“In the next hour, we are going to show you incontrovertible proof that John Franklin, Republican candidate for the post of president of the United States, is not the man he claims to be. He is, in fact, the grandson of the most evil man in history – Adolf Hitler. Irrefutable evidence has come to light …”

Hembury and Vargas sat on the sofa in Carter’s flat, glued to the live transmission. They had their laptops open and followed the development of the story online as the internet went into complete meltdown. Within two minutes the Google search engine showed over fifty references to the story that hadn’t existed moments earlier and that figure grew exponentially. Fifteen minutes into the broadcast, just as the first clip from the black-and-white 8mm footage was being shown, the figure had grown to over ten thousand. Ten minutes later, the story chain had exceeded a million and “Hitler” became the most searched for word in the world on both Google and Yahoo. Every news broadcaster across America followed the story and began ripping clips from the BBC broadcast, even though it was still transmitting. The story went global and was the lead on news networks in over one hundred and twenty countries.

At the precise moment Amanda went live, John Franklin was in his office at campaign headquarters, working on his latest rally speech. He was still basking in the afterglow of the press conference, which had triggered his personal ratings to soar. They were up by an incredible fifteen points. The Republican candidate now held a massive lead over the incumbent of the White House. His inbox was overflowing with supportive emails and the national press and television stations were lauding the generosity of his actions. In addition, the revelation of his father’s tragic suicide had gained him a huge sympathy boost from female voters. A nice bonus.

Even though his office door was closed, he could normally hear the general hubbub generated from over a hundred staffers working outside in the huge open-plan area. He suddenly realised all he could hear was his own thoughts and the distant murmur of a TV. Something was wrong and, as he stood up to investigate, he caught sight of one of the giant wall-mounted televisions in the distance. As he focused on the screen featuring two headshots, his brain felt an instant surge of panic and disbelief. He was looking at a picture of his own face next to one of Adolf Hitler.