“You mentioned Himmler. What did the SS have in the area?
Speer chuckled. “The worst of the lot. You must understand that Himmler did not control the entire SS, although he thought he did. Several of the leaders had orders directly from Hitler. Those men had carte blanche to do as they willed.” Speer leaned forward with his elbows on the table. “Tell me, what kinds of things got your attention?”
“There have been several thefts and even murders in the area. There was the theft of an American army truck with secret electronic parts on it, a major theft of 50,000 gallons of acid from a local fertilizer plant, the murder of a man I had looking into the possible places the acid could be used, the murder of a man who was the prime suspect of the acid theft and now the theft of 80,000 gallons of some kind of kerosene. I don’t have proof yet, but the quantities of acid and kerosene suggest a large facility. In our investigation one of the men, we found an old SS uniform with guns and ammunition hidden in a secret closet in his home. That’s why I suspect some sort of group and some sort of facility,” Dresner said.
“Even after all these years?”
“Herr Speer, you remember some of the people we had. Fanaticism did not even begin to describe them. If a small group had the tools and was patient enough to wait for just the right moment. The damage they could cause might topple governments. This is particularly true now with the tension between the Soviets and the United States.”
“What kind of tensions?”
The guard tensed again. The prisoners were not allowed to get news from the outside, although it did trickle in. But what these men were discussing seemed important. His colonel had told him to use his judgment. “You may answer the question,” he said.
“The Americans discovered that the Soviets are basing nuclear missiles in Cuba, a small island 90 miles from their shores. There’s a blockade going on right now.”
Suddenly Speer’s eyebrows shot up. A look of fear crossed his face. “The acid. What kind of acid was it?”
“Nitric acid.”
The lines on Speer’s forehead suddenly deepened. He looked slightly ill. He reached out and took Dresner’s arm, alarming the guard. “Hans Kammler.”
“Who?”
“Hans Kammler. He was an SS general who was personally placed in charge of Germany’s rocket program and its atomic weapons program by Hitler. He based much of his work in southern Germany. Was he ever captured?” Speer asked.
“I don’t know,” said Dresner. They looked at the guard.
The guard thought a moment. “Beats me.”
Dresner saw the fear in the man’s eyes. “We should assume he was not.”
Speer looked back at Dresner. “Herr Dresner. You must stop them. Nitric acid and diesel fuel was the fuel used for the A-10 missile.”
Dresner tensed. “But that rocket was never developed.”
“It was developed and tested, but we never deployed it. That doesn’t mean it was never built.”
“But how big a rocket was it? I only heard about it later on.”
“It was built to hit New York City.”
“My God!” said the sergeant in alarm. Even he understood the seriousness of the situation. “Should I call in the Colonel?
“I have already discussed this with the local Army officials. When I leave we will start a search for this facility,” said Dresner. “Your Army arranged for me to have this interview, remember?” Dresner turned back to Speer. “What should we look for? Whatever it is has remained hidden since 1945. Can you give me a start?”
Speer lowered his head and stared at the table. “Wherever it is, it is hiding near something innocuous. The missile itself was a little over 4 meters wide and was 41 meters high. It had tremendous thrust, so there should be a lot of reinforcement.” He suddenly looked up. “That’s it. Follow the concrete. They would have used many tons of it. It would be used for the underground bunkers, the launch pads, the control rooms, everything. There might even be large concrete doors over the launch pads to protect the rockets. Wherever the concrete went, that is where your rockets will be,” Speer said confidently.
Dresner and Speer stood. He looked at the guard. “I want to shake this man’s hand.”
The sergeant said, “It’s not allowed,” and then turned to face the wall with a grin.
Dresner reached out and took Speer’s hand in his own. “Thank you Herr Speer. When you are released, I shall come and visit you.”
Speer held his hand for a moment. “Just go and prevent this catastrophe. We don’t need something like this to happen now. We shall see each other soon.”
The young sergeant turned back around. “We need to go back now Number 5.”
Speer dropped Dresner’s hand and looked at the guard and smiled. “Yes.” He glanced once more at Dresner as he left the room and waved his hand.
Dresner walked through the large wooden doors of the prison, saddened at the fate of the man he had spoken to, but excited about what he now knew. The clues were there and he was determined to find these people before it was too late. A car pulled up and blew its horn as it came up beside him. Dresner looked in the car and was astounded to see Corporal Mahler in the driver’s seat.
“Corporal Mahler! It is good to see you again!” Dresner exclaimed. Mahler opened the boor and urged his former commander inside. A warm handshake and a slap on the arm came next.
“Herr Major, I have wanted to visit for a long time. This was a good chance to finally do so,” Mahler said as he pulled the car into traffic.
“Where are we going?” Dresner asked.
“I’m taking you back to Innsbruck. Betz called and said we might be needed. I took a week off and this is faster than the train when we hit the autobahn,” Mahler said.
Dresner thought a moment and sat back in the seat. “I defer to your wisdom. But I need to place a phone call. Can you pull into that station?” he asked while pointing to a petrol station just up the road.
Mahler pulled the BMW 1500 in and filled the tank while Dresner made his call.
“Betz, I made some progress. I need you to go to the concrete plant out by the river. To my knowledge, it’s the only plant operating since before the war. Find someone who has been around a while and see if there were any places between 1944 and 1945 that used a lot of concrete. The more secretive the better. Then find out all you can. Mahler is driving me back and I should be there this evening. Let’s get together as soon as I get there and we can make some plans,” Dresner said.
“I’ll get on the road. If I don’t get any results, I’ll expand our search a little more. On the truck, we have narrowed our search to about ten people. Everyone else has checked out. It should be even narrower by this evening. I’ll be here when you arrive,” Betz said on the phone.
“Good. We’ll be there as quick as we can,” Dresner said.
When he returned to the car Mahler was waiting and had two American Cokes in his hand. He handed one to Dresner as he got back in the car. “The pause that refreshes,” Mahler said, quoting the current advertising slogan. Moving back into traffic, it wasn’t long before they were on the autobahn rapidly moving to the south. The two men relaxed for a moment and talked of old times. In the middle of one conversation, Mahler snapped his fingers. “I almost forgot. I finally got that list for you. It’s in the back seat.”