‘She was so… so terrified,’ whispered Maddy. ‘I saw them carry heraway… I… I saw the look in her eyes. I — ’
‘There was nothing you could have done,’ Foster sighed. ‘Absolutelynothing. If I’d not stopped you going after her, then you’d have shared the samefate as her.’
‘But she was just a kid!’ cried Maddy angrily. ‘Just a kid! I told you weshould have gone after her!’
‘If we had, we’d be dead too,’ he replied softly. ‘I’m sorry,Madelaine, I truly am, but this is what it is. We just have to get on with it.’ Heturned back to Liam. ‘Our focus has to be on one thing now. One thing only: correctingtime. That literally is
A moment of silent reflection, then both Liam and Maddy nodded. He was right.
‘Now, Liam, you said you’ve identified a possible point in timefor us to send you back to?’
‘Yes. It was in that Hitler fella’s second book.’
‘In the
‘Yes,’ said Liam, ‘but in the past that we were sent to Hitler lived on andwrote this second book. And shortly after that he was kicked out of the job by this Kramerfella who became the new Fuhrer.’
‘OK, so in this second book…?’
‘There’s this chapter where he describes receiving inspiration from God in theform of an angel. Apparently it’s a well-known chapter. Hitler never actually mentionsKramer’s name specifically, but it’s assumed that when he refers to a“ guardian angel” and “divine inspiration” it’s Kramer he’stalking about.’
‘Go on.’
‘I learned a lot about this guy, Kramer, whilst I was in that prison camp. He was avery mysterious man who seemed to sort of pop up out of the woodwork from nowhere. No familyhistory, no details of a childhood. A real mystery man. He took credit for steering Hitleraway from launching an attack on Russia in 1941. He claimed to have personally invented mostof the modern weapons that helped them win the war, that allowed them to invade America andwipe out their armed forces within just a few weeks.
‘His people worshipped him almost like a god. And I think he encouraged the idea thathe was extraordinary in some way. Apparently, up until he launched his invasion on America, hewas the most written-about man of his time. Hundreds of books about him… all trying towork out who he was and where he’d come from.’
‘And you recall the
‘Yes,’ replied Liam. ‘There was a fella who told me, a man called Wallace.If he remembered it correctly that is… then, yes, I can tell you the time and theplace.’
Foster considered that in silence for a moment. ‘So, this
‘I suppose.’
‘Liam, you understand what you’re to do?’
‘Locate him and…?’
‘And
‘Sure.’
‘All right then. Give me those details of time and place.’
CHAPTER 86
2001, New York
Liam looked at the empty perspex cylinder. ‘There’s no water in there.It’s empty.’
‘We don’t have a water supply. You’ll have to go back dry thistime.’
‘So… do I still climb in the tube thing?’
Foster shook his head. ‘I’ll open the time window right here on the floor.It’ll mean a scoop of our lovely concrete floor will be going back with you… butI’m afraid that can’t be helped.’
‘But you told me nothing but ourselves can go back?’
‘That’s right. The less potential for contamination, the better. But, look, onthis occasion there’s not a lot we can do. There’s no tap water. Anyway…I’m not sure we’d have enough charge left to shift thirty gallons of water as wellas you two back into the past.’
Foster returned to the console. ‘I have the fifteenth of April 1941 set as thetime-stamp. The co-ordinates will place you in some woods near a road that leads up to whereHitler’s Obersalzberg retreat once stood. This is the
He turned to face Liam and Bob. ‘It’s the only way in for this Kramer too. Now,I’m assuming he arrived as some sort of a special guest. Perhaps he managed to convincean influential general or a Nazi bigwig to arrange an audience for him with AdolfHitler.’
‘Would he not have opened a window right inside the building? Rightin front of the man?’
Foster shook his head. ‘If it were me, I wouldn’t. What if you appeared right infront of a guard? You’d be gunned down on sight. No,’ he said, stroking thegrey-white bristles of his week-old beard, ‘far safer to have appeared somewhere quiet.Then make an approach through some official channel — that’s how I would do it- an offer of untold wealth, or strategic knowledge of the enemy… something tobluff my way into the offices of some senior Nazi official.’
He turned back to the console. ‘You say Hitler wrote that his profound moment ofinspiration occurred at nine thirty p.m. on that night. I have set your time-stamp for eightthirty p.m., an hour earlier. If Kramer managed to arrange for an audience with Hitler, thenit’s a reasonable assumption he arranged to be punctual. His meeting might have been fornine thirty p.m., but he presumably would arrive a little earlier to ensure he was there ontime to go through whatever security procedures they carried out back then.’
‘If we miss him?’
‘If you fail to intercept Kramer,’ sighed Foster, ‘then we’ve missedour chance.’
‘What then?’
The old man shook his head. ‘It means it’s game over. History remains changed.God help us all.’
‘We’ll be stuck back in 1941, won’t we?’
‘Yes, Liam. And Maddy and I will be stuck here.’
They stared at each other in silence. Liam realized their fate would be worse than his.‘What about those creatures…?’
Foster waved his hand and smiled grimly. ‘Let’s forget about them for now, shallwe?’
Maddy stepped across the floor, over snaking cables. She graspedLiam’s arm and looked at him with red- rimmed eyes. ‘Just make sure you get him,OK?’
He nodded.
She looked up at the support unit. ‘I’ve downloaded all the historicalinformation we have on Obersalzberg and the surrounding area from the database on toBob’s hard drive.’
Bob stirred. ‘Affirmative.’
‘If…
‘Yes, sir,’ said Liam.
‘If you fail,’ said Foster, stepping towards him, ‘if it doesn’t workout, lad, then don’t throw your life away on some foolish gamble, eh?’ He placed ahand on Liam’s shoulder. ‘Find a way to survive. You’ll have Bob to help youfor the first six months. Find a way to survive… and live your life as best youcan.’
‘What about you two?’
