PARADOX - Chapter 32

Chapter 32

May 3, 2012 – Resort Hotel Jodquellenhof Alpamare - Bad Tölz



“We have tickets from Munich to Buenos Aires with a local hop to San Carlos de Bariloche in the morning,” Chester threw the reservations down on the food stained coffee table. He silently rubbed the back of his sore neck before continuing. “The rest of the Team will meet us at the airport in San Carlos.”

Monday glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, a sign that he was waiting for the rest of the report.

Chester nodded in reply. “I gave them the background on what happened at Gaißach and told them to be on the lookout for Dorbec. The other men they spotted are either working with Dorbec or they are part of Szekler’s goon platoon. I also advised them to secure the jewel in a safe place, with the suggestion that they copy the documents and stash the originals with the jewel.”

“It’s obvious with the finding of this second jewel, that the jewels are the most important part of Dorbec and Szekler’s mission,” Dom reiterated. “They must be the key to something extremely important.”

“If the Nazi’s hid these jewels, and it’s apparent they did, why haven’t they recovered them before now if they’re so damn important?” Chester questioned.

Dom answered. “The clues to their locations was unknown until Daria opened her grandmother’s casket. It is also obvious that the person who originally hid them died before they were able to pass the information on. The finding of those documents by Daria was the trigger.”

“What kind of assets do we have in Argentina?” Monday turned to Chester. “We can’t travel on a commercial flight with our weapons and we’re going to need firepower where we’re headed.”

Chester shrugged. “I contacted friends at the US Special Operations Command and the closest available assets are some drug interdiction units in Bogota, Colombia. We do have some friends in the GOE, the Grupo de Operaciones Especiales. If you remember, we taught a lot of their men at Fort Bragg and in Panama at the Jungle Operations Training Center. Colonel Manuel Estaban said he could supply us with special documentation to carry arms and some MP5’s, Walter PPK’s and possibly some HK-79’s. He has a man meeting us at the airport in Buenos Aires. It’ll be up to Chewey and the rest of the Team to supply us with what else we may need.”

“Good old Stubby,” Monday mumbled. I remember him when he was a green lieutenant. Never thought he’d make captain, much less colonel.”

“Estaban does have a strange sense of personal values,” Chester agreed. “But he was damn good at brown nosing. Had his nose so far up his general’s ass he couldn’t breathe. Quite a bit like our army in many respects, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

“Yeah, or who you blow!” Bones bellowed.

A sudden knock at the door caused everyone glanced at each other with quizzical looks. Scout walked over to the door.

“Excuse me,” Brother Cencio Contadino said, as the door was opened. “I’m looking for Doctor Prestano.”

The look on Dom’s face was abject surprise as the young seminarian quietly strolled into the room. He glanced at Monday then around the room to see what reaction the others had to this unexpected visitor. Satisfied that curiosity was the dominant mood, he stood to introduce the man.

“What brings you here Cencio? Cencio is a member of the Teutonic Knights and under my tutelage as a graduate student in Roman pre empire history,” Dom nervously tried to hide the guilt he barely held in check.

“I am also a member of the, Corpo della Gendarmeria dello Stato della Città del Vaticano, Gendarme Corps of Vatican City State,” Cencio lied. “Doctor Prestano has not been made privy to my Vatican connections.”

“And your reason for being here is academic or police related?” Monday suspiciously inquired.

“Doctor Prestano is a valued friend of the Vatican community,” Cencio said in his clipped Oxford English. “We have received threats against his life and I was assigned to protect him. My cover story is that I am a seminarian. That I am a Teutonic Knight is also true, I belong to that order. Doctor Prestano was not to be appraised of my true mission.”

“And why make him aware of it now?” questioned Monday.

Cencio’s smile unveiled a piece of ripe olive stuck between his teeth. “While maintaining my duties to protect the good Doctor, and being an astute investigator myself, I have learned a considerable amount concerning your activities. Unusual activities I must state. I also possess some information which may be of interest to you.”

“What information?” Monday quickly demanded.

Cencio smiled again, the piece of olive still clinging in place. “A private jet, a Dassault Falcon to be exact, left Munich International Airport several days ago on a flight plan to the Azores with a subsequent path to Buenos Aires. Two passengers were aboard that jet, a Jean DuBoise, and his wife Jeannette DuBoise.” Cencio paused to remove a photo from his pocket and hand it to Monday. The photo was of Daria and Dorbec. “As you can see, the names have changed but the faces are the same,” Cencio elaborated. “In addition, a C-130 cargo plane left Zurich International Airport the same day with a cargo of men and equipment. Their flight plan was to the same destination.”

Monday sat down heavily into his chair still absorbed with the photo. He ran his fingers through his hair and then passed it to Henri. “What do you want with us?”

“My mission,” Cencio replied. “Is to protect Doctor Prestano. I understand that he will continue on with you in the second phase of your search. My duties dictate that I accompany him.”

“How in hell do you know about our search?” Chester cut in.

“I have excellent resources and I am very inquisitive,” Cencio gave Chester his biggest smile. “It is also my responsibility to avail myself of the background on the people with whom my charge associates.”

