‘They were after a set of notebooks, and it’s these notebooks, or rather their author, that led me to you. The man who wrote them was a German physicist named Johann Wolff. When I called down to Research for some information about this guy, they told me you’d recently made a similar request. That led me to wonder what your interest is and if there’s any overlap with what I’m working on.’
‘There might be,’ Cooper replied. ‘Have you gotten the report from Research?’
‘No, I spoke with them just before I came here. So far, these attacks have left eight people dead and one hospitalized with severe burns. I’d appreciate any help you can give me on this.’
Cooper leaned his head back and composed his thoughts.
‘As you probably know, I’ve been with the Agency for a long time. In fact, I’ve been in the intelligence business since the Second World War, when I worked for Bill Donovan in the OSS.’ Cooper pointed to a black-and-white photo of him with the legendary spymaster on the wall. ‘When the war in Europe began to wind down, the OSS launched an active campaign to capture as many German scientists as we could find — especially the ones working on rocketry, jets, and atomic research. Wolff was part of the group that was working on the German bomb project. I interviewed him and cleared him for entry into the U.S. When his body was found, the computer system matched his name with the keywords on his old OSS file and, since I’m still here, notified me.’
‘If it’s just an ancient case, why’d you request a full background check?’
‘Professional curiosity. When I checked out Wolff, I didn’t find anything that tied him to the nastier stuff the Third Reich was into. He looked like a bright young guy who spent the war doing math — exactly the kind of highly educated professional that the government wanted us to import. After his body was found, it made me wonder if I’d missed something. I requested a full check because there’s a lot more information available now than back in ’forty-six.’
‘Did you find any skeletons?’
‘Just a rumor that turned out to be false. I did learn one new thing about Wolff; he was a lot smarter than he let on.’
‘How so?’
‘Did you ever hear the story about how Einstein and a group of top physicists wrote a letter to Roosevelt explaining why the U.S. needed to build the bomb?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Well, in Germany, Wolff’s boss, a guy named Werner Heisenberg, did the opposite with Hitler. Heisenberg and his team ran the numbers and determined that even if it were possible, it would cost too much and take too long to build an atomic bomb.’
Cooper then explained how the Soviets and their captured scientists reconstructed the German nuclear research and discovered that Wolff had sabotaged the calculations, thus preventing the Nazis from pursuing development of atomic weapons.
‘So you’re telling me that Wolff kept the Nazis from building an A-bomb?’
‘That’s what his colleagues thought after they put all the pieces together. He was the best mathematician on Heisenberg’s staff, and they trusted his skills implicitly. If he said two plus two equaled five, they believed him. That’s pretty much it as far as background for Wolff. Now, you said that the teams that hit the two labs were apparently Russian?’
‘Yeah, that was the impression they left. Why?’
‘When our people asked the FSB in Moscow to check their archives for information about Wolff, we learned that I wasn’t the only one asking about him. I called a guy I know over there and asked him to see if he could find out who put in the other request.’
‘Did you get an answer?’
‘Yeah. The other interested party is a woman named Oksanna Zoshchenko. She’s a high-level apparatchik in the Russian Academy of Sciences. My contact is digging up some information on her. Whatever I get, I’ll pass along.’
‘Thanks.’ Mosley scribbled a few more notes on a legal pad. ‘So, just days after Wolff’s body is discovered, both you and this Zoshchenko put in a request for information about him.’
‘The timing’s a bit much for mere coincidence, wouldn’t you say?’
‘That and the guys hitting these labs have the look of Russian Special Forces.’
‘Odd thing, though. If the Russian government is behind this, then why let us peek into their archives about Wolff and why tell us about Zoshchenko? That part doesn’t fit.’
‘No, but none of this has played out like a typical government-run intelligence operation. Somebody doesn’t just want to acquire this technology, they want to own it completely.’
41
Martin and Audrey Kilkenny were seated on the porch of their farmhouse when Nolan’s SUV rode up the long gravel drive. He parked near Martin’s old Ford pickup, then walked around to the passenger side and opened the door. Tears welled up in Audrey’s eyes as a woman handed Nolan a cane, then reached for his offered arm and carefully stepped out of the vehicle.
Nolan towered over the thin wisp of a woman who stood beside him. A halo of snow-colored hair framed an oval face. At the sight of Audrey and Martin Kilkenny, her dark eyes grew moist with emotion.
‘Elli, it’s so good to see you again,’ Audrey said as she carefully stepped down from the porch.
Elli Vital nodded, unable to express her feelings. The memories of this place, of the long weekends she’d spent here with Johann Wolff, all came back.
The last time she had walked up this drive, the father of the young man whose arm she leaned upon was just a boy. It was December of 1948 and Johann had failed to meet her at the train station. Instead of a weekend spent in celebration of her engagement, Elli and Martin searched in vain for her missing fiancé. She returned to Chicago heartbroken, fearing that Johann’s disappearance was like that of everyone else she’d embraced as family — permanent.
So when Martin Kilkenny called her, the day that Elli had long dreaded finally came. Now she was here, reunited with old friends to honor the memory of her beloved Johann.
Elli released Nolan’s arm and walked the last few steps toward Martin and Audrey on her own. She trembled as more than fifty years of emotions resonated deeply within her.
‘You always said someday we would know the truth.’
Martin wrapped his arms around Elli in a display of love and support, as he had at the end of that terrible weekend when the man she loved was taken from her.
‘I had faith in Johann. I knew there was only one thing that could keep him from you.’
Elli pulled back and turned to embrace Audrey. They’d kept in touch over the years, exchanged letters and holiday cards, but the unknown always lingered like an un-welcome guest. Johann Wolff was the link that tied her to the Kilkennys, and his unresolved absence was a gulf that could never be completely bridged.
‘I’ve missed you so,’ Audrey said tearfully.
‘And I’ve missed you.’
‘That was a wonderful meal, Audrey,’ Elli declared.
Martin inched his chair away from the table. ‘That it was. And now that we’re fed, there’s some business we need to discuss. Kelsey, I have a wee bit of a favor to ask you. As you may have noticed, Elli here is getting around these days with the help of a walking stick. You see, she had her hip replaced a few months back and she’s still recovering from it.’
‘Martin, you don’t have to tell them my entire life story,’ Elli interrupted, a hint of her native German still present after half a century. ‘The point I hope Martin was eventually going to arrive at is that I need a place to stay. Because of my hip, I can’t climb stairs, so staying here is out of the question. Audrey mentioned that you have a nice one-story condo with a guest room. Would it be too much of an imposition?’