The first envelope contained a short note on linen paper signed by Hitler stating that Kempler was to open each envelope in numerical order and execute its orders completely before opening the next envelope. It then instructed Kempler that his first orders were that as the ships left port, he was to destroy the port and adjacent town, leaving no witnesses.
On February 3, 1945, Kempler executed Hitler’s orders with unparalleled ruthlessness. The Gruppenfuhrer and a full battalion of 800 Waffen SS struck at three in the morning. They killed every moving creature from the hills surrounding the Strain facility to the port. By 5:00 a.m. all civilians were dead. The death toll included the original crews of the cargo ships, who Kempler executed by locking them in a warehouse full of dynamite and then personally lighting the fuse. The crews were replaced with Nazi Kriegsmarine officers and their subordinates.
After Kempler determined there were no potential witnesses left, the entire lower level of the Strain Laboratory was transported to the port area and loaded on cargo boats. The Jews of the facility were placed aboard a prisoner ship. Dr. Broder and his staff of scientists, along with Kempler’s troops, were boarded on the last remaining freighter containing the drums holding the soil from the open gravesite of Treblinka. These ships joined the convoy that was gathered about five miles at sea and ready to set sail as per the schedule in Hitler’s second directive. As the ships left port, timed explosives destroyed both the Strain facility and the port area.
Every ship in the convoy flew flags of neutral countries. Halfway to their destination, the convey split into two groups and sailed separate courses, avoiding areas patrolled by Allied warships and, for that matter, German U-boats. On February 6, all ships rendezvoused in the Gulf of Sirte off the Libyan coast.
According to the instructions in envelope five, Kempler ordered a SS platoon to row to shore and scout the landing area described in the enclosed map. At the same time, prefabricated barges were assembled to transfer the supplies and passengers to the shores of the secluded beach that was rarely, if ever, patrolled by the closest British garrison located over one hundred miles away. It took less than a day to transport all supplies and personnel to the shore. On the beach, over three hundred trucks were fueled and loaded with the supplies and equipment.
Kempler then ordered the now skeleton crews still manning the ships to sail to an area in the Gulf where the waters were deepest. Upon arrival, the sailors sent dynamite charges in every freighter and boarded landing crafts. Once they were approximately one mile away from the ships, the SS officer in charge turned the red knob of a remote detonation device which caused the entire flotilla to sink in unison. Fifteen minutes later there was no trace of the ships, which had disappeared 4,000 meters below the surface of the water.
When the crews returned, the giant caravan of trucks began their trek into the vast Sahara Desert. Over three thousand Jewish prisoners followed behind on a forced march. Gruppenfuhrer Kempler ordered his SS soldiers to viciously beat any Jew that was lagging behind.
Upon arriving at the designated site, a salt marsh ten miles southeast of Mount Haruj, Kempler instructed his officers to make camp. He handed the chief engineering officer a list of instructions contained in envelope twelve. The officer and his team quickly located one of the drilling holes from the 1941 geological survey. Using specially designed boring equipment, the engineers expanded the hole, which was located above the southern cavern of the clover-shaped complex, into a wide shaft. Then the engineers installed a heavy-duty traction elevator comprised of a steel cage suspended by wires. A large desert camouflaged tent was hastily erected to hide the elevator shaft. A gas-powered generator was then set up to provide electricity.
The first team of engineers, donning masks attached to large cylindrical oxygen tanks, entered the elevator and were lowered over three hundred feet beneath the surface to the cavern floor. They brought down powerful search lights which were connected to the generator on the desert surface.
After testing the quality of the air of the cavern, they removed their oxygen masks. Testing had demonstrated that the air was safe to breathe and had no traces of methane gas. The temperature inside the cavern was a moderate 23 degrees Celsius, 73.4 degrees Fahrenheit. The team did a brief survey and identified the coal deposits near the entrance of the western cavern as described in the survey. An additional substantial coal deposit was found in the far corner of the cavern. The team then headed to the underground river. Water analysis demonstrated that the water of the river was potable and had a surprisingly low bacterial count.
With habitability established, the team returned to the surface to organize construction crews. Two hundred Jewish prisoners were attached to the crews to provide manual labor. At the same time, preparations for a permanent elevator and control room were initiated in the area of the shaft.
The first task at hand was to assemble a coal power plant in the western cavern. Tons of specialized equipment were transported to the floor of the Valhalla complex to build the plant. Teams of Jewish prisoners were immediately put to work to perform the backbreaking job of mining the coal to fuel the generators. At the same time, SS engineers began to install hundreds of light fixtures along the ceiling of the cavern complex, along with an enormous HVAC system to regulate the environment. One week later, on the eighteenth of February, Gruppenfuhrer Kempler threw a large switch located in the control room, turning on the lights throughout the caverns. This act informally proclaimed Project Valhalla as the new Germany, birthplace of the Fourth Reich.
