“One Contact.”
Perhaps I should not have done that, thought Orlov. Now Volkov will know that someone pinged him… In fact… He pinched off his collar Mike. “Ping reception log,” he said. “State time of most recent reception.”
“One ping received. 09:20 hours.”
Orlov looked at his watch. That was no more than five minutes ago, and so he knew it had not come from Fedorov. They were all long gone….
So, the bastard knows I’m here… No… He knows someone is here, and with a service jacket, but there’s no GPS here now, and therefore no way to get a precise location on any ping contact. I know he’s here, and he knows he’s got company, because his jacket will log my ping too. But I’m willing to bet he would think I’m one of his men—Team Seven… Well, they don’t seem to be here either, at least not within maximum range of a jacket signal. So what do I do here?
Do I try that back stairway again, and see if I can find Fedorov? What if I get somewhere else? It’s risky, and I’ll be leaving that skunk Volkov here to do all his mischief.
Orlov scratched his head thinking. Then he took a deep breath, and decided.
Chapter 35
“This is quite astounding,” said Hitler. “I only signed the order for design of this weapon six months ago, and largely at the urging of the navy because of the trouble with these naval rockets the enemy was using. Now we have a weapon that could win this war! It will certainly give the British fits. Yes? Here we have a decisive weapon, and one that we can produce with very little resources. Suspend the entire Naval building program. Listen Speer…. I want you to accelerate this program as much as possible. I know we decided that tank production was to receive top priority, but I want this moved up. Re-write the order to give the A-4 equal priority. Then comes aircraft production. But anything related to the A-4 must be kept in complete secrecy. Use only good German workers there. If the enemy discovers what we are up to, they will risk everything to try and stop us. It is already bad enough that Peenemünde was hit last night, so the British certainly know we are up to something there.”
“The briefing, was, in part, intended to assure you that the program was not seriously hurt,” said Speer. “They hit the sleeping and living quarters with their first wave. Unfortunately, Doctor Thiel and Chief Engineer Walther were reported missing. They are still digging for them in one of the air raid trenches, and we hope they will be found soon.”
“It should not have been hurt at all! We must triple the anti-aircraft defense there, and get more fighter groups. After what I have seen in that film, I am convinced these weapons can win the war, particularly if we can get more warheads of the kind that our Zeppelin attack delivered to London. If it is necessary to move the production facility elsewhere, then do so, but it must be well hidden, and deep underground. We must not keep all our eggs in one basket.” Hitler smiled, and it was a genuine emotion born of the enthusiasm he had for this new program. He was ebullient, his mood elevated, a new energy emanated from him and he seemed more alive than he had in weeks.
“I have selected a new location for the production plant, at Mittelwerk,” said Speer. “In fact, it has already been set up, and work will commence shortly.”
“Good,” said Hitler. “Very good. Now… what can you tell me about Nachtfeuer?” That was the code word the Germans had now given to their most secret weapons development program—Nightfire.
“It is progressing,” said Speer. “I am told we now know how the prototypes we captured work. The problem is getting enough of the required materials, and I have already established a production plant. Nikolaus and Günter are seeing to the matter.”
Speer was referring to the Industrial Physicist Nikolaus Riehl and Chemist Günther Wirths, and by extension, their effort to set up a plant at Oranienburg to produce reactor grade Uranium in high-purity uranium oxide. It had been decided that even in private conversation, no specific reference would ever be made to these materials, or any methods used to create them, and Speer had not even told Hitler the secret location of this plant.
“Speer, can you imagine it? Once we get the A-4, and finally complete production on the required warheads, then we have a weapon that can rain hellfire on the enemy, day or night, and one he will be completely powerless to stop.”
“What about their own rocket programs?”
“A good point,” said Hitler. “Yet aside from these few encounters at sea with British capital ships, we have not seen anything more of these weapons.”
“I’m told the British were using them to defend London,” said Speer.
“If they were, then their deployment was a pathetic failure. I have not received a single report indicating that any of our planes have been hit or shot down by a rocket weapon. Strange… They were so lethal when deployed at sea. One would think the coastline of Britain would be bristling with rocket launching stations by now, but we have no evidence that any such program is even underway in England. Well, that will not be the case here. Tell me about the Sturmvogel. When can I expect my Stormbirds?”
“Very soon,” said Speer. “There was some delay due to the necessity of obtaining the right silicon, aluminum and ferritic heat-resistant steel. Temperatures can reach as high as 1700 degrees Celsius. We also wanted to extend the operational lifespan from an initial 25 hours to 125 hours before major overhaul and maintenance is required. We are very close. They moved from simple prototype production to a larger test flight series that will be very close to the final production specifications. Pilot training is coming along nicely.”
“And we must have rockets for that,” said Hitler. “I want to show them that two can play this game. We have seen nothing since these naval incidents, but that does not mean they do not have these weapons programs. They could unveil a weapon any time, and we must be ready to answer. I am told that when Gneisenau died, the enemy may have used a weapon very much like the one we tested over London. In fact, it may have been the very same thing. We already know they were conducting secret trials in the deep South Atlantic. Thankfully, Kaiser Wilhelm interrupted their party with his raid on the hen house down there, and he brought home two fine chickens! At least the navy does something right once in a while.”
“You know Raeder will not be happy to learn we are cancelling all his planned production.”
“Then let him weep over his beer,” said Hitler. “He delivered on his promise to control the Black Sea, but sat idle when the Allies came for Sardinia. Just when I think he might be useful, he does nothing.”
“I am told his ships were in need of fuel, and could not sortie. The same can be said for the Italians. They have been using their battleships as nothing more than floating fuel bunkers to service a few destroyers and cruisers out of La Spezia.”
“Good for nothing,” said Hitler, “just like their army. Operation Alaric will transition to Achse in due course. Mussolini’s days are numbered, and it is likely that he will lose his grip on things in Rome within weeks. So I have ordered Rommel to accelerate his preparations for Italy as well. If they think they will simply waltz in and take the place, they are mistaken. All my Generals hound me for divisions, Speer. They have no idea of the burdens I carry. These developments in the Mediterranean forced me to build three new armies for Italy and the Balkans. The British and Americans will undoubtedly plan a new invasion soon. Ah, Speer, wouldn’t it be marvelous if we had the A-4 ready in time to stop them?”