Looking expensive, Ulric Adler stretched back in business class on his flight from Washington D.C. to Nuremberg. He intended to catch up on paperwork on the nine hour flight and prepare his speech to give at the convention he would be attending. He was a strikingly handsome man in his late forties. Some of his party had described him as the blond J.F.K.—charismatic, charming, witty and insightful, and Adler knew exactly how and when to play those cards.
He put in the code to spring open the locks of his briefcase and pulled out an envelope. Ensuring no one was in reading distance of his work, he opened the envelope and pulled out a dossier about the convention he was attending. He found the particular paper he was after; a strategy paper prepared for him by the CEO of The New Aryan Order United States Chapter Dirk Schmid and the CEO of The New Aryan Order German Chapter Sebastian Graf. He flicked to the end of the document; the final blueprint. All parties had agreed and signed on it. The area waiting for his signature remained blank. His counterpart in Germany—Leon Voigt—was also running for the top office and if both men succeeded the alliance between the USA and Germany would create a new world force—the Fourth Reich.
He turned back to the front page and began to read. As he absorbed and agreed with the policies, he signed his initials next to those of Leon Voight at the end of each page. He read the executive summary again and felt a rush of excitement:
“When both men win their seats—Ulric Adler, President of the United States and Leon Voigt, Chancellor of Germany—the following actions and strategies will take effect immediately:
- The immediate deportation of all non-citizens to their country of origin. The children of non-citizens who were born in the USA or Germany to non-citizens are deemed non-citizens;
- Any further of non-citizens is to be stopped immediately;
- Only those of Aryan blood are to be allowed to become citizens;
- The establishment of Aryan nations in which Aryan children and grandchildren will associate only with each other; marry and procreate with each other;
- Aryan couples will be given mortgage-free homes on land held by large corporate interests to reduce pressure on families and increase the opportunity for the procreation of large Aryan families;
- Work will set us free. Honest work will be the cornerstone of the culture; a secure economy will serve the needs of the people, not the rich and the conglomerates;
- Job creation will be guaranteed for citizens—men first who are supporting families;
- The role of mother will be the most important job of married women;
- Single women and empty-nesters may work to give back to society;
- The best education will be offered to create a society of elite Aryans, both men and women. The syllabus will be chosen by the state;
- Fitness of body is as important as fitness of mind and the perfect Aryan race will be represented by the world’s best athletes from our countries;
- Aged family will be honored with provisions for their lifestyle and medical needs;
- The nation will be violence-free. All acts of aggression will bring disrepute or shame to the family;
- The establishment of a cleaner world, clean energy, clean land and progression towards a future society that respects nature and the environment and preserves it for future generations will be pursued;
- Military forces will protect our values and not be distracted or stretched by interference in world disorder outside our borders;
- The art and culture of our country will be preserved and patrons will be encouraged and acknowledged for their support and loyalty to country if they assist in the development and preservation of the arts.”
Adler finished reading the document and proudly signed it with his very expensive Montblanc pen. “Ausgezeichnet,” he said to himself, “excellent work.” He would congratulate the two CEOs; the Fourth Reich document was outstanding. He looked at his Montblanc pen. Another example of German excellence, he thought. He put the document back in the envelope, fastened the envelope seal and placed it back in the briefcase he had been resting on his lap. He took a deep breath and willed himself to imagine his happy future.
Mitch and Eva sat in the car watching the home of Julian Schmid from the address found in Julian’s diary from his luggage. A curtain had been opened in an upstairs window but there had been no other movement. In a few minutes, Mitch would receive a call from John Windsor for a conference call with his team and then Eva would go in and knock on Julian Schmid’s door on the pretense of making a delivery to see who answered.
Mitch’s phone rang and he put it on speaker phone. He glanced around to make sure all windows were up and there was no one nearby. Mitch introduced Eva to the team. It was seven in the morning in Washington D.C. and just on one p.m. in Berlin.
“What’s the latest Mitch?” John asked.
“Okay.” He exhaled. “Eva and I have been going through surveillance footage and CCTV most of the morning. We’ve got Julian Schmid with Benjamin Hoefer arriving here at his premises after midnight. Despite willingly escaping his own rescue, he appears to still be a prisoner of Julian’s—we don’t know what he has over him, but we’re guessing that it is something to do with his real father. We’re outside Julian’s place now and there’s been no one coming or going all morning but they are both in there.”
“You don’t want to move in and close it down?” John asked.
“Not yet,” Mitch answered. “I want to see why Julian Schmid wants Benjamin Hoefer and why Benjamin is so terrified that he has to knock me out to see the mission through. Plus we found a diary entry in Julian’s diary for a convention at Nuremberg this weekend, tomorrow actually. Eva has more details.”
“I’ve spoken to the venue and they are calling it a personal development convention but my sources found the booking has been made by the NAO,” Eva said.
“The same NAO as we have here?” Ellen asked.
“The very same—The New Aryan Order,” Eva answered.
