Needing to stretch her legs, Kate picked up her dinner tray. Not a big Beaufort cheese fan, she’d forced herself to eat four bites of the sandwich and drink the carton of orange juice. If for no other reason than to maintain her strength.
Tray in hand, she stepped into the library. In the middle of the book-lined room there was a table with two upholstered chairs. Dolf, hunched over a laptop computer, sat at the table.
Kate assumed an amiable expression. No easy feat given that, three days ago, the sullen-faced chauffeur had tried very hard to kill her. In the last hour, they’d not spoken ten words to one another.
‘Hello, Dolf. The sandwich was delicious,’ she said with forced civility. She knew that in an abduction scenario, it was vitally important for the prisoner to make a human connection to her captor. As difficult and distasteful as that might be.
Dolf simply grunted, not even bothering to glance up from his computer. With his battered, grotesque nose and enormous build, he put her in mind of a latter-day Quasimodo. A disheartened Esmeralda, she deposited her dinner tray on the table and returned to the annex.
Plopping down on the sofa, she stared morosely at the clock on the wall.
How apropos.
We look at a clock, we count the minutes and we foolishly think that we understand the concept of Time. It follows a linear progression. A straight line from yesterday to today to tomorrow. But Dr Uhlemann and his research team had figured out how to alter time so that, rather than being linear, the two ends of the line connect, forming a closed loop. A circle of time rather than a straight line. And that loop would enable them to travel back through time.
The fact that Dr Uhlemann had the Lapis Exillis and would now be able to generate the Vril force was worrisome. However, it was what he intended to do with the Vril force that was truly terrifying. How many millions of lives would be affected if he could actually change the outcome of the Second World War? What would become of Europe? The Middle East? Africa? Even America? The mere thought of Hitler’s brutal regime rising from the ashes incited a dread terror. Even now, six decades after the war’s end, the Third Reich was the monster that could not be killed – the reason why a swastika was still a chilling sight.
‘Doctor Bauer?’
Hearing her name spoken, Kate glanced up, surprised to see Dr Uhlemann standing in the doorway. She didn’t know who scared her more: the monstrous chauffeur or the malevolent scientist.
‘Excuse me. I was lost in thought,’ she mumbled.
‘Plotting your escape, were you?’
‘Um, actually, I was trying to figure out how … how you can use light to bend the space–time continuum,’ she said haltingly, hoping to engage him in a civil conversation for the same reason she’d earlier tried to converse with his minion.
‘You have an inquisitive mind. That’s what I most admire about you. My daughter, alas, has no interest in science.’
‘I didn’t know that you had a – oh!’ Kate’s eyes opened wide, startled by the belated realization. ‘Angelika is your daughter, isn’t she?’
‘Conceived in a moment of rash passion with a woman I barely knew. Paris can have that effect on a man.’ Lips twisted in an ugly sneer, he cackled. An instant later, his expression sobered. ‘Would you like me to give you a tour of the laboratory?’
‘Oh, yes … Thank you.’ Surprised by the unexpected offer, she scrambled to her feet.
Smoothing a hand over her unkempt hair, Kate followed Dr Uhlemann into the library. Although she didn’t have a clue how she could stop the Vril force from being generated, she needed to gather as much intelligence as possible. Find out everything she could about the laboratory. Then maybe she could devise a plan of action.
‘Dolf, go home and see to your mother,’ Dr Uhlemann ordered with a wave of the hand. ‘I won’t require your services until six o’clock tomorrow morning.’
‘Yes, Herr Doktor Uhlemann.’ The chauffeur respectfully bowed his head before taking his leave.
Playing the gentleman, Dr Uhlemann politely held the door open for Kate. Equally polite, she thanked him as she stepped across the threshold. Just outside the door was a walkway that overlooked a magnificent three-storey atrium, the library located on the third floor. Although there were no windows, banks of frosted glass created the impression of a light-filled space. With the exception of an armed guard standing sentry at the end of the walkway, the atrium was deserted.
Dr Uhlemann escorted her to an unmarked door. He then brushed his right index finger against his lab coat before placing it on a scanner affixed to the doorframe.
A few seconds later, the bolt on the biometric security system popped open. Again, Dr Uhlemann politely gestured for Kate to precede him through the doorway. Admittedly intrigued, she quickly surveyed the laboratory.
‘Sterile’ and ‘industrial’ were the first two words that came to mind. And while most of the apparatus set out on stainless-steel work stations was unfamiliar to her – instrumentation panels and high-tech gadgets galore – Kate ascertained that Dr Uhlemann ran a state-of-the-art facility. In the middle of the lab was a large glass enclosure. Inside the enclosure were four matte-black columns inset with mirrors. The columns were of equal length, approximately six feet high. Evenly spaced three feet apart, they formed a square.
‘Is this the laboratory where the Vril force will be generated?’ she enquired.
‘No. Das Groß Versuch will take place in a specially designed chamber. If you behave yourself, I might be persuaded to show it to you.’
Kate made no comment, unsure why he was even taking her on this tour. She suspected that it might have something to do with his immense ego. It wasn’t enough to gloat about having the Lapis Exillis. Dr Uhlemann wanted to rub her face in it.
As if to prove that very point, Dr Uhlemann, triumphantly smiling, gestured to the glass enclosure. ‘What you see contained within this hermetically sealed structure is our CTC device.’
CTC. A physics acronym for ‘closed time-like curve’.
‘And these are my father’s mathematical calculations that prove the gravitational effects of light.’ Dr Uhlemann next directed her attention to an indecipherable equation that filled two entire chalkboards. ‘Embedded in that elegant equation is the secret to exploring the boundaries of time.’
72
L’Equinoxe Bookstore
2015 hours
‘Time-travelling Nazis! It’s a plot straight out of a penny dreadful!’
Leaning back in his club chair, Cædmon stared, slack-jawed; McGuire’s update was mind-boggling.
‘If the Nazis had invaded the oil-rich Middle East instead of the Soviet Union, it would have been damned dreadful,’ the commando declared, his voice raw with emotion. ‘Ivo Uhlemann has had more than sixty years to devise a winning strategy. Trust me. If they go with the new, improved plan, Germany will win the Second World War.’
‘Assuming the Seven Research Foundation can actually perform their fantastical experiment.’
Seated opposite him on the tufted leather sofa, McGuire reached for the chipped teapot on the Edwardian table. As he spoke, he refilled both their cups. ‘Uhlemann is convinced that Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity is the key to time travel. While he didn’t go into specifics, evidently it can be done using gravity and the blue light emitted from the Vril force. Once he opens his tunnel in the space–time continuum, he’s gonna party like it’s 1941.’