And just standing there with no one apparently around, was their target person who looked at them as though frozen in place.
He spoke in German: “You’re going to kill me.”
“Dis ist absolut correct,” Shmuel Kishnov firmly but unapologetically answered.
“But why? I did the necessary things,” said this man who was no longer the mystery man.”
“Dis ist vie vee killing you now. Dis ist because vee too doing necessary ting. No feel goot. Yah? No feel goot to be dis person who getting killed for dis necessary ting? You vould agree it not feeling goot?’ Yah?”
Even though Shmueli got his chance to express outright his righteous indignation—the rest didn’t wait for any answer. So, with this part of the plan at hand, it was Joseph Eskenazy’s assignment, the man from Buenos Aires, who lost relatives in the Holocaust, to inject the Scopolamine. As he walked over to do it, another door suddenly opened and a thin blonde woman appeared. Before she could see Eskenazy, who was about to do the injection she said:
“Liebste . . .” and then she saw it all. In her panic, she froze. In contrast, Eskenazy was not in the slightest unnerved. He just went ahead and did the injection disregarding who she was—although he did of course recognize her. In the end, there was no resistance from either of them. Yet, although he just stood there agape and aghast, in a few minutes he was drowsily slurring words, but only for a few seconds and then—without fanfare silently dropped to the carpet in a seemingly unconscious state. Shmueli then calmly walked over to the woman who uttered the word “Liebste” and without a moment’s hesitation or any sign of regret, put a bullet in her head. She collapsed on the carpet in a pool of blood with brain tissue strewn near her liebste.
Max, Sam, and Shimen then immediately carried their Scopolamine captive out of the house, exiting from the back door that led from the kitchen. They all walked that way with two others flanking the pall-bearers making it virtually impossible for anyone to see what was happening. Back at the house, Shmuel and Imi wrapped the lady in a sheet and Shmuel carried her fireman style out of the house through the kitchen back door.
They had no interest in cleaning up the place and within a few seconds Shmuel and Imi and their unfortunate female guest caught up to the others.
Within less than ten minutes they arrived at the burial site. The first body was in a comatose state but alive. The question was how to kill him. Jimmy turned to Shmueli.
“What do you think?
Shmueli started talking and at the same time, with Maxie’s help, removed the cylinder from its package. Then he removed the impervious container of acid, and explained:
“Dis special make metal cylinder. Ist two-feet vide. Dis ist tventy-four inch vide, un five-foot ten-inch in dis long. Dis mean ist 70 inch dis long. Inside ist lining mit glass coating un den mit vax. Now I having dis container mit tree pound hydrofluoric acid. Ven ist pour in dis cylinder vill den eat all dis living tissue—mean bone un teet un no leaving no evidence. Deere ist much coatings in dis cylinder so to preventing no damaging to metal cylinder. It dissolve calling degrading-protcess vill take maybe tzvie day. Den no tracing deere ist left.
“You can see, yesterday, Sammy un Shimen, mit Maxie help digging for dis straight down hole. He vill be alive but not knowing vhere he ist. Vee must push cylinder in dis hole. Vee making him naked un putting him in dis cylinder—head ist go first so den he ist upside down. In dis vay, vee burying him alive upside down un he dying from dis asphyxiation, also dyhydration, also starving, un also vhat called decompose because of dis acid.
“I knowing dis book mit Lilliputians peoples ist namen, Gulliver’s Travels. Dis Lilliputians peoples in Gulliver’s Travels day too doing dis upside-down ting. Vee must keeping dis in mind please—dat dis grave vill no have marker for memorial. So, in dis case such person be subtract from dis civilization. Maybe dis can meaning dat everything day doing ist now no more real so dat dis protcess maybe reverse all bad day doing. You see vhat I meaning?
“I saying dis because it make me feeling better. Vhat vee are here doing,” Shmueli continued, “den eh, how vee say, oh yah, vee desecration dis person for history—un dis ist vat ist.”
It became quiet after Shmueli’s sincere but torturous syntax in his considerable broken language. Then Max broke the silence.
“Shmueli also has told me what a Rabbi had told him—that the soul that would ordinarily lift to Heaven for its one-year journey, will not have a chance to lift because the acid will do the job before the lifting process even begins. Thus, the acid destroys the soul-lifting process. Is that right Shmuel?”
