"He and I went in different directions but came back with the same information. We've found our tunnel to the Brotherhood. It's a man, a doctor in Nuremberg, where the trials took place."
"Ironic. What goes around comes around."
"Talk to you later, after you speak to Moreau."
Latham hung up the phone and turned to Karin.
"Our holiday's been cut a tad short, but we've still got an hour or so."
She held out her arms, her bandaged right hand lower than her left.
The night was dark and still, as, one by one, ten minutes apart, the speedboats swung into the long dock in the Rhine River. A dim red light on the highest pylon was their point of arrival, the erratic moon not helpful, for the sky was overcast. The operators of these swift craft, however, were familiar with the waterways and the estates they frequented. Engines were cut a hundred or so feet from the dock, the river tides gently ushering the boats toward their slips, where a two-man crew caught the thrown ropes and pulled them silently into their resting places. And, one by one, the men attending the conference walked up the dock and onto a flagstone path that led to the mansion on the river.
The arrivals greeted one another on a huge candlelit veranda where coffee, drinks, and canapes were served. The conversation was innocuous-golf scores and tennis competitions, nothing of relevance; that would change abruptly. An hour and twenty minutes later the group was, complete, the servants dismissed, and the formal meeting began. The nine leaders of Die Briiderschaft der Wacht sat in a semicircle facing a lectern. Dr. Hans Traupman rose from his chair and walked to it.
"Sieg Heil!" he shouted, thrusting his right arm forward in the Nazi salute.
"Sieg Heil!" roared the leaders in unison, rising as one and shooting out their arms.
"Sit, if you please," said the doctor orn Nurern rg. Everyone did so, their posture straight, their concentration absolute. Traupman continued.
"We have glorious news to report. Across the globe, enemies of the Fourth Reich are in disarray, they tremble in fear and confusion. It is now time for another stage, an assault that will plunge them further into bewilderment and panic, while our disciples-yes, our disciples-are prepared to move cautiously but firmly into positions of influence everywhere.. .. Our action will require sacrifices from many in the field, risk of imprisonment, even death, but our resolve is strong, our cause mighty, for the future is ours.
I shall turn the meeting over to the man we've chosen to be the Ffibrer of the BAiderschaft, the Zeus who will guide our movement to fulfillment, for he is a man without compromise and with a will of steel. It's an honor to ask Ginter jdger to address you."
Again, as one, the small congregation rose, and once more their arms shot forward.
"Sieg Heil!" they shouted.
"Sieg Heil, Gunter jdger!"
A slender, blond-haired man of nearly six feet in height and dressed in a black suit, his neck encased in a pure white clerical collar, rose from a center chair and approached the lectern. His posture was erect, his walk a stride, his head that of a sculptured Mars. It was his eyes,
however, that demanded attention. They were gray-green and penetrating, at once cold, yet strangely alight with flashes of warmth as his gaze settled on individuals, which it did as those eyes roamed from chair to chair, each recipient bathed in the glory of his stare.
"I am the one who is honored," he began quietly, permitting himself a gentle smile.
"As you all know, I'm a defrocked father of my own church, for it finds my positions impolitic, but I have found a flock far greater than any in Christendom. You represent that flock, those millions who believe in our cause." Jdger stopped and inserted his right forefinger between his clerical collar and his neck, adding in self-deprecating humor.
"I often wish the elders of my misguided church had made my banishment public, for this white coil around my throat is suffocating. But, of course, they can't; it would be bad politics. They conceal more infelicitous sins than the scriptures enumerate; they know it and I know it, so an accommodation was made."
Softly, knowing laughter came from the audience. Gfinter Jdger continued.
"As Herr Doktor Traupman has told you, we are about to enter out next phase of disorientation among our enemies. It will be devastating, an unseen army attacking the most vital source of life on earth.. Water, gentlemen."