THE MEN SITTING together in a Rome hotel room looked for all intents and purposes like businessmen. However, only the short stout middle-aged man in the pinstriped suit and the red bow tie qualified for the other five were Cardinals of Rome. The civilian was a dapper man in every way with brown hair that was now greying at the sides. There was nothing remarkable about him except for his eyes, which were penetratingly blue. Yet, he seemed to dominate the room and the others around him clearly acknowledged him as their superior, which, of course, he was. Even Cardinal Tsana who bowed to no man, except the Pope, but there, he had little choice, conceded that Oscar Bar was their leader. There again, as with the man's father, the Cardinal had no say in the matter.
“Well, gentlemen, we have a lot to discuss so let's begin,” Oscar Bar said and then paused to look at the Filofax he had spread out on the coffee table they were sitting around.
“The first thing on the agenda is Samantha Jessop. Now, as I understand it, she made a telephone call to Cardinal Tsana last Monday. Is that right, Cardinal?”
Oscar Bar always called them by their assumed names and gave them the respect their positions deserved even if, with the exception of Cardinal Andretti, they were all usurpers.
Cardinal Tsana nodded but thought it unnecessary to make a formal reply.
“And since then, no one has heard from the woman?”
Again, the Cardinal nodded.
“I concurred with the Cardinal's decision to have her eliminated but that will no longer be necessary!”
The others listened intently. There was always something charismatic in the way Oscar Bar spoke and he was not a man to waste words.
“How so?” Cardinal Tsana asked.
“It appears that the SAS in England has taken care of the problem for us!”
“Your contact, you mean?” Cardinal Desmond queried.
They were all aware that Oscar Bar had an operative working within Special Air Services in England placed at a senior level, but only Oscar Bar knew who he was. The success at the abbey in taking out the SAS men assigned to protect the Monsignor was due entirely to the information the Judas within had provided.
“Yes, my contact,” Oscar Bar acknowledged. “It appears that your woman, Cardinal Tsana, tried to kill Captain Lewis but the SAS got her first!”
Cardinal Tsana noted the rebuff in the man’s voice as did the others.
“That man again!” Cardinal Andretti remarked. “He has nine lives!”
“He has indeed but they're running out!” Oscar Bar commented. “We'll deal with Captain Lewis once and for all when he comes here!”
“The Captain is coming to Rome?” Cardinal Tsana queried.
“Next week, in fact! Principally, he's coming here to see about Monsignor Cronin, but he's also going to be checking on you!” Oscar Bar said looking directly at Cardinal Tsana.
“The phone call from Samantha Jessop?” Cardinal Tsana remarked.
“The phone call indeed!” Oscar Bar confirmed. “The SAS have traced it to you!”
A frown furrowed the Cardinal's brow but Oscar Bar was quick to reassure him.
“Don't worry, we'll take care of him and his watchdog at the same time.” Before anyone could ask, he went on, “Oh, yes! Captain Lewis will be accompanied by Captain Anthony Wright, a crack shot with a handgun by all accounts. We'll take care of Captain Wright at the same time.”
Pausing, he then added, “But with discretion, of course, gentlemen! but with discretion!”
They knew that Oscar Bar did nothing without meticulous planning and attention to detail so they all relaxed, the problem now seeming trivial.
“Doctor Nieuwhof has the suite next to this.” Oscar Bar informed them. “He'll deal with Captain Lewis first and then we’ll deal with Captain Wright later!”
Doctor Willem Nieuwhof, a Dutchman by birth, was well-known to all of them. Apart from being Oscar Bar's personal physician, he was also an expert in toxicology. One of his brews had seen the demise of Pope John Paul, the first. Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice had been elected in August 1978 and had taken the name of Pope John Paul. Apart from being the first Pope to choose a double name in commemoration of his two immediate predecessors, John XXIII and Paul VI, his thirty-four-day pontificate was the shortest in modern times. The sudden death due to a heart attack of the 'September Pope' had aroused suspicion, but it was unheard of to carry out an autopsy on a Pope so Doctor Nieuwhof's handiwork had gone unnoticed. If Pope John Paul had not expressed such an interest in the dealings of the Vatican Bank, he would have reigned somewhat longer.
