by Ian Andrew
He rang the J2 Watch Officer in the office of Reichsführer-SS.
“J2 Watch, Sturmbannführer Reddick.”
“This is Gruppenführer Professor Wolfgang Faber at the Todt Laboratory Complex in London.”
“Yes, Gruppenführer, how may I help?”
“I’d like you to terminate the current TOW immediately.”
“I’m sorry,” Reddick hesitated, “um, we don’t have one in operation at the current time.”
“But you have had earlier today?”
“No Sir. The last activation we show on our logs was,” Wolfgang could hear him flicking through pages, “eh, it was 23:05 GMT on Monday the Eighteenth of May.”
Wolfgang was shocked but managed to say, “Oh, sorry, it must be my mistake. Thank you.”
“Certainly Gruppenführer.”
He disconnected the call and his concern mounted. He had no idea how they had gotten the Berlin protocols turned off but it still didn’t change his view on what they were up to. It did strangely mean that he might yet rescue Leigh and Francine from their fate. If Berlin knew nothing about it then there was still a chance. He walked back down from the cafeteria and through to the security detail guarding the entrance to the Tubes. As he approached the small acoustic opening in the security screen a young Wehrmacht soldier slid his chair over.
“Get me your Commanding Officer, please.”
“And why do you need to speak to him Professor?” The young soldier said quite apathetically.
Wolfgang looked hard at him, “Because I am a SS-Gruppenführer, which is the equivalent to a Wehrmacht Generalleutnant. You either do as I ask right now or I will order your arrest, court martial and execution before the day is out. Do I make myself absolutely clear?” he said it calmly yet with an unmistakable tone of authority and menace. He watched the colour drain out of the boy’s face.
***
Mary approached the internal security desk that monitored the rubber walkway and was the only regular entrance into the lab complex. The blonde soldier she had stared through on arriving was still on duty and turned in his chair to face the approaching footsteps. He was blushing almost as soon as he saw whom it was coming up to him. Mary walked with both her hands cupped behind her back, looking relaxed and knowing that her hair, loosed from the band she normally wore, was framing her face in a very attractive way.
“Hi,” she said in a friendly, light and carefree tone.
“Hi, umm, Ma’am?” he said as he quickly tried to get to his feet.
“Oh, no need for that. You can just call me,” she covered the last metre of distance between them and from behind her back dropped a pistol magazine on to the ground to her left. The soldier immediately looked down to the object like his head was connected to it by string. Mary unloaded a similar punch to the one she had hit Peter Vogel with. This time was no less effective.
She reached over the slumped soldier and flicked the switch marked ‘Open’. The door clicked and she dragged the unconscious body into the rubber walkway. Taking his sidearm from his holster, she laid him prone across the width of the space and then returned inside and shut the door. She walked back to the entrance to Oscar and retrieved the zipped holdall before making her way back to the security desk. Once there she reached for the small metal hammer that hung to the right of a fire alarm break-glass panel. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to do this,” she said to herself and hit the glass with the hammer. The head of the hammer broke clean off and landed on the ground. The glass remained fully intact.
“Well, that’s quite a disappointment.” She bent and retrieved one of the S-98 assault rifles, reversed it and smashed the butt into the glass. The alarm panel shattered and the sirens went off above and below ground with a loud and insistent ‘whoopa’, ‘whoopa’ and between every fifth blast an electronic voice repeated in a casual and relaxed manner, “Emergency Evacuation. Please evacuate calmly to your designated muster point.”
***
When the siren first sounded all three of them jumped slightly. Leigh and Francine made their way over to the tannoy speakers in the corners of the Thule Room and the High Powered Laser Lab and snipped the wires leading to them. Silence was restored. Through the security door leading back into Oscar they could hear a muted version of the alarm. As they reconvened they shared a final confirmatory look and set to work.
Chapter 55
“2nd April 30AD, 10:00 GMT, coordinates are 31 degrees 46 minutes 46.01 seconds north, 35, 14 and 20.89 east,” he called. The lights held steady with not so much as a flicker and Francine and Leigh shared a small moment of triumph.
As the Window stabilised Leigh wound out the elevation to cover as big an area as she could manage. The Projection was startling. The weather was glorious with blue skies and what looked like a soft breeze ruffling the branches on the trees. They were looking over a shallow valley running north to south between the Mount of Olives to the east and the Old City to the west. She panned left and right, up and down. A vast number of people were thronged along the sides of all the roads they could see. Just to the Projection’s right hand side there was a line of people strung across a road, effectively blocking the entrance to a garden that was dotted with numerous squat trees. The extent of the garden ran east up the foot of the Mount and faced across the valley floor to a hill, atop which was a gate into the city. In the middle of the garden were three figures standing isolated. As Francine and Heinrich both called out to her, Leigh was already tightening the Window onto the location as fast as it would track.
“Yeshua, we have returned.”
“Welcome Heinrich. Are Leigh and Franci there also?”
“Yes,” the women called together.
