Heroes by David Hagberg (reading cloud ebooks TXT) 📗

provide a panoramic view of the entire valley.

Back in Oak Ridge he had received several sets of instructions for the time when he would come here. First on his list of priorities was to secure photographs of the entire installation, and then to shoot close-ups of its individual components. Its buildings; its machinery, if possible; its electrical generating facilities; its personnel—anything, in short, that might help the Reich’s scientists to duplicate the effort would be useful.

The main road was just below him, and he could see the front gate from where he lay on the rock outcropping.

Several cars and two large trucks were stopped at the gate.

Armed guards were checking them, searching each vehicle before it came in.

As he watched, a car approached from the inside. The driver and passenger were made to get out, and they, as well as their car, were searched before they were allowed to proceed.

Schey lowered his binoculars and rubbed his eyes. Security was very tight. He suspected there would be high density perimeter patrols, probably outside the fence as well as inside. There might be other security measures, too. He would have to use a great deal of caution in his approach.

He eased down from the ridge to his horse, where he took another drink from his canteen. He ate one of the sandwiches that Eva had packed for him.

There was no question about him returning before dark. This was a marvelous opportunity that he simply could not afford to ignore. He would remain until after sunset, and then he would make his way down and, if possible, into the installation so that he could take the close-up photographs his people wanted.

While he waited for darkness, he fed and watered his horse, finished the sandwiches, and loaded a roll of high speed night film into his 16 mm camera.

The moon had not come up yet, but the bright stars directly overhead would provide plenty of light. Below, the installation was well lit, which would work to his advantage, he figured.

Those inside or anywhere near the lights would have no night vision. They would not be able to see much of anything out in the darkness.

Schey made his way down the hill, being extremely careful not to dislodge any stones that might give him away.

He angled toward the north, away from the main gate, and when he came to within fifteen yards of the tall, barbed wire topped steel mesh fence, he stopped and lay flat on his stomach.

There would be guards coming along. He had to know when and in what fashion they would pass.

Within minutes of the time he had settled down, a jeep slowly ground its way up the hill, along the outside of the fence, two guards plus the driver. All armed.

They stopped just down the fence line from where Schey lay.

He held his breath as a spotlight came on and flashed across the hillside just above him.

He looked over his shoulder, but there was nothing to be seen up there other than the rocks and brush. His horse was still concealed behind the ridge. The jeep would not be able to make it up that far, and he did not think the guards would walk up. It was their duty to guard the laboratory, not to explore the countryside.

The spotlight was doused, and the jeep continued along the fence, passing below where Schey lay, and then disappeared into the distance.

Inside the compound there was a lot of activity around what he took to be a dining hall. The trucks that he had watched come through the gate earlier were parked in what appeared to be a supply depot. Several men in uniform were busy unloading big crates.

Electrical wires seemed to run everywhere. From somewhere [ across the installation Schey could hear the sounds of large diesel [ generators turning over. Whatever they were doing in their laboratories, they were using a lot of electricity.

To the far southwest of where he lay was the housing section, lights in nearly every window.

| It made him think about Dresden and Berlin and other German cities being bombed day and night by the Allies. Those cities , were not lit, save for the fires that, he read, raged almost | continuously.

Here, there was no fear of a bombing raid. Here, they were secure. Perhaps smug in their relative safety?

In one respect Schey had the terrible urge to enter the compound and wreak havoc. Blow up the generators. Locate and identify the laboratories and destroy them. Find the key scientists and kill them.

Yet another part of him, a saner, more rational part of him that surfaced these days whenever he begun to think about Katy and about his son, urged him to turn around and leave. He should take Eva’s suggestion and get down to Mexico City, only a hundred miles or so from here—not so far, actually—and sit out the remainder of this terrible war that could only end in victory for the Americans.

Twenty minutes after the jeep had passed, two soldiers on foot marched down a path on the inside of the fence. They were talking. Schey could hear their voices, but he could not make out what they were saying. Gradually they disappeared into the darkness.

He made his way down to the tall fence, scrambled to the top, threw his jacket over the three strands of barbed wire, and crossed over, disentangling his jacket, then dropped down to the path.

For a moment or two he remained there, listening for any signs of an alarm, but all was quiet except for someone who beeped a car horn somewhere within the installation.

He scrambled away from the fence, off the path, down into a ditch and along it for several hundred yards until he came to the electrical distribution center.

Schey lay upon the bank of the ditch and took two photographs of the electrical equipment, then continued along the ditch, which was used to control flash flooding during the infrequent but very heavy rainstorms.

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