Read Online The Gemini Divergence by Eric Birk - Free Book Online

just a few days earlier and addressed
as official business for Major Toelke only.
    Schwerig
thought , I don’t know how things can get
any worse if I open it .
    Upon opening it he found the open packet from
the first meeting with the orders to liquidate Schwerig, signed by
General Von Sterbenbach and originating from his office.
    This was somewhat of a relief to Schwerig,
because it meant his extermination orders may not even be known
about in higher ranks, or in organizations other than the SS.
    If Von Sterbenbach didn’t survive the war or
disappeared like he was planning, Schwerig may be able to carry on
with his life.
    Under the open packet was a spare uniform, as
Toelke had said, but underneath the uniform along with a sleeping
bag, there were two more manila envelopes, both sealed.
    One had no markings whatsoever, but the other
was posted for a classified courier to Toelke’s office from the
central headquarters of the SS. It was further marked for Major
Toelke and only to be opened upon arrival at Riese.
    Schwerig was very interested in this because
this meant that SS headquarters was dealing directly with Toelke
and bypassing General Von Sterbenbach.
    Schwerig thought to himself,” How could all
of these people be putting their faith in such an idiot? He had to
be related to somebody, either that or someone owed him a very big
favor. Maybe they just knew how big of a weasel he was, or how good
of an actor.”
    Schwerig opened the package and was not
surprised after all that he had been through in the past few days
that the package contained liquidation orders for Toelke to kill
Von Sterbenbach.
    He chuckled to himself, “When will this
madness end?”
    He wondered if Toelke had even known yet,
since he had not yet been able to open the packet himself.
    Schwerig sat back against the wall since
there was no furniture and thought to himself as he handled the
last unopened package.
    This may be a blessing, because if Schwerig
goes ahead and kills Von Sterbenbach, then nobody else would know
that Schwerig was supposed to be dead as well. If they find
Toelke’s body, they will surely be able to see that he was killed
by a strafing plane and not by a side arm.
    He leaned back against the wall and counted
his blessings, then he leaned forward again an opened the last
remaining envelope.
    Inside he found a key and a hand written
note, without a signature, but in Von Sterbenbach’s hand
writing.
    The note was instructions to meet Von
Sterbenbach in the Riese senior officer’s quarters on tomorrow’s
date.
    Schwerig could have gone to spend the night
in the officer’s quarters, but did not want to risk Von Sterbenbach
discovering Schwerig in his sleep, so he would use the sleeping bag
and stay here.
    Tomorrow he would go and wait for Von
Sterbenbach.
    As Schwerig started to relax he began to pay
attention to other sounds and sights emanating from elsewhere on
the military installation. He could hear the occasional sounds of
gun shots and knew that what played out here earlier in the day,
was no doubt playing out over and over again in different places on
the base.
    It was already growing dark, as they had been
driving all day since the meeting, when suddenly. There was a great
flash of light like a flair shining outside.
    He went to the window to look, but noticed
that whatever it was, it was on the other side of the hill from
him.
    Schwerig thought that it was just the guards
setting off combat flairs to be able to see in the dark, but it was
unusual that they were blue instead of white.
    Maybe they were the only color that they
could get since the wartime supply system didn’t always allow
anyone to get what they wanted.
    As he sat through the night, he noticed that
the flair would emit light through the windows, lighting up the
entire horizon, once every half hour, on the hour and half hour,
just like a train schedule. He thought nothing more of it though,
as he lay his head down and slept.
    *~*
    Into the night, the