the soldiers who were guarding Jack, Angus and Sophie and spoke directly to
Jack, his voice still quivering from the altercation with Altenberg.

“You have run out of time,” he said, with menace in his voice. “We are going to run a little scientific test. I want you to watch carefully what happens inside the chamber. I would then like you to reconsider the information you are withholding.”

Gottschalk turned away and gave a signal to the engineers who were sitting next to the scientific equipment and control panels. Inside the chamber, Jack saw a small recess open in the far wall. There was a flash and a puff of smoke and Jack felt an almost imperceptible vibration through his feet. The inside of the chamber filled with a fine dust. Slowly, the dust cleared. Jack could just make out the prostrate figure of Pendelshape through the settling dust on the bunker floor. His whole body was writhing from side to side and he pawed frantically at his mouth and throat. He was frothing a mixture of spittle and vomit and his face was turning purple. Slowly, the skin on his hands and face started to blister – as if he was burning. He was obviously screaming with pain, but Jack could still hear nothing through the thick concrete walls. In under a minute he had stopped moving and his lifeless eyes stared up at them, unblinking, from his position on the concrete floor. Pendelshape was dead. Sophie screamed and pounded the windows of the bunker. Unceremoniously, the guards dragged all three of them away to a corner of the hangar.

Angus was the first to come to his senses. “They’ve killed him…” he said in shock. “They’ve killed Pendelshape.”

Jack was stunned, and then, it slowly dawned on him that the brutal execution of Pendelshape in the nuclear test bunker had been for their benefit.

“And one of us is next,” he said.

Angus was shaking his head slowly from side to side, horrified by what he had seen.

Jack felt himself starting to panic, “But I don’t have any information to give him…” He glanced over at the bunker and noticed that Gottschalk and Altenberg had started arguing again. This time, they were both shouting. The other officers were trying to calm them down. Suddenly, the argument seemed to reach some sort of conclusion and Gottschalk marched over to where Jack, Angus and Sophie were standing, closely followed by Altenberg.

Gottschalk addressed them, “Radioactive poisoning – it is not a nice way to die, as you have seen from our little test. Now, we have made an interesting discovery. It appears that two of the ringleaders are this young girl’s parents. Quite extraordinary – a whole family of troublemakers.” He glanced at Sophie, then at his watch. “They should have been here to witness our demonstration, but they seem to have been delayed. No matter, they will be here soon and this gives us some interesting possibilities for adding a little more… pressure. Eventually, one of you will talk.”

Sophie’s heart jumped – it was confirmation that her parents were alive. She tried to contain her joy. Gottschalk turned to Altenberg who was now standing next to him. “In the meantime I have one or two things to attend to, but my good friend, Professor Altenberg here, has asked for a quiet word with you. He has more patience than I and claims he can persuade you so there is no need for any more nonsense. Professor?”

“I will do my best
Brigadeführer
,” Altenberg said through gritted teeth. “Give us a few minutes alone.”

“Agreed,” Gottschalk said, looking at his watch. “You have precisely five.”

Gottschalk turned to the SS guards and said something in German. It sounded like an order. Gottschalk swivelled round and marched off with the guards, leaving Altenberg alone with them.

Altenberg spoke in a low, conspiratorial voice. “I thought we would have more time than this. But Gottschalk is worried that the British know about the German plans and things are now moving much faster than I expected. He is right to be worried,” Altenberg looked over his shoulder, “I am working with British Intelligence. You have only one chance to escape. It is a slim chance. I’m afraid it’s all I can do in the time. In a few minutes, there will be a little accident inside the hangar, but the distraction should be enough to give you a clear run to the gates. Take the jeep outside… on the backseat I have left a bag. It should contain all you need. There is a map which tells you one of my usual rendezvous points for the British agent. If no one is there, wait. Someone will come.”

“But how…?”

“No time for questions, I’m afraid this is our only chance… Gottschalk means what he says.”

