Swan smiled. ‘That’s not a problem, they’re back in Brian Mitchell’s office.’
Fifteen minutes later, the three men exited the office building and walked along the gravel road towards the tower of Gantry 2. Inside the tower, Black Arrow stood upright silent and still, having now cooled down, since the test firing of its engines.
Swan then observed two men in the same white protective suits standing at the stairs to the efflux chamber. The three investigators approached them, as Ronald Patterson was winding a long black rubber hose. He looked up at the men. ‘Mr Swan, what can I do for you, sir?’
‘Hello, Mr Patterson. Would you happen to know where we can find Mr Gruber?’
Patterson looked across to his colleague, Colin Denning. ‘Any ideas Colin?’
Denning thought for a moment. ‘Not sure. He was here about half an hour ago, but then he walked off with Mr Hampton and Mr Baxter. Maybe, you could try the canteen?’
Swan thanked the men and led the two policemen back up the slope to the canteen. When they arrived, they saw that no-one was in the room, except the two members of the catering staff, one of which was wiping the tables.
Dugdale approached her. ‘Excuse me, madam. Has the German engineer, Heinz Gruber been here in the last half an hour?’
The woman stood in front of him. ‘I haven’t seen him, sir, not since this morning, when they all came in for breakfast.’
Dugdale looked at the others. ‘Well gents, where do we look now?’
Swan thought for a moment. ‘Perhaps we could try the servicing block?’
Detective Sergeant Morris shook his head. ‘This could go on for ages. He has to be here somewhere, and we’re still on a camp lockdown for Christ’s sake.’ He paused. ‘Hang on a minute? Don’t they have a public-address system? We could ask him to come to the office.’
Dugdale agreed. ‘Splendid idea, Ian. Let’s go back and ask Miss Wilkins, to put out a call, and maybe she could arrange some coffee as well. I don’t know about you chaps, but I’m somewhat parched, after all this walking up and down this bloody hill.’
The two investigators returned to the office, and Swan kindly asked Loretta Wilkins to put out a call for the German. He then addressed the two officers, tugging at the white suit he was wearing. ‘I think we better keep these on, just in case we have to go out there again.’ The others agreed, and suddenly heard the voice of Ron Hallett’s PA on the speaker. ‘Attention, Attention. This is a fuelling team announcement. Could Mr Gruber, please come to the Administration Block. That’s Mr Gruber, to the Administration Block. Thank you.’
The call out ended. Dugdale rubbed his hands together. ‘Well, let’s see if our man arrives, shall we gents?’
It had now been twenty minutes since the announcement had been made, and there was still no sign of the German. Swan looked out of the office window at the gantries below the escarpment. ‘Right, looks like we’re going to have to go out there again and find him. I’ll just go and check with Hallett, it is now safe to have some constables to help with searching the complex for him.’
As Swan exited the office, Morris turned to his boss. ‘What do you think, Guv? Do you reckon he knows that we are on to him?’
‘I have been thinking this may be the case. Why don’t you go with Alex, I’ll stay here and should he turn up, I’ll get Miss Wilkins to put out an announcement, to call you chaps back in.’
Chapter 22
Ron Hallett was still stunned. He had known Heinz Gruber since his days at Ansty, and was finding it hard to believe that all this time, he had some sort of Nazi covert agent in his team, and this man would want to sabotage Black Arrow. He stared grimly at Swan and Morris. ‘So, how can I help, Mr Swan, Sergeant Morris?’
Swan enquired, ‘I was wondering, if it is now safe to walk around, near Gantry Two?’
Hallett nodded. ‘That shouldn’t be a problem now, gents. It’s had enough time to cool down. But, to be on the safe side, I could check with Mr Baxter, so there’s no possible danger.’
Swan thought that would be a good idea.
Morris acknowledged. ‘Okay, and I’ll get Miss Wilkins to call up to the Guardroom and get the officers back down here.’
Swan and Morris waited for the uniformed policemen to arrive, then deciding to brief them, ushered them into the small conference room. ‘Okay gentlemen, we are to apprehend, Mr Heinz Gruber for further questioning. He is fifty-two years old, light grey hair, blue eyes and has a small grey moustache, and naturally, speaks his English with a German accent. He is dangerous, so please watch yourselves. I suggest you go around the site in pairs. When you have him, give three blows on your whistles, and we’ll all come over to you. Swan checked the policemen were clear with everything, each of the eight police constables nodding positively. ‘Very well, let’s go then, gentlemen.’
Swan turned to Morris. ‘Ian, take your men up to the launch area, and I’ll meet you at Gantry Two.’ He looked at his watch. ‘In about ten minutes. I now need to make a quick phone call, something I was looking at earlier, in the personnel files, has just sprung to mind, and I need to check it with someone I know.’
Morris nodded, leading his men down the hill, while Swan dialled the number for an old friend at the Imperial War Museum in London.
The search commenced, Morris choosing to keep to the gantry walk, while the other officers formed in pairs and searched the top level, and the coastguard huts, in which due to the security lockdown, the personnel had spent the night.
Another pair of constables, had descended the stairs to the efflux channel checking inside the vacant Gantry 1. Other officers, were currently scouring both gantry bunkers, the Control Block and the Fuel Preparation Area.
Back in the office, Swan put down the telephone receiver, then stepping outside into the corridor, closed the door of Mitchell’s office, lost in deep thought about the outcome of his telephone call. He turned the corner and almost bumped straight into a nervous looking, Heinz Gruber. Swan gasped. ‘Mr Gruber, where have you been? We have been looking for you everywhere.’ Swan walked back with the German and opened Mitchell’s door. ‘Please step inside.’
Bemused, Gruber did what was asked of him. Dugdale rose from his chair, and Swan raised a hand to calm him.
Gruber turned to Swan. ‘Please excuse me, Mr Swan, but I was up at the top guardroom. The guard and I have a little chess game going on. So please, do not inform, Mr Hallett about this, as I know I should be attending to my duties. But, as the rocket test had finished, I thought that we would be able to play for a time.’
Swan smiled staring at Dugdale. ‘Of course, Mr Gruber. However, I do need to ask you some more questions. So, if you could please just sit down for minute.’
Gruber sat on a chair and watched, as Swan pulled up another one and sat in front of him. ‘Okay, there is something I need to clarify with you from our last conversation.’
You said, that you had secured the blast doors to the Blockhouse?’
The German nodded. ‘That is right, Mr Swan.’
Swan looked him in the eye. ‘The trouble is, your colleague, Mr Denning said that he was the last man inside, and actually he secured them. So, I will ask you again, were you the last man inside, or was it, Mr Denning?’
Gruber looked at the two men in turn, and with a defeated expression, raised his hands. ‘Okay, Mr Swan, I will tell you the truth. Mr Denning was the last man inside. After I had secured the doors, he noticed that Mr Lempiere was not at his post in the Blockhouse. We did not have another Thrust Supervisor, so we broke a safety protocol, and he went looking for him, briefly. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen. So, Mr Denning returned and sealed the door. We agreed, we would both be in serious trouble for unsealing it, after the final warning siren had sounded, so kept it to ourselves.’