by Mark Spaid
THE EVE OF
ABOUNDING
WICKEDNESS
MARK SPAID
Wasteland Press
www.wastelandpress.net
Shelbyville, KY USA
The Eve of Abounding Wickedness
by Mark Spaid
Copyright © 2019 Mark Spaid
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
First Printing – December 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68111-337-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019919301
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents
either are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
NO PART OF THIS BOOK MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM, BY PHOTOCOPYING OR BY ANY ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL MEANS, INCLUDING INFORMATION STORAGE OR RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS, WITHOUT PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER/AUTHOR
Printed in the U.S.A.
I wrote this book for my daughter Jessica’s long-time boyfriend, Chris Shader. Chris came to our family in 2008 and I’ve enjoyed his presence and his contributions very much. He loves Jessica and tolerates me as much as anyone can; those, incidentally, are the requisite behaviors for the rite of passage. He’s funny, intelligent, talented and successful. After that what is there? No, there’s more…he cares about people and he’ll do what he can to help their plight. He’s helped my family and myself on numerous occasions; and for that and many other reasons I’m proud to dedicate this book in his honor.
“Over the lesser creatures I gave man dominion and against my better judgement and to the almost certain detriment of all species, including his own…I gave him free will.”
PREFACE
Democracy: What is it? It’s Greek and roughly translates to Rule by the People or Rule by the Majority. The two are not necessarily the same thing and the subtle differences can spawn entirely opposite effects. Rule by the people suggests an angelic panorama of government acceding to the people’s wishes for the good of everyone. It suggests that the rulers, chosen by the people, will seek to promote equal treatment of all under the law and that equality of opportunity will follow. Grievances will be heard and remedies applied to alleviate any negative effects that have occurred to people either accidentally or deliberately. An image of an idyllic society is projected by the very definition. Rule by the Majority, however, can be and sometimes is an entirely different concept. One that can justify any action by elected officials if they are seen acting for the will of the majority. If fifty-one percent of the population want something then it shall be done even if it adversely effects the other forty-nine percent. It can be a license for oppression wrapped in the specter of majority rule. Such a concept is subject to the cult of the personality and because of this, majority rule can take on a sinister and even venomous aura. If the majority behave in a judicious and benevolent fashion then their rule is wrapped in a halo. But if the majority is punitive, oppressive and malicious the image of the Devil looms and the forty-nine percent suffer. In the United States one can see the seeds of a society conducive to generosity and equality in the Bill of Rights and such subsequent legislation and executive decrees such as the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution; abolishing slavery, making blacks citizens and giving them the right to vote, the Nineteenth Amendment; giving women the right to vote, The Emancipation Proclamation; ending slavery in the Confederacy, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and others. These items speak well of democracy and the rule of the majority. But, the other side of the coin is a harsh reality check. The Indian Removal Act, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Dred Scott case, Plessy versus Ferguson and others are sobering reminders of the insidiousness of rule by the majority if the temper of the times does not trumpet the cause of liberty and equality for everyone. The crux of the problem is very simple. The United States has some terrific documents, the Declaration and the Constitution being the most impressive two but they’re only the form and lack substance if the people administering them are not imbued with the spirit of ‘Rule by the People’. In short let’s let someone who is affected by these documents and their addendums sum up the conundrum. Any protected class minority member could say, “The Declaration and the Constitution are great documents and the things they promise are wonderful...so, when are you going to start using them?”
The heritage of government and society in the United States is European. Like it or not that’s the way it is. Asian and African contributions are becoming more prevalent but the standard is European. Government, the legal system, education, government entities, business, industry, banking, the arts, literature, etc. in the United States come from Europe, with a few exceptions. For the most part it’s good but there’s the negative side to European civilization and that comes along as well. The founding fathers of the United States adopted representative democracy or a republic as their working form of government. Monarchies dominated Europe in the Eighteenth Century and the framers of the Declaration and the Constitution wanted no part of that. Monarchies were the problem according to Jefferson, Adams, Franklin et al and a compelling case could be made that they were right. They took the best part of European Society for the new country and left the bad parts behind. And again, an argument could be formulated supporting that assertion. As the United States went from infancy to adolescence to adulthood as a country, it seemed to prove their hypothesis correct.
Now, we jump ahead to the Twentieth Century and things get dicey, especially in Europe but the United Sates doesn’t get a pass. Extreme movements arise; ones that profess the use of unforgiving and deadly solutions to societal problems, usually with the use of a scapegoat to assign blame and to satisfy long-held grievances against whatever ethnic or religious group that was held in disrepute. Now, malevolent and sanguinary ideas are as old as civilization itself so even the most ardent Europhobe would be hard-pressed, in good conscience, to ascribe modern evil to European culture alone.
That being said, Europe did give rise to the twin evils of the Twentieth Century namely; Communism and Fascism. Europe has long been a continent that sought extreme solutions when times were bad. Disease, famine, war, economic downturns etc. that brought hardships in the populace were many times met with bloody reprisals. There’s a darkness under the surface in Europe that’s kept at bay during the good times but rears its ugly head when things go bad. Religious wars in the Middle Ages, the witchcraft trials in the same period, persecution and murder of Jews, and other things that saw Europe at its worst. This was the same culture that gave us DaVinci, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Mozart and countless other geniuses who created the arts and literature that are Europe and define Western Civilization. Thus, the conflict that was played out in its most barbaric form in the Twentieth Century was steeped in a complex and maddening paradox. It was this century’s troubles that gave birth to extreme solutions. World War I saw the rise to Communism in Russia and the economic depression that ravaged Europe after the war saw the rise of Fascism in Portugal under Antonio Salazar, in Spain under Francisco Franco, in Italy under Benito Mussolini and finally in Germany under Adolph Hitler. The Fascists and the Communists were the bloodiest butchers the world has ever seen due partially to an expanding population and partially to the heinous nature of the ideologies. In the middle ages the death tolls from European violence were in the thousands but under Communism and Fascism it was in the millions. Hitler and Stalin were the all-time European murderers. By contrast, the United States suffered the same depression as Europe did but the U.S. kept its head and used hard work, reason and yes, sacrifice to get through the hard times
in lieu of drastic measures that were seen in Europe.
