"But that would be a crime, sir," Mary stammered.
Neumann sighed behind his mask. "Stand her up."
Two guards released her and pulled her to her feet. One punched her hard in the stomach and, as she doubled over, the second grabbed her hair and violently yanked it back. She tried to scream and retch at the same time. She was pushed back on to the chair and strapped in.
"Can you imagine this happening to your sisters? What happens to you will happen to them as well.” He held up a long handled pair of pliers for her to see. "These will be for your teeth. One at a time will be pulled and there will not be an anesthetic, of course."
One of the hooded men opened her mouth and Neumann pushed the pliers inside where he skillfully held a tooth in its grasp. "Smaller pliers, pincers, will remove your fingernails and toenails, again one at a time and at scheduled periods so you can sit and wait for the agony to begin anew. You cannot imagine the pain you will have to endure if you do not obey me, and remember that the same agonies will be inflicted on your family."
He removed the pliers from her mouth and had her guards stand her up again. The two guards began to stroke her breasts and buttocks. She screamed and writhed.
"Are you a virgin, Mary Bradford?" She whimpered that she was and Neumann laughed. "Now, Mary Bradford, do you understand what will happen to your family if you don't cooperate. Along with what I just described, you'll be sitting there watching them be raped. Your sister might handle it, but an eleven year old girl? I wonder. A few good hard German cocks might just tear her apart. Of course your turn will come afterwards while they watch. Do you have a boyfriend?" Mary nodded that she did. "Wonderful. Maybe we'll invite him in to watch the show as well. So you will cooperate, won't you?"
She nodded and murmured a yes.
"You may be the last virgin in Canada, and you will remain that way. However, you will give these men," he pointed to his thugs, "something to seal the bargain. You will suck their dicks. Understand?" Mary moaned and again nodded her head. “And if you do anything to hurt them, your pain will be beyond belief.”
Koenig watched in disgust as, in anguish, she was released from the chair and performed on the two hooded men. When done, she slumped down to the floor and sobbed hysterically. Neumann instructed his men to give her back her clothes and possessions and told her to take a shower. After which, she would be driven back to the apartment from which she'd been snatched the evening before. She was told to go to work on Monday as if nothing happened.
As if she could, Koenig thought. He’d committed his share of what many would define as atrocities, but they were against Slavs and Jews, people Hitler defined as less than human, which meant they didn’t count. In Koenig’s opinion, Canadians were too close to Aryan for what had happened to the girl to be comfortable.
Neumann wanted to talk some more, so they returned to the Gestapo commander's office. Neumann prattled on about the greatness of Hitler and the inevitability of the Reich's triumph against the decadent west because it was filled with Negroes and Jews. Koenig agreed that there were numbers of Jews who were in charge of banking and the movie industry, and that this had to change. Indeed, it would change.
"No such mongrel race has ever succeeded," Neumann said. "By the way, were you impressed by our technique with the girl? We took her on a Friday night, so she wasn't missed. Even her boyfriend was out of town. Nor did we really hurt her, at least not physically. There will be no major bruises and she'll have no one to complain to. We broke her mentally and she will obey completely since she fully understands the consequences of failure or disobedience. The German Army may conquer nations, but the Gestapo conquers people."
Koenig was about to leave when one of Neumann's guards barged in. "Sir, the girl has killed herself."
They ran down the hallway and found her lying on the floor of a shower stall. Her eyes were open but the life had gone out of them. Her wrist had been sliced open with a small pocket knife that had likely been hidden in her purse, and what remained of her blood was flowing down the drain. Koenig saw more blood on her thighs. The goons had indeed raped her. He wondered if Neumann cared and decided probably not.
"Damn it," snarled Neumann. "She was so promising. Now I'll have to find someone else."
Chapter Four
Grant submitted his so-called brainstorming report and promptly forgot about it. He and the other officers in the group had collaborated on a document that ran a mere five pages, while other groups had written extensive treatises. Tom had the feeling that anyone reading it would not want something the size of "Gone with the Wind," so he kept it short and terse.
He was mildly surprised when, after a couple of days, he and Downing were summoned to Truscott's office. Another major general was there as well, Dwight Eisenhower. He commanded what used to be the army's War Plans Division and was now the Operations Division. His friends called him Ike, which Tom wouldn't think of doing. Tom and Eisenhower had met briefly on a couple of occasions and the general greeted him amiably, shaking hands.
"Glad to see you're healing, major," Ike said with a disarming grin. "Now let's have a seat, some coffee, and discuss your analysis of the situation. Colonel Downing says that you were the driving force behind the report and that the fundamental ideas were yours, so don't be modest."
Grant felt himself flushing. "I guess I had a lot to say, general."
"That and the fact that you'd been in Canada made it even more important that we talk with you. Now, you state that the Germans will not invade us, why?"
"Sir, they will most certainly attack if they see a major advantage, but they will not risk a full-fledged invasion, which would be a permanent thing. When I was in Canada, I identified a number of their Wehrmacht divisions, and I understand at least two more have arrived since then. Assuming they're at close to full strength, that would give them at least two hundred thousand men. That's a lot, but not enough to conquer the United States or even make a permanent claim to part of it. They would never use all their soldiers in an attack since they still have to maintain control over a huge portion of Canada. The Canadians are docile, but they might take advantage of an opportunity to try to kick the Germans out. Therefore, I believe they will raid, but not invade."
"And where will those raids take place," Eisenhower said softly. He continued to smile, but his eyes were cold.
"Sir, there are only a handful of places where we are vulnerable, and they are obvious since geography will dictate German operations. First, is the Buffalo area and the second is Detroit and vicinity. Detroit would be particularly attractive since there are so many major factories producing planes, tanks, and trucks. Pittsburg is close enough to be hit by the Luftwaffe, and they do have a number of fighter and bomber squadrons stationed near Toronto."
Truscott leaned backward in his chair. "And you don't think they will be tempted to try and keep what they raid?"
Tom grinned. "Oh, I think they'll be tempted. In fact, I believe that a number of their officers, and maybe some of ours, would be delighted if they tried to hang on. We'd outnumber them in a couple of days and simply roll over them. No sir, after hitting us as hard as they can, they'll return to Canada, blow the bridges and tunnels and wait for Uncle Adolf to come and rescue them."
"And what will Uncle Adolf be doing?" Eisenhower asked.
"He'll have greatly increased his submarine strength, which I understand is already occurring. He can't take on our surface navy, so he'll hit our inter-coastal shipping along with our ports and harbors as hard as he can. If he can cut our navy down to size, he can send an additional force to Canada. If he can't, this General von Arnim is screwed."