Kempler organized each of the complex’s four caverns according to Hitler’s instructions. The Northern Clover, by far the largest of the four caverns, was set aside for Dr. Schreiber’s Aryan repopulation project. An entire city was to be constructed to house the “seed population,” with architecture and layout designed to resemble the streets of Berlin. There were plans for a hospital, schools, and a park complete with its own pond. A dock was constructed for recreational rowboats to be used both on the soon-to-be-dug lake and the river. According to the master plan of the city, each of the six Aryan communities would have its own neighborhood. Schreiber projected that the population from his breeding program would be over sixty thousand within forty years.
In the far corner of the Northern Clover was a tunnel that led to a cave which would house the new Strain Research Facility. Professor Broder and his team of scientists were housed in an enclave of villas just outside the entrance. The cave was hermetically sealed with a ventilation system separate from the rest of the complex. After the construction of the lab was completed, the steel drums containing the contaminated soil from Treblinka was moved into a specially designed storage facility. The barrels were stacked seven-high in rows of thirty. Three sealed security doors were installed in the tunnel leading to the lab in order to ensure that the Strain was adequately quarantined from the rest of Valhalla.
The Eastern Clover was established as a giant warehouse where hundreds of thousands of tons of supplies were categorized and stored. Food, clothing, and equipment were organized in long rows of crates that towered high up into the cavern. The SS logistics officer in charge of East Clover boasted to Kempler that the supplies under his management could easily support a population of one hundred thousand for over a hundred years.
This area also contained the Project’s hydroponic farms. This new technology was essential for food production at Valhalla, with its artificial lighting and poor soil. In the end stages of the war, Hitler had German agents at the University of California in Berkley steal seeds and research protocols from American scientist William Fredrick Gerickes, who had pioneered the growing of crops without soil. A laboratory was set up at Valhalla for developing hybrid seeds to create cultivars of different plants that could thrive in the low light environment. After a short time, a steady supply of fresh vegetables and some fruits were available in large quantities to assist in the feeding of Valhalla’s growing population.
In addition to containing the coal mi
ne and power plant, the Western Clover also contained what the complex’s Aryan inhabitants called Holle, or Hell. With its three-to-a-bed and five-high wooden bunks, barbed wire and guard towers, it had been designed to resemble a concentration camp. The Jews were slave laborers and assigned the most undesirable jobs in Valhalla. They were the manual labor for all building projects, collected garbage, and did every job that the Nazis felt were inappropriate for Aryans to perform.
Most of the Jews were assigned to fourteen-hour shifts mining coal to fuel the furnaces that powered Valhalla. The heat in the mines and around the furnaces, combined with the stifling air, made work conditions unbearable. It was common for Jews to simply pass out, sometimes multiple times, during their shift. Jews that were unable to keep pace were handed over to Broder and Schreiber to be subjects in their nefarious experiments.
The South Clover contained the entrance and exit to the surface, as well as the control room with all of the equipment needed for maintaining Valhalla’s environment. The surface entrance of the elevator shaft was sealed with a fortified steel door which was camouflaged to match perfectly the desert terrain. The doors could only be opened and closed electronically from the control room.
The headquarters of the SS and Gestapo were also located in separate bases in South Clover. Each military branch had its own barracks and ammunition warehouse and conducted its own training exercises. The area between the bases and the control room and elevator entrance were separated by two layers of electrified fences with guard dogs in between the fences.
A rivalry began between the SS and Gestapo forces in Valhalla while they were still both technically under the authority of Heinrich Himmler. In continuing with his long-adopted leadership strategy to encourage competition and animosity among his underlings, Hitler ordered that Kempler be overall commander of Project Valhalla with one exception: Mueller would retain sole authority over Gestapo forces in the project. As a result, Mueller only paid lip service to Kempler’s authority.
Mueller was not present during the setup of Valhalla. At the meeting in Crete he had cryptically told Kempler, “Don’t worry, I’ll be joining you after I complete one last important mission.” Before leaving his Gestapo troops, Mueller had assured them that Hitler had given him far-reaching authority, and the near future he alone would dictate who would be in charge of Valhalla.
The instructions in envelope nineteen were brief. It ordered Kempler to set aside the central area that connected all four clovers for “future instructions.” The orders also stated that the final occupants of the project would be arriving in the very near future.
7
Ronald Fletcher was at a conference attended by a number of senior IDF officers, diplomats from Israel’s Foreign Service, and Defense Minister Yigal Rosen when the news of the terrorist attack arrived. An aide grimly handed Minister Rosen a note informing him that the Prime Minister of Israel was requesting to discuss an emerging situation with him over the phone.
When Rosen returned, he told the group, “There’s a terror attack in progress at the Netanya beach. I’ll be going there now.”
Fletcher’s face turned ash gray. Minster Rosen saw his reaction. He asked, “Is something wrong, Mr. Fletcher?”
Fletcher hesitated, trying to gather his thoughts. “My wife and children are there.” Realizing that the evening commuter traffic between Jerusalem and Netanya would make the trip take hours, he then added, “Can I accompany you?”
The Minister suddenly recognized the look he had seen on Fletcher’s face. It was the look he had seen on the faces of countless families when he, as a junior officer, had informed them that their loved ones had been the victims of a terror attack.
