Meyer-Hofmann AG

29

Heinz Hofmann was rarely scared of anything, but the thought of returning home to Jarvis’s wife filled him with a feeling he could not describe any other way. Jarvis had been making his life hell over the last two weeks. After the first incident, he had been forced to give orders that he should be restrained, were he to try to leave the club for any reason. That had happened on eight different occasions and put two guards in the hospital. Hofmann knew that Jarvis was now aware of his situation. He was also sure that Jarvis was in possession of his entire life history, at least as good as he could remember it himself. It infuriated Hofmann that his own flesh and blood could not understand and would not appreciate the opportunity he had been given. The Führer’s vision had been Hofmann’s life. It was a vision that had mobilised a nation—surely an IT manager from Yorkshire could be persuaded of its merits. Jarvis had become a constant presence, a shadow in the back of his mind, a misty figure in the room where he slept, watching him one moment and fighting him the next. Not since the speech in Marienplatz had he felt in control of this body. He had tried to make direct contact, submitting to Dr Ecker’s best effort at hypnotism in an attempt to reason with the man. He had hoped he may be able to communicate with him and persuade him of the cause. But Jarvis was having none of it. Since realising he could not escape Hofmann, he had taken to destroying Hofmann’s work. The job descriptions Hofmann had worked on all day for his new board members were gone in an instant. He was confined to the shadows to watch them go up in smoke. Hofmann was the one who must now adapt, learn the modern ways, use Jarvis’s knowledge to preserve his work in the future.

Fight fire with fire. If you want a fight, Jarvis, you will get one. I have been fighting all my life, on one level or another. You will capitulate or learn to regret it. Your wife should be perfect leverage.

Arriving at the Starnberg house, Hofmann was greeted by an enthusiastic Lisa.

“Darling, darling, I am so glad you are home!” Launching herself at him, she threw her arms around his neck, before kissing him passionately.

Hofmann caught her and, getting into the spirit, spun her around like a child.

“I am so sorry, my sweetie, it could not be helped. But I am back now.”

“That’s fine, let’s forget about it. Come in, I want to show you what I have done with the house.”

She rushed off, with Hofmann just a few short steps behind her. He could feel Jarvis prickle within him. An involuntary voyeur, bound to watch whatever show Hofmann decided to present him with. Hofmann smiled widely, allowing Lisa to believe the gesture was aimed at her. Jarvis knows differently, he thought.

Leading him into the house, she made a beeline for the stairs, taking them two at a time.

“Come on, darling. I want to christen every room in the house,” she called provocatively.

Hofmann stared at her up the stairs. He had not taken time to appreciate his new bride’s good looks. Watching her slim waist disappear onto the first-floor landing, he had to stop himself from rubbing his hands together.

I will fuck her, unless you submit to me! he shouted into the deepest recesses of his mind. Hofmann was not sure if he would get an answer, but it didn’t take long. His feet gave way, and he crashed to his knees on the hard marble steps. Gritting his teeth against the sharp pain in his shins, he continued on up the stairs.

You can’t stop me, you know that, but you can make it easier for her.

This time it felt as if his heart had briefly stopped as his ribcage contracted, robbing him of air as a sharp pain shot down his left arm.

Pulling himself back upright, he followed the sounds from the bedroom. When he entered the room, he found Lisa naked, sitting on the end of the bed with nothing but a gold-coloured velvet cushion in her lap to cover her vanity.

“Hey, big boy. Remember what you have been missing?” She was holding the cushion so that one corner was between her legs whilst the opposite corner rested between her breasts, holding them up like a support bra.

Hofmann stumbled, catching his fall before colliding with her on the bed whilst doing his best to make it look intentional.

“Whoa, easy, Tiger, there’s no rush. I’m not going anywhere!” This is your last chance, Jarvis.

This time his lower back seized, and a spasm of pain shot down his left leg.

Shaking it off, he pulled the cushion out of Lisa’s hands and pushed her firmly backwards onto the bed. The roughness of his action made her bounce on the soft mattress, and she let out a small scream.

“Michael, be careful!”

