A Time To Every Purpose

by Ian Andrew

  “How do you know this? From your primary school teacher?”

  “No, she never said anything about killing. I know it from my job.”

  “Your job? In the holding centres?”

  “We had all sorts of people brought in to us over the years. Some of them would have little mementos, some had money, some had other valuables. A few had copies of the Turner Creed.” She paused and tilted her head sideways to look at him. “Have Berlin decided yet?”

  “No, not yet. It might be a little while, I’m sorry.”

  She laughed, “They can take their time Herr Steinmann, I’m in no rush to die.”

  “You said about the creed Mary. The Turner Creed speaks of peace and harmony.”

  “And how would you know that unless you’ve read it too. Naughty thing to admit Herr Steinmann.”

  “I had a job that required me to read it and you can call me Heinrich.”

  “Heinrich,” she sounded it out and made it sound sweet and tender. “That suits you.”

  “Thank you.” He smiled at her as he continued, “What did you read in the Turner Creed?”

  “It’s not the Creed I’m talking about,” she tested out the sound again, “Heinrich.” Then she continued, “I read other things as well. One of the prisoners a few years ago had an old book. Very old. The Scribes of the Sons of Jacob. Have you heard of that?”

  Heinrich knew the book. It was one of the oldest tomes in the Religious Archives. “Yes, I’ve heard of it and yes, you’re right, it’s an old book. But I thought you destroyed all the prisoner’s belongings?”

  “Of course we do. We burn all their money and their gold watches and their jewellery.” She raised her eyebrows. “Don’t be naïve Heinrich. We keep anything of worth and I thought that old book was interesting. I took it home and read it. I was fascinated by it. So much history and so much anger. The people in it were really persecuted. A bit like Turners I suppose. We’re a lot more efficient than the old days and the olden peoples weren’t cowards which meant there was a lot more fighting.” She looked up at the ceiling and stretched out her back muscles.

  Heinrich considered what to say but said nothing. He wanted to tell her that the Old Book had been full of savages who understood little of peaceful ways. Of course their savagery had paled in comparison to the Reich. He wanted to tell her that the Turner Religion was so much more powerful but of course he couldn’t. He wanted to say that Turner’s were more courageous than any savagery. He wanted to reach out to her and tell her that to turn the other cheek in the face of evil was far from cowardly. But even here in a cell where no one was listening he had to continue to deny his beliefs. Eventually he asked, “So you’ve been reading illicit texts and plotting murder on God’s behalf?”

  “Oh no. Not that at all. It never really meant anything to me until Uwe started mouthing off at me.” She yawned and stretched again. He waited. “How do you know about the Scribes, Heinrich?”

  “I used to be in Berlin, in the Archives. I read it for my work.”

  “Do you remember the names of the various chapters?”

  “Most of them, not all.”

  “Do you remember Deuteronomy, Ezekiel or any of the other ones that speak about a vengeful God?”

  “Yes, some of them. But weren’t the teachings of the later prophets meant to replace the old teachings?”

  “That’s the problem.”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

  “When Uwe was being a prick, it was like all the pieces of a puzzle clicked into place. I understood. Just like that. I understood. Simple and straightforward. I saw all of the pieces together and realised what should have happened but can’t. I understood why it should start with a single action, but it never will. Why Uwe Joyce should be the first of many, but won’t be. I knew what the world should and could have been like. It’s not that complicated Heinrich. I just understood.”

  Heinrich hesitated. He wasn’t sure he wanted to ask the question. Deep inside he felt worried and nervous. These were not emotions he was used to when he conducted interviews. He was always sure, calm and confident but for a reason he didn’t know, he was none of these at the moment. He took a breath, “What did you understand Mary?”

  Chapter 34

  Heinrich quietly left the cell, secured the door and leant back against it. His mouth was dry and he knew his pulse was faster than normal. He felt a strange mixture of light headedness and a dire weight in the pit of his stomach. Going via the control centre to rearm the in-cell monitoring system he quickly made his way out to the car park. He had to talk to Leigh. He reached to the ForeFone to ring her but it had already started to buzz on his arm. The incoming call was from the Office of the Reichsführer-SS.

