The Man who Missed the War

by Dennis Wheatley

  ‘Come to think of it, Boy, ‘tis the strangest position we’re in now about the war. D’you realise that, after having known nothing at all for all these months, by being here we’ll know more than anyone on either side. I’ll bet that Hitler doesn’t know that as far back as the Battle of Britain Churchill started planning to invade him. And I don’t suppose that Churchill knows all about those horrible new weapons Hitler’s preparing to use.’

  ‘That’s just what I’ve been thinking,’ Philip replied. ‘I haven’t a doubt now that we’ve been sent here for some purpose; and I believe it is to find out all we possibly can about these new weapons.’

  ‘What would be the good of that when we’ve no way of getting the information back to London?’

  ‘Yes—that’s the snag, isn’t it? Still, you never know. We’ve been saved by what almost amounts to miracles before, so another might turn up which would put us on the road for home.’ On this vague but comforting speculation they let the matter rest.

  After their first meal on the following morning, the tall gaunt Rakil called for them, as he had promised, and took them down to the lower level, to a large room in which a number of middle-aged Atzlanteans were working.

  Here there were no beautiful mosaics panelling the walls; instead, a number of large maps had been fixed up on them, but Philip was amazed at their crudity. They looked like the work of a child that had been set to draw maps of the continents and sections of them with red, blue and yellow chalks. Some, such as that of Europe, were much better than others, and showed a certain amount of detail, but most of them consisted only of the roughest outline and had few place-names marked on them.

  ‘Before we start on the Pacific war,’ said Philip, ‘may I ask you one or two questions arising out of our talk yesterday? You were saying that the Anglo-Americans are preparing to land an army on the Continent. Do you know when the attempt will take place?’

  ‘In about two months’ time,’ replied Rakil. ‘During the first week in June.’

  ‘And how long will it be before Hitler is ready to bring his new weapons into play?’

  ‘That is a little difficult to answer. Most of the experiments were being carried out at a place called Peenemunde on the Baltic. One night the R.A.F. sent seven hundred of their largest bombers there and smashed it. That put everything back for many months. In fact, if it had not been for the R.A.F. raid, Hitler’s new weapons would be in operation now; by June all the ports in Southern England would be smashed up and there could be no invasion. As it is, the new weapons cannot now be ready much before June and even then it will be some months before enough of them will be available to obliterate London and the other British cities.’

  ‘Then for both sides time has now become the vital factor? With the Russians still pushing in the East, if the Allies succeed in landing in the West before Hitler can really get his new weapons going, he is bound to be defeated; but, if the Allies fail to do that, the war may go on indefinitely and all Britain become devastated. It looks, though, as if the Allies will get on the Continent before Hitler is able to stop them.’ Philip could scarcely conceal his excitement.

  ‘Perhaps.’ Rakil’s thin lips pursed themselves into a cynical smile. ‘But the Allied attempt to land might be defeated; and there are certain ways in which Hitler might be given time.’

  ‘What do you mean by that?’

  ‘The European war is Zadok’s affair, and no doubt he will tell you in due course.’

  Turning away, Rakil led them over to a large chart of the Pacific which, even if had many apparent inaccuracies, was good enough to show the broad picture of the Japanese war, and he expounded to them on it for half an hour. During the first year the Japs had overrun millions of square miles of territory and achieved an almost unchallengeable supremacy over a vast segment of the ocean stretching from the Aleutians in the north to Java in the south; but from the winter of 1943 they had been held and pressed back on no less than four separate fronts. The Anglo-Indian armies had stabilised a front in Northern Burma, while Australians, New Zealanders and Americans under General MacArthur were gradually driving the Japanese back through the ghastly tropical swamps of New Guinea. But the most spectacular Allied progress so far had been made by the United States naval commands, which in the north had driven the Japanese from the Aleutians and in the south were systematically clearing island after island of their enemies.

  Gloria and Philip were clever enough to infer that they had no time for the Japs and that in the Far Eastern war their sympathies lay with the Americans. To have done otherwise would perhaps have aroused suspicions about their proclaimed neutrality, and they had ample opportunity for maintaining their anti-British line by expressing their pleasure that the bloodsucking British had been driven from Hong-Kong, Borneo and Malaya.

  When he had brought them up-to-date Rakil went on to discuss possible future moves in the Pacific. Apparently, the Planning Staffs in Washington and London had for many months been discussing two lines of policy for defeating the Japanese. One line was to launch offensives from east and west which would drive the Japs from Burma, Malaya, New Guinea and all the Dutch East Indies until the two forces met and advanced northward against Japan; the other was to make it mainly a sea-air war and strike direct at the Philippines or Formosa and thence against Japan, leaving all the Japanese forces to the south still in possession of Malaya and the Indies, but cut off from their bases.

  As Philip listened, his hair almost rose on his scalp at the awful thought of the Allied military secrets which were in the possession of these Lords of the Mountain, and the incalculable damage they might do if they had any means of communicating them to Berlin and Tokyo. When Rakil had finished speaking he said:

  ‘It must be absolutely fascinating for you to be able to obtain particulars of the plans of all the warring nations in advance. That really is my idea of magic.’