Hofmann ripped at his clothes, pulling down his shorts and trousers in one go, as if every second counted, which he honestly believed it did. Jarvis would rather kill them both than allow Hofmann to have his way with his wife. Jumping onto her, he ignored her protests, and gripping both legs under the knees, he pressed them up and apart, tilting her up towards his angry penis before ramming the member into her vagina.

The shock did not stop the pain of the sudden insertion, and Lisa stared up at her husband in complete disbelief.

“Stop, stop, you’re hurting me. Michael, stop!”

Hofmann ignored her, battering her as hard he could, each thrust rewarded with a howl of pain, each thrust a warning to Jarvis. He could see the look of fear and confusion on Lisa’s face.

“No, no, Michael, please. You’re hurting me!”

Hofmann just smiled at her, and letting his grip slide down to her ankles, he expertly flipped her onto her stomach before taking her from behind.

“Michael, Michael, what are you doing?”

Reaching up to the bed head, Lisa grabbed the metal decoration and pulled herself up and free of him, twisting herself back onto her bottom to face him. When the impact came, Hofmann’s head jolted to the side, and pain flooded his right cheek. But this time, it wasn’t Jarvis. Lisa was obviously left-handed. She had slapped him across the face with all the force she could muster. The pain shot up the side of his head, and he felt himself losing control. Michael jumped from the bed, landing intentionally on his damaged shins, the pain firmly closing the door on a Hofmann return. Lisa, surprised at the effect her slap had, saw her opportunity to escape him and bolted for the on-suite bathroom.

Michael watched her go, grief and anguish filling his chest.

“Lisa!” he cried after her.

Slamming and locking the bathroom door behind herself, Lisa slumped down on the floor behind the door. Pulling her knees up under her chin, she hugged her legs in search of comfort. The cold bathroom floor added to the chills that were pulsing through her bones, her skin was crawling, and she was unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Michael has never treated me like that before, not in all the time we have known each other. What has happened to him? What kind of a monster has he become? She could hear him on the other side of the door, and she realised she was scared, scared of her own husband.

Michael was at a loss as to what he should do. Lisa had no idea what was going on.

How can I convince her that it was not me who assaulted her? That bastard Hofmann has just torn my world apart, hurting the thing I hold most dear.

He knelt on the floor in front of the bathroom door. He could not hear her, but he could almost feel her torment, despair, and desperation.

“Lisa, that wasn’t me!” he said desperately.

He waited, not expecting a response. The door creaked without him moving, and he knew she was close. She was listening.

“I am going to try to explain. It’s crazy, and you probably won’t believe me.”

Lisa was still sat against the door, shaking from a combination of shock and cold. Michael’s voice was in her ears, but she was unable to interpret what he was saying. She wanted to be anywhere but where she was. In that house, in that country, in that life.

“I love you, Lisa. I would never hurt you—that wasn’t me.”

“You bastard!” she screamed out.

He has just raped me, body and soul. I can never forgive him for that.

“It wasn’t me! I swear, it wasn’t me!”

Silence.

“Lisa, I am going to try to explain what has happened to me. What has just happened to you? Please, just give me the chance, just listen.”

Lisa was numb.

Whatever his excuse, it’s over. He has destroyed everything I cared about.

She didn’t answer him.

“You know how I said I had been drugged? It wasn’t a drug, it was a virus. The people at Meyer-Hofmann infected me with a virus. ”What is he talking about? What kind of a game is this? He doesn’t honestly think he can win me back with some fairy tale, does he?

“Darling, they changed me. They made me into somebody else.” Michael had no idea how to explain what had happened to him. Taking his head in his hands, he pulled at his hair, hoping for inspiration. “The Underground, the speech, that wasn’t me. You know it wasn’t!”

Lifting her head from her knees, she listened. He felt the door move on his back as her head leant back against it.

“They are Nazis, all of them, Reichard, Von Klitzing, everyone. My grandfather was one of them. That’s why I am here—why they lured us here with the job offer—they think they can bring him back through me.”

What kind of bollocks was this? “Fuck off, Michael!” The words exploded from her mouth, shocking both of them.