“Ya, ist is. I vould suggesting vee getting on mit it.”
“Wait,” Imi interrupted. “I think it’s clear that in all of it we’ve found a Hydra. This is Greek mythology I’m talking about. The Hydra had many heads. Therefore, in our case we’ve been dealing with more than one head, more than one ghost. Get it? Yes, Hudal was the ghost, and a big one, and as far as I’m concerned, he too needs the upside-down treatment. And so does that other ghost, Montini. That sort of Hydra doesn’t have its head grow back. So that means he’s conquered. Montini, now there’s a definite Hydra’s head and I repeat, that one needs to go as well, because that one too, will not have its head grow back. But now, here we have what in Greek mythology was considered the immortal head, the one that couldn’t be erased by cutting it off because I believe it would then grow back.
“I’m not sure I have it down exactly as it is in Greek mythology, but I believe its close enough. What we’ve done here is answer the Greeks. Shmueli here has provided the answer. Yes, Shmueli has solved the problem with this upside-down process and to finally end this so-called immortality head by the decomposition based upon use of Shmueli’s hydrofluoric acid. In other words, with this process, with all of it, the vertical upside-down position is reserved for Devils. The process of the acid means the head can no longer be an immortal head.”
Imi had finished what they all agreed was his interesting interruption and they all got on with the process at hand. Shovels and spades were not necessary because Sam, Shimen, and Max had the hole prepared by previously digging it out then concealing it by covering it with branches and leaves. But there was no grave for the lady..
So, Max looked at Sammy and Shimen and said:
“Boys, she goes first. Let’s dig it as usual, horizontally. For her we’ll only dig one that’s seven feet deep—one foot extra for good measure—and don’t get fancy; we’ll bury her like I say, horizontally.”
Max, dead-panned it all. It was clear that Max was a cool guy. It would be hard to rattle him. Then as he, Sam and Shimen got to it and started digging, Jimmy himself stripped the main body and in less than three or four minutes or so, it was all done. No one said anything. They waited for more than an hour and the seven-foot grave was dug. They quickly buried the lady and filled up the grave. Then they turned to this funerary-ground, inserted the cylinder with the sealed bottom and fit it perfectly into the twelve-foot hole with two feet of space on top for earth to be shoveled in after the body would also be inserted into the cylinder and also after the three pounds of hydrofluoric acid was poured in.
After it was done, the top of the cylinder also would be hatched closed and sealed. Only then would the two feet of earth be shoveled in on top of the cylinder, now sealed at both ends. With these precautions and preparations, the likelihood of anyone detecting and/or uncovering that spot was highly unlikely.
At that point, Max and Shmuel were given the honor of lifting the unconscious body and head first, slid it into the cylinder. They had tied cord to the feet so that they actually lowered the body slowly, straight down the cylinder, yes, head first. They then tied the cord around the top of the cylinder. In that way, the body would be hanging head-down and feet-up entirely straight so the body, all of the body, would decompose that way until the cord disintegrated. Jimmy volunteered to pour the hydrofluoric acid into the cylinder. He was wearing gloves that Max gave him.
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In went the three pounds of acid filling up part of the cylinder also showering and washing over the naked body. Then, as planned, they closed, hatched, and sealed the cylinder. Immediately afterwards that they began shoveling earth into the remaining upper part of the hole on top of the sealed cylinder. They patted the earth down and then spread some leaves and branches over it.
Then, the deed was done. Was it ever!
Jimmy asked Shmueli to say some words over this once in a lifetime grave site.
“I needing to saying dat if any peoples from outside see dis vhat vee doing here, day vould feeling sorry for dis man. But ifn day knowing vhat he do un how he doing it, maybe den day even vant to join mit uns, un den no more feeling sorry for dis dog dat ist evil. But now I saying real ting; for dis six-million. Dat ist vhat ist first,” Shmueli said. “Den in unser namen un also mit Simon, un Hugh, un dis child, Villy, un all villy’s groupa—Alex un hist detective groupa un also mit remember mine own familia un also in dis namen of mine frient Dr. Yasha Greiner un hist familia, un in namen of all dis Jews who losting familia un frients, I now ending dis ceremonia—but maybe vee call dis vhat vee doing here—celebratzia.”
