“Sturmbannführer,” a subordinate officer greeted, holding a signed order from Heinrich Himmler. “This is for you, sir. Directly from the Reichsführer.”
Maria smiled, only infuriating Diekmann even more with her satisfied glow. He grabbed the order stipulating Dave Purdue’s accompaniment to the front with him, and perused it briefly. In the order it stated that Purdue had invaluable information to be advised.
Diekmann glared at the beautiful leader of the Vril Society and asked, “What does this imbecile possibly have that we need, Maria? If he could really tell the future he would have known that he was going to get captured inside the Reichkanzlei, wouldn’t he?”
“Please listen, Adolf. Besides what I bore witness to, I know the Führer is behind him too. So, are you implying that the Führer is incompetent in his decisions?” she teased with a very serious undertone he dared not tempt.
“Of course not!” Diekmann bellowed. “What was it that convinced all of you to trust this man?”
She leaned towards him with her striking big eyes and glorious lips, “Herr Purdue told me that Sturmbannführer Helmut Kämpfe, commander of the ‘Das Reich’ division would be kidnapped by the French Resistance… tonight.” Her whisper was positively chilling.
Diekmann chuckled in disbelief and shook his head at her. “That prediction does not signify that Purdue is psychic, my dear. It rather denotes that he is a spy. How else would he know the business of the Resistance?”
She could not rebut his statement. As his eyes danced from side to side on hers, she realized that he had a very fair point, yet she would not concede to it.
“There is more to him than this. I know what I saw,” she reminded Diekmann. “Make sure he is well taken care of, would you? The Reichsführer is counting on your cooperation with regards to our newest member.”
“He is part of the Vril Society now? He just waltzes in under suspicious circumstances, does one magic trick and now he is connected to the SS Elite?” Diekmann laughed skeptically. “Unglaublich!”
“If that chews at your ego, Adolf, then I suppose this next bit of news will have your head spinning,” she smiled mockingly as he waited anxiously to hear what she had to say. “After telling the Führer what Purdue knew, and what we saw, and after he heard that Purdue worked with George Viereck’s close friend Nikola Tesla, a meeting was arranged for next Sunday at Wewelsburg,” she piled it on for him, each fact wounding his pride like a silver bullet. “Dave Purdue is being inducted into the prestigious Order of the Black Sun.”
The revelation was so far beyond absurd that Diekmann simply sneered at her, pausing to take in the ridiculousness of it all. He looked at each of the stone faced soldiers in the room and finally headed toward the door, leaving Maria behind to gloat. As he exited the office he shouted casually, “Make sure he is ready tomorrow night at 21:00 Hours.”
Purdue sat in his new cell, which had been cleaned along with the other three. The electrical lights illuminated the grey masonry and steel bunks in each cage and in the distance he could hear the occasional laughter of German conversation between officers and female staff of the Chancellery. Under his sleeves his skin had somewhat healed and the worst of the sting had subsided. No longer did Purdue have to catch his breath in agony every time he accidentally grazed against fabric or objects.
He sat in the otherwise quiet extension of the second floor below the city of Berlin, wondering what was going on above the ground. Purdue had been here many times in his life, but never before could he say he visited the square during the biggest modern war time in Germany. When he imagined that he could possibly run into the most evil Austrian of all time at any moment, Purdue was filled with both loathing and awe. To meet a historical figure of such significance would have to be the biggest moment of one’s life, unless he was going to meet Adolf Hitler face to face just before taking his place in front of an SS firing squad. That would be a tragedy.
‘What would Nina say if I had a picture taken with Himmler or Goebbels?’ he pondered with a smile. It felt strange to smile again, especially amidst the constant fear for his fate. But Purdue hoped that Sigrun and Maria could liberate him at least from the cells, even if they planned to shove him back into the very cult he had been combating for most of his adult life, the Black Sun.
Since he was now more of a guest and less of a prisoner he was not as nervous about footfalls approaching his cell anymore. Ever since the two women left him earlier he had been wondering what was going to happen now that he let it leak to the High Command that he predicted the abduction of one of their officers. Of course he ran the risk of being marked a plain spy with intelligence on movements he could appear to be involved in, but if he played dumb for long enough the Vril Society was bound to protect him from the Waffen-SS.
All Purdue could do now was to withhold important information on upcoming incidents to use as a bargaining chip to keep him from harm. He would have to give them only what they needed to see that he had knowledge of the immediate future and not an ounce more, otherwise he would become redundant. On the other side of the steel door the commotion died down and the voices steadily grew silent. Purdue guessed that it was just past 11pm now.
“I think it is time for the evening prayer,” Purdue muttered to himself, going down on his knees on the floor. One last time he glanced to the door to make sure nobody was coming. He placed the BAT on the floor in the corner and took a deep breath.
The steel door’s bolt made a loud clang and footsteps sounded shortly after the heavy door creaked open. Light weight moving swiftly on small heels told Purdue that his visitor was female before he even saw her. To his surprise it was Sigrun, not Maria. In her dark, silent way she stood staring at him for a few seconds before even speaking.
“My God, you look just like her,” he said softly.
“Who, Nina?” she asked confidently. It gave him chills how much she acted like Nina, that even her voice possessed that same intonation and challenge. He nodded and smiled, but she was not one to dwell on unimportant matters such as past lovers. Unlike Maria, Sigrun was more calculating, less emotional and all about getting to the point.
“I need you to do as you are told, Herr Purdue,” she told him plainly. “Do not attempt to flee the men of the regiment you are going to accompany. It will derail the direction of what is to come.”
“And what would that be?” he asked, intrigued by the mystery of her.
“The assassination of Hitler,” she answered casually.
Purdue went into a whisper, his eyes darting toward the door to check for unwanted company. “Sigrun, I hope you are not going to attempt this on your own?”
She smiled. That very same smile haunted his memories of Nina Gould when she still used to be his lover. It was a sensual show of power and self-confidence.
“Do you really think that women like us, women who cross dimensions and communicate across light years with only the force of our minds, would dirty our hands with the blood of a pig like Hitler?” she scoffed with that same smile, looking toward the door while her amusement dwindled again. “This afternoon late Helmut Kämpfe was kidnapped from his quarters and you are going with Sturmbannführer Diekmann to show them where he is held captive,” she informed him evenly. “They now cast their lot with your supposed wisdom, having no idea that their future is just a history text book to you.”
Purdue listened intently, amazed at what she knew and how nonchalantly she addressed what needed to be done. She bombarded him with more information he fought to memorize as she spoke.
“Listen, at the upcoming meeting with Himmler and Hitler to bring you into the Order, you must not protect yourself when the hit squad strikes. Your survival has indirectly thwarted our attempt on the Führer before — every single time, no matter how many times the incident had been repeated over different time frames.”