Rosen wanted to let Fletcher come with him, but it was against protocol to let a foreigner be present on what was officially a military operation. It was likely that Fletcher would be exposed to classified or even top-secret information. On the other hand, Rosen understood the anxiety Fletcher must be experiencing. Especially because he knew Fletcher outside of his official capacity, and his own children had become friends with Bobby and Jane.
The Defense Minister finally told Fletcher, “You can come. My helicopter is waiting on the landing pad.”
Fletcher knew Rosen was breaking the rules. He was the kind of man who rarely asked for favors. However, when he did, he made sure that he repaid the favor many times over.
Within minutes they were soaring high above the Judean Hills surrounding Jerusalem. As the helicopter sped to Netanya, a radio linkup to Golan’s paratrooper unit provided live updates of the firefight taking place on the beach.
Fletcher began to blame himself for putting his family in danger. “Why didn’t I just cancel the meeting and go with them?” he asked himself over and over. He had told himself many times that, statistically, Israel was safer than New York City. Still, wouldn’t a good father do more do to keep his children safe? Attacks in Israel were infrequent, but they were catastrophes when they happened, and terrorists don’t distinguish between soldiers and civilians, adults and children. Why did he have to put his family at risk?
By the time Rosen’s helicopter landed in the parking lot of the beach, the fighting was over. Fletcher exited the helicopter and watched as the army and police tried to restore order. He pushed his way to a restricted area where relief activities were being coordinated. The Defense Minister and his aides remained close to the helicopter while a canopy was erected to form a temporary military command post.
Fletcher approached the cordoned-off area and was stopped by a soldier. He looked into the crowd and spotted Rachel Bronot, the head of Nekama, meaning vengeance in Hebrew, the anti-terrorist department of Israel’s secret service, the Mossad.
Bronot was known throughout the international intelligence community as being smart, beautiful, and lethal. She was about five-foot seven inches, and had long, black, silky hair that fell to the center of her back. Her olive-shaped green eyes were accentuated by long, flowing eyelashes and thin, pursed lips. She was known for being strictly business, unapproachable in a social setting. Her parents, born in Yemen, were strictly orthodox, and she followed the strict moral traditions of her community.
Fletcher knew Bronot on a professional basis. She had given briefings on several cross-border missions in which he had participated. He called out to her for assistance. Bronot immediately recognized him. She nodded to the soldier to let Fletcher pass.
Fletcher walked directly up to Bronot, asking, “Have you seen my wife and children?”
Bronot had preliminary information that one of those killed in the incident was Fletcher’s wife. Given her investigative training, she immediately recognized that the wedding band on Fletcher’s finger matched the victim’s ring. She was also aware that Fletcher’s children were currently being treated by medical personnel.
Bronot didn’t want to be the one to inform Fletcher of the catastrophic news, but, given the situation, she had no choice. “Your children are safe,” she told him. “The doctor is now examining them. I have been told that they were not injured in the attack.”
Fletcher looked back, awaiting the worst.
Having no alternative, Bronot blurted out, “I’m so sorry, Ron. Your wife...”
Fletcher’s eyes became moist. His stomach felt as if it had just caught a cannonball. His body began to shake from his shoulders to his ankles.
Trying to collect himself, he demanded with a whisper, “Where is she?”
Picturing Mary’s mutilated body, Bronot responded, “Ron, I don’t think it’s a good time to see her. She’s not in good shape right now.”
“Where is she?” he repeated, louder. His intense tone sent a chill down Bronot’s spine.
She knew that there was no stopping him. Bronot pointed towards a Mogen David Adom ambulance parked about thirty feet away.
Fletcher broke into a sprint, pushing an approaching security guard out of the way as he headed to the ambulance. Bronot managed to signal the guard before he
drew his firearm.
Fletcher entered the back of the ambulance and saw a body on a stretcher covered by a long white sheet. Kneeling beside the stretcher, he slowly lifted the sheet, revealing Mary’s bloody and mangled face. But Fletcher only saw the beautiful face of his childhood sweetheart staring out into space. Time stood still as memories from their earliest days together flooded his mind. It was if they were in the eye of a hurricane, where the world stood still and existed only for them.
After a brief moment that seemed like eons, the reality of the situation fell suddenly on Fletcher, and the full weight of Mary’s untimely death and her departure from the world forever shook him to his core.
An emotion Ronald Fletcher had never before experienced began to envelop him. It was a rage that was bitter cold and overwhelming. “What monsters could murder such an innocent soul?” he asked himself. “How could they cause such suffering?” An evil like this, he told himself, must be stomped out of the world.
Fletcher tried to fight the hate. He had avoided it his entire career, having witnessed personally how it had ruined the lives of friends and colleagues alike. But he knew that the only antidote to his rage would be the sweet revenge he would personally wreak against anyone who had lifted a finger to enable the tragedy before him.
Looking at Mary, he said, “I swear that I will not rest until I have hunted down and killed every last person who did this to you.”
Fletcher knew that he was no longer in control of himself, but it did not matter. Nothing mattered but the all-encompassing thought of revenge. He left the ambulance and saw Bronot, who was waiting to take him to his children. They walked together in complete silence.
Agent of Vengeance Page 6