The 34th Degree

14

B aron von Berg raced through the Bavarian Alps in a staff Mercedes, late for a conference with Hitler and his generals at the Fuhrer’s holiday house at Obersalzberg.

Von Berg was driving with the top down, having placed the dead body of the chauffeur who tried to kill him in the backseat. No doubt Himmler had sent the fool to greet his plane after failing to hear from Ulrich in Greece, von Berg thought. Unfortunately for the driver, the Baron had performed too many similar assassinations for the Reichsfuhrer to fail to recognize that something was up. He took care of the swine shortly after they passed through the village of Berchtesgaden, when he forced the driver to stop so he could answer nature’s call.

Himmler had tried to kill two birds with one stone in Greece, von Berg realized: eliminate the Baron and obtain the Maranatha text. Now he would get neither, for the text was safe in Greece, and von Berg had no intention of missing this meeting, not with the truly significant document inside his leather briefcase on the seat beside him.

As the autobahn curved east, von Berg could see more majestic mountains in the moonlight. Yes, it was good to come home to his beloved Bavaria, good to be alive. So good that the thought of the Reichsfuhrer working up some remorse and breaking the bad news to the Fuhrer of the Baron’s unfortunate end at the hands of religious fanatics made him smile. He pushed the pedal to the floor, and the Mercedes took off.