“Then why did you marry him? Why?”
“He was handsome, he had wealth, he appeared to have confidence, and it seemed to be a good choice. However, my impression about him literally disintegrated, shattered within a month of our marriage. He was nothing but an insecure, insensitive, narcissist who used his so-called superiority to compensate for a definite inferiority complex. Believe me. I lived it. And I only joined you on this trip because we are friends and I wanted to support you. I did not come because of Fruendel”
For most of the rest of the trip, Marlena and Freida were quiet and staring blankly, as though in some deep reverie—but not a quiet reverie.
On the other hand, Hudal did not feel calm or quiet. He decided to call Montini and talk it over. Montini apparently had an instinct for what he considered the difference between random events versus pre-planned events. In this sense, he needed to reassure Hudal that whatever happened to Dunst and Schmidt did not have the earmarks of some precise assassination event as might be carried out by Mossad, for example. Nor did it have the ring of truth that the discovery of both men was based upon their whereabouts derived from possession of information that they, in turn, would have gotten from the microfilm.
Montini explained it to Hudal by simply saying that ‘yes, they were probably assassinated but not as a result of information gotten from the microfilm.’ Hudal was reassured, especially because it was Montini who was reassuring him, and so with greater confidence, Hudal quickly went on to other things. He didn’t spend another moment worrying or even thinking about the visit from Marlena Jollenbeck and Freida Dunst.
* * *
In contrast, from Simon’s new perch somewhere now in Europe, plans were being made for him along with Sam and Shimen to travel to New York City headed directly to the Bronx. When he and his men were finally in transit, he couldn’t stop thinking about the region around Monaco and the little village, Mentone. He was also focused on the information he had received regarding the large yacht with the radar detection-system visible for all to see above the deck of the yacht directly on the roof of the helm. The yacht was moored at Menton Harbor near to the outskirts of Menton not far from the base of Mont Tete de Chien.
The name of the yacht was: Salvation. Also, Simon was told by some of his other contacts that it was a sixty-foot Bertram that was purchased and then sailed across the Atlantic from Newport Beach, Rhode Island, eventually landing near Monaco and then was moored at Menton Harbor.
Simon, of course had begun to acquire information concerning this entire business of deciding whether the name Gustav Schell was authentic or whether it was some kind of ruse to perhaps throw code breakers off the track—and further whether there might be other similar deliberate errors on the microfilm that were inserted to do the same. In addition, initial information reaching Simon traced how the Salvation was decked out with speed altering mechanisms. Obviously, Simon’s ‘handlers’ had ways of ascertaining the information they needed.
The information he obtained was quite interesting and specific. He learned that a Jack Plate was installed to reduce drag on the yacht, the propeller was fine-tuned even after it was replaced to an upgraded level, and the electronic control module was reflashed. This meant, he was told, that the rocker of the boat was blueprinted—meaning that the boat now was able to ride on its lines with the subtraction of the rocker, making the boat more stable. The yacht also had a supercharger installed. It was bolted to the engine, Finally, a system of packing more air and fuel into the cylinders before the pistons could compress the mixture resulted in the yacht gaining more power.
As Simon was reading over his notes and sharing the information with Sammy and Shimen, he mused: ‘Whoever owns that boat figured that some day they might need to head out fast—very fast.’
Immediately before Simon left for New York, he very excitedly contacted Jimmy in London, relayed all this information about the yacht, gave him the particulars, and told Jimmy that M-16 needed to send some agents to the area and identify who owned the yacht and to pin-point where in or near Monaco that person who owned it, lived. Simon told Jimmy it could be important, even essential, so that speed was the issue. He then wished Jimmy a safe trip to New York and said he looked forward to seeing him there.
Simon was awakened by the Stewardess who instructed him and his two-man crew to buckle their seatbelts as they were about to land at Idlewild International Airport.