  “Standartenführer Steinmann!”

  “Ja, bitte!”

  “Die Kommandantur Berlin ist am Apparat.”

  “Danke Wiehadden, stellen Sie bitte durch.”

  “Standartenführer Steinmann am Apparat!”

  “Ah, Heinrich, hier spricht Reichsführer-SS Friedrichand. Ich habe da eine Frage bezüglich Reid.”

  ***

  “Leigh, it’s Heinrich.”

  “Hello. I was just about to ring you. Dietmar and Pascal are on their way back over,” Leigh said and flicked the door to her office shut with her foot. She came back around her desk and sat down.

  “I just wanted to let you know that I have to go to Berlin,” Heinrich said it as flatly as he could. He worried Leigh wouldn’t be as controlled in her response but he had forgotten that she had been playing this game a lot longer than him.

  “Oh, lucky you. When?” she delivered it like it was something she would have looked forward to herself and managed to hide the almost debilitating fear rising in her throat.

  “Now. I’m off to Northolt. There’s an aircraft waiting for me.”

  “Is everything alright, do you need anything from my team?”

  “Yes everything’s fine, just a simple request for a face to face briefing about Reid and the order was to come now. I don’t need anything but I just wanted to check that you and your team were all okay with the first live use of the project. I’m sure Berlin will want to know.” He said it conscious of recording devices, but he had needed to tell her he was leaving. And something else.

  “Actually, Leigh there is one thing. I was wondering, could you ask one of your staff to bring my jacket back to me? The one I left in your lab yesterday?”

  Leigh continued to control the rising panic she was feeling and kept her voice neutral, “Of course. I’m on my way up to have a cigarette anyway so shall I meet you at the entrance steps?”

  “Yes, excellent. See you shortly.” He hung up and knew that Leigh would be as scared as he was. There was no sane reason to be summoned to Berlin. The report on Mary Reid had been prepared, reviewed and sent already. Why was he being called over? He knew he would remain outwardly calm. He always did. But, it didn’t change how he felt inside.

  Leigh stood at the foot of the entrance steps and watched him walk across the compound from the prisoner holding facility. Her mind was a discordant noise of parading thoughts, each one worse than its predecessor. In the minutes since his phone call she had been almost overwhelmed with sickening worries. She had wondered if his story about Berlin was all a fake. Had he played the long game? Had she given away so much to him in such a short time? Had she broken her discipline and her shield of a lifetime for a handsome and beguiling interrogator? Was she caught?

  Each of these thoughts was battered back by her longing for him to be real and to be everything he said he was. She had spent so long alone and since Sunday night she had prayed for him to be her confidant. She had convinced herself over and over that he was. What if it wasn’t true? Then she had a new thought, accompanied by an almost crushing sadness, what if he was true and together they were now caught? How cruel an irony would that be? To have found each other and to have it fall apart so quickly.

  As he got closer she led
the way around the side of the building to the smoking area. Lighting a cigarette she turned to face him, “If anyone is watching us they'll see I don't have your jacket with me. You didn’t have a jacket in my lab.”

  “I know. But we need to talk and quickly.”

  “Why are you being called to Berlin?” she asked with real concern in her voice.

  “I honestly don’t know. They have my report, they have the records from the stenography, they have the digital video copies of the Observation Window. They have it all. If I’m being positive then they simply want a firsthand account of the first use of Thule. It was ready to go live but just happened sooner than they thought.”

  “You’re not convinced though are you? What happens if you’re not being positive?” she asked.

  “We both know what that leads to. We’ve always known what happens if they find us,” he said it softly.

  “The wheel turns at its own pace?” she said her mother’s words and felt deeply sad.

  “Yes... And no.”

  Leigh looked directly at him. “What?”