“We'll invite Doctor Nieuwhof in for a drink once we have concluded our business here! Speaking of which, perhaps you would be good enough to furnish us with some refreshments, Cardinal Desmond!”
“Certainly, Herr Bar,” the Cardinal acknowledged. “What will it be gentlemen?”
Cardinal Desmond then went to the refrigerator to get the drinks while Oscar Bar continued.
“Now we come to our friend, Monsignor Cronin. As I understand it, we still have not been able to ascertain what he has done with the financial report he has completed in relation to the Vatican Bank. We know for a fact that he has not had an opportunity to notify the Pope of his findings and, of course, he must not!” He looked once again at the Filofax before him and then carried on.
“Cardinal Tsana informs me that the Monsignor has now fully recovered, but he still appears to be putting on a performance for the Cardinal's benefit!”
Cardinal Tsana nodded to confirm that he had said such. The sick man's room had been under surveillance from the beginning, not only by radio transmitters concealed behind the wallpaper and within the bedstead of the bed on which he lay but also by optical surveillance. Not the optical surveillance afforded by cameras which would have been far too obvious, but by means of a two-way mirror. It had soon become obvious to those watching that the monsignor was pretending to be far sicker than he actually was.
“It could be that Captain Lewis' forthcoming visit is a blessing in disguise!” Oscar Bar exclaimed. “If the Monsignor trusts the Captain, he may well open up to him. It's worth a try anyway!”
“And what of this man, John Devlin?” Cardinal Tsana asked.
“Once we have the necessary information regarding the financial report, we'll try to pass him off as Monsignor Cronin in order to obtain it for us if indeed it is locked away in a safety deposit box somewhere. However, from what Cardinal Tsana has told me, the man is not really suitable for anything else!”
“He couldn't pass himself off as Michael Cronin to anyone that knows the Monsignor, that's a fact!” Cardinal Fitz remarked.
“Whatever, it's all academic at the moment!” Oscar Bar said. “We can't do any more until Captain Lewis arrives, so we'll move on.” He then took a pen from his top pocket and ticked off the items in his Filofax that he had so far covered. Then he spoke again.
“Now, gentlemen, we come to a matter that is of some real concern! Cardinal Tsana's sources in United States intelligence have informed him that certain documents are about to be declassified. These documents will reveal that the Vatican is holding some 200 million Swiss francs appropriated from Serbs and Jews in Croatia by the Third Reich during the Second World War.”
Oscar Bar paused for a moment to let the others consider his words. The men in the room knew well enough that they could ill afford to have information of this nature leak out. They also knew that the 200 million Swiss Francs were just a small part of the vast sums that had been amassed. The foundations of the Fourth Reich were being built on the loot that the Nazis had appropriated during the Second World War, everything from art treasures to gold bullion, augmented by the plunder of the Holocaust victims. Over the years this financial base had been growing at a prodigious rate as the funds from the organization's many sources, legal and illegal, were being added to it. The organization's puppets at the Vatican Bank, the controlling and consolidation point for these funds prior to their transfer to Swiss bank accounts, had been able to operate freely until now. The veil of secrecy that the Vatican Bank is allowed to impose over its banking operations provided the aegis the organization required. Michael Cronin's appointment as an internal auditor had been the first setback and now the organization's financial arrangements were under attack from a new quarter.
“That is why, gentlemen,” Oscar Bar went on, “We need to obtain the financial report, or reports, that Monsignor Cronin prepared. If such were to fall into the wrong hands, well...” He spread his hands and did not bother to finish the sentence. They knew full well what would happen if the Vatican Bank's dealing came to light. Not only could the organization be exposed but they as well.
“We can ill afford to have the gnomes of Zurich down in their vaults disturbed by the sound of digging!” Oscar Bar joked.
Cardinal Tsana smiled at the epithet Oscar Bar had used for their Swiss Bankers. A contradictory people, the Swiss, he reflected. On the one hand, they provide the Pope with a bodyguard and on the other, they provide repositories for the spoils of past and present despots. Then again, he thought, the Swiss Guards had once been mercenaries themselves so it was in keeping that Switzerland's bankers maintained the tradition. Not that he or any of the others in the room would complain, far from it. Where else but Switzerland could the organization safely bank its capital with no questions asked?