  Rakil smiled. ‘Magic yes, but not a very big magic. No sacrifice is required, and the process differs little from what you would call going to the movies in your world. We hold sessions every day. Later today those who work under me will be holding one. If you would like to see it, I will fetch you before it starts. For the time being perhaps you would like to remain here and look at the other maps.’

  When he had left them they spent nearly two hours studying the crude maps and bringing themselves up-to-date with the progress of the war. After they had finished they went up to the Atzlantean who appeared to be in charge of the place and, although he spoke no English, he seemed to know what they wanted, as he detailed one of his juniors to lead them back to their room.

  As soon as they were alone Philip remarked to Gloria: ‘You heard what Rakil said about the R.A.F. blotting out the German experimental station. That shows clearly enough that our people are wise to what Hitler’s game is already.’

  She nodded. ‘Sure, and I spotted that myself. So it won’t be to warn our own folk about those aerial-torpedoes and rocket things that we’ve been sent here.’

  Their midday meal was served by their own servants. Soon after it Zadok came in and, sitting down, asked if they had found their morning with Rakil interesting.

  ‘Very,’ Philip replied. ‘It is utterly amazing that you should know so much of what is going on in all the different war headquarters.’

  Zadok nodded his bald head. ‘These results are achieved by hard work. The Lord Toxil is a fine German scholar. He makes himself responsible for knowing everything of importance that is decided in Berlin or Berchtesgaden. Rakil, as you know, overlooks Washington. My province is to follow the way that the big minds in London are working. Others of the Lords keep a constant watch on Moscow, Tokyo and Rome. It means many hours of hard concentration every day for all of us and the several hundred men and women whose duty it is to help us. In this way we miss very little.’

  ‘Why do you burden yourselves with such a fatiguing task?’ Philip asked with a puzzled frown. ‘It’s natural enough to wish to know how the war is g
oing, but it’s quite another thing to go to the immense labour that all this entails in order to find out the plans of every General Staff in advance.’

  Raising his eyebrows in surprise Zadok exclaimed: ‘But if we did not inform ourselves of each country’s intentions how could we help those we wish to help or bring our influence to bear on the situation?’

  ‘Influence!’ repeated Philip. ‘Do you really mean that you can influence events in the outer world? How can you possibly do that?’

  ‘By informing ourselves in advance of the plans of all countries participating in a war we can create conditions favourable to those who will best serve our own interests.’

  ‘Will you be telling us what your interests are?’ said Gloria.

  Zadok shrugged his skinny shoulders. ‘Why, the propitiation of Shaitan, of course. As I told you yesterday, we are in no position to make large sacrifices here. Our greatest offerings to him are made in the outer world. Every man, woman and child who dies an unnatural death is a sacrifice acceptable to Shaitan; and all such sacrifices that are brought about, even in part, by our efforts are counted to our credit by the Remorseless One. Therefore our life’s work is to foster conditions favourable to the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—War, Famine, Pestilence and Death. Every earthly ruler whose ambition opens the gate to those is our ally and, although he remains unaware of it, receives all the help that it is in our power to give.’

  While they were still revolving this terrible doctrine in their minds Zadok went on:

  ‘The weapon which through many generations of scientific experiment we have forged and brought to perfection here is the control of those natural forces that create heat and cold, drought and tempest. Our provision of a climate suitable for the Leprechauns to maintain life in their valley is no more than a small local example of what we can do in this way.’

  ‘Do you mean that you could cause a great storm in the Atlantic or weeks of drought in China?’ exclaimed Philip.

  ‘Certainly. In times of peace China has always proved a very profitable field for our endeavours, but it is wars which pay us the highest dividends. Armies are extremely vulnerable to long spells of unexpected heat or rain, and in the past thousand years we have many times so ravaged great hosts that they have afterwards fallen an easy prey in battle to those unconscious champions of Shaitan whom we have wished to help.’

  Philip was utterly aghast. ‘And in this war your greatest champion is Hitler?’ he said, almost in a whisper.

  Zadok’s parchment-like face broke into a self-satisfied smile. ‘Through our magno-electric installations we have been able to give him most valuable aid in almost every critical stage of the war. It was we who in May and June of 1940 gave the Germans six weeks of unbroken sunshine in which to overrun Holland, Belgium and France. We caused the falling of the great rains in Tunisia during the winter of 1942 which gave the Axis time to rally and held up the junction of the two Allied Armies in North Africa for six months. This year, to give Hitler time to reorganise his Eastern front, we have given Russia the mildest winter she has had in a hundred years, and so greatly helped to spoil Stalin’s winter offensive.’

  ‘You—you’ll do your best to prevent the Allies landing on the Continent?’ Philip murmured, fascinated in spite of his repulsion for the vulture-like old Atzlantean.

  ‘Of course. Hitler is the finest instrument we have ever had to work through, so we shall continue to aid him to the utmost limit of our powers. We did great work in the years of the Mongol Empire and during the Spanish Conquest of South America. The religious wars after your Reformation were the best time we ever had in Europe until Napoleon arose to play our game. Then there were the First World War and the Russian Revolution. Yet never before have the number of killed been quite enough. As the population of the world increases Shaitan sets his price higher. But now we have Hitler we shall obtain our freedom.

