A Dubious Terrain (A Colton Banyon Mystery Book 4)

by Gerald J Kubicki

  Previne now asked the crowd for more requests. She told them that they only had time for four more competitions, and then began taking votes from the crowd.

  During the break Loni turned and studied the other women. She noted that they all had clear flaws in their figures. They were certainly pretty she thought, but Previne was very skinny, Pramilla was slightly heavy and Maya, the youngest of the group, was too top heavy. Loni suddenly realized she was, in fact, blessed with the best overall figure and she was over ten years older. She had nothing to fear from these women. She was just being paranoid about them. In fact, she actually was enjoying being around these women. They were fun. How could I have been so wrong about them, she thought? Is it my impulsive nature? And that was exactly what Previne wanted her to think.

  When the last competition was complete, Previne told the men the show was over for the day. But, try again tomorrow. The men soon began to dispense.

  Pramilla now spoke to Loni. “Wasn’t that competition fun?”

  “I haven’t had that much fun around women since….well ever. Thanks,” she sincerely replied. “I guess that I have been so worried that Colt would leave me for any of you that I never focused on the fact that I had something to offer him.”

  “Loni, you have more to offer Colt then all of us combined. While we like to flirt, we are too caught up in our careers and I suspect there may be several things you don’t know about us yet,” Pramilla offered.

  Suddenly interested, Loni asked, “What don’t I know about you and Colt?”

  “So, you really don’t know do you?” Pramilla remarked.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” a now animated and confused Loni responded. “Please tell me now. I need to know,” she pleaded.

  “Don’t worry we will tell you, but first you need to relax and have a massage,” Pramilla calmly replied.

  “What massage. Why do I need a massage,” Loni gave them a confused look thinking once again they meant to trick her?

  Pramilla pointed her long slender arm to the dark opening of the cabana. As Loni turned to look, she saw a large very fit young man in a tight white tee shirt and white shorts standing in the opening with his strong arms crossed. He was looking directly at Loni with a smile on his face.

  “Because Sam is free now and waiting to give you a massage, that is why,” Pramilla said with a sly smile on her face.

  Loni flicked her head back to Pramilla, “Your right, I think I need a massage, but you must tell me about you and Colt when I am done. Promise you will?”

  “We look forward to it.”

  Part Six

  The Bad Guy

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  General John Gerut had started his day by having a complete breakfast sent to his room. Later, he smiled as he sat in his luxurious suite at the MGM. There was no one else in the room, but he smiled as he gazed upon the items on the coffee table in front of the couch. The items were the artifacts stolen from the governments secure facilities. One was the Black Diamond, hidden in a pouch, one was a page ripped from a special book and one was an official government document. Gerut had come across the inventory reports of the secret secure facilities over six months ago. He had been looking for something to kick start his plan and found it in the inventory lists. He decided to steal the artifacts. His men had top secret clearances and it was fairly simply for him to have the items stolen from the facilities and to wipe clean the records, after all he was part of the strongest and most secret government agency ever, Homeland Security.

  Gerut was smiling because he finally was ready to implement his plan. Hitler had his “Night of the Long Knives” John Gerut had his own plan for eliminating his competition and thrusting himself into the leadership of the Effort. He had three goals to complete today. First implement the Efforts brazen plan, secondly to secure himself as the new leader of the Effort, and thirdly to become rich. He saw them as all part of the same mission.

  Gerut had waited his whole life to finally achieve the power and riches he believed belonged to him. His father George Gerut had all but told him that he was actually the “chosen one” when he was a child. He was meant to be the one to carry the torch for the new Third Reich. His father had told him many years ago the leader was not going to be Randolph Sanders. John Gerut and Randy Sanders were both children of the Effort and knew each other quite well. But somehow, Sanders had become a strong competitor for the leadership of the Effort. Gerut would eliminate him today. John thought about his father. They had been very close when he was young. His father had put him on the path to lead the Effort. He now wanted to implement his own plan.

  It had all started with John’s Grandfather. The senior Gerut was actually an old-line Nazi. He had been born in Germany and was one of the most loyal and dedicated followers of the original Nazi plan. His Grandfather’s name had been Earnest Gerut. He eventually became a high ranking official in the Third Reich. He hatched a plan to continue the Nazi agenda in America, way back in the 1930’s. Earnest Gerut was a genius at logistics and had been put in charge of millions of dollars of bounty stolen from the many oppressed people that had the unfortunate fate to live in Nazi occupied countries. He, like Hitler, realized that Germany could not hope to win the war, but believed that the Nazi heritage could flourish in America. His plan was to supply the resources for an organized plan to take over America.

  Earnest Gerut had sent both of his sons, George and Klaus, to America to be educated at the best universities along with a small select group of other Nazi children. He then went about the task of providing money for the plan. The organization, in true Nazi fashion, was given a code name. It was called the Effort.