“I know, I know, Lisa. It sounds ridiculous, but it is true. They think they can bring him back by giving me his memories. By blocking my own. You have no idea what it is like when you can’t remember who you are. When you look in the mirror and see a stranger.”

She could hear the fear in his voice. She had heard it before, when they first met, but she had not heard it for a long time.

“He was some kind of industrialist, and he knew Hitler personally. His name was Heinz Hofmann. He was the Hofmann in Meyer-Hofmann.”

She shook her head and sniffed the tears and mucus out of her nose. Moving to the sink, she stood up and spat the substance into the basin. Turning on the tap, she bathed her face in the cold water, rinsing her mouth out, spitting the bad taste into the white porcelain bowl. The pain between her legs was a constant reminder of what had just happened. Looking in the mirror, she made her decision.

I am leaving him. She didn’t verbalise it, but she had made her mind up.

Michael was motivated by the sounds from behind the door and waited for them to die down, before continuing.

“He is a monster, Lisa. He took control of me at the station. It was him talking German at the Town Hall. It wasn’t me, how could it have been? You know I don’t speak German!” It made no sense, what was he saying?

“Lisa, they are all related to people who were in Hitler’s inner circle. The Company was set up to continue their work after the war. They want it to start all over again.”

He sounds so convincing; it doesn’t sound like he’s lying. But what he is saying is rubbish! She shook her head and stared at her reflection in the mirror, hoping for some guidance.

Michael stood and stretched. It was going better than he had hoped. He was now sure that she was listening. Moving back to the door, he put his hands flat on the door panels. In the bathroom, Lisa wrapped a towel around herself and sat on the side of the bath. Staring in the mirror at the streaks of mascara slashed across her face, she could not believe this was happening.

What was he telling her? It could not be true.

“They found a way to make people remember what their fathers or grandfathers had done in their lives. It is like having a past life experience, except it’s as if you were there. It’s mad. I can remember his mother, his first school, his girlfriends, his wife, his affairs. I can remember the way he felt, his beliefs, his anger. Lisa, I can remember my grandmother—he raped her. She was just a girl, and he took her as if she were a vessel for his amusement.”

Again, she shook her head.

“Sometimes there is no me. I become lost in him, in his memories, in his thoughts. And when that happens, I lose control. He takes over. I can watch, but I can’t stop him. Then a while ago, in the apartment, something changed. He got a headache, and suddenly, I remembered who I was. Can you remember, maybe? When I fell in the kitchen? When I told you they had drugged me? I got control back for a few minutes. When you hit him, hit me in the bedroom, it helped me to take control back from him—it has something to do with the pain! Lisa, you have to believe me. I would never hurt you. I love you. Please, Lisa, you know that it’s true!”

Lisa had once read a book about schizophrenia, and this sounded a lot like it.

Michael is a schizophrenic, she realised in horror.

“Michael, I think you are ill. You need help. You need to get help, Michael.”

“No, Lisa, you’re wrong. There is nothing wrong with me; it’s them. They have done this to me.”

Michael held his head in his hands. He had no right to hope that she would believe him.

Would I have believed her, if our roles were reversed? He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself, only to feel the spectre of Hofmann creeping up on him again.

Moving quickly across the room, he picked up the glass from the bedside table and hurled it against the wall. The glass shattered on impact, the shards creating a firework of reflected light, falling to the floor, spent and broken. Swiftly picking up the largest splinter from the floor, Michael pressed the point into the palm of his hand, gripping it tightly.

“Michael! What was that? Are you all right?”

Michael fought the pain, but knew it to be a necessary evil.

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry. It was him, he’s fighting me. I had to stop him. The only way I have found is pain. When I am in pain, I become more lucid, and I can keep the upper hand. Lisa, you do believe me, don’t you? Please!”

She thought about it for a minute. What if he has gone mad? What if he is just waiting for me to open the door so that he can stab me with that glass? But what if he is telling the truth? I should give him a chance? I owe him that much, don’t I? It’s a leap of faith, but I have to trust him one last time. She turned the key, the lock clicked, and she prepared herself for the worst.