  ‘It is not only the thousands that die fighting in his war every day. His concentration camps are even more profitable. The Jews whom he has starved and tortured to death run into several million—and he is now endeavouring to exterminate the whole Polish nation. He has built ovens in which he can burn great numbers of them every day—more than would be killed in several hours of battle. Yes. It will not be long now. If we can prevent Hitler from being defeated for another year or two, he will have paid the price that Shaitan demands to set us free.’

  19

  Among those Old in Sin

  Philip and Gloria sat there appalled at this monstrous thing that they had been just told. Credible or not, the thought behind the whole idea was the very essence of Evil. Strive as they would to conceal their revulsion, it was impossible for them altogether to keep out of their faces some of the horror they felt.

  Zadok saw it, and his dark eyes narrowed, as he said: ‘You appear distressed. Does not the thought of the wholesale destruction of your enemies please you?’

  ‘Yes,’ Philip forced the syllable from his lips, and, realising that now of all times he must not be found wanting in his part, went on: ‘It would be a great day for the world if every one of the murdering English and Scots were blotted out tomorrow. I was only thinking of all the other people who must get killed or hurt in such a huge war—particularly if you exert all your powers to keep it going indefinitely.’

  ‘Everyone must die some time,’ Zadok shrugged; ‘and a swift death by violence is in most cases less painful than a slow one caused by illness or old age. Why, in any case, should you concern yourself for a host of people who are unknown to you? However, you do not appear to be burdened with these absurd scruples in the case of the British. That is good, as actually I came here to ask if you would be willing to give us your help in ensuring their liquidation.’

  ‘Certainly.’ Philip was on his toes now and did not pause a second before replying. If some great power for good had directed his steps to this domain of evil so that he might learn what was being done there, he must reject no opportunity to find out more about the powers wielded by these Satanists.

  Rakil came in at that moment. As he did so, Zadok stood up and said: ‘That is well. I will ask the Lord Toxil for his consent to my project. If he agrees to my using you, I will speak with you again tomorrow morning.’

  After Zadok had gone Rakil told them that his screening was about to begin and took them to a room on the lower level, which was very long and almost bare. Fixed to the centre of the wall at one end was a sheet, about eight feet long by four feet high, of silvery, shimmering substance that looked like frosted glass. In front of it was a low stand, on top of which some form of gyroscope was spinning at a terrific speed; before it was a frame like the back of a telephone switchboard with hundreds of fine wires and a seat facing the screen. Half-way down the room stood a narrow table with three stools at each side of it and one at the far end. The wall at the other end of the room was filled with a strange array of cylinders and retorts, reminiscent of the laboratory of a mediaeval alchemist.

  There were three men and three women in the room, all of whom were middle-aged except for one of the women, who was very old and stared before her with sightless eyes. Rakil introduced them as his assistants and, as they took their places, described their functions.

  As the old woman walked slowly and unhesitatingly to the seat in front of the screen and sitting down began to run her fingers lightly over the wires, he said: ‘Sonsig is what you would call our operator. I tell her what we wish to see and long practice enables her to tune in to the required scene almost immediately. If I wish to change the scene in the middle of a screening, I have only to tell her.’ Then he added casually: ‘We always blind our operators—it increases the delicacy of their sense of touch.’

  Philip made no comment on this brutal custom, but it confirmed his view that, whatever the scientific achievements of the Lords of the Mountain, they were still savages at heart.

  One of the men had seated himself in front of the complicated array of retorts at the other end o
f the room, and pointing towards him Rakil said: ‘He controls our supply of magno-electric power. It is generated in a far part of the mountain, but it cannot be sent out unless the blood vapour has been passed through one of these retorts. Whenever power is required he causes one or more of the retorts to fill, and at my order it is discharged, much as you would send out a directional wireless beam, to any part of the world that we wish to affect.’

  The other four asistants were grouped around the table in the centre of the room, and as Rakil introduced them he went on to say that they all understood English, and that it was their business to interpret and record all that took place during the screenings. The assistants all bowed to Gloria and Philip, eyeing them with great curiosity, but, apart from a few words of greeting, they made no attempts at conversation, possibly owing to Rakil’s presence.

  Rakil then sat down at the top of the table facing the screen, and motioned to his two guests to sit on either side of him. The two men observers sat each side of the other end of the table, and the two women sat between them and the visitors. Raising his voice, Rakil spoke to the old blind operator for some minutes, giving her instructions about what he wished to see. As her back was towards them, Philip and Gloria could not observe her hands, but from the rapid movement of her elbows it was clear that she was flicking her sensitive fingertips over the complicated web of wires in front of her. With a quick glance over his shoulder Rakil gave an order to the man at the other end of the room, the lights dimmed, and the screening then began.

  The silvery screen began to vibrate, but its movement gradually lessened until it had changed to a continuous series of smooth undulations like a swell upon an oily sea running lengthwise along its surface; then its opaqueness commenced to clear, and Philip and Gloria suddenly realised that they were looking at a moving picture.