There was no need for Simon or Sam and Shimen to hassle with anything because as they deplaned, Mac and Lyle were waiting for them. The detectives introduced themselves and Simon expressed his pleasure in meeting them. When they went to pick up Simon’s luggage, along with the other luggage belonging to Sam and Shimen, the luggage was already waiting for them. It was Al who had the foresight to set it up with Mac and Lyle and therefore to streamline Simon’s arrival.
Simon told Mac and Lyle that he had heard all about them from Al but it was great to meet them in person. All the way back to the Bronx and to the Concourse Plaza Hotel, they talked non-stop. Mac and Lyle filled Simon, Sam, and Shimen in on the so-called ‘Holocaust’ at the precinct, the detainees they’d gotten, and the entire story about this captured duo including information they had gotten from the Peron/Argentina connection.
From Simon’s side of it, he asked Mac and Lyle whether Al had mentioned Monaco and the clues they had about a Gustav Schell, but Mac answered that they hadn’t heard about that. Simon then told them all about their suspicions and about the yacht moored in Menton Harbor.
“Detectives, tell me,” Simon queried, “don’t you think it’s strange that in that sort of very affluent and gambling region of the world, for such a ship to be moored? Why such a concentration on speed?”
Mac quickly answered that any detective worth his weight would, of course, perhaps see it that way too, except for the idea that some of these hot-shot trillionaires might like it fast—actually want to be the fastest.
“I have to admit,” Mac said, wanting to confirm Simon’s feelings, “it is definitely suspicious.” Of what was it suspicious, Mac couldn’t, be sure. But it was definitely suspicious regarding something—and something important. Of that he was sure.
The reason Mac wasn’t sure about its importance was that Simon had not really explained the entire Gustav Schell thing. What Simon had omitted in his story regarding the Schell name listed in the middle of the microfilm was who in the world Gustav Schell might be.
“So,” Simon continued, “the value and element of ‘importance’ does in fact enter the picture—yes?”
“Oh sure,” Mac answered. “Oh yeah. I can feel it. Looking to Lyle, Mac said: “Lyle?”
“No doubt Mr. Wiesenthal. No doubt,” Lyle answered. “There’s something important there. No doubt.”
The trip from the airport took less than an hour when they pulled up to the Concourse Plaza Hotel.
* * *
Waiting for them at the entrance of the Hotel on the traffic-busy Grand Concourse, was Alex Kaye, who had become the nucleus of the entire adventure, soup to nuts, involving all of the participants representing those on four continents, as well as connected to his own gang of Frankie, Gloria, Mac and Lyle, and Harry and Jack, along with a few others. This didn’t include the Whartons and of course, Willy and Stevie—not to mention Simon, and the European/Middle Eastern contingent of Imi, Hugh, and Maxie, along with their newest member—the irrepressible Shmuel Kishnov.
Al escorted Simon and his crew consisting of Sam Silver, and Shimen Pargament to their rooms. He had already checked them in so that they and all luggage were escorted directly to their rooms. The others that were to arrive within the next twenty-four hours were also all already checked in. The Whartons, Frankie, Willy, and Gloria were likewise checked in and in their rooms. Due to arrive were Jimmy, Imi, and it had been finally decided that Hugh should be there as well.
So, Hugh, from Europe, and Eskenazy from South America, namely Buenos Aires, and Shmueli—from who knows where? But
Al knew Shmueli and Max were informed and promised to attend this all important meeting.
Coming in on the midnight flight at Idlewild were Jimmy, Imi, and Hugh. They cabbed it directly to the Concourse Plaza Hotel and were in their rooms, and asleep, by 2 am. Over the next several hours, Eskenazy arrived and hit the hotel at about 10 am, and finally, Shmuel Kishnov and Max Palace walked in on them having brunch in the dining hall at about noon.
Hellos were permeating the dining hall and lots of laughter and introductions were being made. Now the Bronx gang was introduced to the Europeans and Middle Easterners as well as to Eskanzy the Argentinean. Then within a minute or so, Al was quick to quiet them down and to take the floor.