In the Projection Window Leigh could see that Judas was looking agitated, Miriam was looking profoundly sad but Yeshua looked as serene and calm as ever.
“What’s wrong?” she asked before Heinrich had a chance to speak again.
“Nothing my child, nothing really.”
“Yes there is!” it was Judas and as he spoke his eyes seemed to search for where he should look. Leigh centred the image so that it looked straight at the three in the garden.
“Judas, we are to your front and head height. Speak to us there. Now what is wrong?” she asked and her voice carried real concern.
“We did as you asked. The Master has spoken in parables, concealed his miracles, counselled his followers to be discrete and wary. Yet the people still follow in the multitudes. Thousands of people attend his sermons and thousands more approach Jerusalem to herald him this week.”
“Be calm Judas, my brother,” Yeshua soothed. He added, “Leigh, we were lacking the ability to divert our course so we began to talk to Caiaphas and his advisors. Do you know who I speak of?”
Leigh looked to Heinrich to take over.
“Yes, I know of him. He is the chief Pharisee and a writer of one of the Gospels. He was the one who proclaimed you to the Sanhedrin.”
“Ha! Heinrich you fool,” Judas almost spat the words out. The three in the lab saw the look Yeshua gave him but Judas continued, “he is but a puppet of Annas his father-in-law. Caiaphas is influenced in all he says and does by him. After our conversations with you those years ago in Capernaum, the Master asked me to speak to them in the shadows and away from the people. It is a disaster.” Judas bent his head and Yeshua turned to him and took him in his arms. Almost cradling him like a child into his shoulder.
Leigh, Heinrich and Francine shared a look of confusion and concern but said nothing.
“Judas went to speak to them for us,” Miriam said. “He spent long nights talking to them over this last year. He has gained the trust of Caiaphas and especially Annas. To convince them to act Judas told them that Yeshua would lead the people, take the power away from the Pharisees and isolate them. All he wanted was to sow seeds of discomfort. But Annas began to worry. He has led Caiaphas to a different place. They are scared now that if all of the people unite then the Romans will see the movem
ent as a threat and crush it. If that happens Annas fears he will lose influence within our society.”
Leigh interjected, “So he’s not really worried about the Romans crushing the people. He’s just worried about losing his own power base?”
“Yes Leigh that is indeed what he is scared of. But, instead of simply denouncing Yeshua, Annas has convinced Caiaphas that they must go further.”
They watched as Judas straightened up again. His face was flushed and he had tears in his eyes, but he spoke strongly. “Ten days ago we knew we would enter the city via the East Gate. We set the date for today, just as you said we would do back in Capernaum. Caiaphas wanted to ban the parade but the pressure and will of the people does not allow him. He cancelled the official reception but the people have simply reinstated their own. They have strewn the roadways with palms and seek to lift the Master on their shoulders. But Caiaphas called for me a few days ago and confided in me. He will not simply advise the Sanhedrin not to recognise Him as Messiah. He is going to ask them to put Him on trial.”
Leigh and Francine gave an audible gasp, whilst Heinrich exclaimed, “For what?”
Yeshua reached out his hands to both of his followers. As he stood with his hands on their arms he looked to his front and said, “They wish to charge me with blasphemy.”
Heinrich relaxed and said, “Oh, but that’s almost perfect. It’s exactly the thing that will cause division.”
Yeshua closed his eyes and nodded slowly, thoughtfully.
Leigh realized something was missing. “What is really happening? You need to tell us,” she pleaded.
“Annas has also convinced Caiaphas that to appease the Romans I must be taken in front of them.”
“But that can’t happen. The Romans won’t care about Jewish religious laws being broken,” said Heinrich.
“You are well informed. But this morning, as we approached here from our overnight lodgings in Bethany, Caiaphas sent Judas a message. We received it not one half hour ago. He believes Judas will work on his behalf and so told him of his plans. They intend to charge me with sedition.”
Heinrich physically stepped back from the Projection and bumped into one of the console stations. When he turned to look at Leigh and Francine he could see their confusion. He knew they hadn’t grasped the significance of what Yeshua had just said. He didn’t know how he could tell them but he did finally understand why Judas was so angry and upset.
Chapter 56
Wolfgang had been swept out of the building in the exodus that followed the fire alarm despite him trying to advise the guard commander, Hauptmann Fertig, it was a ruse. As he had stood in front of the official muster points for the underground staff members he knew that he had to regain a semblance of control and get back down into the building. Seeing Hauptmann Fertig standing with a group of firefighters and paramedics he also knew it would take some time to sort this mess out. He had to act quicker than that.
He dialled the duty watch officer at the Isle of Dogs Power Generation Substation 34A. After identifying himself and his position he quoted an authorisation code that he had written down on a small credit card sized aide memoire. The duty officer acknowledged him and the code.
“Switch off the feed into the Optical Systems Calibration Laboratory Annex and keep it isolated until further notice. No one is to reactivate it except me. The head of SS Security for the project has had his approvals revoked. Me and me alone. Is that clear?”
