Ben Hope 05 - The Shadow Project Read Online Free PDF Page B

this?? Adam had asked Michio. Sometimes the most exciting theories were nothing more than a cool idea waiting to be destroyed by an ugly, inconvenient truth. But even as he?d asked the question, the sparkle in Michio?s eyes told him this was no fanciful notion.
    ?I?m more than sure. I know they could make it work.?
    ?But the implications of what you?re saying?? Julia cut in.
    ?Blows your mind, doesn?t it?? Michio had grinned. ?Get used to it. There?s more.?
    And there was. The more Adam and Julia listened to what Michio had to say, the more incredible it seemed. This was pure, beautiful, intoxicating science. Nothing to do with politics or ideology. Science the way it was meant to be. It was easy to forget that the man behind it all was an SS general, one of the minds behind the building of Hitler?s death camps and, in the closing days of World War II, one of the top five figures in the dying Third Reich. Adam had found himself almost obsessively consumed with the Kammler theories, as the months went on. The three of them had started meeting up whenever they could ? London, Tokyo, New York ? and staying in touch via email in between, mulling over ideas, postulating what-if scenarios. It had become a little gang of three, and they?d even made up a fun name for it. The Kammler Krew. Almost as much as his relationship with his boy Rory, it had been what had sustained Adam through the dark times of his break-up with Amy.
    About a year into their friendship, the trio had become a foursome with the arrival of Lenny Salt. Lenny liked to tell people that he was a physicist, but in fact he?d just been Julia?s lab assistant at Manchester, doing basic routine jobs that any decent first-year student could do. Adam hadn?t been too sure about his coming on board, and had thought that Julia was too soft in letting him join. She?d said that Lenny was deeply interested in the subject and that he?d be happy to do some research for them to help out. By the time they?d discovered he was unable to contribute much to their discussions except his own brand of conspiracy paranoia, it had been too late to say anything for fear of offending Julia.
    Lenny Salt?s arrival had cooled Adam?s enthusiasm for the Kammler Krew. After another year and a couple more meetings, he could feel himself drifting away from the group. By that time the whole smart house thing had begun to take over Adam?s life in any case; he?d been winding up his teaching career, heavily involved in buying the plot of land in Ireland and designing, and subsequently building, Teach na Loch . With all that going on, he?d had less and less time to keep in touch with his fellow Krew members.
    What nobody knew was that, though he?d slackened his involvement with the gang, Adam hadn?t lost his interest in the Kammler research. He?d still often sit up late into the night, day after day, working feverishly on his ideas, even after setting up in business and moving to Ireland. He had a bunch of notes on four CD-ROMS that he kept locked away in his safe at the house. Sometimes he?d think about it, when he was supposed to be working on his smart house business, and the possibilities would start to flood his mind all over again, coming so thick and fast he was almost choking.
    The worst thing had been having to keep quiet. This stuff was just too hot, and not just because it derived from the work of a Nazi. It was hot because of its incredible, almost limitless implications. Never mind making millions from smart homes. If anyone could make the Kammler theories work, they?d be talking billions. Money on tap.
    And maybe, Adam thought now as he drove, that was also the problem. With Julia and Michio dead and Lenny?s warnings still echoing in his ears, he could feel his heart beating and an icy chill run down his spine.
    He glanced in the rearview mirror. Had that black Mercedes been following him all the way from Dublin? He started to worry as he watched it, taking his eyes off the road so long that he