“But gentlemen, these matters are not the reason I've called you all here today!” Oscar Bar said. “No, doubt, Cardinal Tsana has informed you that a date has been set for our venture to begin! I will now explain what I have been spending the billions of dollars laundered through the Vatican Bank on!”
He reached down under the table for his laptop computer, and the other men watched as he then placed it on his knees and turned it on. Manipulating the rollerball mouse with his fingers, he clicked on the screen until the word processing document he had been seeking appeared. He then placed the laptop on the table for all to see.
“This, gentlemen is a brief synopsis of what we are about to embark on. I prepared it earlier today before your arrival!” Oscar Bar then took up his drink of tomato juice which he had quite forgotten about as the five Cardinals gathered around the monitor.
Oscar Bar scrolled down the screen as they read.
“OPERATION ACHILLES' HEEL”
This operation has been codenamed “Achilles' Heel” because its purpose is to strike at the Achilles heel of the global economy.
In Greek mythology, Achilles was the son of the mortal Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, and the Nereid, or sea nymph, Thetis. As a child, he was dipped by Thetis in the waters of the River Styx to make him invincible. She forgot, however, about the heel by which she held him. Achilles subsequently grew up to be the greatest warrior in the army of Agamemnon during the Trojan War. Eventually, however, he was slain in battle by Paris, whose arrow, guided by Apollo, struck him in the only place where he was vulnerable, his heel.
The Achilles' heel of the global economy today is the technology it relies on; namely, computer hardware and software.
We at Bar Computer Industries-Austria have perfected a one-gigabit microprocessor chip, with enormous capacity. An entire encyclopedia can be stored on one such chip alone. The 'Apollo 2000' computer, introduced early last year, is fitted with these new chips. This fifth-generation computer with its unique microprocessing chips has revolutionized the industry, and its low price has provided the marketing edge whereby a large percentage of the computer market has been secured. Our aim at Bar Computer Industries-Austria is not, of course, profit-driven. Rather, our intention has been to saturate the computer markets. In this, we have succeeded. Our 'Apollo 2000' now accounts for most of the world's computing needs.
Beware the Greeks bearing gifts for the 'Apollo 2000' is a Trojan horse in every sense. Within its operating system, a portion of its program code consists of a set of instructions, a computer virus, that will be activated when the computer's internal clock reaches a certain date. That date is the first day of next year, some seven or so months away. Once the 'Paris Virus', named in deference to its namesake in Greek mythology, is released and transmitted over networks, it will attach itself to other computer programs in any computer's operating system it comes into contact with, and be seamlessly assimilated with them. The corrupted programs will continue to perform their intended functions whilst they spread the virus. The virus will be transferred to files and code on other computers through magnetic disks or other memory-storage devices, computer networks, or online systems.
The “Paris Virus” is a replicating virus that will multiply until it destroys data or renders other program codes meaningless. It is a particularly virulent virus so designed so no screening device will pick it up. Different sections within Bar Computer Industries-Austria have been set up to specialize in various aspects of computerization such as banking, industrial, manufacturing, retail, security, stock markets, telecommunications, and so on. Their objectives have been to infiltrate the computer systems that are being used by industry and commerce. On the first day of next year they will penetrate any computer network systems not using Apollo computers and infect those systems with the “Paris Virus” also. We have recently perfected a strain of the “Paris Virus” for just such a purpose.
A complete breakdown of the financial markets of the world’s software and equipment will lead to financial chaos. The 'Apollo 2000' computer will, like its namesake, Apollo, have guided the arrow to its target, the Achilles' heel of the global economy. Like Paris' arrow, the “Paris Virus” combined with our actions in penetrating the security systems of computer networks worldwide, will inflict a mortal wound to the financial markets around the globe and commerce in general, leading ultimately to fiscal ruination.