“Yes Professor Faber,” the duty officer said.
“Good. Can you confirm it’s off now?”
“Yes Professor, I’ve isolated the circuit.”
“Thank you.” Wolfgang relaxed a little. Now all he had to do was get down there and talk to them. He may yet avert a disaster for Leigh and Francine. Heinrich, he could care less about. At least he had the reassurance that with no power nothing cataclysmic could be done to the timeline and events surrounding Konrad’s arrest. If he could keep things relatively quiet he may save his two scientists.
The duty watch officer at the Isle of Dogs Power Generation Substation 34A, was called Gareth Smyth and he was originally from Walthamstow in London. He was a thickset man with a quiff of black hair flopping over his forehead, a bull neck and aggressive tattoos on both his forearms. Yet his shaking hand needed two attempts to replace the phone’s receiver in its cradle. Once he had managed it he slowly turned around in his chair and looked at the balaclava-clad man sitting opposite.
“Well done Gareth. Now, like I said, you’re going to leave that power circuit on, I’m going to sit here and keep you company and my lads are going to make sure no one comes into your little power station to disturb us. When I get the call for it all to go back to normal then it will. Until that happens, just relax and do what you normally do.”
Gareth nodded and glanced down at the muzzle of the HK-MP19 that was pointing directly at his forehead.
Carl Schern kept his aim steady whilst he punched a text message through to Heinrich.
Mary had watched the last of the scientists evacuate and then, with her S-98 assault rifle in the low ready, she carried out a sweep of the labs. When she was satisfied they had all left she closed the two emergency evacuation doors at either end of the long straight corridor. Once secure there was no way of opening them from the outside. The only way into the labs now was through the single point of entry that she controlled. She came back to it, silenced the below ground alarms and checked the CCTV of the walkway. The blonde soldier was beginning to regain consciousness although he still looked remarkably shaky. She opened the door and dragged him back inside. Frog marching his unsteady frame down to the first lab to the right of the T-junction she locked him, quite unceremoniously, in to a large paints, oils and lubricants cupboard that she had discovered in her earlier sweep of the complex. She was satisfied that he would be safely out of her way and probably as high as a kite on fumes when he was finally found.
Returning once more to the inner security desk she took the holdall and retraced her steps back to Oscar. She laid one S-98 just around the corner of the T-junction and placed three loaded magazines next to it. Then she placed the last two S-98s just inside the heavy PVC doors that marked the entrance to Oscar. She dropped a couple of loaded magazines next to them and put a couple more into her jacket pockets. The remainder, along with the rest of the ammunition and the second Glock, she left in the holdall and placed it in front of the door that Heinrich had said would be her exit point. Then she scanned through the labs once more, collecting items that might be useful depending on how things turned out.
“What does that mean?” asked Leigh.
“It means we need to stop this now,” said Heinrich as he glanced down at the incoming text from Carl Schern.
Judas spoke again, “Exactly. That is what I have been saying since I received the communication from Caiaphas. We need to stop now. It has gone too far. We need clear speech and public displays of miraculous, God-given powers to regain the Pharisees.”
“Please, stop talking around me. Speak plainly. What does this mean?” Leigh’s voice was tense and stressed.
But it was Francine who spoke, “The Founding Führer based a lot of the structures and symbolism of the Reich on the ancient Roman Empire. Ancient Rome was ruthless and he was attracted to it. Sedition in Rome would be the same as sedition in the Reich. It’s a capital offence.”
There was quiet and Yeshua simply nodded. The moment stretched between the three in the Thule Room through time and distance to the three in the garden. Finally Yeshua spoke clearly, “Alas, I know that you think we must stop, but I have spent a long time since your first visits in meditation and prayer. We cannot stop. Once you told me of the darkness and despair of a never-ending tyranny on earth, my path was set. We had not planned for such drastic circumstances but if that is what it takes then I must follow it to the end.”
“But Master, please consider.”
“Hush now Judas. It will not be as bad as you fear. We shall talk
to the Pharisees in public over the next few days. They will compromise and even if it does go to the Prefect’s office, Pilate is a fair man. He will not cower to madness. Be at peace Judas.”
“Master I...”
“No Judas. Be at peace and listen. Listen carefully now and hear what I think to be true. Heinrich, if we succeed and the future is rewritten I have not asked you yet, what will become of you and Leigh and Franci?”
“We’re not really sure. Leigh can better answer that.”
“Yeshua, it is likely that we will simply cease to be. We will probably not survive the changes. We’re not really sure, but that is our commitment and hope.”
“Did you hear Judas? Now if the worst comes to pass and Annas and Caiaphas decide not to compromise, then it is only fitting I must follow the path laid by our Lord the Father. We are not sure of the outcome. We share that burden with our friends in so distant a time. If needs be then I will sacrifice my life for Leigh and Heinrich, Franci and the countless others in the future. If they are to die then so I must die too and it is a small cost. For there will be worse than our deaths.”
