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He was smiling as he walked out of the room. It appeared the Americans wanted to make his Nazi past and alleged war crimes disappear, too. This was a good day to be alive.
Chapter 19
Heller was in full flight now, so there was no point in even trying to slow him down, never mind stop him. Telling his tale seemed to have given the old man a burst of energy - there was real fire in his eyes when he was explaining it all. Then again, Jason realized, this guy had lived through parts of history the rest of us can probably only imagine. Or have nightmares about. One or the other.
"At the end of World War II, there was a race to bring the best and brightest German minds back to the United States to help us with our weapons program. Remember that the Germans had been using their V2 rockets to attack the United Kingdom for several years before we'd even invaded Europe, so we knew they were in possession of some pretty advanced technology. 'Operation Paperclip' was a special mission to find and rescue these Nazi scientists before the Russians got their hands on them. We were lucky enough to grab most of the good stuff from their main facility in Peenemünde, and we also managed to capture the leader of their rocket program, Werner Von Braun. The Russians got their hands on some of the tech but none of the real 'know how'," Heller explained.
Most Americans had no idea that Werner von Braun was one of the brightest lights behind the Apollo space program, and the successful landing of humans on the surface of the Moon. He stood in the control room during major missions and launches, quietly watching his handiwork soaring up into the atmosphere. America could never have accepted that a Nazi helped put Americans in space, but Dr. Von Braun had been whitewashed of his Nazi past long before Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon.
Jason interrupted him, “So if everything was such a great success, what went wrong? I get a sense that it wasn’t exactly plain sailing dealing with these guys.”
Heller eyed him curiously before responding. Jason had obviously anticipated where this story was going, which was interesting to say the very least. "In the begi
Bits and pieces of Heller's story sounded familiar to Jason, especially the bit about that guy, von Braun, but places like Peenemünde were a total mystery to him. Jason found himself stu
Peenemünde was the research site where Werner von Braun and other Nazis used slave labor to develop the weapons of the "V" program. Hitler was relying on these rockets to not only attack and destroy the United Kingdom, but to destroy the United States, too. Germany had come very, very close to developing nuclear weapons, so combined with a V2 capable of hitting the United States, this would have changed the balance of the war. Fortunately, the invasion of Europe meant that Nazi Germany lacked the resources to develop these weapons any further than they did.
"It all sounds just a bit too 'out there' to be believable, doesn't it?"
Jason stared at Heller and nodded.
"I just can't get my head around the idea that the American people never noticed. Why did no one ever blab? Secrets like these are too hard to keep, Heller. Someone always talks."
"Dead men don't talk, Jason. Or dead women or children. There are no limits to what these people will do to stay in control. I'm effectively a dead man now, so they don't care what I do or say - it all goes to the grave with me. But they did kill thousands of Americans to keep their secrets safe, and to keep their hands on the reins. They'll kill as many others as they need to. Without hesitation.”
"It got so bad in the end that even a reformed Nazi like von Braun saw the danger of the military industrial complex and what it wanted. He saw that it could become far worse than the Nazi party ever was, and tried to quietly warn people about it. They managed to shut him up by threatening his family though, and then, by 1977, von Braun was dead, so they stopped caring about him, too. His daughter has tried to stir up some controversy since then, using different online video sites, but nothing really stuck. It all seemed just a bit too crazy, even for the conspiracy theorists.”
Heller stubbed out his cigarette, lit another, smiled at Jason, and said, "One for the road, eh?"
Chapter 20
Jason sat there, surrounded by the noise of the di
Jason looked over at Heller, who was obviously deep in thought, judging by how long the finger of ash had grown along his cigarette, and wondered how many other guys there were like him out there right now. Guys who looked like a harmless old man, but before he 'retired', was a trained killer who once helped assassinate a president. And God knows who else, for that matter! He was pretty sure that Heller had been elbow deep in blood and horror for most of his adult life. Little did he realize that he was closer to the truth than he could have possibly known.
Heller glanced over at Jason as the word "assassin" passed through his mind. It was like the old guy could hear what he was thinking, because he instantly looked up. Was that some kind of sixth sense Heller had? The old man was still quick when he needed to be.
"You're still not certain that I'm telling the truth, are you?"
"It's an awful lot to take in. No one would believe me either way, but like you said, that's the point in telling me - you get your 'last confession' and total deniability at the same time." Heller just smiled and nodded, and went back to thinking his thoughts.
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