Both men’s minds returned to the problem at hand.
“Now, what can we do about Hess?”
“Wait.”
“Wait?”
“You want to order, or even think of something in this matter without his approval?”
Goebbels remained silent.
“Admiral?” Elizabeth Hurly’s voice crackled through the speaker.
“Yes?”
“Louis DeWohl has arrived.”
“Send him in.”
DeWohl walked into a huge office with two-meter high large pane windows that overlooked the Thames. Around a conference table sat several men, two in navy uniform and three in civilian clothes. Admiral Payne greeted DeWohl at the door.
“Count DeWohl! Come in! I believe you already know Captain Jameson. Edward Jameson rose and snapped to attention before shaking DeWohl’s hand, the near Prussian formality nearly triggered the German in DeWohl to click his heels in response to the military salutation, but he refrained from doing so.
The Admiral then lead DeWohl to one of the empty chairs, introducing the others already seated as they passed by. “This is Lt. Commander Walter Kingston, Paul Windelton, Bryant Jenkins, and our wonderful Lord Everton.” Admiral Payne did not introduce himself, which he was not accustomed to doing anyway.
DeWohl announced while standing in front of his chair, “Gentlemen, I am truly honored to make your acquaintance,” then added while sitting down, “and to be a part of this group.” Looking around the table, DeWohl noticed there were no ashtrays.
“Gentlemen,” Admiral Payne began while returning to his chair at the head of the oak wood conference table, “I believe you all have read my letter with the accounts from Lord Everton and the facts collected from our interview with Count DeWohl, so if we do not have any questions…” Payne paused and looked around the table to allow a question to be posed, “…then I suggest we begin with trying to decide the probable next pieces of advice our friend Krafft will be giving Herr Hitler.”
Admiral Payne had invited Lady Hightower to this meeting, first to interpret his sometime odd metaphors that spewed from her husband, and to have her apparent psychic abilities available for this important meeting. She had refused. “I think Lord Everton is who you want at such a meeting, he’s the only one with a feel for astrology.” When the concern was raised as to whether or not anyone could even understand Lord Everton’s peculiar phrases, she replied, “Admiral, you did a wonderful job when you were here last, I just know you two will get along just fine at your next meeting.” After one last attempt for her presence, she said, “I just really can’t. When I sense them, I feel ill, horribly ill. They are using a strong form of darkness over there… very, very dark… and evil. You wouldn’t want to put an old lady like me in that kind of danger, would you, Admiral?”
Bryant Jenkins was the first to speak up with a question. “Does any one else have the opinion or justification that if Hitler strikes this month, it will be within the first week?”
Everyone looked at one another, except Lord Everton, who stared at the wall.
“What do you mean?” Admiral Payne asked perplexed.
“It seems each time Hitler goes on the offensive for his invasion, so far it has been done in the first week of the new month.” Jenkins pulled out a large sheet of paper and passing it to the Admiral, motioned to pass it to the others around the table. On the paper were notes, followed by the date of each German invasion and corresponding astrological symbols:
“Is there some sort of pattern here?” Lt. Kingston asked after a few seconds of study.
“From what I can see in the Sun and Moon relationship, there seems to be a progression, Aries to Taurus, Taurus, to Gemini and then Gemini to Cancer…” Jenkins pointed this out as he spoke, his finger running from line to line.
“Yes, but what is left in Europe for him to attack? He has nearly everything already, and what he doesn’t have will probably come over.” Lt. Kingston expressed the general feeling of the British public and the indications from British Intelligence concerning Hungry and Rumania.
“Oh, he will go after a big one, and it will be this month.” Lord Everton finally spoke while looking at the wall-sized map of Europe. “But it won’t happen this week, he’s behind, you see, Herr Hitler is behind.”
Nearly everyone looked at each other with a shocked expression of disbelief, except for Admiral Payne, who looked at the map trying to follow Lord Everton’s eye, and DeWohl, who stared at Lord Everton in amazement.
Jenkins ignored the seemingly preposterous statement by Lord Everton, and continued on with his commentary. “As you can see also in my analysis, each of these attacks came precisely just one day before the moon went void-of-course, which Krafft believes and has shown statistically that endeavors started after a void-of-course moon usually ends up unfulfilled, or flawed in some way. I believe he will continue to follow this patter.”
“What do you mean, a big one?” Admiral Payne asked Lord Everton, completely ignoring the analysis by Jenkins.
“Yes, yes, a big one.” Lord Everton said, still looking at the map. Admiral Payne could see that Everton’s eyes seemed to be focused on Poland. “He knows we will never surrender, but he thinks we are a threat no more. He wants to go after his real enemy.”
Lord Everton gave out an almost hysterical laugh, which again had many of the group looking at each other aghast. Paul Windelton faced Lt. Kingston and rolled his eyes. DeWohl bit his cheeks to prevent from laughing so he may appear to remain serious in front of the Admiral and others. He too, thought Lord Everton a bit daffy, but somehow liked the old man.
“Lord Everton,” DeWohl asked politely, “what do you mean Hitler is behind?”
“Yes, yes, finally, one who understands! Yes, correct. He’s late, very late, and he’s furious. He wanted to start a month ago, when the stars were right, but his little Roman friend by the seaside jumped the gun. Yes, the little Italian tried to take Athens again but jumped the gun… and without telling his partner. Yes, yes, Herr Hitler is angry over this. Very, very angry, they were supposed to be friends, but now the strutting little bully has really made a mess.” Everton stood up. “That little Caesar thinks he’s hot shit, but he’s not even warn diarrhea. That’s how Hitler feels about his little friend now. Really. He said that.”
Still holding his second sheet while everyone focused on Lord Everton, Jenkins was visibly upset everyone paid attention to Lord Everton. Jenkins raised the paper higher to regain control of the conversation. “Now if you look here, you will notice that…”
Admiral Payne cut him off with a wave of his hand. It was if the Admiral could see something in the old man’s statements. Captain Jameson was looking at the map with the look that something was dawning on him as well.
“Admiral, could he mean that Mussolini’s going into Greece was something not coordinated with Hitler?”
“Hmmm.” The Admiral walked up to the wall map. “Let us say that is true, that Hitler had to spend April to bail out Mussolini in Greece.”
“Plus he had to take out Crete to secure his flank in Greece in the process.” DeWohl, being up on current events and their ramifications, added.
“That would mean most of May was perhaps preparing where he wants to go now.” Captain Jameson figured out loud.