Because the only computers unaffected by the “Paris Virus” will be 'Apollo 2001' computers, the ones we ourself use, and the next in line to the 'Apollo 2000' computers, our networks throughout the world which are now using 'Apollo 2001' computers will be the only networks by which business can be conducted. This together with our many resources set up to support business should enable us to take control of not only the global economy but the organizations that are part of the monetary system.
In Germany the First Reich was based on the medieval and early modern Holy Roman Empire from 800 to 1806, the Second Reich, the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, and the Third Reich, the one my father created, from January 1933 to May 1945.
The Fourth Reich will be written down in the pages of history as commencing on the first day of the next year. This new Reich will not have arisen from any force of arms for those days have long since passed. Instead, it will be brought about by the economic ruin of many nations. This economic ruin will cause social unrest and social unrest will, with careful orchestration, lead to world anarchy. The minds of the people will then be ready to accept a new leader. Anyone that can give them vision and hope for the future. We, with the endorsement of one of the most influential bodies in the world, the Roman Catholic Church, will provide that leader - the Fourth Reich will then no longer be a dream but a reality.
Oscar Bar had been watching them read the screen and he was amused by their reaction, which was, without exception, one of amazement. Of course, the leader he had referred to would be himself. He knew it and so did they.
“I never dreamed!” Cardinal Andretti exclaimed.
“Brilliant!” Cardinal Desmond uttered.
“Unbelievable!” Cardinal Fitz observed.
“Incredible” Cardinal Tsana said but then again, he had already been briefed by Oscar Bar beforehand so he was only reaffirming his original view.
“Well, gentlemen, you can now see now why we have to be vigilant. We are on the verge of a new world, our world, one in which we will all prosper.” He paused to draw breath. “What we must now do is keep the wolves from our door! We will need to deal with the two Englishmen that are on the way, and we must somehow try to suppress the information that United States intelligence sources have informed us is about to be released. The good doctor next door will take care of the first problem, the second, I'll leave to Cardinal Tsana to take care of. Neeless to say, money is no object. If we need to spend a couple of hundred million, then we do so!”
He looked around at his audience. “Well, I think that's about it, gentlemen unless any of you have any questions?”
They were well satisfied however so he deleted the document from his computer and shut it down. As he was closing the lid of his laptop, he asked casually, “How did that red herring we sold the Pope go?”
“The one about Captain Lewis and the Archangel Michael?” Cardinal Tsana asked as the rest chuckled.
“Yes! What did the Pope have to say?”
“It was quite funny, really!” Cardinal Tsana responded. “He bought the notion that the Third Secret, documented by Lucia dos Santos, the Fatima child, and Captain Lewis was somehow linked.”
“Doctor Nieuwhof believes that the Pope is showing signs of dementia. He could be right!” Oscar Bar retorted. Again, they laughed.
“It's a funny thing though, about Fatima, I mean!” Cardinal Andretti said.
“What's that?” Cardinal Tsana asked although he was not really interested. Cardinal Andretti was always going off on a tangent. Perhaps the Pope was not the only one with a trace of dementia.
“I read the other day that in May 1981 when Mehmet Ali Agca tried to assassinate John Paul the second, he tried to shoot him in the head twice but both bullets missed!”
“So?” Oscar Bar said who had about as much patience with Cardinal Andretti as Cardinal Tsana did.
“Well, he missed because the Pope had bent over at that exact moment to touch a child in the crowd!”
“And?” Oscar Bar said impatiently. He really didn't have the time to listen to the maundering of this old man.
“The reason the Pope had leaned over to touch her was that the little girl was holding a small picture of Our Lady of Fatima!”
“And?” Oscar Bar asked.
“I just thought it was curious, that was all!”
“Just so!” Oscar Bar said and his eyes met Cardinal Tsana's as he turned away. The Cardinal knew what that look meant. Cardinal Andretti would have to get with the program if he was going to last much longer in the organization.
“Oh, there was one other thing!” Cardinal Andretti said as an afterthought.
“And what’s that?” Oscar Bar asked in order to humour the man.
“The Pope was shot on the 13th of May! Strange, don’t you think?”
“How so?” Oscar Bar replied in a resigned manner.
“It also happened to be the anniversary of the first appearance of the Virgin Mary at Fatima.”