“But Jenkins was wrong.”
“Well, nothing is perfect,” DeWohl thought for a second, “…yet it could have been planned to occur then, remember Lord Everton even said in order to bail out Mussolini, Hitler fell behind in his schedule. Jenkins could have been correct… we’ll never know.”
“Hmmrph.” The Admiral blurted out to show his dissatisfaction. Being a military man, he preferred clear cut logical explanations that could exploit enemy field positions, not the ‘could haves’ and ‘what ifs’ in philosophy and abstract thought. “But I need something definite on what Hitler’s next moves will be.”
The Admiral walked over to the windows and stared out at the lights of London blurred by a drizzle of rain. “When Russia falls, then the Germans will be back over here with everything they have.” The Admiral sighed. “What I’m hearing now, we may be surprised what this everything actually is. We’re getting reports of rocket bombs without pilots and super aircraft that can go over 500 miles per hour. If they finish Russia off as you say, then London will be in danger by Christmas.
DeWohl made a mental note to be out of London by then. He was living the high life as a commissioned officer in British Intelligence, and enjoying the salary that came with it also. He managed to get living quarters in the luxurious King Charles Arms Hotel, since he was, after all, a Count. But the fun was now wearing off and he didn’t know if he could pull off the charade of being an expert in astrology and of Karl Krafft any longer. Even more pressure was on him with all the Nazi successes that seemed to continue after the fall of France and his inability to offer anything substantial. The knowledge of the soon-to-come German super weapons bearing down on London was certainly another reason to leave.
“Yes, well, thank-you, Count DeWohl for your efforts, I’ll read the rest of your report this evening.”
“You’re welcome.” DeWohl lowered his voice. “Admiral?”
“Yes?”
“I took the liberty to draw up some plans on some possible ways to rescue your son. As you know I spent some time in Berlin and some of the routes and layouts of neighborhoods might be useful.”
The Admiral was pleasantly surprised. “Thank-you, Louis. I sincerely appreciate that. Any assistance to get my son out of the hands of the Gestapo is greatly appreciated.”
DeWohl saluted and left. He had written the possible escape plans in order to score points with the Admiral since rumors were that the military was not happy with the work DeWohl and others were going in trying to predict future plans of the Third Reich’s military machine.
The exception was Lord Everton, whose 100% accuracy in anything the Admiral requested, and even in matters the Admiral or intelligence had no clue on. “Not only did Lord Everton correctly predict June 22 as the date of Hitler’s next attack,” the Admiral told a colleague, “as I recollect he was looking at Poland when he made his strange remarks, one could credit him with pointing out where the attack would come, since Poland was the jumping off point into Stalin’s Russia.”
“Only 30 more kilometers to Peenemünde!” Birgit shouted through the rushing air from the back seat. The convertible sped past a road sign narrowly missing an old man on a bicycle also using the winding country road. Although it was almost 9 o’clock in the evening, there was still at least two hours of sunlight left, the July sunlight not disappearing in northern Germany until just after 11:00 pm.
Captain Reidler smiled to Birgit through the rear view mirror, then looked at his wristwatch and turned to Elaine, who was sitting in the passenger seat. Elaine smiled, and he returned his own expression of satisfaction. They were making good time despite getting stuck on the outskirts of Berlin, where a road repair crew had traffic backed up several kilometers. Once past the obstacle, the handsome naval Captain pressed north as fast as his red BMW could go.
Birgit had come through on every count, and more. The permission from General Schmidt-Prange for Elaine to see Karl Ernst was made out directly to Major Niehardt. She would be able to visit Karl Ernst as long as he was there, which may not be long thanks to Captain Reidler.
The Captain, on leave for three weeks from his U-Boat, volunteered to drive the girls up with just a touch of Birgit’s breasts against his side when Birgit approached him on the matter after driving her to her boarding house. Once Reidler heard Elaine’s story, he volunteered more than just his time and brand new sports car.
“You are the wife of Karl Ernst Krafft?”
“Sure she is!” Birgit answered for Elaine. “Why would she make up such a story?” Birgit looked at Elaine, as if the former was too fragile to speak up for herself.
“Well, this is a small world!” The Captain smiled. “I would love to see Herr Krafft again!”
Both girls looked at each other puzzled.
“I attended his lectures all the time at the school when I was stationed in Hamburg. We went over several of my family member’s charts together.” Even thought the Captain was looking at Elaine, he couldn’t help notice out of the corner of his eye the assets of Birgit – a seemly irresistible pair of womanly features for a man who had been cramped in a U-Boat for several months out at sea. “Did you know everything he said about every one of my family members was right on target?” Reidler’s inability to control his attraction now had him turn to Birgit. “You, know, Karl Ernst even said I would be in a leadership roll responsible for many men’s lives, and that was long before I even thought of joining the navy… and look at me!”
Reidler smoothly accelerated around a curve the full moon lit up perfectly.
“Peenemünde!” Birgit shouted when they stopped I front of the camp’s front gate. The guards saw Reidler’s papers and snapped to attention. All four men at the front gate gave Birgit a second and third glance, which evolved into long stares as the car pulled out of the gate an into the camp. All in the car witnessed first hand a huge rocket, before the likes of which were only found in science fiction films.
After entering Major Niehardt’s office, Reidler came out a few minutes later following a lieutenant who led him into a building 100 meters away. Soon the lieutenant, Reidler and Karl Ernst emerged from the building and started towards the car. Elaine could not contain her joy.
“Karl Ernst!”
As Elaine ran out to him she could see he had lost several kilos and was extremely pale.
“Elaine!” His voice revealed another thing that had definitely changed for the worst.
“When was the last time you saw your aunt?”
“She died three years ago.”
“Did you attend her funeral, Herr Huber?”
“No.”
“No? Why not? Isn’t your family important?” Lt. Kriederman seemed to raise his voice after each question.
“I have four aunts and seven uncles, I can’t make every funeral and birthday.”
“You didn’t answer my question, I asked why didn’t you attend her funeral?”