“Why 1946?” asked Hitler, clearly troubled by what he had just heard.
“I suppose it means the war will be won by one side or the other by then.”
“But which side, Herr Professor? I must know!”
What was left of the thin veneer of infallibility of the Fuhrer, the military genius who had conquered continental Europe, disintegrated, as it often would during these tea-time conversations when he would openly share the opinions he tried to hide from military types such as Jodl and Doenitz, rightly fearing their ridicule.
“For that answer, I refer you to the thirty-first chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy, where the Lord told Moses his descendants would forsake God and break His law. Verse seventeen says, ‘Then my anger will be kindled against them…and I will devour them.’ When that section is scanned for every fiftieth letter, the Hebrew word for ‘holocaust’ emerges. That means a burnt offering or fiery destruction of life.”
“Clearly a divine affirmation of your Final Solution, the extermination of the Jews,” added Himmler to Hitler. “Of your messianic mission and the certainty of the Thousand-Year Reich.”
“Why, of course, I see now,” said Hitler. “I thought of it, and now I am sure. Even the miserable Scriptures of subhumans cannot hide the reality of my destiny and their destruction.” He turned to von Berg, who nodded dumbly. The notion that an ancient document could predict a genocidal madman like Hitler was almost as absurd as the reality of watching him actually believe it.
Hitler produced a German Bible and opened it to the bookmark at the thirty-first chapter of Deuteronomy. “Show me here, Professor, circle the letters.”
“It won’t work in just any translation, my Fuhrer. I need the original Hebrew Torah. I suppose the Masoretic text that dates to the tenth century is precise enough. But even then I’d have to translate the alphanumeric codes.”
“I see. But of course.”
Von Berg could only gaze with wonder at the disappointed Hitler. The man should be removed from leadership immediately, he thought.
“In the case of the Maranatha text we see in the microfilm, I’m dealing with first-century Greek and not the Hebrew Dr. Stein analyzed. But here, too, if we use only every fiftieth letter, we discover words such as ‘Armageddon’ and ‘judgment’ hidden among the letters of this lost epistle to the Thessalonians.”
“Fascinating,” Hitler muttered.
“Why fifty, Herr Professor?” von Berg asked. “Why not thirty-seven or forty-four or any other number?”
“The number fifty is seven times seven plus one,” Xaptz answered simply. “Seven is a special number in the Bible, especially in the Book of Revelation, and we cannot forget there are seven days in the week of the creation myth. There are also fifty days between Passover and Shavuot, as the Jews celebrate those holidays, and Easter and Pentecost, as they are recognized by Christians.”
“But of course,” von Berg replied. “That explains everything.”
Hitler nodded in agreement, failing to appreciate the Baron’s intended sarcasm.
“Some letters can be translated into their numerical equivalents,” Xaptz continued. “Alpha, for example, is equal to one, beta is two, zeta is six, and so on, so that hidden among the letters of this microfilm is what appears to be a rather complex code of some sort. One that, if we could unravel it, would tell us the exact date of the end of human history as we know it.”
“And provide us with the formulas for Greek Fire,” said Hitler. “Go on, go on.”
“Unfortunately, it is all inconclusive, you see, because we have here only a fragment of the Maranatha text and not the text itself. And I am not so much of an expert as Dr. Stein.”
Hitler turned to Himmler. “Then get me Dr. Stein.”
Himmler cleared his throat and, in a low voice, reminded the Fuhrer, “Sent to Dachau in thirty-eight. Died two years ago.”
“I see,” Hitler murmured. “Is there nobody else?”
Xaptz said, “There is an American I am aware of who has done some work in this field, though it is not his specialty. Professor Jason Prestwick of Yale University.”
Hitler nodded. “The one referred to in the Allied communique we intercepted along with the microfilm.”
“The same, Fuhrer. Naturally, he is beyond our reach at this moment, though probably just as puzzled if they have shown him this microfilm.”
Von Berg had heard enough of this fantastic conversation spoken in such calm, reassuring tones between the quack professor and the chancellor of Germany. He could restrain himself no longer. “Has it occurred to Herr Professor,” he said, “that Prestwick is perhaps in the employment of the American intelligence services and that this microfilm is an elaborate hoax?”
For a moment they were all silent. Xaptz began to twitch nervously.
Himmler laughed. “You give the Allies too much credit, Baron von Berg. What purpose would such a forgery serve?”
“To exploit our fears about the Allied armies gathering in the Middle East.” Von Berg addressed Hitler, eye to eye. “They know we have a fairly accurate assessment of Patton’s Seventh Army and Montgomery’s Eighth Army in North Africa. But Wilson’s Ninth Army in the Middle East is another story. We don’t know how many divisions are down there, much less if any of them are even close to being ready to mount a large-scale invasion. The Allies understand our strategic dilemma, so they devise mystical nonsense such as this Maranatha text to deceive us.”
“To what end, von Berg?” asked Himmler from his chair, sounding as if he’d had enough of the Baron’s tiresome doubts.
Von Berg kept his eyes locked with Hitler’s. “As I said earlier, to make us fear an invasion of Greece and move the focus of our attention away from their intended point of entry.”
Hitler sighed. “Which you still insist is Sicily?”
“Yes,” said von Berg, “and again I must remind the Fuhrer of my opinion that we don’t need additional German divisions in Greece. Once they are there, they cannot be easily moved, certainly not in time to counter an Allied invasion of Italy.”
A faraway look filled Hitler’s eyes as he considered the implications of the logic, and for a second von Berg dared to believe that reason would prevail. But the Reichsfuhrer dashed any such hope to pieces.
“What is it you’re hiding in Greece that the presence of more German troops makes you so uneasy?” Himmler removed his silver pince-nez and polished the lenses as he squinted his small eyes at the Baron. “You’re not still pursuing research on atomistics, Jewish physics, are you? The Fuhrer ordered the Flammenschwert Project abandoned. We don’t want a Sword of Fire. We want a Sea of Fire. We want Greek Fire to protect our shores from invasion.”
Hitler snapped out of his trance. “Yes, von Berg,” he said with newfound authority. “We’ve already been through all this with the armaments ministers. Last year, before he died, Todt told us that an atomic bomb is not worth our time. And Speer says that even if we were to pursue such a weapon, the earliest we could deploy it would be 1946. By then, as Professor Xaptz has shown us, the war will be over. Besides, von Braun’s rocket research at Peenemunde looks much more promising.”
At this point, thought von Berg, no weapon could save Germany if Hitler remained in power. Already Hitler’s failure to appreciate the stealth of the U-boat had cost Doenitz’s underproduced fleet the Atlantic. His blindness to the speed of the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter had cost Goering’s battered Luftwaffe the skies of Europe. Now his ignorance of the power of the atomic bomb could cost Germany the war.
“The ultimate weapon is Greek Fire,” Hitler went on, his eyes sparkling at the mention of the subject. “Greek Fire will provide us with the ultimate defense against any Allied invasion-a ring of fire around the continent. In the twinkling of an eye, we could set our coastlines ablaze, burning the Allies before they even set foot on our shores. Just like that.” He snapped his fingers. “What are you doing about it, von Berg?”