1131hrs
Died – medical experiment
‘I’m deeply sorry, Aleta,’ O’Connor said, resting his hand on her shoulder.
‘Thank you. At least I know. It’s closure, in a way.’
O’Connor’s mind went back to the CIA archives and Father Hernandez, the CIA’s asset in San Pedro. ‘Was von Hei?en ever brought to trial, do you know?’ he asked finally.
Aleta shook her head. ‘Not as far as I’m aware.’
‘At the end of the war, the Vatican and the CIA worked together to arrange the escape of Nazi war criminals who were in a position to assist the fight against the rise of Communism. Some of them were disguised as priests and many were smuggled down the “Vatican Ratlines”, including Adolf Eichmann and Klaus Barbie.’
‘Yes. I wonder what Christ would have said about that?’ Aleta pondered again the hypocrisy of some of the church’s leaders.
O’Connor nodded, reflecting on his own bitter experiences at the hands of the Church. ‘I think if Christ had been around, he would’ve done a lot more than just upturn the money tables in the Vatican Bank. The thing is, von Hei?en was very close to Himmler. The CIA and the Vatican might have considered him a valuable asset.’
‘You think he might have been one of those who escaped?’
‘It’s possible. And a lot of them were smuggled out to Central and South America, including Guatemala. It’s only a hunch, but before I came to Vienna, I spent some time going through the CIA archives. The CIA smuggling operation was known as Operation Paperclip. The CIA had an asset on the shores of Lake Atitlan… a Father Hernandez.’
‘I remember him! He was a nasty piece of work. And now that you mention it, his Spanish was very good, but he had a thick European accent, which could easily have been German. You think…?’
O’Connor shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’ve seen no concrete evidence that von Hei?en and Hernandez are one and the same person. But from what you’ve told me, von Hei?en spent quite a bit of time in Guatemala before the war. If he was given a choice of countries in Central or South America, it would make sense to go back to a place he was familiar with.’
‘And if he did escape to Central America, he may have taken the original huun bark map with him. Which would have the precise bearings to the location at Lake Atitlan,’ Aleta mused.
‘Something to keep in the backs of our minds, anyway. Tomorrow we leave before dawn and head for Mauthausen, and we’ll take the car. They’ll be watching the trains.’