Sophie pleaded, “But what about the others – my mother and father?”

Altenberg looked pained. “I believe they are being brought here under separate guard. They should have been here already. But if we wait it may be too late.”

Sophie was desperate, “But…”

“I’m sorry… I will do my best for them, my dear. But please; save yourselves at least…”

Again, Altenberg glanced over his shoulder. Gottschalk was already on his way back to them.

“Well?” he demanded.

Altenberg pleaded with Gottschalk, “We are not barbarians, Gottschalk, this is not necessary… the girl… she is a child…”

But Gottschalk’s mind was made up. “I see that despite your remonstrations, you have made as little progress with these fools as I have.” He looked at his watch. “Fine. Let us make preparations.”

But just as Gottschalk turned back to the concrete bunker, a loud explosion ripped through the back of the hanger. Then, all hell broke loose.

Angus was the first to react, “Come on!”

In the confusion, they sprinted through the hangar entrance and onto the concrete apron outside. The open-topped jeep was parked only a few metres away from the hangar – just where they had seen it when they had come in. Angus jumped into the driver’s seat and Jack tumbled into the back.

“Have you driven one of these before?” Sophie shouted.

“No, but…”

“It’s a Kübelwagen. I’ll drive. It’s not easy…”

“But…”

“Move over!” Sophie shouted.

Angus was taken aback, but obediently slid over to the passenger’s side as Sophie plonked herself in the driver’s seat. She fired the engine and slammed it into first gear. The jeep lurched towards the hangar and Sophie hauled hard on the steering wheel to avoid a collision. It spun round and there was a metallic crunch as Sophie thumped the gear lever into second.

“I thought you said you could drive one of these,” Angus shouted.

“Did I?”

As Altenberg had promised, the surprise blast had given them the moment’s distraction that they needed, but a couple of soldiers had already spotted them and were pointing and shouting at the jeep as it raced across the airfield. Then the firing started.

“They’re shooting at us!” Jack shouted.

Just as the words left his mouth the windscreen of the Kübelwagen disintegrated and they were sprayed with shards of splintering glass. Sophie and Angus ducked down and for a moment Sophie drove blind as they powered on towards the wide gates of the airfield. Jack crouched low in the backseat, knowing that at any minute he was going to be peppered by the automatic rifle fire coming from the troops behind. Then, on the floor of the jeep, he spotted a canvas bag and a couple of metal objects. Impulsively, he reached down.

“Angus – I’ve got something here. Some sort of gun – there’s a couple of them.”

“Machine guns – is there any ammo?”

Jack opened the canvas bag.

“These? There’s a few of them.”

“Give one here.” Angus manipulated a long magazine into the gun. “You put the magazine in there, I think. It’s got a folding stock – see?”

“No.”

“Don’t be an idiot.” The jeep bumped across the airfield, topping forty miles an hour. Undeterred, Angus stood up on the
front seat and rested the machine gun on the top edge of the windscreen’s metal frame. He shouted back to Jack, “You fire from the back, I’ll take the front. Go!”

Jack tried to copy Angus’s instructions. He peered over the folded canvas roof which lay over the back of the Kübelwagen, and felt a bullet whip through the air millimetres from his face. He ducked down again, terrified, and scrunched himself into a ball in the back of the jeep.

Angus screamed back at him, “Come on Jack, get up! Fight back!”

At last something inside Jack snapped and he was suddenly bursting with energy. He climbed up from his foetal position and stood with one leg resting on the back of the jeep and the other on the back seat. The whole airfield unfolded before him, the hangar fading into the distance. A second Kübelwagen was now on their tail, followed by a lumbering armoured car and an army truck. The soldiers behind them kept up their fire but they were now over four hundred metres away and their shots were increasingly speculative. Jack didn’t care – he squeezed the trigger and let rip with the machine gun. In less than five seconds, the thirty-two round magazine was empty.