The Eve of Abounding Wickedness

by Mark Spaid

  “I could hear it in your voice and now I see it on your face. Plus, I haven’t heard that big laugh of yours.” Dave nodded.

  “Yeah, I guess it shows.”

  “Alright, let’s have it,” Sol said. Sol (Dr. Solomon Isaacson) brought Dave into the physics department at Penn State. Dave had a degree in history when he met Sol one day while seeking an answer to a physics question. He just walked down the halls of the science building and stopped at the first office that was occupied. They talked for an hour and Dave was hooked. Before long he was a student again in between teaching history classes and in five years had his Ph.D. He and Sol had been experimenting with electromagnetism for seven years. They published papers and wrote a book together, plus they’d become best friends. Sol pushed to get Dave on tenure and Dave swung the credit for their experiment on laser amplification to his friend and colleague. If one had a question or problem in physics, they always talked it out together and what Dave had was a BIG problem.

  “I hesitate to even tell you or even have you over at our house.” Sol raised his eyebrows and blew out a long breath.

  “Well, now I know I have to hear about it.”

  “Before we start, I should tell you that there’s a chance we could be spied on right now and wherever we go.” Sol leaned forward, put his hands on the table and stared at Dave.

  “Will you quit stalling, Dave,” Sol said with a chuckle.

  “Tesla had a notebook.” Sol nodded and pursed his lips. For decades there’d been a debate about Tesla and what he was working on before he died in 1943. Wild stories circulated about secret weapons and all kinds of fantastic devices. But the one story that’d gained a degree of credibility among leading physicists was his possible work on the Unified Field Theory. It was a cause for concern because of Tesla’s amazing ability to solve problems and because of the potential power that could be derived from the theory if it could be solved. Now, Tesla, was an experimentalist but he understood theory too and his mathematics skills were exemplary. The notion was given considerable credibility that if anyone could solve the UFT it was Tesla. The FBI raided his hotel room after he died but didn’t find anything. So, from that point on the official story was that he hadn’t been working on the UFT.

  “You think he was working on it?” Sol asked.

  “I do.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “An old friend and college buddy of mine was teaching at a college in New England. He was approached and drafted into working on the theory.”

  “But the notebook, how do you know they have his notebook?”

  “An old friend of his, a kind of vagabond was working for a collector of oddities in New York City and the owner bought a notebook. One night this friend copied some pages and he gave them to Ron.”

  “You mean Ron Shapiro?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh yeah, his work is exceptional; a leading figure in electromagnetism.”

  “I know and that’s the problem for Ron. He’s a virtual prisoner now with his family as the hostages. They pick him up and take him to a secret lab every day and he has the notebook. I have copies of the pages he had,” Dave said and handed them to Sol, who read them then looked up at Dave and turned to look at Tatiana.

  “This is bad.”

  “It’s a disaster, Sol. Can you imagine what the right person could do if the UFT was solved.”

  “But why am I here and what makes you think they’re watching us?”

  “I’ve done some checking since I talked to Ron. The leading person in our field is?”

  “Reva Kumar from India, of course,” Sol posed.

  “Yes, and I checked on her the day after I talked with Ron; I had a hunch.”

  “And?”

  “Dead; found strangled in her lab.”

  “I see, they approached her and she said get lost. But how long has Shapiro been working on this?”

  “A few weeks.”

  “Ah, and he hasn’t solved it so they’re looking for someone else. Which means that he hasn’t long before they eliminate him.”

  “He said as much when we talked.”

  “What makes you think they’ll be after us?”

  “Nikolai Shevelevitch is the second-best person; I think you’d agree.”

  “Sure, he’s a genius and right on the heels of Kumar.”

  “He’s dead.”

  “Strangled?”

  “Shot in the head while walking to work.”

  “He turned them down,” Sol said.

  “After that, Ron was a good candidate. He’s brilliant.”

  “No argument here but solving the UFT might be beyond anyone’s ability.”

