An ambulance arrived just after lunch. Two men dressed in white overalls walked towards towards Olga.
‘Sorry, luv but they’ve found four bodies in there,’ said one of the men. ‘Seems they were together in the back kitchen when it happened. Wouldn’t have known a thing about it by all accounts.’
Olga put her hand to her mouth as they carried the first body to the ambulance. It was one of the children she presumed as the ambulance man seemed to be able to carry the cotton shroud with ease. Tears streamed down her face as the final body was carefully placed in the back of the ambulance. She felt an arm around her shoulders as Florrie returned with a mug of hot tea.
‘Come on let’s go home shall we.’
‘No, I want to see all of it, their home, their clothes, the children’s toys, feel their presence. I need to touch their life, otherwise they’ll be no closure for me.’
They both sat on the pavement and looked on as the second lorry of debris left to be joined by another. As dusk was approaching, the site of Number 14 Lansdown Road was level. Personal items broken, dirty and scorched had been piled in the back garden at Olga’s request. She walked towards them. Olga blinked out of her reverie as there was a knock on the cottage door. She walked through the sitting room and opened it.
‘Hope I’m not intruding, Olga,’ said Rees, the landlord of the only pub for miles. Amroth’s New Inn was the focal point of the little village and Rees was not only the pub’s owner but also Olga’s landlord. He was the one who’d taken her and Avyar into the community and given her a reason to live. Whilst there was nothing outwardly amorous in their relationship, they both needed each other’s company. She had no-one save Avyar and he’d been left with two young children when his wife had died several years ago. Being a tight knit Welsh community, it wouldn’t sit well if they were seen together too often and too quickly. They often joked it would take ten years for the locals to accept that they could spend time alone with each other. They had their own chaperons, the whole village of Amroth. They often laughed at the absurdity of it all.
‘No, not really. I was just looking over the green fields thinking about my first days in London. It makes me so sad, occasionally.’ She rested her head on his chest and he put his arms around her shoulders.
‘I know he said. You’ll never forget and you shouldn’t. That’s what life is about. I find myself, at the most odd moments, thinking of Rita until the girls tell me not to look so sad.’
Olga pulled back and wiped a tear. Rees was tall, well built with a dark complexion. Olga always jibbed him about his complete lack of dress sense. He seemed to be colour blind, but gradually she’d taken over dealing with his wardrobe and sometimes now he looked almost elegant but not quite.
‘Look. Milly’s said she can’t come in tonight. Can you fill in?’
Olga nodded. They both knew that for tonight at least they could enjoy each other’s company after closing. Early on, he’d asked her to work at the pub whilst Avyar was a weekly boarder at a little preparatory school down the road in Begelly. The three children played together whenever they could at weekends and in the holidays and Olga did the babysitting for Rees’ girls. None of the villagers would see anything wrong with that.
One weekend, Avyar stood in the kitchen uneasily moving on the balls of his feet uncertain what to say. He blurted out unexpectedly.
‘We were learning about the war, Mum, at school on Friday.’
‘What part, darling?’
‘Some nasty things that happened in Germany. My friend, Andrew said he was a Jew and two other kids said they were. Am I a Jew, aren’t I, Mum?’
Olga knew the day would arrive soon and here it was. She and Rees had debated this very moment in private. Olga had never had the courage to say anything save that she had escape Nazi Germany to save him and that one day he’d be reunited with his real Mum and Dad. Her enquiries after the war as to their whereabouts had always stopped at a dead end of silence.
‘Come and sit down, here next to me on the sofa.’ She took his hand and clasped her other hand over his.
‘Yes, Avyar. You are Jewish.’ She told him that his real mother and father had given him into her care as they knew she was able to get out of Germany and that they were about to be arrested by the Gestapo and transported to the East. She had tried to find out what had happened to them, but nobody knew. She told him how she had smuggled him out in a suitcase.
‘That is amazing. I was quiet for so long.’ He laughed at the thought.
‘When we arrived in London, our whole world was turned upside down again. I’d lost my brother and his family, a home in London. I decided that with V1 and V2 rockets still falling, we’d be better off here away from it all.’
‘Tell me about my other mum. What is she like?’
‘I used to babysit you whilst they were working. They’d bring you into my apartment before going to work. I loved holding you, feeding you, cuddling you. Your mother was tall with blond hair and deep blue eyes. She was always smiling and laughing.’ Olga didn’t mention the tensions that all Jewish families felt during those months. Rumours of transportation spread, no-one was safe. Avyar needed to hang onto good memories at this age.
‘What about Dad?’
‘Your father worked at the Lowenbrau factory as a manager. He was dark with short cut hair. Strongly built, towered over me like a giant. I used sometimes to think I must be a dwarf,’ Olga quipped. No mention that he lost every vestige of self-respect when another non-Jew, who was ill-equipped for his job, took over and he was reduced to working with is hands and his strength, that would be for another time.
Avyar listened intently as Olga related stories about life in Munich leading up to their escape. Olga kept tightly hold of his hand, looking into his young eyes, wondering what impressions were forming behind them in his mind.
There was a knock on the door and in strode Catherine and Ruth, Rees’ daughters.
