‘One was small and quite a thin looking chap with white cropped hair. He was the one with the gun. The other chap was a big bloke with longer, dark hair.
Swan sat back down, leaning over the back of his chair again.
‘I see. So, we have a German gentleman who turns out to be a wartime rocket engineer. He has this address in his hand and is killed by two thugs. His dying words are ‘Tell him the eagle will fall and they must be stopped’. The obvious connection is the eagle, being the symbol of Germany, of course.’
Swan suddenly became lost in his own thoughts. ‘Or is it? What could it actually mean? And who the devil is it, who needs to be stopped I wonder?’
Swan rose from his chair. ‘Eddie? Thank you for coming to see us, I may ask to see you again.’
Stevenson looked bewildered. ‘Is that it then, gents?’
Swan nodded. ‘Yes, you’ve been more than helpful and given Arthur and myself something now to go on. Thank you so much for your help today.’
Stevenson rose, shaking hands with the men who thanked him again.
‘Not at all, Mr Swan, Mr Gable. Please feel free to contact me, if I can be of any more help to you.’
Gable showed him out. When he walked back into the room, Swan had returned to the window, mesmerised at the bustling scene of the passing Whitehall traffic. ‘Well, Arthur? What do you think? Any ideas?’
Gable shook his head.
‘I think you may be right about the eagle theory. There has to be a connection of some kind to Germany. or could it be in reference to something else; the Black Arrow perhaps, seeing that Ruger worked on it?’
Swan turned to his colleague. ‘I read recently that there are strong rumours that the Black Arrow programme will all be shipped out to Australia very soon for a test launch, to see if it can deliver a satellite into orbit. That’s of course, if this government continues to fund it.’
Gable noted his colleague’s tone had suddenly changed again; he seemed tense and distant. ‘Are you sure that everything’s okay, Alex?’
Swan gave his associate a puzzled glare. ‘Yes, Arthur, as I told you before, I’m fine old chap. There’s no need to worry.’
Gable shrugged. ‘It is just that since we’ve been on this subject of the rocket, you seem to have become anxious about something.’
Swan looked at the floor. ‘Really, old chap. That old detective’s instinct of yours really still does you credit. But I’m fine.’ Swan raised a smile. ‘Okay Arthur? I’m fine.’
Gable studied his SID colleague carefully. He knew something wasn’t quite right, and not knowing what it actually was, it would play in the back of his mind for the rest of day.
Again he changed the subject. ‘So, are you taking Janet out tonight, then?’
Gable watched as Swan’s eyes lit up, and he was relieved to finally see some elation flow back into his colleague. ‘Yes, were off to see that film adaptation of the West End musical Oh What a Lovely War. Dickie Attenborough’s first film as a director I believe.’
Gable recognised the actor. ‘Really? I liked him in Brighton Rock. Always reminds me of someone I nicked. He was a nasty piece of work right enough; Harry Bellchambers his name was. I was certainly pleased to see him off the London streets.’
Swan got out of his chair and walked over to a free standing blackboard. ‘Right Arthur, where do you think we should start with the Ruger affair then, old chap?’
Gable joined him and picking up a piece of chalk, wrote the word Battersea and Murder Scene on the board. ‘I think we should visit the murder scene.
I’ll contact a few old colleagues, let them know that due to the victim’s background, we are taking up the investigation, so they should allow us in for a look.’
Swan agreed, trying to put his thoughts to the case. However, in the back of his mind, he was inside a small hut, and a green telephone was ringing.
Chapter 4
Gunther Fleischer angrily put down the phone. He had just done speaking to his contacts in London. ‘Idiots!’
Although elegant in the blue dress that she had worn at the meeting, Katrina Holt, looked equally attractive in a cream cotton sweater, bare on the shoulders, over a black mini-skirt. Carrying two full wine glasses, she glided over to Fleischer’s desk, her hips swaying, placing them down in front of him.
‘What is it, my love?’
Fleischer leant back in his chair. ‘Ach, Baumann and Trost were too forceful in trying to get some information from Ruger. They shot him and before they could question him, they were interrupted by a boat coming down the river. The London Police are investigating. It is all over the English papers.’
Holz leant over and kissed Fleischer full on the mouth, smiling into his eyes. Even at his middle age, she still found the man highly attractive. ‘Is there a risk that they may find out why he was shot?’
Fleischer placed his arms around her waist. ‘I should not think so, my dear; Falcon said that it was only Ruger who walked into the room and heard him talk about the adjustments to the Black Arrow’s securing mechanism, then went to the conference at the London Science Museum, with his British superiors. What we do not know, is if he has informed them of Falcon’s actions. That is the reason that I ordered Trost and Baumann to talk to him. He went to see someone and stayed there for the night, then left in the early hours, and that is when they decided to try and talk with him.’
Holz stroked his neck. ‘Then relax, Gunther my love, Ruger could have informed his superiors, about what he saw, but he has no proof. I am also sure that if your man Falcon is questioned, he will be able to present a simple explanation for his actions.’
Fleischer’s expression changed from serious to calm. ‘You are right, we should not worry. He kissed her forehead. ‘Your uncle would have been proud of you, my dear. He once said to me when we were in Berlin, that all his knowledge had rubbed off on his god-daughter. He called you his little phoenix that would one day rise from the ashes and shine in a new world, and that new world will soon be here.’
The woman warmed to his comment, squeezing his hand and suddenly, had thoughts of her uncle Klaus. ‘Tell me time of him, Gunther, about what happened to him.
Fleischer sipped his wine, explaining throughout World War 2, Obergruppenfuhrer Klaus Kemmler was known as Der Techniker (The Technician), also as part of Organisation Todt, he was responsible for overseeing a multitude of projects, and was highly respected in the Reichstag, being a friend of Hitler himself. In the final years of the war, he had spent most of his time on secret engineering concepts, which included the vengeance and reprisal weapons such as, the V-1 and V-2, the Wasserfall guided bomb project, and the Mistel pilotless aircraft. In February 1945, with the Russians on the doorstep of the already bomb-damaged secret test facility at Peenemunde, Kemmler had received new orders. He was to go to Prague to supervise destruction of an aircraft factory that were developing a revolutionary new propulsion system. Before leaving the battered Baltic base, he had attended a closed meeting with high ranking German officials. At the end of the meeting, he began to have doubts about his next assignment. Fearing the worst outcome, he sought out and confided in his good friend and colleague, the young Obersturmfuhrer Gunther Fleischer to take care of his only goddaughter. Her parents were both dead, having taken their own lives in a suicide pact, rather than be caught by the advancing Red Army for their involvement in a slave labour camp. Although not actually a blood relative, Kemmler was all she had. Kemmler had summoned Fleischer to arrange a meeting with his key men in the V2 factory at Mittelwerk, an underground complex deep in the Kohnstein Hills in the centre of Germany. The men had been specially handpicked by Fleischer as they had been faithful to the Reich, and to the Nazi Party in general.