Doctor Who_ Just War - Lance Parkin [106]
‘It’s good to see you back, Lieutenant.’ Kendrick shook Chris’s hand. The two lieutenants were still out of breath from their run. Chris couldn’t waste any more time, though.
‘Sir, I have heard from Lieutenant Reed that you intend to bomb Guernsey tonight. Hartung isn’t based there; the Luftwaffe have a camouflaged airstrip just outside Granville.’
‘We bombed the —’
‘Sir, this is a different airstrip, one that you don’t know about.’
Reed had found a map, and he brought it over. ‘Show us, Cwej,’ the lieutenant suggested.
Chris ran his finger over the map. The Gerard farm was marked on it. It was easy enough to trace the escape route he and the Doctor had used — back from the farm, through the wood, along the stream. On this map, an old one from before the war, there was still a farm on the site of the camouflaged airstrip. The country lane leading from Granville to this farm was marked. Chris estimated the position and drew a circle around it, carefully avoiding the Gerards’ land.
‘Send the bombers there, three miles or so to the south.
There are no ground defences — they don’t need them if no one knows that they are there. Everything is underground, though.’
Kendrick tapped the map. ‘We’ve not even had a whiff of this from our agents in France, Cwej.’
Chris was insistent. ‘I broke into the base on two occasions, sir. The Nazis had been testing Hugin and Munin there for months. You’ve received reports about mysterious flying objects. You know that Hartung is in the area.’
‘For God’s sake, Admiral, call Bomber Command before the raid on Guernsey,’ urged Reed.
Kendrick picked up the phone.
‘Open up the door,’ Forrester ordered.
The young private did as she asked. Roz followed Benny into the cell. The Doctor was sitting at the end of his bed, in the lotus position. He was stirring a mug of tea.
‘Look at that,’ said the Doctor crossly, holding up the spoon. ‘What use is only one spoon? Oh, Benny! You found my umbrella.’ He took it from her, hugging it joyfully.
‘Hartung is dead,’ said Benny softly. ‘I saw his body in the morgue. He died on March the second at St Jaonnet.’
‘When Hugin exploded,’ the Doctor muttered under his breath. ‘But...’
It was the first time that Roz could ever remember the Doctor looking surprised. It disconcerted her.
‘So this has all been for nothing, hasn’t it?’ Benny suggested.
The Doctor put down the mug. He was deep in thought.
‘Look at me, Doctor,’ Benny insisted. She pulled down her sunglasses. Her bruising was still horrific, and both Roz and the Doctor winced. ‘Hartung managed to blow himself up without any help from you.’
‘I thought you were safe,’ the Doctor said weakly.
‘Hang on, though, Bernice,’ Roz said. ‘Without the Doctor and Chris, the Germans would still have Munin and the plans to build more.’
‘Benny’s right,’ the Doctor said solemnly. ‘Hartung was unique. Fifteen years ahead of his time - he was the only person in the world who could have worked out how to build Munin from...’ The Doctor paused, before saying, ‘Without his genius, the Germans won’t be able to carry on with his work.
A brilliant mind...’ He trailed off sadly.
This Nazi was a friend of yours, was he?’ Roz joked.
The Doctor studiously turned his attention back to his mug of tea.
Benny’s eyes narrowed. ‘He was. It was you, wasn’t it?’
Roz frowned. ‘What are you talking about — the Doctor giving state secrets to the Nazis? He walked up to a top Nazi scientist and told him all about Chain Home, and how to reduce his plane’s RCS? Somehow I doubt it.’
Benny was unrepentant. ‘I’m right, aren’t I? You sneaky little git. There isn’t any supervillain, or alien incursion.
There’s no giant rubber hamster from before the dawn of time. It’s just you.’
‘It