After the so-called send-off funeral and without any post-event events, they all departed to various points. Eskenazy was the first to say his goodbyes. He was flying back to Buenos Aires. Sam and Shimen were planning to arrange their meeting with Simon, this time in Haifa where they also would be accompanied by Imi. Jimmy would be landing at Heathrow and heading straight to his office at M-16. Maxie wasn’t sure where he would be going, and Shmueli wouldn’t say where he was going. But Shmueli had one last conversation with Jimmy before Jimmy took off.
In the end, they all reached their respective destinations. The first thing Sam and Shimen did was to sit with Simon and describe the entire fantastic story. The first thing Eskenazy did when he hit Buenos Aires was to call Simon in Haifa as well, and told him the same story that Simon had heard from Sam and Shimen.
With that, Simon sat with two of his aides and in kind of an amazed way ruminated on his quest for justice and his hope for universal punishment for each and every of these inhuman Nazi vermin. His eyes told the story of an exquisite sense of righteous indignation—to this point at least, where this indignation was almost gratified with the news he heard.
Simon was in a thrall with what Shmueli had accomplished even though he realized that Shmueli, like him, was already corrupted with hatred and seeking in some way, some as yet undiscovered way, to deal with it all. Of course, Shmueli’s way was a decision to kill them. It was a Kovner resolution. In contrast, Simon’s way was to get them all and put as many on trial as possible.
On the other hand, Shmueli found some strange way of expressing it with the particular funeral he imagined and actually implemented. How Shmueli ever had the patience and foresight to be able to accumulate the materials for that unimagined funeral was a mystery to Simon—a fantastical reflection of a transformed mind—Shmueli’s mind—from what it probably originally was: normal, to what it became, anormal, and perhaps even abnormal. Yet, Simon was not going to attribute anything ‘abnormal’ to Shmueli. He would simply call it ‘anormal.’
“It’s going to take me a long time to integrate this information,” Simon said. “Just thinking about it makes me jittery and I guess I could say, like nervous. But as I think about it, I get the feeling that underneath it all, I’m really angry when I imagine who it was. But it’s not Shmueli that makes me angry. It’s him! It’s the one they buried. No, I’m not angry at Shmueli. Shmueli is a hero of the Jewish people, whether the world knows it or not. And of course, the world doesn’t know it because of what the ignorant world was initially told about Jews, and what the world still believes to this day!”
Then Simon excused himself and told his aides he needed to rest, perchance to sleep. But as he was leaving, he turned to his aides and was about to say his farewell when Shimen said:
“Simon, what about these other Hydras like Hudal? Head or no head growing back, he still lives.”
“We’re already doing a lot, gentlemen,” Simon answered. “Shmueli and Maxie and all the others will now continue to do what they do best and so assassinations will sound throughout the world with bells ringing. Hudal? We can’t touch anyone at the Vatican. However, I believe that in the future there’s a very good chance that some Pope who is more human than some of these other execrable, heinous Popes will, because of his own reasons, choose to release all sealed Vatican archival files related to specific Vatican agencies that were directly implicated in their assistance to Nazi atrocities and who were facilitators to the entire program of Vatican escape routes for thousands of these Nazi vermin. It will be at that time that the world will see an example of it all in the display of a naked, vile Hudal. And, gentlemen, with that I bid you both farewell.”
Shimen wouldn’t let it go.
“Simon,” Shimen again intoned, “not yet. Before you go, I don’t think you know what happened to Shmueli’s family. In 1941 his mother and a sister with the sister’s husband and their two children, ages ten and twelve, escaped from Yaruga, their shtetl in Ukraine, to the Crimea to a place called Yevpateria. But the Nazis, the infamous Einsatzgruppen, with the help of the vaunted so-called Nazi-neutral Whermacht surrounded Yevpateria. Yevpateria was not far from Simferopel. There, the Nazis rounded up twelve-thousand Jews including Shmueli’s people.
“After the war, Shmueli received a letter from an eye witness who reported that all of the twelve-thousand were shot execution-style after which they fell into what was later called the Yevpateria Ditch. It was a gully then covered over with earth which took a series of dump-trucks all day to fill. In that letter was also indicated that infants held by their mothers were first shot in the head and then after the mothers witnessed it, the mothers were also killed. Those of Shmueli’s family were among the murdered. The letter also stated that people, Christian peasants of these little towns, these shtetles, would angle for the best viewing of the carnage. Then for a couple of days the earth kept moving. Apparently, some of the people were buried though still alive.