  “The wheel turns at its own pace but Mary Reid might just have turned it a lot faster than we could have anticipated.”

  “Heinrich, you’re worrying me.”

  “Well that’s an emotion we can cope with. There’s potentially a lot worse coming.” He paused and reached up to take her shoulders in his hands. He looked deep into her eyes.

  Leigh felt an intense surge of heat in the pit of her stomach. Her breath caught and she allowed herself to hold his gaze.

  He spoke quickly, “Mary isn’t insane. She’s fractured. The years of abuse as a child and horrendous duties within the camps have been building up and up. She just snapped.”

  Leigh flushed with a sudden surge of anger and frustration. In that second before he spoke, in the look that had passed between them she had wanted, desired him to lean forward, to kiss her or to tell her… Tell her what exactly? She didn’t know. But she knew she hadn’t wanted to hear about Mary. She looked down at the ground, took a deep breath and then looked back at him. “I know. You already told me all this,” she said rather brusquely.

  “But she had a... I don’t really know what to call it. An insight? A revelation? I don’t know.” He was visibly frustrated.

  Leigh backed away a step, “When? Today, when you were talking to her?”

  “No, earlier. I think between her killing the Turners, God rest them and killing Minister Joyce. She had an, oh I don’t know what she had.”

  “An epiphany?”

  “Yes! An epiphany.” Heinrich looked both animated and concerned.

  Leigh waited but he didn’t speak. She took a long draw on her cigarette and tried to order her thoughts. She spoke with an edge to her voice and realised that she had become quite angry at the thought of Mary claiming God told her to kill. “So now you’re telling me she did find her belief and that she thinks she did this for our Lord?”

  Heinrich glanced over his shoulder at the sound of a staff car pulling out of the parking bays. He turned back to her. “Not our Lord Leigh; hers.”

  Leigh knew she had frowned in confusion and yet she couldn’t help it. Nor could she quite find the words to articulate her thoughts. She just looked at Heinrich and tilted her head slightly to one side.

  “Look Leigh, I have to get changed into dress uniform and make the transport for Berlin. I swear to you on all we hold sacred that I am on your side. I knew your parents and I am a Turner like you. But, Mary Reid had an idea that’s of insane proportions. I don’t know why I’ve been called to Berlin but we have to hope for the best. It could well be a blessing. If I can manage to stay in Berlin for a day or two I want to do some research to verify things. We’ll talk when I get back.”

  Leigh felt her body relax. She watched as he again glanced backwards to check on the progress of the car driving across the compound.

  He motioned for her to walk beside him as he continued. “If you can find time to get to see that woman and talk to her, do it. I’ve told Vogel that you might be across to interrogate her.”

  “Interrogate her about what?”

  “I told him it was part of the project. You have to interrogate her to see if she noticed anything during the times we were observing her.”

  “Oh for goodness sake! That’s ridiculous.” She stopped walking and flashed angry again at the stupidity of the suggestion. But as she looked at Heinrich the outcome was obvious. “He believed you didn’t he?”

  “Of course he did. How is that any more absurd than some of the other things we interrogate people for?”

  She shrugged.

  “Look Leigh, just ask her about the way back. That’s what she calls it. The way back. But please, be careful. I had the camera in her cell turned off when I was in there. You won’t be able to do that, so be careful. Promise?” He turned and looked directly at her. She held his gaze and this time she spoke quietly, with no anger.

  “I promise. But the woman’s a cold-blooded murderer. I don’t want to go and talk to her.”

  “You might not want to but you need to.”

  “And what’s going to convince her to talk to me?”

  “Promise her that we know a way to get her out.”

  “Are you mad?” Leigh exclaimed loudly.

  “No, but just do it. You’ll see what I mean. I’m sorry I can’t explain more but I’ve got to go.”

  As he set off again he quickened his pace to meet the car. Leigh called quietly after him, “Heinrich, how will I know you’re safe?”

  He turned back and smiled at her. “I’ll call you on the pretence of work. It’ll be okay.”

