The Gemini Divergence Read Free Page A

far.
    Slowly they left the room one by one into the
night, the sound of their motors leaving the court yard below.
    Major Schwerig was the last remaining in the
room, being his usual thorough self and looking through his files
one last time. He was seated in a high back leather chair facing
the hearth as he worked, when he heard someone re-enter the room
behind him.
    Casually turning with a facial expression
that conveyed, who are you to disturb me , until he realized
that it was the general that had returned to the room.
    He quickly put the papers down on the end
table beside the chair and snapped to attention, saluting.
    To his great discomfort he watched as the
general lit a Bavarian flip top pipe. Now he would have to suffer
gladly the misery of smelling that horrid smolder.
    The general started to speak with his first
exhale. “I have been waiting for the others to leave so that I may
have a private word with you Major Schwerig… I selected you for my
staff some months past because you came highly recommended… Before
Reinhard Heydrich died, he frequently beamed about your tireless
service to him. I was especially impressed with how you helped him
clean up the Führer’s view from the Berghoff balcony… I hear you
not only liquidated the people but you made their farms disappear
and legally appear as though they were never there, as well as
making any of the records that they ever existed… vanish. I hear
you were even able to change the history of the property ownership
all of the way back to the First Reich, very impressive… I also
know that you bring additional knowledge to the SS from your
beginnings in the Luftwaffe, just as Heydrich brought from his
beginnings in the Kriegsmarine… Your dossier is more than
impressive to me… Sadly for some, in most cases good work never
goes unpunished, and I have selected you for the hardest tasks that
I have meted out tonight, because I know that you will handle them
expeditiously and in total.”
    At that the General sat in the chair on the
other side of the end table from Schwerig facing the fire. After he
was comfortable he turned to Schwerig and said.
    “Tell me Major, you are Catholic, are you
not?”
    There was a brief silence as Schwerig was
wondering were this line of questioning was now headed.
    Von Sterbenbach continued. “Have you
contacted Odessa yet?”
    At that Schwerig retorted.”Herr General, I
assure you.”
    Von Sterbenbach interrupted. “Major! I have
selected you for these tasks because I know that you leave no stone
unturned and have a default plan for every possible outcome.”
    He paused and restarted. “Isn’t Germany
losing the war even a slight possibility, and with that, I know
that my best officers have a plan for every contingency… Again,
Major, and I promise not to hold it against you. Have you contacted
Odessa?”
    Schwerig sat with his mouth open in awe. He
spoke apologetically and emphatically, “Not yet, but I have
obtained some contact information to get started when and if I
choose to do so. I must assure you that I will carry out these
orders to the end.”
    “I am explicitly confident that you will.”
The general replied with poise. “After this mission is completed, I
may have an offer for you that would be much better than what
Odessa could ever offer you… I am also warning you that the Führer
as well as Himmler and Heydrich, all Roman Catholics, have planted
spies loyal to the Reich as well as the Church, into the Vatican
Swiss Guard, and he is getting regular lists of the officers
seeking sanctuary from the Catholic Church… Also, do not seek
transport in the SS’s secret night flights. The Allies have become
wise to them and have diverted some of their night fighters to put
an end to that program.”
    Von Sterbenbach took a couple of puffs from
his pipe as he reclined then continued. “I have seen something
recently, in Riese, which changes everything; the world, the war.
The Führer’s future plans revolve