“What kind of resources?” Henri asked.

Cencio looked at Dom before he finally replied. “The best.”

“Sit down and have some wine,” Monday ordered, pointing to an empty space across from Dom. “Then tell me the true story. No non Vatican member is so important to the Church that they would assign a body guard to protect him, unless that man knew something special or was hiding something the church wanted returned.”

“Your perception is accurate,” Cencio replied, accepting a glass of wine from a nervous Dom. “When we discovered that Fraulein Wolff was the granddaughter of Adolph Hitler and that you were searching for something special, it became necessary for the church to intervene.”

“How did you know Daria was the granddaughter of Hitler and why this need for Church intervention?” Monday demanded.

“Cencio took a sip of wine before answering. “As I stated, I have excellent resources. You could not possibly hide your search from everyone. As you are aware, too many people knew about it. People talk. Money makes people talk. Threats make people talk. People talk for various reasons, especially in the confessional.”

“And the Church’s reason for intervention?”

“You must allow me to accompany you on your quest before I can reveal that information,” Cencio stated. “It is rather delicate in nature.”

Monday glanced around the room to see the reaction of his Team and Henri. His eyes finally fell on Dom. Dom nodded his agreement to the terms. If this man had the connections he claimed to have he would be a valuable asset to have around. “Continue,” he finally replied.

“It appears that Hitler made a secret agreement with Pope Pius XII, that should Hitler be victorious; Hitler would restore the Papal States to the Pope,” Cencio stated. “Should that information be found among the many documents you are uncovering, it would be very embarrassing for the Church. I must have your assurances that such documentation will be delivered into my hands for disposition.”

“And why should we agree to that?” Chester growled.

“You may not be aware of it but you are up against formidable opposition,” Cencio emphatically stated. “Colonel Dorbec and his men are, what do you Americans say, ‘small potatoes’ compared to the resources of the men you will have to overcome in order to get Fraulein Wolff back. I have the promise of the Church that we will be supplied with whatever we need, manpower or materials, in order to accomplish my mission.”

“Who are these people you consider so powerful?” Henri asked, a skeptical look on his face.

“They are known as, The SS Brotherhood of the Bell, Cencio answered. “Their organization was not captured or destroyed at the end of World War II, and they have since grown extremely powerful.”

Henri picked up his beer and drained the mug. His expression told Monday that this priest or detective or whatever he was, was telling the truth.

“You may join us,” Monday stated. “We need to know all that you know about this Brotherhood of the Bell?”

Before Cencio could answer, The Geek entered the room with a lap top computer. “We have the documents from Chewey,” he stated, cutting into the conversation. “They’re handwritten in German so you’re gonna have to read them Cowboy.’

Ten minutes later Monday turned to The Geek. “See if you can get my brother on the phone?” He poured himself a full glass wine and downed it in a single gulp, then filled the glass again. He handed the documents to Henri then paced around the room until the connection was made.

“Huck.” Monday blurted.

“Hello big brother,” Huckleberry Stiehl answered.

“Can you scramble this call?” Monday demanded before Huck could say another word.

“It’s an open line but we can play with it and route it so that it would take special equipment to understand anything that is said.”

“Do it!” Monday demanded.

After the line was scrambled, Monday talked with Huck for several long minutes. He finally plucked the documents from Henri’s hand and quickly read a few passages, translating them for Huck’s sake. Huck told him to stop talking, then put him on hold while he made several other calls. Monday finally received the answer he wanted.

“You’re going to have to come home get your answers,’ Huck stated. “You worked enough ops with the CIA to know that certain things cannot be done long distance. I’ll get the special clearance you need from Langley.”

“I still have my top secret clearance,” Monday interjected.

“Not for this level you don’t,” Huck returned. “I don’t know how you obtained the information you have, but I do know that only the Director can release the information you need.”

“I’ll fly out in the morning,” Monday replied.

“I’ll have a man meet you at Dulles,” Huck stated. “He’s a Special Agent with access to the area you need to visit. I’ll have him contact the Airforce and arrange for a Blackbird to get you to Los Alamos, New Mexico. His name is Larry Lofton. You probably worked with him before, he was an infantry grunt in the Army same time you were in.”

“I’ll have to join you in Argentina.” Monday closed the connection and addressed the men in the room.

“You going to see Huck at Langley?” Chester asked.

”I’m meeting Huck in Los Alamos, New Mexico,” Monday answered.

“What in hell is all this about?” Dom demanded. He and Cencio were in Dom’s stateroom after leaving the others, who were still discussing the incredible information written in the German documents.. Dom was tired, still nervous, and felt like tearing the young priest apart with his bare hands. The wine he had consumed felt sour on his stomach, something that rarely happened.

“The mission has not changed,” Cencio smiled, the annoying piece of olive still decorating his teeth. “But, there has been a change.”

Dom looked suspiciously at him. “And what might that change be?”

“There are to be no witnesses left after we recover the jewels,” Cencio replied, a sudden look of malicious eagerness on his face. “No witnesses!”

The game had suddenly changed for Dom. Changed from a game… to a nightmare.