‘Come on, Avy, you’re late. You haven’t even got your coat on. Sorry, Mrs Smit we are meant to be in Saundersfoot. Going to the fayre.’
After they’d left, she hurried to the New Inn fastening her coat as she ran along the road, tears were beginning stream down her face. Rees was holding forth behind the bar as to why England had managed to beat Wales at the Arms Park in Cardiff. She heard him blaming the referee.
‘Stupid idiot didn’t see that forward pass.’
‘Olga. You look awful. What’s the matter?’ Olga burst into uncontrollable sobbing.
‘Sorry lads. Give me a minute.’ They disappeared into the back room behind the bar.
‘Oh, Rees. I’ve just had THAT conversation with Avyar. I feel such a fraud. I didn’t tell him everything. I am ashamed at my own weakness.’
Rees took her into his arms and stoked her hair.
‘Olga, you have done your best for Avyar. You have asked the right people. The Foreign Office letter says what we all now know, behind the Iron Curtain there are no official figures for survivors and the Nazi roll call of inmates was not wholly accurate in the last years as the killings reached their peak.’
Olga looked into his eyes.
‘You think they escaped and ended up being deported to the Soviet Union or did they end up in the gas chambers like the other millions.’ She pulled away from Rees.
‘All I’m saying is you cannot do anymore. If you want my opinion. I think they are dead. Wait until Avyar raises the subject again.’
‘What and tell him another story?’
‘No. Look, darling.’ He took her hands again. ‘Tell him about your enquiries. Show him the letters. He’ll understand.’ Rees pulled her to him.
In August 1959, Avyar Smit entered senior school. Olga held back her tears as she waved goodbye at the railway station in Carmarthen.
‘He’ll be back soon. Half term is only a few weeks away,’ comforted Rees.
‘I know but the house will seem so quiet without him even though he seems to be out most of the time. I blame
your girls.’ Olga smiled at Rees took his hand and walked away from the station.
Before Avyar left, he’d said, ‘Mum why don’t you and Rees get married. I like him a lot. He’d look after you now I’m going to be away for the next few years and you need a man about the house. Catherine and Ruth would love it too. Well?’
‘You three have been plotting, have you?’
‘No, but you have to admit it’s a good idea.’
Rees wasn’t the sort of man to raise the subject. He thought too much about what Olga had suffered and what effect it would have on his girls. It just didn’t seem right to ask. He wanted to but……
Chapter 26
London 1950
Solomon Isaacs knocked on the door.
‘Come.’
A huge smile crossed Captain Campbell’s face.
‘Captain.’ Solomon proffered is hand.
‘No longer, Captain. Just plain old Mister, now’
‘How are you, Solomon?’
‘I’m really very good, thank you.’
‘And Nadine and the baby? Bring any pictures?’
‘Nadine and Stewart are both great,’ said Solomon handing over the latest photograph.
‘He’s the splitting image of you, Solomon. It’s unreal. Same bone structure, underneath the puppy fat. Same eyes, hair colour. An exact copy.’
Solomon laughed. ‘Everyone we meet says the same thing.’
Solomon explained how he had settled into life in London. His mother was a supply teacher in Wandsworth and his father was busy making suites for a tailor in Savil Row.
‘Tell me about you research? It’s ok I am cleared to the highest level so anything we discuss stays in this room.’
Solomon began.
‘So, let me tell you what I have been researching into as part of my Doctorate. There is a great deal of research using animals, so the technology does exist to remove cells and digging deeper into their constituent parts. My theory is that if you take a donor egg and remove the nucleus, then with another whole nucleus fuse the two using electric pulses. Once this is complete you need to implant the fused cell into a donor female and then allow the natural gestation period to take place.’
‘That’s the theory, all I have to do is develop the hardware and the technique. There are some immense possibilities. Solving infertility, producing animals that give us more food and less fat, engineering crops that are immune to diseases and so on.’
Solomon stopped abruptly and looked at Campbell whose smiling face took him by surprise.
‘Well, I hear your command of English is now impeccable, so the time has come for you to put your research here in London and your life’s ambition to the test.’
Campbell knew already much about Solomon’s work but just listened intently to what he described and when he’d finished.
‘I have secured a special clearance for you to work in a top-secret research programme in the beautiful Wiltshire countryside at a government scientific establishment, Porton Down.’ He passed across the table a document for Solomon to sign. Official Secrets Act stuff. You’d better read it. Once in you are never out.’
Solomon scanned the pages and then signed.
Campbell then went on to describe some of the work about chemical weapons and research to eradicate some world health diseases being carried out at Porton. However, Solomon, the government want us to take the lead in cloning technology. They have given you a team of specialists. I will introduce them to you when we meet here next week. Would Wednesday suit? Say eleven in the morning?’
Solomon nodded, surprised by the turn of events.
‘But what about my lab, notes, instruments .......’
Campbell stopped him with a raised hand.
‘All seen to. No need to worry. It will be waiting for you at Portion. You will have a brand new facility that was finished last week. Final security checks are being carried out as we speak.’
Chapter 27
London 1950
Doctor Solomon Isaacs knocked on Campbell’s door at precisely eleven.
