Doctor Who_ Just War - Lance Parkin [47]
‘The fence is live, Mr Cwej, take my word for it, there is no need to check,’ the farmer grunted.
‘The base is behind that?’ Chris asked.
‘There is no base, Christophe. But the Germans have set up these defences. It is utterly forbidden to go in there. We’d better go back, there are foot patrols.’
Chris peered through the mesh, but could see only hills, grass and pine trees. Countryside, indistinguishable from the surroundings.
‘There aren’t any guard towers, though, there are no buildings at all. This is weird.’
‘I think they must have something underground,’ the farmer gestured uncertainly. ‘To be honest, I have no idea what it might be.’
‘Perhaps I could pretend to be a delivery man, or a...’
‘No one goes in there,’ the farmer said.
‘Cooks and cleaners must.’ Cwej had a wounded expression, but the farmer was telling the truth.
He continued. ‘No locals. Not even the Germans from Granville. The guards come direct from Germany, on three-month postings. They are barracked inside the fences; as I say, they must have some underground facility. Obviously, the guards do leave here, they frequent the bars and brothels in Granville. But even they do not seem to know what is going on in the base. They have been ordered not to say a word of what they do. Three German soldiers have been court-martialled for their indiscretion. One was sent back to Berlin simply for admitting that this fence exists. The Germans themselves bring supplies here, from the town.’
‘There must be clues. Are they army, Luftwaffe, SS?’
‘All three. No navy personnel. No civilians.’
‘That’s very odd. The structure of the German army is very rigid. Albert Speer claimed that the Nazi state is really feudal. The various leaders all jealousy guard their power and their personal interests. They very rarely co-operate with each other.’
‘If Speer said that, then he would have been shot!’
Gerard exclaimed.
‘Perhaps it was a different Albert Speer,’ Cwej said hurriedly. ‘Tell me anything else you know. They order food from the village? For how many people?’
‘Not many... one hundred, maybe?’ The farmer shrugged.
‘Tell me more about these lights.’
‘There is very little to tell. The fence was set up seven months ago on what used to be farmland. The owner, a coward, fled during the invasion. I have heard that Todt workers were used to build something within the perimeter.
The Germans used a group that had been building coastal defences, and made sure that none of the workers they selected spoke French. Those workers have not been seen since — that, my friend, is not unusual. Shortly afterwards, we began to see the lights.’
‘And you’ve seen them yourself?’
‘Yes. So has Monique. Never during the day, but they have appeared in, the early evening, it doesn’t have to be dark. The first time, I thought it was just a plane, but suddenly it vanished. Another time it was just travelling too fast to be a plane. I don’t mean just speed, but the manoeuvres it was making.’
‘When you say vanished — ’
‘I mean vanished. One moment it was in the sky, the next it just faded away,’ Monsieur Gerard said impatiently. Cwej seemed quite at ease standing next to this fence, but just its faint buzzing made the farmer feel restless. They could discuss all this back at the farm.
‘Is there any engine noise?’
‘None whatsoever. And no vapour trails.’
‘What?’
‘Vapour trails. Sorry, do I have the wrong word? I mean the exhaust fumes from the engines.’ Gerard looked around.
There wasn’t any sign of a patrol. To be honest, the Germans had built up a reputation for this place. No sane person would come anywhere near it. Why waste time and effort patrolling such a place?
‘What do you think the object was?’ Chris insisted.
‘I just have