The door opened slowly around a creaky hinge, to reveal the figure of a man standing in the middle of the bedroom. Lisa stood in the rose glow of the bathroom light, tears running down her cheeks, the top of the white towel she had wrapped around herself stained by makeup. He had never been so happy to see her in his life. Taking a step back to give her some space, he hoped to convince her she had nothing to fear. She looked down at his hand and gasped at the blood trickling through his fingers and dropping onto the cream bedroom carpet, a small puddle of red. He followed her gaze, looking to the floor, but seemingly unconcerned.

I know this man; this man is safe. She had no idea how she knew this, but her body was already relaxing. An involuntary reaction to the man she loved.

“It’s nothing to worry about, darling. It’s how I keep control, the pain helps me.” He said it as if it made total sense.

Staring from him to the shattered glass on the floor, to the messed up bed, and back to Michael, she realised she had to make her choice.

This could be the most dangerous decision of her life. If she was wrong, it could very well cost her, her life.

But without him, I have no life!

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

As she entered the room, Michael moved carefully past her and into the bathroom. Taking a hand towel, he wrapped it tightly around his hand. The tip of the glass shard moved deeper into his fleshy palm, and he welcomed the new burst of pain with a grimace and a grin into the bathroom mirror. When he turned back towards the bedroom, Lisa was sat on the end of the bed. The tears had stopped, and she was waiting for him.

“Lisa, we have to stop them. These are evil men, and they are going to become more proactive if I allow Hofmann to join them. He is the catalyst. I have to find a way of destroying him.”

“And what if you can’t?”

Michael looked her straight in the eyes, his resolution plain to see.

“I can—”

“No, Michael! There has to be another way.”

“There probably is, darling, but I won’t let him use me. Lisa, we have to stop them all, not just Hofmann. Ecker, Reichard and von Klitzing are treating their sons with the virus right now. In a week’s time we will have another three lunatics to deal with.”

“Maybe it won’t work; it didn’t work with you.” Her voice lacked conviction.

“They have so many plans, Lisa. They are moving into politics. It sounds like they already have hundreds of politicians in their pockets. They are going to manipulate the stock markets, bankrupt banks. It will create unrest throughout Europe.”

“Can they do that?”

“They have so much money, so much influence, who knows what they are capable of? They have been getting away with murder for months, probably years.”

“What murder? Who have they murdered? Michael, you’re scaring me!”

“They have been murdering people in their companies, managers.”

“What? Why?”

“They don’t fit, they are not of Arian descent. Lisa, they are killing women and children. Von Klitzing is in charge of it, and I am sure that’s only the tip of the iceberg. There are things going on that they have not told Hofmann about yet, I am sure of it.”

“What will you do? We must go to the police!”

“But what would I tell them? No, we need some proof first. I am going to go back. If I pretend I am Hofmann, I can try to find out exactly what they are planning, get some of their papers, some evidence out of that building.”

“Michael, there was a policeman, here at the house!”

“What, what did he want?”

“He wanted to talk to Britt Petersen, but it was about Meyer-Hofmann. He didn’t want me to tell you because you worked for them. Maybe the police are onto them?”

“Maybe, maybe. But I still want to get some proof before we go to them. Have you got his number?”

“Oh… no. I gave it to Mrs Petersen. She was here the other day, but I remember his name. Müller, Müller was his name, and he was CID, a detective. It shouldn’t be hard to find him.”

“Good. That’s great, Lisa! You are the best. Thank you, darling, thank you for believing me!”

He moved towards her, cautiously at first, but as he saw her move towards him, he almost jumped on her.

For a second, Lisa thought she had been tricked. He was on her so quickly, but now, in his arms, she could feel his warmth, his love, and she melted into him.

“I could try to find out if there has been any wrongdoing in the books. If they are willing to kill people, you can bet that their accounts are full of illegal dealings.”

Letting her go a little so that he could see her face, Michael looked down at her.

“Wouldn’t PricewaterhouseCoopers notice?”

“Not if they had a man working for them. A man like Steve Walker.”

Michael looked at his wife and smiled. It was the first time he’d had a reason to smile for long time. He knew he had an ally, a strong and intelligent ally.