Then these wonderful Christian peasants who never spent a day in any school—not one day—began digging it all up to see if they could scavenge anything that looked valuable. The only learning these uneducated people had was at church where they were told that the Jew was the Devil.
“For Shmueli, that did it and it was then that Shmueli began gestating the idea of assassination. He eventually joined Kovner and took it from there.”
Simon listened. Then, as was his M. O., he nodded and departed—to who knows where?
On the other hand, from London, Jimmy called Alex Kaye in the Bronx. He told Al that Shmueli said Maxie had decided to hang with Shmueli but that Max was also planning to eventually head to the Bronx. Jimmy then said his goodbye and told Al to definitely send Willy, his best wishes. As for Shmueli, Jimmy said Shmueli also sent Al best wishes. Al asked where Shmueli was going and Jimmy answered he didn’t know.
. 22 .
HOMECOMING
For the first time since Willy was pushed off the ledge, Al’s life was now more stable. For one thing, he was no longer traveling every five minutes to various places in Europe and back, or to the Middle East and back, or especially and particularly and specifically to London and back. No more goodbyes to Gloria. Now it was always ‘hello,” and for all intents and purposes it seemed that it was always going to be ‘hello,’ largely because Jimmy’s news was kind of putting an exclamation point on the larger picture.
Not only that, but Al and Frankie always had a game of catch going on using a Spaldeen—that is, a pink bouncing ball. Wherever they were, they were tossing a ball around. It was typical of Bronx boys to do that. When it was pointed out to them, Frankie started laughing and said it was the happiest time of his life to have a catching and throwing friend. Al agreed. They loved doing it. Al said you could even see it in the new generation with Willy and Stevie’s fri
ends in the P.S. 42 schoolyard; those nine or ten year old boys, Henry and Richie doing it also.
It was Sunday and Mac and Lyle had the day off. When they walked into Willy’s room, Al was happy to see them but he was focused in wanting to know whether the 24/7 watch on Willy was still in effect. Gloria told him it was but that it was becoming a struggle to sustain it. She told him that the compromise they made at that stage was that instead of two cops stationed there with one in the room and one outside of the room, there would only be one on duty on each of the eight-hour shifts.
“What we arranged,” Mac continued, “was that an attendant would take the cop’s place when he went to lunch or to the bathroom. That was the best we could do.”
The truth was that Gloria was there every spare moment she had so that Willy was hardly ever alone. Willy, of course, was first and foremost overjoyed to see Al. He loved Al.
“He’s tired of me, Al,” Gloria said. “He’s just happy to see you.”
“That’s right,” Willy said and laughed.
Everyone there knew that Willy loved Gloria so they all joined in on Willy’s joke—and that included the cop on duty.
Before you knew it, they were talking in the corridor of the hospital outside of Willy’s room. Frankie actually took out a Spaldeen from his pocket and tossed it to Al. Al caught it and laughed. However, they went back into Willy’s room and Al told Willy how well Willy looked and that he would see him later. Willy said he’d hold him to the promise and Al replied, telling Willy how well he was speaking and that he could see that Willy was getting much better. He then leaned into Gloria, and kissed her also promising to see her later. Then he and Frankie, and Mac and Lyle all left the hospital.
When they were walking to Mac and Lyle’s police car, Al began to give them the briefing he got from Jimmy. They all got in the car. Al and Frankie in the back and Lyle in the companion seat with Mac driving. Al started relaying in a general way what Jimmy had told him. He deliberately omitted certain of the sub-rosa stuff. He talked to them about the ghost and mentioned the stuff about the Hydra but never mentioned names nor did he mention anything about what Jimmy had told him regarding the cylinder stuff. He told them how the guys, including Max, Jimmy, and Shmueli, took care of what needed to be taken care of on the French Riviera. He also added names of the others: Sammy, Shimen, Eskenazy, and Hugh, but then again didn’t identify who the ‘who’ was. He finally said that Maxie was thought of as indispensible, and that Shmueli emerged as the key guy especially at the end when things got gruesome.
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