the doors.
The guards escorting stopped, the one on the right raised a massive brass knocker in the shape of a Viking's head and let it drop once. The sharpness of the heavy brass head striking sounded once, heavily. The two guards then placed themselves one on each side of the door facing back down the hallways they had come from. Not a word had been spoken in the time since they had taken him from his rooms, and it appeared there would be none now.
With no sound the well-oiled hinges worked smoothly, holding the massive weight of the single door that swung to the inside. From the darkened interior came but one short command: Enter.
The door swung silently shut behind him, leaving him and the voice in a small anteroom lit only by the flickering glow of two oil braziers giving off a lightly pungent, scented aroma. The voice belonged to a man dressed in monk's habit resembling those the Franciscan monks wore, dark rough cloth. A hood covered the face so the features were indistinguishable in the gloom. A rope for a belt tied the waist loosely. The figure motioned for Langer to follow, leading him to a dark curtain of wine silk embossed with the symbols of the fish and cross.
The curtains parted. . . .
Langer's heart stopped for a moment with his throat constricting. ... A line of oil braziers identical to those in the anteroom lined the aisle and the walls of the long narrow room, illuminating the fifty or so kneeling figures all dressed identically to the monk next to him, their backs turned, facing the end of the room.
All attention from the kneeling monks was focused at the end of the hall, where superimposed over a life-size wooden cross was . . . THE SPEAR . . . Mine, it's back again, am I forever to be haunted by not only the Jew but that damned thing, too?
One kneeling figure at the front detached itself from the line of worshipers, rose and walked down the aisle to face him. The face was hidden in the shadows, but there was a familiarity to the walk, the body english of the approaching monk.
A hand raised itself and moved the hood back to show the face. Round plain features with steel-rimmed glasses. Heinrich Himmler,
Taking Casca by the arm, he led him from the chamber through a side door and down a narrow hall to his personal chambers. Once inside he removed the cassock; underneath was the more famil
iar black uniform of the SS. . . . Motioning for Casca to sit, Himmler sat himself opposite him behind a plain wooden desk. The room was bereft of any ornamentation other than a single picture of Adolf Hitler sitting on Himmler's desk in a plain silver frame. Speaking softly, the head of the SS adjusted his glasses with a fingertip, 'Well, now, Casca Rufio Longinus, I regret that we here at the Haven must be deprived of your company without first having a proper opportunity to show some old-fashioned hospitality.'
Casca spoke for the first time. 'What do you mean, in the weeks remaining?'
'The war is lost, and we have many things yet to do. Those brothers you saw in the chapel are the last of our order in Germany to be sent to other countries. This experiment is at an end and it has been for our purposes reasonably successful.'
Noting the consternation on his guest's face, he continued. 'Perhaps I should enlighten you a little on the matter. It won't make any difference if you know. It was the Brotherhood who brought Hitler to power, to serve our purposes, which were and are the destruction of the Jews, who next to you we detest above all things on this earth.' A pious tone came into his voice. 'You killed our Lord Jesus, but it was the Jews who made it possible; you were merely a tool. For that crime the Jews must be erased. That was the purpose of the final-solution program and it worked quite well for the short time we were in operation. Somewhere between five and six million of them have been eliminated; that accounts for about twenty-five percent of the total world Jewish population.' He touched his finger tips together under his chin. 'Not a bad start, would you say?'
Casca said nothing, merely stared in shock. For a soldier to kill was one thing, but the way this mild-looking man spoke of the deaths of millions who never had a chance to even defend themselves or fight back, was a horror his mind couldn't grasp.
Pleased at the effect he was having the Reich Fuhrer continued. 'Adolf Hitler was merely a member of the second circle of the Brotherhood and until forty-three we had him well under control.
'But then he began to think he was the real force and genius behind all that had taken place, and as you know, once he began to exercise his own judgment on military and political matters, the scene rapidly deteriorated. I must confess we were a little careless in letting him get so much personal control of things, but that's history or soon will be. And even now we must occasionally give in to his whims, at least, as I said, for the next few weeks. By then the war will be over and Hitler will be dead. So it is necessary to send you to Berlin. He wishes to see you.
'But have no fear, we will meet again. It may even be possible that I may be able to salvage something out of the defeat and take control of Germany again. I shall remain in the country to the end to see if that's possible. If it is not, then I too shall die. But the Brotherhood will not. We are in every country in the world preparing for the next round. Like you we have time on our side. What matters a few centuries so long as the desire is achieved?'
Casca cleared his throat, face grim. 'And what is that?'
Himmler rose from behind his desk and touched one of a series of buttons on the corner. . . .
'Why, to establish a state church of the world which we will control. That's why it is necessary to break down all existing structures. Britain is finished as a world power. Her foreign empire will not long survive the death of Germany. The Catholic Church is in a state of complete ineffectiveness and that will continue until it will be something people will pay no more than lip service to. And the Jews ...' For the first time venom accented his words. 'We are not finished with them either. Anywhere you find anti-Semitism you find us close by, whether it is the Ku Klux Klan in America or the Spanish Inquisition, we will destroy them. Even now plans are being made for the use of other groups and races to aid us in the great work, and they like you will be only tools, never knowing they are merely puppets and dancing to the tugging of their strings by the Brotherhood.'
His dialogue was interrupted by a short rap on the door. Himmler gave permission to enter, and the door opened. Zeitsler stood in the entrance with two guards behind him. 'It's time to go. Elder, your plane's waiting.'
Himmler sighed, and remarked, 'No rest for the weary. You will remain here until I send for you. General Zeitsler, he will be your direct responsibility.