  Earnest Gerut sent millions of dollars by submarine to South America and squirreled it away in many secret accounts in several countries. Several devious plans with backups were put into place to insure the money stayed in the hands of the future leaders of the Effort. One backup plan even involved Hal Jones who was actually one of Earnest’s sons under a false name. Hal had been sent to America and was to receive a book, Mein Kampf, with secret codes to detail where the Nazi money was hidden in South America, however, Earnest received a rumor that Hal had been compromised and George, his brother, was told to never attempt any contact with his brother. George followed his instructions to the letter and never looked up Hal in America.

  Earnest Gerut didn’t survive the war. The SS got wind of his plan and even though he was one of Hitler’s oldest supporters, he was accused of treason, a catch-all phrase for the SS. He was hung using piano wire, a favorite disposal method of the Nazis. It had happened two months before the end of the war. As soon as he realized that the SS was after him, he sat his son George down and explained the whole plan. George Gerut, John’s father, had many times relived the discussion with his only son. John thought about those discussions now as he rested with his feet up on the coffee table. It was like a bible to him.

  “You must find a way to survive and reach America,” Earnest told his George. “Once there you will be able to access all the money you will ever need.”

  “What will I do with the money?” asked George.

  “You will share it with the other members of the Effort.

  “Who are they?” George further inquired.

  “They are actually your American college buddies. You and they will be the leaders. There will be several more members including your sister who will be under a false name. She has stayed in America after college and has married a home-grown supporter. He will help you as you can supply him with money to further establish his business. They are both part of the Effort.

  “How will I know who to trust?”

  “I will provide you with a list.”

  “How will I get in touch with the others?”

  “Trust your college buddies first, they along with you will be the inner circle that shapes the organization. We have arranged for a party on December 31, 1947. Invitations will arrive in September 1946. The private party w
ill be held at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. All the surviving members will be there. They will be the start of the Effort in America.

  Suddenly George the usually calculating son blurted out, “What about my brother, the one known as Hal Jones in America?”

  “Your brother is an idiot, he is under surveillance by the famous FBI,” Earnest spat out vehemently. “You must never have any contact with him. It is too dangerous. You are the one chosen to run the Effort. We can’t afford to lose you. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, I understand, father,” George replied.

  “It is your mission to succeed.”

  “But how am I to succeed. What should I do?”

  Earnest replied with the wisdom of an aged professor, “You must infiltrate America. You will have the money to do what is needed. Gain control of the important industries. Ammunition, arms, transportation, media, all these industries will be useful and most importantly, the children of the Effort must be ready to succeed politically. You must push them in that direction. America needs to be subdued politically. It is the only way. That is why we must also be in control of these industries. One of our children will run for President someday.”

  ***

  After a while, John Gerut also thought about his own father. He recalled how his father had put the first step of his grandfathers’ plan into motion. He had managed to survive the war by approaching the Allies with information about Nazi stolen loot. He actually supplied the locations of several small accounts in Paraguay and assisted the Allies in recovering the money. He proved he had value to the Americans. He was immediately given US citizenship when he promised to find more Nazi loot. Of course it was all part of the plan. The vast majority of the money he kept for the Effort.

  ***

  The New Years Eve party that George Gerut attended at the beginning of 1947 turned out to be very special. There were sixty people in attendance. They had posted guards outside the doors of the ballroom so that they could talk openly. George announced he was the “Chairman” and he controlled the purse strings. When he told the group that they had many hundreds of millions of dollars for the cause, everyone became quiet and began to listen. He quickly asked if anyone had expertise in the industries he had targeted. Later he met with each person individually. Each was given an allotted sum to use to build an empire. His plans were highly successful. By the mid-seventies, the Effort had control or at least had influence in every major targeted industry. Gerut had chosen the arms industry for himself and his company soon became the leader in providing armaments to the US government and most of the world.

  At the 1947 party George had also told everyone they needed to develop their own organizations under them. There would be many people in America who would support the Aryan cause and they all could be used to further the agenda. Each organization could carry its own name and could have specific agendas, but the basic theme of White Supremacy must be included. Furthermore, Gerut insisted the organizations should never be linked to the Effort. The Effort must be kept a secret society. He told them there would always be people who would oppose them and many party members would actually be hunted by Nazi haters. The Effort could never be exposed. Much was riding on their individual organizations, but the Effort could never be mentioned.

  Finally, George told everyone that they must propagate and they must teach their children about the Aryan cause. They must send them to the proper schools and those that excelled should be pushed towards leadership positions especially politics. But the movement had to be kept squeaky clean. They had to become true Americans to further the cause. The future of the Effort was to take over the United States through political means.