“We’ve seen photos from the last convention they had here,” Nick said. “You two need to be really careful. It was wall-to-wall Aryans and I’m not sure what the security was like but they’d be crazy not to have it locked down.”
“Thanks,” Mitch said. “We’re yet to work out our strategy.”
“Will you get that through to me tonight?” John asked.
“Sure,” Mitch agreed. “Adam will be back on Sunday as well but we might have it wrapped up by then if we can tag Julian and Benjamin today and follow through with the convention tomorrow to see if there’s any connection. What’s happening there?”
Ellen began. “Thorsten Schmid made a move on me at the meeting the other night and there is no doubt that there’s tension between him and his brother, Dirk. I think Thorsten is sick of being in the shadows.”
“What do you mean, he made a move?” Mitch asked.
“He invited me to leave the group and sit somewhere outside. I think he will want more next meeting.”
Nick agreed. “I think he wants Ellen to be an incubator. The atmosphere in the room was bizarre. I could have got laid half a dozen times. Ah sorry, Eva.”
“You apologize to Eva and not me?” Ellen said.
“Yeah but I know you know me and won’t be offended,” Nick answered.
Mitch looked at Eva and shook his head. “See what I have to put up with. And you wonder why I chose to come to Germany.”
Eva laughed. “Thank you Nick, but like Ellen, I am not easily offended.”
“Ellie, you’re at definite risk of attracting the wrong attention right now. Have we any info on the members or maternity rates as yet?”
“Not yet, you only authorized it yesterday,” Ellen said.
“Was it? Mm, seems ages ago. So when can we get it?” Mitch asked.
“We’re going to see if while I charm Thorsten Schmid, Nick can download the contents of his laptop. He’s the financial controller, he’s bound to have reports of that nature and more,” Ellen said.
“I don’t doubt you can charm him but make sure there’s no way Nick can get caught in the act. It will shut down the whole operation and we can’t afford to do that just yet,” Mitch said.
“Mitch is right. Only if there’s a clean window to do it,” John agreed.
“Right, next NAO meeting, Ellie … when is it?” Mitch asked.
“Tomorrow afternoon,” she answered.
“I think it is best that you’re pregnant, okay? You did dramatic arts at college, turn it on—tears of joy, hand holding with Nick, long happy stares, make sure you share the news with everyone you can at the NAO meeting. Clear?” Mitch said.
“Done,” Ellen said.
“And Nick, then we’ve got you to worry about. Since you’re clearly capable of impregnating, you may be called on to do so again,” Mitch said. “We’re going to have to move faster so we can get you both into the higher echelons and with luck the birth announcement might help. We need to know if they are just a club or if there’s a more involved strategy and if so, who are their connections.”
“Leave it with us,” Ellen said. “We’ll see where tomorrow leads.”
“Hold up,” Mitch said, thinking out loud. “If you’re going to announce you’re pregnant tomorrow, that’s probably going to be the end of Thorsten’s affections towards you, at least for nine months or more. So try and distract him before the announcement so Nick can get the data.”
“You’re right it will be a turnoff, especially if I’m glowing and clearly in love,” Ellen said. “Hold the love, get the data first!”
“Moving on,” John steered the meeting, “we’ve got the DNA results from Eli’s items before he went to the camp; the items Dieter Bäcker gave to Adam. As your photo confirmed, Mitch, the real Eli Hoefer never left Germany and never immigrated here to the States. The man who raised Benjamin Hoefer was the Nazi guard Hans Schmid, father of Franz, grandfather of Dirk and Thorsten Schmid.”
“I don’t understand why Dirk and Thorsten would want to draw attention to Benjamin Hoefer and his book by staging all those stunts to scare him from having the book launches,” Ellen said. “All they did was raise his profile and surely as key players in the NAO, why draw attention to the fact that their grandfather fled and disowned the Nazi Party?”
“That’s the big question,” Mitch agreed.
“Maybe they thought the scare tactics would shut Benjamin down and he’d go away but he didn’t,” Nick said.
“And if Benjamin had no idea who his father was, then maybe those threats would make you more determined to get your father’s message of persecution and survival out there,” Eva said.
“I agree,” John said. “But there’s money involved as well. Eli Hoefer, or rather Hans Schmid, left his fortune to Benjamin, and even though the funds were probably from Jewish gain and rightfully Benjamin’s anyway, I imagine Dirk and Thorsten feel they are the rightful heirs and owners.”
“We’ve got to go,” Mitch said. “The garage door has just opened, someone is on the move.”
“Mitch, talk to me tonight before you finalize any plans for the convention tomorrow,” John ordered.
“Will do.” Mitch hung up and Eva started the car, ready to follow the vehicle that was slowly backing out of the Schmids’ driveway. In the front seat they could make out two people.
“That’s both of them,” Mitch confirmed. “Where are they off to?”
“My guess, I think they are off to meet someone who knew the real Eli Hoefer.”