‘Come in. Ah, Solomon, meet your ‘family’ as I like to call them.’
The four others were all standing.
‘This is Dr Raymond Philp. Raymond’s special talent was born out of his research as a microbiologist. Last year at Cambridge, he has recently been able to create an enucleated egg. The one you were talking about last week a cell without a nucleus.’ Solomon shook hands and Philp sat down
Campbell then introduced Solomon to Jeff Andrews. A very tall lanky man.
‘Jeff will be your engineering genius. You tell him what you need that hasn’t been invented and he will invent it. Quite brilliant. You know the new handheld calculation devises. Jeff invented some of the ‘bits in the middle'. Sorry, Jeff, bit crude to say the least.’
Jeff smiled and leaned forward to take Solomon’s hand.
Turning to the small balding man, Campbell introduced him as Alfred Maidstone.
‘Alfred is here to see that once you have secured a technical problem breakthrough, the necessary protection from worldwide patents is undertaken. He is a genius at technical drawings and description. He will assist Jeff if anything is to be developed for your use inside the facility. That needs to be added.’
‘Finally, may I introduce Simon Gray. He spends his days bent over his microscope searching for each individual’s built in programming cells. I think that sums it up, Simon?. He has just completed his PhD at Cambridge under the tutelage of Raymond. Something to do with profiling that I am told will replace fingerprinting in due course. Isn’t that so Simon?’
‘There we have it, your team. They know all about you too!’
Solomon took a position in front of them as coffee was served.
‘Well, Stuart told me last week that my English had improved. I hope that it will be good enough so that we don’t ever misunderstand each other. My dad, who is a wonderful tailor, said to me once, and it has always kept me in good stead, ‘measure twice, cut once’. That is my scientific yardstick, metaphorically speaking, and I am sure it is and will be yours. So, let our quest begin.’
Chapter 28
London 1954
Jonny started to read the recollections of Solomon based on the papers he’d managed to obtain from his defence lawyer, Sir Julian Greenage, at the time.
R v Solomon Isaacs
Sir Ronald Buller had not long been appointed Attorney General for England & Wales. He was educated at Eton College and Oxford University. Now, over-weight and aging gracefully under his wig, his hair was thinning and turning white. He stood slightly stooped but with an overpowering demeanour that came from his aristocratic background. He toned this down by black rimmed glasses that he kept taking off and putting on for effect.
‘If it pleases your Honour, I represent the Crown and the Defendant, Solomon Isaacs, represented by my learned friend, Sir Julian Greenage. The Defendant is charged with offences under the Official Secrets Act 1911. It will be revealed that he did deliberately and with considerable forethought stole confidential papers and give them to a member of the public.’
He turned to the jury and walked over to them, pondering purposefully allowing his slightly podgy hands to pull at the outer lapels of his gown.
‘Each of you have probably read or heard about the allegations made by Mr Wightman in his newspaper about the untimely death of Private Osborne and the claims made against Officers of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence, but I ask you to put this behind you and concentrate solely on what you hear in this courtroom.’ he continued.
‘In England and Wales jury trials are used for criminal cases. Here we are dealing with a very serious criminal case. The twelve of you are here to uphold the right of the accused to a fair trial. The right to a jury trial that has been enshrined in English law since Magna Carta in 1215. I tell you this because this court would normally be a sea of many faces, but as you can see there are not many of us here and the court recorder will
hand the transcript of these proceedings to the Ministry of Defence for safekeeping afterwards. You will also have been asked to sign an acknowledgement that you are bound by the Official Secrets Act. You will hear over the next few days, details of work that is carried out by our scientists for the security of this nation in these troubled times. You are not here to judge the right or wrong of these matters. You are here to decide whether and only whether the Defendant is guilty as charged. My learned friend will no doubt seek to persuade you that there are other more important issues at stake,but let me assure you the law is very clear and the Defendant broke that law.’
The slight bespectacled figure of Sir Julian Greenage stood. He was many years Buller’s junior, but not all of it showed hidden under the weight of his wig which he straightened. His hands splayed firmly on the desk in front of him. He looked towards the jury. His voice for a slight man carried effortlessly across the courtroom towards them.
‘I am here today to tell you that there is a defence in English law which I will call necessity of circumstances and coupled with that whether disclosure was necessary in the public interest so as to avert damage to life or limb. I will go further in this case and suggest on the evidence you will hear that my client was exposing serious and pervasive illegality amongst some of his colleagues and members of the armed forces.’
If Buller had taken exception to slights being made to his country’s integrity, he didn’t show it as he stood to call his first witness. It was obvious that Greenage knew him of old. It was interesting watching him trying to provoke the old man. Sometimes Buller was downright rude. Greenage left him to shout and bluster. The jury looked sometimes intimidated by Buller, yet his disagreeableness appeared to strike a cord with them. They were trying a case of what he referred to as ‘heresy’ and he represented the Crown.
‘Commander Yardley, you’ve told the jury what to your knowledge happened in this case and you referred to the documents that they now in front of them, but can you answer me this. If you had been the Defendant what would you have done?’
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