Vengeance 10

He found a deserted stretch of beach and threw himself down on the sand. The sun blazed down, and after a while he removed his shirt. With Ullman dead, his last link to Inge was broken. A great emptiness surged from his chest to encompass his entire body. He was aware of sullen wavelets lapping the shore, the iron sun burning his skin, the gritty sand, all at the same time that the knowledge he might never see Inge again struggled to blot everything from his mind. Why? he thought suddenly. She was a prostitute, and a half-wit into the bargain. But none of that mattered. Heydrich had understood, perhaps even arranged it; certainly he had tried to use it against him and had nearly succeeded.

And now Himmler. Did Ullman die in combat, as a matter of course, or was he the pawn in this perverted game? Himmler had twice now tried to force him to replace von Braun, and twice he had refused.

Yet Bethwig could not bring himself to believe that something as petty as this would be important enough to occupy the attention of a man in Himmler’s position. Could he not understand that Bethwig did not have to be blackmailed into doing his best to make the A-10 project a complete success? There was nothing more important in this world to him than landing a human on the moon. The thought struck chill as it came unbidden into his mind. Was Inge?

A messenger found him an hour later, and he trudged back to the administration building to settle a jurisdictional dispute over the use of four automated lathes in the experimental machine shop.

The staff meeting began at two o’clock even though Wernher von Braun had not yet arrived. The department heads, most of them members of the original Kummersdorf or Greifswalder Oie teams, sat in a semicircle, listening intently.

Since that strange meeting with Hitler at Rastenburg in July most of the bottlenecks had disappeared. They had shown the Führer movies of the A-4 in flight and had briefed him on the capabilities of other projects such as the Wasserfall anti-aircraft missile and the A-10 multi-stage rocket. Hitler’s sudden enthusiasm for the new weapons was in striking contrast with his previous lack of interest. He had declaimed for more than an hour on the effect such weapons would have on the course of the war, promised to make von Braun a full professor as a reward, and ordered Minister Speer to see that top priority was afforded the army’s rocket projects. In spite of Dornberger’s dire predictions that priority at this late date could not make up for the years of neglect, work had been pushed ahead at Peenemunde with renewed zest.

There had been no overt reaction from Himmler, but word had reached Bethwig through the grapevine that the Reichsführer was furious that von Braun had discussed the A-10’s capabilities with the Führer. A series of petty annoyances had begun, including the seemingly endless addition of SS security forces to the research centre. Apparently Hitler had queried Himmler about the extent of his interest and had issued a mild warning about overreaching one’s position. According to his father, the Führer was more than a little disturbed by the actions of his Reichsführer lately. Bethwig suspected, therefore, that von Braun’s demotion would come swiftly and that he would have no choice but to accept the position. Brooding, he listened with half an ear to the engineering department’s report on the new liquid oxygen valve servos.

The double doors slammed against the wall like gunshots. Everyone jumped, and a file of SS troopers double-timed into the room and spread along the walls, weapons at port arms. Shocked silence filled the canteen. Bethwig, as the senior official present, strode to the SD officer who stood with hands on hips surveying the startled scientists.

‘What is the meaning of this interruption?’ Bethwig’s voice whipped through the silent room, and the officer, a hauptsturmführer, surveyed him lazily. ‘I have orders to…’

‘Stand to attention when you address a superior,’ Bethwig snapped, and the captain stiffened in reflex. Technically Bethwig’s pay grade as an army employee made him equal to a full colonel, but the SS was subject neither to military nor civilian control.

‘The next time you disrupt a scheduled meeting with your childish tactics, you fool, I will make you regret it to your dying day. Now, state your business immediately!’

The SS officer’s face went red as he struggled to retain control of himself.

‘State your business, sir,’ Bethwig demanded again, staring directly into the man’s protruding eyes.

‘I am ordered to arrest engineer Ernst Mundt immediately.’ The captain choked.

A shocked murmur ran through the room, and Mundt stood in confusion. Immediately two SS men ran forward to grab him, but Bethwig’s angry shout brought them to a halt as they began to hustle Mundt from the canteen.

‘You, sir — ‘ he addressed the officer — ‘will state the reason for this arrest and the authority by which it was ordered.’