He introduced Simon and asked Simon to say a few words. As it was, the dining hall was quite crowded so Simon simply suggested that after brunch they should all take care of whatever they needed to do and meet in the large conference room on the second floor which had been scheduled for them at 2:30 pm.
At about 2:20 pm, people began trickling into the conference room. Shmueli was the first one in followed by Max. They weren’t timid. They walked in energetically, and immediately began rearranging the chairs so that instead of rows of chairs and the frontal position of the dais lectern, they moved the lectern to the side of the room and separated all the chairs by setting them in a large circle that would, with their count, accommodate sixteen people around the circle. They were sure Simon wouldn’t want the Wharton children to attend nor would he want Willy, who he knew started the entire shebang, to attend. As it turned out, Willy couldn’t attend because of obvious reasons, and Al had Gloria’s best friend, Joclyn to come and baby-sit Stevie Wharton and her little brother down in the lounge. He also arranged for Mac to see to it that Joclyn had her own baby sitters with her—two Bronx cops. Mac stationed one in the corridor of the lounge and one inside with Joclyn and the children.
By the time the room was rearranged, Simon and the rest were trying all to be punctual so the room filled up quite quickly. Al took the floor and asked each person to rise and stand while he gave a thumb-nail sketch of who they were and what they did. The others were so taken with each introduction that at the end of each, they all applauded. Al introduced Simon, last. But of course, last was not least. Even Bill and Ruthie Wharton had heard of him.
The first thing Simon did was to apologize to the Whartons for their terrible ordeal. He said he was speaking for all of them in feeling enormously thankful that they all came through it with flying colors. Then, without any drama, he surprised Bill and Ruthie Wharton by telling them that the meeting had some crucial classified secret material that needed to be discussed and he thought it would be to their advantage not to be privy to it. He apologized and he hoped that, despite missing this meeting, they would indeed attend the dinner, that was planned for them all at a little Jewish restaurant/luncheonette in the southeast Bronx run by Mrs. Esther Pellis and her husband Mr. Sol Pellis, an immigrant Jewish couple from Ukraine. Al reported that all the food is homemade. In addition, Al arranged for transportation to and from the luncheonette.
Al also told them that the store was located just about across the street and a block away from where Mac, Lyle, Frankie, Jack and Harry corralled a couple of wanted criminals who where the ones responsible for Willy’s unfortunate misadventure off the ledge. But Al assured them that Claremont Parkway was now as safe as ever. As a matter of fact, in trying for levity, he also mentioned that the two of Stevie and Willy’s friends, Richard Grillo and Henry Namrellek, would probably be playing ball in the lower schoolyard of P.S. 42 even though it might be getting a bit dark later in the meal. He said no matter when it was, there they were, those two, throwing and catching.
The Whartons graciously thanked everyone and declared that without a doubt they would attend the dinner. Then they left.
Al immediately gave the floor back to Simon who instantly launched right into how they came to know something about the name Gustav Schell.
“And this is the foremost theme of this get-together. We’re really all here, of course, to pay our respects to Mr. and Mrs. Wharton, but the overriding issue is what we all would guess as to who is Gustav Schell? Is the name a deliberate way to throw decryption experts off the track and along with this, perhaps on the microfilm are other such tricks? Or, is it a misprint—which I strongly doubt? If it is a reference to an actual person, who might that be?
“The issue is that this person, Gustav Schell is the only one of more than four-thousand names without a secondary location. The microfilm listed names of Nazis who were or would be indicted for war crimes. Alois Hudal of the Vatican was in charge of getting this multitude of thousands furtively out of Germany or Austria and then dispersed in many different places, but mostly in South America, with a strong emphasis on Buenos Aires, Argentina. But certainly not solely, since quite a number went to the Middle East, mostly Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.
