A thousand suns

‘There are risks, gentlemen. The airfield, I agree, is a big one. Why don’t you think about this for a while?’

Major Rall followed Leutnant Hostner to the doors of the hangar.

Quite the motivational speaker, thought Max.

Schroder looked towards his men. ‘Well, gentlemen… what say we give the Major’s plan a go?’

Chapter 30

Arrival

Rall blinked at the glaring white sky — his eyes had grown accustomed to the dim interior of the hangar. After weeks of rain, the cloud cover had thinned to form a pale white veil across the sky through which the midday sun shone strongly.

A truck was parked with its rear end towards the sliding doors. Standing beside the tailgate was a slight man, pale, thin and with fine, light-coloured hair that was receding. He wore civilian clothing and stood amidst a group of six SS men — Leibstandarte, Rall noticed, spotting the insignia on their collars.

Hitler’s very own bodyguards.

Rall approached the group of men. ‘Dr Hauser, I presume. At last we meet,’ Rall said, reaching out a hand and offering what he hoped looked like a sincere welcoming smile.

‘Major Rall, is it?’ Hauser replied.

‘Yes.’

Hauser nodded, glad that he had the right man, and extended his hand to shake the Major’s. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you at last.’

Both men watched as the truck was driven through the open hangar door, the SS guards walking inside with it. The large sliding door closed hastily afterwards.

‘The bomb cradle will need to be built into the plane’s bomb bay tonight. I had been hoping for details on the weight and dimensions beforehand, Doctor,’ said Rall.

‘I know. The assembly was only completed last night. A rushed task, our technicians did an excellent job.’

‘Indeed, but we’ve had to guess the fuel calculations — ’

‘Major, the bomb is only small. It is heavy, but far less than any normal bomb. I’m sure your calculations will be fine.’

Hauser looked around the airfield. ‘Is there somewhere we can talk in private?’

The Major nodded towards the bunker. ‘My office is down there.’

He led Hauser into his office and offered him the chair. Hauser sat down.

‘Major Rall, you are aware that in recent days there have been many changes in Berlin? You are aware that Albert Speer is no longer overseeing this project?’

Rall nodded, he had heard indirectly, and only within the last couple of days, that the Armaments Minister had been ‘relieved’ of the duty and assumed Hitler himself was now personally steering things. It had caused him some concern. Speer, he felt, was an intelligent and a rational planner. Rall had spent the last six months reporting directly to him on the setting-up of the operation. There were, however, concerns that had troubled Speer in recent weeks, concerns that the Minister had only mentioned in passing to Rall. Concerns about the design of the bomb itself.

‘Yes. I was informed indirectly about Speer. Why did this happen?’

Hauser took his time answering. ‘The Fuhrer and Speer did not see eye to eye on this project, Major. And so the Fuhrer has decided to take control of it himself.’

‘I believe Speer had some concerns about the design of the bomb, Doctor. He did say that there was an element of risk in the bomb’s design.’

Hauser sat stiffly in his chair. He wondered just how much this Major Rall knew. Speer had asked to look through the Jew’s research notes — perhaps out of curiosity, but there must have been something he’d seen, read and understood that had worried him. The damned Jew Schenkelmann had made plenty of references throughout his research notes to the potential risk of the infinite chain. Hauser had vetted the man’s notes as best he could given the short notice Speer had given him. But it seemed that maybe he hadn’t been thorough enough.

‘Major, there is always an element of risk in new technology.’

Rall nodded. ‘Yes, I understand that. But my question is…’ he locked his eyes on Hauser, ‘this risk you mention… this risk — is that why Herr Speer abandoned this project?’

Max stood up, leaving the others to continue studying the map spread out on the floor of the hangar. Stefan was relaying the navigation points to Schroder and the fighter pilots. The other two, Pieter and Hans, were kicking a ball about with a couple of the ground crew in one corner of the hangar. He decided to head outside now that the gathering darkness of late afternoon made it safe to linger beyond the great sliding doors and enjoy a smoke.