  “I know, that’s what I’ve been thinking. If Einstein and Tesla couldn’t solve it then why would anyone else think they could?”

  “Well, it’s generally given that Einstein stopped working on it because he saw the dangers of it. After he signed the letter to President Roosevelt encouraging America to build the bomb, he was skeptical of man’s ability to keep secrets of nature from turning into terrible weapons.”

  “He was right there.” Dave said as he sat back for a moment and looked at the ceiling.

  “I know that look; there’s something else.”

  “Ron was in the lab working and was visited by a couple of tough guys with guns and knives and he saw a Swastika on the belt of one of them.”

  “Oh boy, we have the worst of the worse. I think I see now what they want the UFT for,”

  “Yes, and when they’re through with Ron, he and I both think they’ll turn to us.”

  “Because were geniuses?” Sol said grinning.

  “I don’t know but our work in electromagnetism makes us logical candidates. I don’t know what to do and I’m scared for my family and you. Plus, Ron thinks they’ll go after Warren Peabody. He’s well known for his work on long distance electricity with his experiment in the desert.”

  “That’s right. So, all of your friends will be targets.”

  “Exactly,” Dave said as he looked at Tatiana.

  “What do you think Sweetheart?” Sol asked and she squeezed Sol’s wrist.

  “I don’t know. Usually I have answers but not this time. If we run and hide, they might take it out on our friends in Indiana. You know me; I’m not one to run from a fight but these guys are dangerous beyond anything I’ve ever experienced and then there’s the twins. I can’t risk their safety.”

  “No, definitely not…have you thought about going to the FBI?”

  “If we did, these guys would find out and go to ground. Then they’d find us and…well you know the rest,” Dave answered.

  “Yeah, I know the rest. We’re in a trick bag kids.” Dave and Tatiana were in their middle thirties and Sol was sixty-five so, they were always “kids” to him.

  “We sure are; we’re going to Indiana and we’d like you to come along,” Tatiana said.

  “Strength in numbers?” Sol said chuckling.

  “More like we want to know where everyone is.” Sol nodded.

  “I agree. When do we leave?”

  “The girls finish the semester in two days. I’ll tell them and we can leave the day of their last final,” Tatiana said.

  “I’ll pack and be ready.” Dave and Tatiana exchanged looks.

  “Sol, Dave and I think you should stay here with us.”

  “Yes, I suppose you’re right. Well, I’ll sure enjoy your cooking for the next two days,” he said with a big smile. Tatiana grabbed his hand and held it to her cheek.

  “We love you, Sol,” Tatiana said.

  “I’m glad because I love these cinnamon rolls,” he said and took another one as Dave and Tatiana sat back and grinned.

  * * *

  “They’re here,” Darcy announced and the girls ran out to meet the twins.

  The adults moved slower but greeted Dave and Tatiana at their car and carried in their luggage.

  “We should’ve stayed at a hotel,” Tatiana sa
id.

  “I’d like to see you try,” Jozette said as she hugged her friend.

  “How is everybody?” Dave asked.

  “We’re fine, except Justin has us all wound up about something,” Lexi said.

  “Sorry but I think you’ll see it’s important,” Justin said.

  “I have something as well and it’s not good,” Dave added. Everyone was here at Jozette and Andy’s house. Justin, Belinda, Lexi, Will, Little Wolf and Julieta, Ariel and Warren (the aforementioned Warren Peabody the physicist), Sterling, Mason and the kids…Darcy, Zara, Jessica, Gabby, Dixie, Beth, Paulita, Melanie and Mallory. A full house to be sure but Dave wanted everyone present and they were.

  “We’re going to go to my room,” Dixie said and all the girls left.

  “Can we stay with you guys?” Gabby asked. “I know we’re only eight and ten but the adults don’t want us around.”

  “Come here,” Darcy said and Gabby sat on her lap. “It’s not that but they have some things to talk about and they don’t want any children around. We’re not out there either.”

