The Lucy Ghosts

'So you just followed me? The two of you.'

'The answer to Mr Trimmler's death had to be with you?'

'Why?'

'Because of the Lucy Ghosts.'

Stunned silence. Goodenache was frantically sobering up.

'By now, both the Americans and the Russians will be trying to discover who the Lucy Ghosts are,' Billie took over. 'We've been out of touch for a few days now. They could already have the answers.'

'So why you? I don't understand why you should come alone?'

'Because someone was trying to set me up. As Trimmler's killer,' said Adam.

'Why?'

'I have no idea. I just know I was being set up.'

'You're British?'

'Yes. On special assignment. To guard Trimmler.'

'Why not an American?'

'Because they had a problem with their computer. They wanted somebody who wasn't listed on it.'

'Ah!' Goodenache suddenly smiled, and Adam understood why.

'You knew all about the computer, didn't you?'

'You knew about the virus,' Billie backed him up.

'I know of your problems. Yes,' Goodenache replied.

'Why?' she asked.

'I don't know,' he said, suddenly shutting them out.

'Look, I need to find out what's going on.' Adam changed the subject.'

'IYou’re not my problem.'

'Trimmler wasn't mine. But I'm in a hole because I tried to protect him. And he was your friend. You owe me that.'

'I owe nothing.'

'Do you know why he was killed?'

'No.'

'Do you know who by?'

'I've said, I don't know.'

'Okay. Then let me tell you.' Adam took out a cigarette and offered one to Goodenache, who took it. When they had both lit up he told the scientist about the harrowing experience with Fruit Juice, about the deadly games that were played in New Orleans and culminated with Trimmler's death.

'None of it makes sense,' Goodenache said finally. 'It's unreal.'

'It's real. It happened. You know what they did with his arms. It's real, alright.'

'Why is she, an American, with you?'

'Because we're lovers,' stated Billie. 'And I don't want him to take the rap for something he didn't do.'

Goodenache put his head in his hands, exasperated. 'I don't understand. I don't understand.' When he looked up there were tears in his eyes. 'It's awful. That they should kill Heinrich? Like that? With his arms like a… What kind of people are they?'

'We were hoping you would tell us.'

'I don't know. Why do you think I came here?'

'In case you were next?'

Goodenache nodded.

'If we're to help, we need to know who,' asserted Adam.

'The Israelis. Who else?'

'I don't get it.'

'Because of the Lucy Ghosts. Because it's all coming out. Because they have waited for this moment.'

'Tell us,' said Billie. 'About them.'

'It's a society. From the War. Some of them with…things to hide.'

'War criminals,' said Adam.

'No!' snapped Goodenache. 'Some, maybe some. But not all. It was war. We did as we were told.'

'Where are these Germans?' asked Billie, quiet of tone to soothe Goodenache. She looked at Adam angrily. He shrugged and moved away, left it to her.

'Everywhere. In Russia. In America. Africa. Even in Germany. We have been waiting for nearly fifty years.'

'For what?'

'To come back. Why else would we wait? I thought you were smart.' He tapped his forehead as he spoke, 'Now Germany is one, it's finally time to come home. Don't you understand? But we can't. Because the bloody Jews are waiting to take their revenge on us. I was a scientist. There are doctors and nurses and clerks and all types. Many have long since died. Not war criminals. Yes, some of us belonged to the Party. But only so we could do our work. The Lucy Ghost ring is there to bring us back to Germany.'

'Who runs it?'

'Not one person. Many. Many, since the War ended.'

'Including Grob Mitzer?'

'Yes,' he said sadly. 'Grob was the most important. He kept it together all these years, when others lost faith.'

'But he had the knowledge?'

'More. Much more. There's knowledge and there's wisdom. Grob had the wisdom. The rest of us just had knowledge. Who do you think introduced the virus into your computer? His people. That's how brilliant he was.'

'But why?'

'To wipe out our past. Can you imagine what would have happened if Heinrich and the others had wanted to leave America and come home? How long before they would have been branded as Nazis, with all their war records published in the newspapers? Can you not see the dangers for us? People have no idea of what was really hidden from the public after the War. There were few records kept, and those were transferred on to tape by the Americans years ago. All the sensitive OSS archive was on the computer.'

'And you wiped everything out just to camouflage the truth?'

'It went wrong. The virus could only be triggered off when someone wanted classified information on our files. Not mine, but on those involved in the Paperclip Conspiracy.'

'The what?' asked Adam.

'Paperclip Conspiracy,' Billy answered him. 'That's what the operation became known as. The one bringing the German rocket people out covertly after the War.'

'Not just rocket scientists,' added Goodenache. 'All types of research people. Even medical people from the concentration camps. There are more in those records than just Von Braun and his few. We had the same problem in Russia. Only it wasn't on a computer. Grob organised that as well. For our safety.'

'What about the deaths of the American and Russian agents?' Billie asked.

'What deaths? What agents?'

Billie realised his answer was genuine. She didn't tell him it was what had triggered off the virus. 'Why come back here? If you're running from the Israelis. Why not Russia? You would've been safe…'

'Russians. Philistines. I'm not a Russian. I'm a German. This is my home.' Goodenache rose from the bed and went to the window. 'Do you know why Heinrich and I wanted to come back here?'

Billie shook her head.

'Up there, in the mountains, there are big caves. We built factories in those caves. Factories for rockets. V1's and V2's. How do you think the Russians and Americans got into rocketry? By taking V2's from here, from the mountains, shipping them back and using them for their own experiments. They used all our rockets. We couldn't fire them in 1945 because we ran out of fuel. Because the idiots in Berlin cut off our supply. We could have changed the course of the war. Another six months and we could have changed everything. This is where we worked, with no resources, just our ideas and our hands.' He turned away from the window, came back to the bed and sat down once again. 'We built rockets from nothing. I was twenty years old. It is where we were happiest. Then we were sent back to Peenemünde. To tidy up. Burn the documents that could have won the war for us. Only it went wrong and I got caught by the Russians. To save my life, I became a Russian. For forty-five years I was something I was not. It's not a crime to want to come back, is it?'

'But why here?'

'Because if I'm going to die, then let me die where I was happiest.' He suddenly yawned. The drink was having its effect.

'Where is the society run from?' asked Billie quietly, wanting to move the discussion on, but not wanting to alarm Goodenache. 'Maybe that's where you should have gone.'

'They let us down.'

'Who?'

'The Party.'

'The National Socialists?'

'Of course. In Dresden. They let us down. They spend millions trying to get us out, to wipe our records clean, then they go and change their minds. New objectives, they say. And we, the ones who kept the dream alive all these years, made their beloved Party possible, are told to find our own way home.'