“The point here, however, is that each of these thousands had secondary places pre-arranged just in case the primary location was in some way breached—except….except for Gustav Schell. With Schell there was no secondary location and he was not ferried out of Europe proper. We know he lives somewhere in the south of France on the Riviera near Monaco, probably in a little town named Mentone.
“We’ve also uncovered the fact that a boat, a yacht is registered in his name. The interesting thing about the yacht is that it’s outfitted with special mechanics so that the average speed of this sixty-foot American made yacht is equipped to increase its speed by a rather large factor. So, why such speed? Is the situation and speed of the yacht somehow equivalent in the compensatory sense to a second location? Does Hudal decide whether Schell gets a secondary location or does Schell decide where he would like to spend the rest of his life in a place of Nirvana such as the French Riviera equipped with all the possible conveniences money can buy.
“Some of us here, like Sammy, Shimen, Imi, Hugh, Joseph, Jimmy, Maxie, and Shmuel have a common hunch as to who Gustav Schell might be. Of course, there is no hard evidence to support it and therefore, I firmly think we need to break wide open what this is all about. Now, one of the things that is supposed to throw decryption experts off the track is by tricking them with fraudulent names and locations. However, this doesn’t wash here. Why? Because we had, with the valuable assistance of an inside man named Max—our own esteemed Max Palace here who set up with genius decryption scientists the ability to have the code of the microfilm decoded almost in record time. In other words there were no tricks that derailed the decryption experts in breaking the code.
“Thus, lady and gentlemen, whoever Gustav Schell is, is something we are now planning to uncover. I believe my good friend Jimmy McKay here from M-16 will enter the fray on the French Riviera along with the help of Maxie and Shmuel. They’ll have further support and assistance from Imi and Joe Eskenazy. My squad of Sammy Silver along with Shimen Pargament will also be involved. In this case, we need Hugh to be at the Vatican and not in Monte Carlo. And that’s it.
“I’m not including Alex Kaye here or Mac and Lyle. They, including their support guys, Jack and Harry, are our New York City or Bronx contingent who will probably still be working on their captives held at police headquarters in lower New York City.
“Tomorrow, me, Sammy, Shimen, Hugh, Imi, and Jimmy, leave for London. From there at Jimmy’s office we will plan how to gain entry, how to arrange an infiltration into the arena of Monaco and from there how to blend in to Mentone and its surroundings. We will also need to find out who it was that contacted the engineers who subsequently signed on to increase the speed on the Salvation. We know the hyped-up yacht is in Schell’s name. Knowing who in Schell’s command contacted these suppliers could provide essential information. Further, we need to identify where Schell lives. After that, it’s a crap-shoot which as I think about it is not a bad metaphor for the area surrounding Monaco, and especially Monte Carlo.
“I’m sure each of us might have diffe
rent ideas as to what to do once we put our hands on Gustav Schell. In the meantime, I believe it will take us at least a week to plan it all including who to contact in order to set up smooth transit points including, of course, escape plans.”
At that moment, who else but Shmuel Kishnov piped in. He said:
“Yes, I too tink dere vill be oder ideas to tink un now I have also idea. Max un me, vee not meet mit you all at Jimmy’s in London dis veek. Dis reason ist because now vee going to oder place.”
With that, Shmuel Kishnov excused himself and he and Maxie walked out. They went to their rooms, packed their bags, and checked out.
At the airport Shmuel asked Max to head for Monaco and to set up a post-office box in the name of Clearwater Company at the address of 18 Square Victoria Mews, Mentone, France, in care of S.K. He also told Max to get some rooms in Monte Carlo at the Hotel Columbus. He said the Hotel Columbus was an inexpensive place, not a high-end hotel, so people there are generally rather inconspicuous. He also suggested that Max take a guided tour to Mentone to survey the place in order to see what he could as related to the yacht, Salvation — like for example, did it have a crew, and if so what did their behavior reveal about them? Then Shmuel further suggested that Max keep his ears open about anything regarding a Gustav Schell.
The Ghost Page 24