  “Beth come here,” Jessica said and sat next to the little girls on the bed. “Boy, you’re tall for your age.”

  “Yeah, I’m ten and shorter than Beth and she’s only eight,” Gabby said.

  “Well, Beth’s mom is five ten, Gabby and yours is only five two,” Darcy explained.

  “So, I’ll be short like Mama?”

  “I’m afraid so,” Darcy said and Gabby’s shoulders sagged.

  “I’m five two, Gabby, we’ll be the same height,” Jessica said.

  “Well, that’s okay, I guess,” as she brightened up.

  “What’s this all about?” Zara asked.

  “Only the adults know and not even all of them,” Dixie said.

  “Is it something bad?” Zara asked.

  “None of us “kids” know,” Jessica said.

  “Daddy’s upset and concerned,” Melanie said.

  “So’s Mom,” Mallory added.

  “I thought it was Mr. Justin who had the news,” Darcy said.

  “He does but so does Daddy,” Melanie added.

  “Then it must be serious,” Jessica said.

  “It is or we wouldn’t be here all the way from Pennsylvania,” Mallory remarked.

  * * *

  “Let’s sit around the table,” Justin said and they all found places.

  “Why are we here?” Sterling asked.

  “Give him a chance,” Mason said as he nudged his finance.

  “No, you’re all right to be curious and I didn’t mean to cause worry but I wanted to tell everyone at the same time,” Justin said. “And I know Dave has something to tell us as well.”

  “Yes, but I’ll let Justin go first.” Justin leaned forward with both hands on the table.

  “At the cookout a few days ago, a man was waiting until everyone left. He was behind the hedge in the neighbor’s yards.”

  “That’s kind of creepy,” Lexi said.

  “Perhaps but he didn’t intend it that way. He had something to tell me he wanted to do it with no one else around. He was a child growing up in Switzerland during the war.”

  “What war?” Mason asked.

  “The Second World War. His grandfather was a reporter and he’d been following some Nazi activities just across the border in southern Germany. The Nazis were up to something and he snooped around and found out. It’s all in his notebook that this man, whose name is Jerun Capeder, turned over to me.”

  “What was in it?” Will asked.

  “Some very bad things. At least it could be and if it’s happened then there’s a menace around us maybe closer than we think.” There were furrowed eyebrows and looks of concern around the table. Justin never exaggerated anything so, if he said he had dire news then he did

  “We’re listening,” Warren said.

  “Okay, I’ll summarize the notebook. Towards the end of 1943 the Nazis knew they would lose the war. The Russians were pushing back in the East and they knew the Americans would eventually lead an invasion of France. At that point they were doomed. So, they started thinking about the future. They started a program of selective breeding for the future. They gathered together a group of women, twenty-four to be exact to serve as the hosts for the breeding program.”

  “This sounds like Lebensborn,” Dave said. Lebensborn was a program the Nazis had in mind to breed as many blue-eyed, blue-haired types as they could to populate the Earth.

  “To a degree, yes but it was small in scope. They weren’t looking for the perfect Nazi type but rather to perpetuate the top Nazi leaders. There were four women for each of six Nazis, who’d donate sperm in order to have a son to carry on the work that the Nazis started in the twenties and that culminated in the Final Solution.”

  “This is creepy,” Ariel said.

  “It sure is, Ariel,” Jozette said. Andy, Belinda and she knew what Justin was saying as he’d briefed them earlier.

  “Sperm was gathered from the donors and all twenty-four women were impregnated artificially. All the women gave birth in February of 1944. Twenty-four healthy babies…thirteen boys and eleven girls.”

  “Then what?” Tatiana asked. Justin looked around the table, drew a breath and sighed.

  “Justin, we know it’s going to be bad…you might as well tell us and get it over with,” Dave said.

  “Right. When the children were weaned the boys were taken away in a truck with nurses to watch them. The mothers and the girls were also taken away in another truck to an isolated wooded area where a large pit had been dug.”

