by Cliff Ball
Times of Turmoil
by
Cliff Ball
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Copyright © 2013 by Cliff Ball
Times of Turmoil
Book 1 of The End Times Saga
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All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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Chapter 1
The task was finally finished.
Gregory Evans smiled at the thought of what he had accomplished as his assistants piled the remaining jewels, works of art, and other signs of wealth into the large, unmarked freight trucks. His deal with the Germans was that he was supposed to give them a run-down of the wealth that was taken from the Jews, and then all of the liquidated wealth would be turned over to the German government.
Gregory had different ideas.
He skimmed off the top, taking about fifteen percent of the wealth confiscated, which was a considerable amount. If anyone from the government was actually monitoring him, which included the Gestapo, they would have seen what he was doing, but because they weren’t, Gregory figured the Germans wouldn’t miss something they didn’t know existed. He told them what he thought they needed to know, but nothing more. The fifteen percent he skimmed was put into Swiss banks; none of whom asked questions. Later, Gregory would use his newly acquired wealth to amass power for himself, but for now, he had to deal with the Germans and their very mercurial leader.
Gregory came to Germany shortly before the United States had been dragged into the now Second World War because of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Gregory’s father thought sending him to Germany would be a good lesson in leadership and business skills. Gregory’s family was part of a global group of families who ran things behind the scenes.
The Evans’ made their fortune back when the Hudson Bay Company (among others) was profiting off of the New World and its colonization by various European countries. The Evans family also profited greatly from the wars in America, for example: when the British fought the French and Indians, or even when the American colonies declared their independence from England, the family’s focus was on their own personal wealth and power. For a brief period, there were worries from the people who profited off Europe that the French Revolution would ruin everything. Fortunately, their hopes for the future increased when Napoleon Bonaparte came to power, but was anticipations were short-lived when they realized no one could control him.
During the American Civil War, the Evans’ and their associates stoked passions on both sides as they profited from slavery and war. The Evans decided not to help the Confederacy when Lincoln suspended rights and had no problem wielding his supposedly limited powers to make the central government even stronger. It was generally understood, among the elite, that the American government would be easier to manipulate, and a whole lot easier to bribe, than the Confederacy. The Evans’ made lots of money off of Reconstruction, followed by the Gilded Age, and made real progress when they found Woodrow Wilson, and promoted him up to President of the United States shortly before the First World War. The Roaring ‘20’s were considered a setback to their goals, but after the forced Stock Market crash in 1929, Franklin Roosevelt was promoted to United States President, specifically to bring about big government.
The goal for the Evans’ and the others was to completely purge the United States of its Judeo-Christian leanings and replace it with something much more secular, preferably dominated by a strong central government with a few worthy persons (in the eyes of these power hungry families) in power. They knew that it may take decades, maybe even a century, but it would be done. The fairly recent Scopes Trial helped their cause immensely as far as pushing the United States towards becoming more secular, but more needed to be done. The Evans’ funded people like Margaret Sanger and Josef Mengele, knowing people like them would eventually coarsen a civilization by purging society of the so-called undesirables. For Sanger, that was black people, and for Mengele, it was anyone he experimented on in the concentration camps. They didn’t shy away from ridding society of the disabled and were looking for more efficient ways of doing so.
When Adolf Hitler came to power, he was ignored at first by the wealthy globalists, but when one of them read Mein Kampf, they decided his goals were worthwhile. The globalists were haters of Judaism and Christianity, but thought that taking down the Christians would be a task that required a long time to complete. For reasons the globalists didn’t understand, since anything of a spiritual nature was alien to them, the Jews were easy for most people on Earth to hate; so convincing Germans to kill all the ones they could find wasn’t that difficult of a task.
Gregory was raised to hate Jews and Christians. His father derided Christians mostly, complaining that if it weren’t for them, he could do whatever he wanted without someone whining about it not being ethical or telling him that if he didn’t repent from his sins, he’d go to Hell. Gregory’s father dismissed Christianity as nothing more than fairy tales and irrational superstition. Gregory never gave a moment’s thought to Christians; he had never interacted with them and never wanted to.
When Gregory came to Germany, the Germans were, of course, consumed with fighting the war. For the most part, all of the Jews and others, that the Germans considered undesirable, were already in the Camps; but no one was tallying up all of the wealth they had, so Gregory convinced the higher-ups in the Nazi government to let him do it.
It took him a better part of three years to gather up all of the confiscated wealth from across Germany, Poland, and the other German occupied lands, but he finally did it. Gregory was proud of his accomplishment and was looking forward to the day when he could use the wealth he skimmed to gain the power he wanted. For now though, he had to report to his so-called superiors to tell them about his accomplishment.
A few days later, after calculating the wealth that had been confiscated, Gregory was back in Berlin to report to his superior. The man he reported to was Heinrich Himmler, the second most powerful man in Germany right after Hitler. Gregory considered Himmler one of the smartest, if not the most dangerous man on Earth, while Hitler was outright crazy. In Gregory’s opinion, if it wasn’t for Himmler, Adolf Hitler would have gotten so far in such a short time. Gregory had to always be careful around both men; they were paranoid and weren’t afraid to kill a person on the spot if the two thought they were being betrayed. That kind of ruthlessness was what Gregory admired and hoped to emulate.
Gregory went into Himmler’s office, where he found Hitler sitting on one of the sofa’s in the spacious, darkly lit, office. The two stopped talking when he entered. Gregory felt an evil presence, giving him unexpected goose bumps. As usual, he dismissed it as paranoia. Himmler looked over at Gregory with his cold eyes, and said, “I understand you’ve finished the project. Now that you’ve liquidated everything, how m
uch actual cash do we have?”
“Germany now has enough cash to last ten more years without raising more taxes on the people. If the war ends in the next year or two, it might even last longer,” Gregory replied.
“Excellent. Once we crush the Russians, the Brits, and the Americans, we’ll raid their banks and mints, even Fort Knox, and then we’ll have enough money to last for a hundred years. After that, we can get rid of the Japanese.” gushed Hitler.
“Don’t count on that, Adolf. Have you seen what the Japanese have done to the Chinese and all those others under their thumbs? A war with them would take decades. It would be very expensive.” Himmler warned.
“Bah! No one is superior to us. No one! If the Allies invade us, they’ll be crushed like ants. The Americans can’t fight like real men and the Brits are too weakened to do anything. All they do is drop bombs on our cities and chase after us in North Africa, they’re no real threat. Victory is ours!”
“Yes, yes, Mein Fuhrer. Our troops will fight to the death and bring down many millions of enemy soldiers with them. Now Mr. Evans, would you like to be in charge of captured enemy money once we conquer their lands?” Himmler asked.
“Of course I would. I assume I have to wait until the war is over before I can take over this role?”
“Yes. The war should be over in a year or so. You won’t have to wait long,”
“I look forward to it, Herr Himmler. What else would you like me to do?”
“For now, we want you to monitor the money transactions here in Berlin to make sure no one skims off any for themselves. No one is to be trusted. Understood?”
“I understand. You have my complete loyalty, and I will do as you ask. Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.” Gregory walked out of the office.
Hitler returned his gaze to Himmler and said, “Kill him when we win this war. If you don’t, he’ll cause trouble for us in the future,”
“I understand, Mein Fuehrer. I will see to it.”
“Good. Now, I must return to my office. We still have a war to fight.” Hitler abruptly rose from the couch and walked out of the office. Himmler dispensed with the usual Heil Hitler routine and went back to work.
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