  He walked around the corner of the building and she heard the door closing before the car pulled away. Leigh said quietly to herself, “God, please let him come back safely.”

  Chapter 35

  Heinrich stepped from the staff car and hurried across the tarmac to the waiting VIP transport jet. He returned the salute of the young airman standing at the foot of the fold down steps and as soon as he had entered the aircraft compartment the airman signalled to the pilot and the steps were raised. Heinrich wasn’t even strapped into the executive leather seat before he felt the aircraft taxing.

  “Not hanging around then?” he asked the steward who was already strapped in to a less plush seat at the back of the small lounge-type interior.

  “No Sir, our orders were quite precise. Get you into Berlin as soon as possible.”

  “That’s why we’re using this then? Normally I get to fly on Junkers transports.”

  “Precisely Sir. Welcome on board the Leichen Four.” As the aircraft turned at the foot of the runway the steward continued his introduction. “We normally accommodate up to six passengers and a steward. Our seats are a little more comfortable than a Junkers. Our table is solid mahogany and our bar is fully stocked. But unfortunately it’s also fully inventoried and my orders were that you’re on duty Sir.”

  Heinrich laughed, “Yes, very much so. I’m so pleased to see the Luftwaffe still know how to treat their passengers.”

  The steward smiled politely, “Well of course Sir. But strictly speaking, myself, the flight crew and the jet are assigned to the SS, not the Luftwaffe. However, when we’re in the cruise I can offer you a lemonade, tea, coffee, water; still or sparkling, orange, apple or cranberry juice?”

  Heinrich was enjoying the light banter but as he went to speak again the aircraft rolled forward. The engines began to bite and Heinrich felt like he was in a racing car. The acceleration was startling. The feeling was exciting and a little off-putting.

  The steward said, “You may find it more comfortable if you turn the chair to face forward Sir.”

  He managed to swivel around just as the throttles were fully opened. Forced back into the leather he did manage to turn his head and grin in a rather inane way at the steward.

  “It’s okay Sir, all of our first time passengers are a little startled. Anyone who has never flown in a s
mall jet always finds the acceleration a little overwhelming.”

  Heinrich felt the bumping of the undercarriage give way to the smoothness of the air. He heard the gear collapse up and the outer doors close. He noticed that the angle of ascent was much steeper than anything he had experienced before and he couldn’t help but stare out the small windows at the quickly receding ground. As the aircraft levelled off, Heinrich looked at the wall-mounted LCD screen and saw that they were cruising at 900 kilometres per hour at an altitude of 12000-metres.

  “It takes a bit of adjustment Sir. We get higher and faster than any normal transport. Not as fast as a fighter obviously, but fast enough.”

  “I’d like to request that I get this transport every time please, could you arrange that?”

  “Certainly Sir, I’ll have it waiting for you.”

  As Heinrich began to relax into the seat and enjoy the trip the steward made good on his promise of refreshments.

  As he sipped on an apple juice Heinrich tried to contemplate what he had learned from Mary Reid. The woman was broken, damaged but even in her mental state she was sane enough to realise that the wish she had spoken was simply a fantasy. She had no way of knowing that Heinrich possessed the skills and Leigh possessed the means to make Mary's wish come true. All they needed was an opportunity.

  In little more than an hour the jet touched down at Tegel Airport. Heinrich hustled out of the aircraft door and across the tarmac to a waiting Mercedes saloon. The door was opened for him by the attendant SS driver. Heinrich couldn’t help feeling a sense of importance and pride. He had done many a thing in his life to draw a sense of purpose but he began to understand how the senior leaders of the Party became seduced by the power. Jets, no waiting, doors opened, doors closed, cars cleared through roads. It was quite intoxicating. It was incredibly attractive. The car stopped and Heinrich was aware that he hadn’t left the aircraft apron let alone the airfield. His door was opened again and he could hear jet engines and the tell-tale whup-whup of a helicopter.