Read Online See How They Run by James Patterson - Free Book Online
Authors: James Patterson
Tags: Fiction
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wedding band as he sat at the slightly surreal barroom table. He found it especially hard to look into Rabinowitz’s rheumy, blood-flecked eyes.
“Not an awful lot. A little bit,” David started to answer the strange man’s question. “Roosevelt, Cordell Hull, Harry Hopkins. They all must have known about the German and Austrian concentration camps, say, from 1939 on. They waited until 1943 to do something substantial or meaningful about the Holocaust. That’s fairly well documented, I think. Arthur Morse wrote a popular book, right?”
Benjamin Rabinowitz nodded indifferently. He bit off half of a hard-boiled egg brought with the beers. Yolk crumbled down the front of his shirt.
“Now why in God’s name do you think President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hull acted like that toward the Jews? Sort of a peculiar way to act, eh? I mean, you and I wouldn’t have acted like that, waiting four years to do something about the ovens.”
David thought that he had no goddamn idea why President Franklin Roosevelt had done
anything. Ever
.
“Well, I would imagine Roosevelt was getting unbelievable pressure to stay out of the war in Europe. Isolationists. The 1940 election and his promises to ‘keep our boys home.’ I also believe that some large American companies were still supplying and secretly arming Germany at that time.”
“And?”
And what?
Dr. David Strauss suddenly felt as if he were taking orals in Modern World History. The little mailman manqué was watching him like some sort of madman professor emeritus.
“I guess … uh … well, shit.” David finally had to laugh. “If the American people had known about the Nazi death camps, they would have forced this country into World War II sooner. Let’s hope so anyway.”
The Nazi-hunter folded his liver-spotted hands together, prayer style.
“No bullchit now,” he said. “All right, Dr. Strauss. David, if you believe that I’m a sane man—and I am. If you believe I am a relatively intelligent man to have tracked down all of these Nazi bastards, what do you make of this statement?” Rabinowitz made a small dramatic pause. “No bullchit now, David. This is important with respect to understanding the killings in your family. Tell me what you think of this idea:
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a Nazi
.”
The agent Hallahan spit out a mouthful of beer.
David’s mind whirled off into blank, empty space for a few seconds.
Rabinowitz just stared at the young, dark-haired doctor. He was perfectly serious, David was certain.
David realized that his face and neck had gone all red. He’d begun to feel slightly paranoid, foolish. He answered with a statement that didn’t make any sense to him.
“Well, I’d have to take it that you were … using the word
Nazi
metaphorically. Like—Richard Nixon was a prick.”
Rabinowitz’s face lit up with a wonderful Halloween-pumpkin smile.
“Good. Wonderful.” He began to praise David, like a proud yeshiva instructor. “Mr. Callaghan. Mr. Callahan, are you still with us?”
Harry Callaghan nodded his head slowly. “Yes. Sure. Only in addition to being
a prick
, Nixon was a
Nazi
.”
This came so unexpectedly from the serious-faced agent that it made all of them laugh. Benjamin Rabinowitz, especially, laughed until tears were rolling down his mottled cheeks.
“Okay then,” he finally said to David, his eyes now shiny and alive. “Okay. Let’s make up a theory about the Strauss family. You see, it’s stupid to try and think with one, two, three, four logic, because we don’t have all the one, two, three, four facts yet. Let’s suppose, just suppose that someone in your family—your grandmother, your brother—had seriously, perhaps inadvertently, threatened the Nazis.
“Yes, yes.
Maybe
, it’s Die Spinne. ODESSA … this is a very complicated matter, though. Many possibilities, given what’s happened so far. We have to move one step at a time.”
David literally sat on the edge
“Not an awful lot. A little bit,” David started to answer the strange man’s question. “Roosevelt, Cordell Hull, Harry Hopkins. They all must have known about the German and Austrian concentration camps, say, from 1939 on. They waited until 1943 to do something substantial or meaningful about the Holocaust. That’s fairly well documented, I think. Arthur Morse wrote a popular book, right?”
Benjamin Rabinowitz nodded indifferently. He bit off half of a hard-boiled egg brought with the beers. Yolk crumbled down the front of his shirt.
“Now why in God’s name do you think President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hull acted like that toward the Jews? Sort of a peculiar way to act, eh? I mean, you and I wouldn’t have acted like that, waiting four years to do something about the ovens.”
David thought that he had no goddamn idea why President Franklin Roosevelt had done
anything. Ever
.
“Well, I would imagine Roosevelt was getting unbelievable pressure to stay out of the war in Europe. Isolationists. The 1940 election and his promises to ‘keep our boys home.’ I also believe that some large American companies were still supplying and secretly arming Germany at that time.”
“And?”
And what?
Dr. David Strauss suddenly felt as if he were taking orals in Modern World History. The little mailman manqué was watching him like some sort of madman professor emeritus.
“I guess … uh … well, shit.” David finally had to laugh. “If the American people had known about the Nazi death camps, they would have forced this country into World War II sooner. Let’s hope so anyway.”
The Nazi-hunter folded his liver-spotted hands together, prayer style.
“No bullchit now,” he said. “All right, Dr. Strauss. David, if you believe that I’m a sane man—and I am. If you believe I am a relatively intelligent man to have tracked down all of these Nazi bastards, what do you make of this statement?” Rabinowitz made a small dramatic pause. “No bullchit now, David. This is important with respect to understanding the killings in your family. Tell me what you think of this idea:
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a Nazi
.”
The agent Hallahan spit out a mouthful of beer.
David’s mind whirled off into blank, empty space for a few seconds.
Rabinowitz just stared at the young, dark-haired doctor. He was perfectly serious, David was certain.
David realized that his face and neck had gone all red. He’d begun to feel slightly paranoid, foolish. He answered with a statement that didn’t make any sense to him.
“Well, I’d have to take it that you were … using the word
Nazi
metaphorically. Like—Richard Nixon was a prick.”
Rabinowitz’s face lit up with a wonderful Halloween-pumpkin smile.
“Good. Wonderful.” He began to praise David, like a proud yeshiva instructor. “Mr. Callaghan. Mr. Callahan, are you still with us?”
Harry Callaghan nodded his head slowly. “Yes. Sure. Only in addition to being
a prick
, Nixon was a
Nazi
.”
This came so unexpectedly from the serious-faced agent that it made all of them laugh. Benjamin Rabinowitz, especially, laughed until tears were rolling down his mottled cheeks.
“Okay then,” he finally said to David, his eyes now shiny and alive. “Okay. Let’s make up a theory about the Strauss family. You see, it’s stupid to try and think with one, two, three, four logic, because we don’t have all the one, two, three, four facts yet. Let’s suppose, just suppose that someone in your family—your grandmother, your brother—had seriously, perhaps inadvertently, threatened the Nazis.
“Yes, yes.
Maybe
, it’s Die Spinne. ODESSA … this is a very complicated matter, though. Many possibilities, given what’s happened so far. We have to move one step at a time.”
David literally sat on the edge
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