  At the end of the party, George was approached by a beautiful woman named Mona. As she stood facing him at the back of the room, she said, “Propagate with me.”

  ***

  Their marriage occurred within a year. Mona came from a fine Bavarian family and was the perfect Aryan wife for George. They settled in Washington, DC because it was where all the powerful people lived. They soon found out Mona had a physical defect, a weak heart. She faced the horror of knowing she would not live to see the Effort succeed. She tried her best to provide children for the cause, but died in the birth of her first child, John in 1951. John was raised by a succession of nannies and private schools. The nannies taught John about life and sex, sometimes even deviant sex. The schools taught him about how to become powerful. John grew up believing he could do anything he wanted, whenever he wanted.

  George, the father, had done a very good job of running the Effort. There was several Effort members that had succeed to some degree in politics and many other fields. But John was not one of them. Like many children brought up with a silver spoon, John thought he was entitled. He expected to be the head of the movement, but things had not worked out as he had planned.

  ***

  John believed he had the right stuff, but his detractors were consumed with their own greed and had taken his rightful destiny away from him. He was going to get it back. At six foot two with a square jaw, wavy blond hair and an athletic body, he was the prototype of an Aryan warrior. He had been educated in the best private schools and had even graduated from West Point. Sure there had been some bumps in his military career, a few mistakes cost people their lives, but John did not accept responsibility for those errors. He felt that if he had been given more control, he would have prevailed. While his thirty year military career was undistinguished, his father had secretly kept him moving up the ladder. He had risen to the rank of General when disaster occurred.

  In the middle of the year 2004, George had a heart attack and died. He had lived to the ripe age of ninety six. That was when the trouble had started. John had expected to take over the family business and become head of the Effort. He expected to have control of the Effort finances as well. He expected to be recognized as the head of the Aryan cause.

  At the private reading of his fathers will, in the suburban offices of his father’s lawyer, John discovered his sister was named as the head of the arms company. The control of the Effort finances had also been assigned to his sister. John was aghast. He sat in the small office with his mouth wide open. He could not even bring himself to protest. The final straw occurred when a man named Henry Fogel was named as the new head of the Effort. It was at that time John decided he would find a way to get it all back. Revenge would be sweet, he thought.

  After the reading of the will was finished, John was asked to remain with the lawyer. John was numb and pliable. He could not accept that he was not entitled to anything. The conversation burned in his mind even today.

  “My father has left me nothing?” John asked the lawyer. John Gerut sat in a straight back chair with his head hung very low.

  “There is a codicil that is for your ears only,” the lawyer replied as he tried to look into John’s blood shoot eyes.

  “Well let’s hear it,” John replied without much enthusiasm.

  “Your father wanted you to know he has taken care of you in his will, just as he has always done. He has granted you a lifetime stipend of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars yearly for life.”

  “But my father was a billionaire,” cried John.

  “He further states you have been a disappointment. You never married and have no children to further the cause, your career has been a disaster and you have survived only because he helped you constantly. Finally, you didn’t enter politics as he had hoped. That is why you were passed over.”

  “That’s it,” John responded with hatred in his voice.

  “I’m afraid there is nothing more. He did love you, but he felt you were not working towards the Efforts goals. I’m sorry John.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  John Gerut still seethed in the memory of the will reading. It was the lowest point of his miserable life. But as he remembered, things changed.

  As John Gerut left the lawyers inner office, he had no idea his life wou
ld change again and set him on the path of redemption so soon. Seated in the outer office was another high ranking member of the Effort. His name was Paul Slezeck. He had recently been appointed as the assistant director of a new government organization called Homeland Security. Paul stood up and offered his hand. He asked John to sit so they could talk.

  Slezeck had also been at the reading where John had been passed over in his quest to become a member of the inner circle of the Effort. John vividly recalled the conversation.

  “Do you have any plans for the future?” Paul cautiously asked him.

  “I don’t know what you mean?” John offered.

  Slezeck looked at him patiently. “I understand that the Army has discharged you. Do you have future employment lined up?”

  “I haven’t even thought about my future. I thought it was set, but now I don’t know what I will do.”

  “Why don’t you come and work for me?” Slezeak replied.

  “I’m no body’s flunky,” Gerut spat out. “I don’t need a handout.”

  “On the contrary,” Slezeak responded. “Your country has need for your special talents. Our cause also has need for your talents.”

  “What are you talking about, Paul?”

  “You don’t know much about Homeland Security, do you?”

  “I have heard a few things,” John defensively said.

  “Let me explain,” Slezeak offered. “Since 9/11 the government has been scrambling to tighten security. Many of the mistakes made in the past have come from turf wars and lack of sharing of information by the many government agencies like the FBI, CIA NSA etc. Homeland Security has been established to eliminate the mistakes and turf wars. We have more control over investigations then at any other time in our history.”