The Maya Codex Read Online Free PDF Page B

swayed to one side. He bellowed in pain as he connected with the bedhead, falling back onto the pillows.
    ‘I wouldn’t try that again, if I were you, Hauptsturmführer,’ she warned, picking up the buzzer from the bedside table. ‘I might have been forced on to this program, but this alarm is connected to the Security Office, and unless you behave, I will call them. Now,’ she said, raising one eyebrow, ‘are you going to get that thing up? Perhaps you’d like another whisky before you try?’
    Von Heißen sat back against the pillows and nursed his hand, his bloodshot eyes blazing with anger. Katrina got out of bed and walked over to the sideboard. ‘Down this,’ she said, returning with a large tumbler of Chivas, ‘it’ll put you in the mood.’
    Von Heißen glared at her, drained the tumbler in one gulp and handed it back. Katrina refilled it and wandered over to the gramophone player. She took her time sorting through the records, finally choosing some soft music. She turned to find von Heißen lolling against the pillows, his eyes half closed.

    The next morning, Katrina eased herself out of bed, dressed quietly and went for a long walk. Depressed and trapped, she followed the narrow path up into hills shrouded in mist.

    It was getting on towards midmorning when von Heißen’s driver reached Kassel, where the Brothers Grimm had lived and written their fairytales. They turned east towards the Alme Valley, but von Heißen didn’t notice. He was still seething over the night before, the details of which he recorded meticulously in his diary. Less than an hour later, the big Mercedes came to a halt in the stone courtyard of Wewelsburg Castle. Von Heißen alighted and stretched. From the hillside above the village of Wewelsburg, the castle had views over the Westphalian forests and the rolling farmland dotted with small stone cottages. Von Heißen stared up at the castle’s massive stone walls. It had been built on a rare, triangular footprint and three towers commanded each apex.
    ‘Heil Hitler, Herr Hauptsturmführer!’ The young SS lieutenant snapped to attention and gave the Nazi salute. ‘I am Untersturmführer Bosch. Welcome to Wewelsburg.’ Leutnant Bosch was a centimetre taller than von Heißen, and his light-brown hair was thick and wavy, brushed straight back off his broad forehead. His deep-blue eyes held an intensity of purpose.
    ‘I’ve been assigned to look after you while you’re here, Herr Hauptsturmführer,’ Bosch said. ‘Professor Weizman is already in his room and will join you and the Reichsführer for lunch. Please follow me and I’ll take you down to the hall where Reichsführer Himmler is addressing the officers.’
    Bosch led the way across a cobblestone bridge. The stone arch spanned the castle’s protective moat. Von Heißen followed him through the huge arched wooden doors and down a flight of heavy stone steps. Wrought-iron lamps threw an eerie glow against the solid rock walls.
    ‘This is the Grail room,’ Bosch explained, as they passed a chamber containing a huge, illuminated rock crystal representing the Holy Grail. ‘And in here,’ he said, lowering his voice, ‘is the Obergruppen-führer Hall.’ Bosch eased the heavy wooden door open and led the way to the rear of a hall that was decorated with ancient runes. The inner walls and arches were supported by stone columns and a large black iron wheel hung from the ceiling. It supported seven lamps, and a mirror image of the wheel had been reproduced on the marble floor. About fifty SS officers, all dressed in their black uniforms, were listening intently to their Reichsführer.
    ‘Breeding will be the basis of our success, gentlemen. In animal breeding one has known it for a long time. If anyone wants to buy a horse, he will sensibly take advice from someone who is a horse expert.’ Himmler had a high-pitched voice, but, like Hitler, his oratory was charged with a hypnotic power. ‘The best bloodlines will