  “My, God,” Lexi said as she put her hand to her mouth. Will put his arm around her.

  “I don’t have to tell you what happened,” Justin said.

  “No,” Ariel said.

  “The boys and the medical people were flown to Lisbon then they took a ship to America. Once here, they were loaded on a private bus and taken to the Midwest where host families were waiting for them.”

  “Did the parents know where the babies came from?” Tatiana asked.

  “Oh, yes, they were willing accomplices,” Justin said.

  “You mean there were Nazis in the United States?” Sterling asked.

  “Plenty of them,” Dave answered. “Thousands at least.”

  “The oldest boy in each group was assigned to a family and the younger siblings went elsewhere. They wanted the boys to be raised alone so the parents could indoctrinate them.”

  “What was the point of all this?” Mason asked.

  “The children were to grow up as dedicated Nazis, marry a young woman and have sons to continue the insanity.”

  “This was all in the journal?” Dave asked.

  “Much of it yes, the general idea anyway. I deduced some of it and Mr. Capeder added his interpretation.”

  “Two questions,” Dave said.

  “Let’s have it,” Justin said.

  “Who were the fathers?” Dave asked. Justin looked at Andy, Jozette and Belinda. Jozette nodded.

  “Adolf Eichman, Martin Borman, Hermann Goering, Josef Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler.”

  “No surprise…if they were going to do this, they’d go big,” Tatiana posed.

  “You mean Hitler’s son was here in the United States?” Ariel asked.

  “He came here as a baby…where he is now is anybody’s guess.

  “Second question, where did they go when they came here?” Dave asked.

  “They wanted to avoid the big cities of the East. There were already hundreds of Nazis operating as spies and the FBI was all over New York and Washington DC,” Justin answered.

  “So, the best place was to hide in the center of the country in a small community,” Dave suggested.

  “Exactly, so they found a place not huge but not too small. They wanted a college town, thinking that there’d be enough liberal thinking to tolerate home-schooling. They couldn’t take a chance on the kids being polluted by the thinking of the gene
ral school population. Plus, a mid-level population city would afford plenty of unique housing opportunities.”

  “What do you mean?” Warren asked.

  “In the journal Mr. Capeder’s grandfather spoke of the plan to settle all six senior males in a mini community to keep them together and segregated from society at large,” Justin replied.

  “Justin are you going to tell us where these kids finally landed,” Dave said.

  “Here.”

  “What do you mean here?” Will asked.

  “Right here in Bloomington.”

  “What?” Ariel asked.

  “Yeah, I was floored as well. Bloomington’s like hundreds of cities throughout the country but as it happens, we were the lucky winner.”

  “Lucky?” Sterling asked.

  “Just an expression,” Justin said.

  “Where’d they live?” Mason asked.

  “Yes, I was curious as well and I would’ve looked forever and found nothing if not for Jo.”

  “I keep a close eye on the real estate market; subdivisions, small communities, isolated villages, etc.,” Jo replied.

  “And you think you’ve found the place?” Tatiana asked.

  “It’s a possibility.”

  “Where?” Sterling asked.

  “There’s a cluster of seven houses about a mile out of town to the North. They’ve been vacant for years and in decline. That’s all I know,” Jozette said.

  “The journal had no details about the children’s lives after they left Europe,” Justin said.

  “So, they could be anywhere,” Will said.

  “Yes, or even dead but those original ones are not my concern,” Justin added.

  “So, they were born in 1944 which means they’d be seventy-five or so now,” Will posed.

  “Okay, so they were supposed to produce sons to carry on the legacy,” Ariel said and Justin nodded. “They would’ve married and had kids at about say age 20 to 25…around nineteen sixty-four to sixty-nine they would’ve been producing children.”

  “Yes, and I’m certain any kids were born at home,” Justin said.

  “Undoubtably, and those kids would be about fifty-six and up,” Lexi posed.

  “Yes, but I think they would’ve had another generation,” Justin said.

  “Why do you think that?” Sterling asked.