The Haigerloch Project

Standartenführer Harbicht barely managed to suppress his fury. He had no desire to display in front of Rauner and Professor Reichardt his rage at having failed to protect the Project. The enemy agents had actually bested him. The thought burned bitter in his mind.

There was only one minor consolation. It was, of course, important, but it did little to salve his badly damaged ego.

The saboteurs had failed!

He had spent better than an hour inspecting the damage the explosives had done to the cave installation. As soon as it had become apparent that no further danger existed, he had ordered the technicians and scientists rounded up and returned to the cave. Reichardt had been one of the first to show up. Pale and frightened, he had joined Harbicht in examining the blast damage.

The vital question was: Could the crucial test ordered by Berlin still be carried out on schedule?

Harbicht was all too vividly aware of the importance of the question. The dire ramifications of it — should the answer be no! If the test had to be called off because of his failure to provide security. Impatiently he pushed it from his mind, refusing to dwell on it.

The laboratory was totally destroyed. Reichardt had declared it to be of little consequence at this stage of developments. Anything that needed to be done could be carried out in alternate facilities.

The vital reactor cave and control center were virtually undamaged. That was the essential fact. Harbicht experienced a touch of gratification. Obviously the enemy saboteurs had not known about the massive steel hatch that sealed off the heart of the installation. It gave him a sort of perverse pleasure to contemplate the dismay and frustration they must have felt when they discovered the locked door! The blast they had set off had sprung it, but it had been impossible to open it. His own men had been forced to use torches to cut the remaining hinges so as to gain entrance to the caves beyond.

The cave that held the heavy-water storage tank, apart from being shaken up, had sustained no damage. It was far enough removed from the source of the explosion. But technicians were nevertheless checking everything, every gauge, every valve for signs of cracks or warps, any sign that tightening and adjusting were necessary.

Some minor damage had occurred both in the reactor cave and in the control center From the very force of the explosion. The key word was minor. Reichardt had assured him the necessary repairs and clean-up could be accomplished in two or three hours. The critical test would go on as scheduled — with only an hour's delay.

Harbicht was aware of a vague uneasiness in the back of his mind. Something he had overlooked? He had carefully examined everything. Gone over every possibility. Was there some point he did not see? He did not try to force it. He knew from experience that if something was worrying at him, it would surface faster if left alone.

He had briefly questioned a few individuals who had been in contact with the saboteurs. Two SS guards, a young Wehrmachthelferin and a man who had been too groggy to be coherent. And he had painstakingly pieced together the ploy the saboteurs had used in order to gain access to the caves. He felt a grudging respect for their ingenuity and audacity.

He also felt a stinging anger at the realization that he himself had passed within arm's length of the saboteurs as he arrived at the Haigerloch Sperrzone. They had escaped cleanly. All but one….

A German… A traitor! He had been right. The enemy agents had indeed been helped by a local Widerstandsgruppe. He felt the rage rise in him. The man was being held at the local security office at the Swan Inn.

It was time to have a little talk with him….

Harbicht openly studied the man standing before him, his arms held firmly by two SS guards.

A large man. Well built. Strong. Obviously a man used to working with his hands. Not the brain behind the operation. He had a bruise over one eye and his clothing was torn.

The man met his gaze steadily. He looked determined. Stoic. Harbicht sighed inwardly. So many of these unimaginative clods were that way. He would not be easy to break. Certainly not in a hurry. And time was the only commodity he, Harbicht, did not have. The man simply had to talk. Now.

He turned to Rauner.

“Who is this man?” he asked.

Rauner stepped in front of Oskar.

“Name?” he barked.

Oskar did not answer.

Rauner got a dangerous look on his face. His eyes narrowed. “I asked you your name,” he said.

Oskar remained silent. He thought back to what the Ami agent had said. When they had been talking about — interrogation Keep your mouth shut, he had said. Do not even give them the time of day, he had said. Say nothing. As soon as you open your mouth, it is damned difficult to close it again! He said nothing.