and even G.o.ddard swore he didn't know anything about him, other

than the fact that he was extraordinarily knowledgeable about physics

and aeronautics, just turned up at the ranch one day, showed G.o.ddard

some of his own drawings, and then asked if he could help him with

the rocket project. As for Wilson's journalist friend, Gladys Kinder '

He couldn't avoid the name, and it brought back all his guilt. ' even

though she was his mistress during that six months, she learned only

that he had an engineering background and loathed the US government

for reasons that he never explained. She also learned, just before

Wilson's abrupt departure, that he intended leaving the United States

for good and going to a country where people like him and G.o.ddard

would be appreciated, instead of being treated as cranks.' There was

more loud hammering from outside and General Taylor, after wincing,

said, 'I can't stand this G.o.dd.a.m.ned noise, Mike. Do you fancy a walk?' 'Sure,' Bradley said, feeling trapped with his recollections of

Gladys and glad to escape. 'Why not?'

Leaving the office, they strolled outside where the noise of the

workers was even louder and the sun shone over the flat green fields.

Relieved to feel the fresh air, Bradley followed the general away from

the skeletal buildings and their many workers, down toward the banks

of the Potomac River.

'So where do you think your mysterious genius, this Mr Wilson,

went?' General Taylor asked, striding across the gra.s.s and glancing

keenly around him.

'A lot of the German engineers,' Bradley said, 'including Wernher

von Braun, revere G.o.ddard and are known to have based their work on

his ideas. Our mysterious John Wilson would certainly have known

that and would also have known that while here, in the United States,

G.o.ddard's theories were being treated with contempt, Germany was

spending fortunes on rocket research that was, by and large, based on

his work.'

'So you think this Wilson went to Germany?'

'I don't think it I know it. I checked yesterday with the

Immigration Department and learned that one John Wilson left this

country on January 20, 1931, that he stayed in London for a few weeks