Alex Scarrow - A thousand suns

‘Good.’

Schroder and his men emerged from the darkness inside the hangar. He heard Schroder’s crystal-sharp accent as he finished telling a story that provoked a roar of laughter from his men.

Battlefield laughter.

Max knew the sound well enough, the hysterical laughter, the fluttering of nerves. Before every mission, it seemed almost anything could be funny, and afterwards the same things barely solicited a smile.

‘Where’s Max and his merry men?’ he heard the fighter pilot call out.

‘Pompous idiot,’ Pieter grumbled as Schroder’s voice cut across the general murmuring.

Max nudged Pieter gently. ‘Behave.’

Schroder picked Max out of the dark and wandered over. ‘Well, Oberleutnant Kleinmann, I presume the finest bomber crew in the Luftwaffe is ready for its final sortie?’

‘Perhaps that should be the last bomber crew?’

‘Yes, I suppose you’re right.’ Schroder cast his eyes around the group of men. ‘This must be all that’s left of our airforce now. The only operational squadron.’

‘The final flight of the Luftwaffe… that has a nice poetic ring about it,’ said Max.

‘Well, it has been a brief but enriching experience this last week. I wish you and your men the best of luck. Perhaps I’ll join you in America after the war and we’ll toast the mission and Major Rall.’

‘You can buy the first round, then,’ replied Max.

Schroder laughed and slapped his shoulder. ‘You can buy the last.’

From the entrance to the underground bunker the civilian emerged, flanked by two of his SS guards. Behind them, emerging a few seconds later, Major Rall came out, walking slowly.

The laughter died down as Max and the others watched them make their way across towards the hangar.

‘Who is that man?’ asked Schroder with a hint of distaste in his voice.

‘I don’t know,’ replied Max.

I’d feel a lot happier if I did.

The civilian and his guards approached the men gathered outside the hangar, watching the last of the Me-109s being towed out onto the tarmac. The men quietened down, as the Major finally drew up alongside the civilian.

‘Men, this is Doctor Karl Hauser. He is the weapon’s designer. I believe he has a few words he wants to say,’ Rall announced flatly.

‘Thank you, Major. I’m not sure how much the Major has told you about the weapon you have there in that bomber. But it is a new type of weapon, a brand-new technology that we have beaten the Americans in developing. ’

Hauser turned to Max and his crew.

‘When you gentlemen release that bomb over New York, you will be telling the world that we are still a force to be reckoned with.’ He offered the men a smile. ‘And, of course, you will be making history.’

Several of Schroder’s pilots cheered.

‘I know you men will find a way to get this bomb to New York. The Fuhrer has asked me to personally convey his admiration and his gratitude to you all for volunteering to carry out this dangerous mission. We have this chance, gentlemen, this one chance, to pull a victory out of the ashes…’

Major Rall looked around the pilots listening, in good spirits, to the Doctor’s speech. The very same speech Hauser had just been practising down below in the bunker. The man’s pomposity, the gestures, the language, reminded him of another man who had brought disaster upon them all, for the sake of his vanity. Rall was reminded of the Hitler of four years ago, on the eve of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia.

The conclusion was now crystal-clear in his mind. Doctor Hauser was every bit as dangerous. The man had finally conceded, out of sheer arrogance, perhaps aware that there was little the Major could now do to stop things, that there was much more than a slight chance that the weapon’s blast could be infinite, incinerate everything. He had admitted that, and then summoned his SS guards into the room to escort them both out onto the airfield. The significance of that gesture wasn’t wasted on the Major.

One foot out of line now, and he would be a dead man.

‘With this bomb, gentlemen… with this one bomb, we will destroy the beating heart of America, New York. With one bomb and in one instant, we will turn that entire city and everyone in it to ashes.’

Rall sought out Max amongst the assembled pilots. If there was one man amongst them whom he could possibly get through to in the few seconds that he might have, it was Oberleutnant Kleinmann. There was little chance that this mission could be stopped here and now, he knew that. But if he could present to Max the potential danger, and let the man come to his own conclusion — after all, he had twenty hours in the air in which to think about it — then perhaps this mission could be aborted before it was too late.

He scanned the faces turned towards Hauser, and amongst them he saw Max’s eyes locked on to his. The Oberleutnant was studying him intently, curiously.

‘We will turn all of New York into Stalingrad with this new weapon. And the Americans will have no choice but to submit to the Fuhrer’s terms and join us in the crusade against communism. The Russians will be turned away from Berlin, Germany will survive. And we will make many more of these bombs to ensure our supremacy continues — ’

Does Kleinmann sense there’s something wrong?

‘- and our empire will once more be reclaimed. This weapon is our future, it is our destiny. It is how we will fight wars from now on. Not with tanks or men, but with this all-consuming power. With it we will turn any nation that stands in our way… to ashes.’

Rall watched Max frown and shake his head unhappily, and then the pilot glanced back at the Major. There was no mistaking the expression on his face — betrayal.

This weapon is far more powerful than you said. Rall read that accusation in the pilot’s eyes.

‘And more dangerous than you can imagine,’ the Major muttered under his breath. He decided he had to try and talk to Max. By the look of him, it seemed he was already troubled by Hauser’s foolish speech. Just a few well-chosen words might be enough to convince the pilot to abort the mission somehow.

Rall began to step through the gathered men towards Max, when Hauser turned sharply towards him. ‘Major Rall, are you ready to issue orders?’

He wondered whether he had a chance to tell them all what he knew. What could he say before Hauser ordered his guards to gun him down? They would do it, of course, without a second’s hesitation.

‘Major Rall? Time is pressing,’ added Hauser, staring threateningly at the Major.

A single command from this madman — that’s all it would take.

‘Major?’

‘To your planes, men,’ Rall ordered flatly.

Schroder’s men cheered and turned on their heels towards the Me-109s lined up nearby. Schroder approached Rall and saluted him. ‘We will ensure they make it safely across, Herr Major.’

Rall nodded and mumbled weakly, ‘Good luck, Schroder. ’

He watched the young pilot join his squadron, climbing up onto the nearest fighter with athletic ease. And then the Major’s attention turned towards the four men left standing before him, Max and his crew.

Max approached the Major and extended a hand towards him. ‘Major?’ he offered uncertainly.

Rall grasped the pilot’s hand and looked up, met his eyes.

Now, man, now! This is your only chance!

‘The bomb is dangerous, Max,’ he muttered quickly under his breath.

‘Sir?’

‘Listen! There is a very real poss — ’

The engines fired up on the nearest Me-109 and it swiftly began to roll across the grass and tarmac towards the strip. Other engines followed suit and a convoy of fighters began their nose-to-tail procession towards the top of the runway.