Today, Fascism and Communism in Europe are gone as formal institutions but both movements survive and can be seen in various parts of the world but the widespread support they once saw, is long since gone. The United States has a Communist Party and a Nazi Party, each with a few thousand members but they have no meaningful voice in American politics. Now, times are essentially good and have been since World War II. Recessions have come and gone and though they bring economic problems for many it’s never the desperate kind of a situation brought on by the Great Contraction of 1929. So, the country gets through it. The Korean and Vietnam War saw U.S. losses at forty thousand and fifty-eight thousand respectively. As unacceptable as those numbers are they caused nothing more problematic than protests that eventually led to the U.S. leaving Viet Nam.
So, now, where are we? In a trick box after a fashion. Nazism and Communism are alive and well even in the United States. In fact, in an eye-opening bit of irony, both ideologies exist in North and South America, Asia and Africa but not in Europe, which was their birthplace. Communists in America dream of the reconstitution of the Soviet Union and American Nazis long for the return of the Third Reich. And, if they could, both sides would do anything possible to see their dreams come true. This story is about American Nazis and the direct blood descendants of the top Nazis in Germany during the nineteen thirties and forties including Adolph Hitler. So, if you like books about time travel and people changing events to rewrite history and the “gang” battling Nazis then you’ve come to the right place.
PROLOGUE
“Okay, I’m here,” Dave said as he sat at a table across from an old friend he hadn’t seen in sixteen years.
“Keep your voice down.”
“Okay, Dink.”
“It’s still Dink after all these years?”
“That’s all we ever called you.”
“Because I’m five three, a hundred and five pounds and you guys could carry me anywhere you wanted. Remember the time you all got drunk and began throwing me around the apartment?”
“Yes, I’m ashamed to say I do remember and I guess we just thought that Dink fit you…but we were wrong. We were young, stupid and hurtful. Now, we’re older, maybe wiser and I’d hope more remorseful. Nicknames stick and that’s our fault.”
“Did you ever ask me if I liked it?” Dave gave his friend a funny look and shook his head no.
“I guess we didn’t, Ron.”
“No, you didn’t. You know I have a Ph.D. in Physics, a Ph.D. in Math and a Ph.D. in Chemistry. Wouldn’t it seem reasonable to use my name of Ron Shapiro or Dr. Shapiro?”
“It would and I apologize again.”
“Okay…sorry if I went off on you but I’m not having a good time in my life right now.”
“Well I’m sorry to hear that.” Ron was looking around and out the window nervously.
“What’s wrong?” Dave asked.
“They might be watching us.”
“Who?”
“The worst.”
“Ron, you know you look terrible. A three-day beard, your clothes are wrinkled and your nails are dirty. I remember you as being anal about your appearance throughout college.”
“I was, my girlfriend insisted on it.”
“You mean Candy?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Were married with two kids a boy and a girl.”
“What’ve you been doing?” Dave asked.
“I worked for NASA for a short time but their funding was cut and they dumped several of us.”
“And, since then?”
“I teach at a small college in New Hampshire.”
“Sounds nice and what’re you researching?” Ron breathed out deeply and gave a long stare at Dave.”
“Electromagnetism.”
“Hey, that’s what I do.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
“Of course, I’ve been keeping track of you and Raul Diaz...he’s doing string theory and electromagnetism at Michigan State.”
“Why all the cloak and dagger stuff. I’m wearing sunglasses and a hat like you told me and you’re wearing a trench coat and an obvious wig. What’re we doing?”
“I’m running for my life and you may be doing the same thing soon.”
“Ron, can you please explain yourself. I’m lost as to what’s bothering you and what you think’s a threat to your life and/or mine.”
“Okay…two months ago I got a visit from an old friend from college…Bobby Trenton.” Dave thought for a minute.
“Oh, yeah, I think I met him at a party you were having.” Ron nodded.
“After college he kind of bummed around; taught college freshmen a couple of places, worked for an architect as a draftsman. He never had the bug for research or the tools for that matter. He had C’s in most of his upper level physics classes.”
“That can happen.”
“Yeah, so he ended up unemployed and living in New York City. After he was hungry for a while, he found a job with a collector.”
“Collecting what?”
“Oddities.”
“What kind of oddities?”
“Sculptures, paintings; they had a pair of shoes that supposedly belonged to Einstein.
“Come on, Ron.”
“Oh, I know it’s crazy but that’s the stuff the guy collected.”
“What guy?”
“Bobby met him once but never knew his name. He kept everything locked away in metal boxes and he even had an old group of safety deposit boxes from a bank that he bought at an auction.”
“So, what does this mean?”
“After six months a man arrived with a package and talked to the owner. They went into a back room and the guy came out counting cash. Bobby thought it was several thousand.”
“What was the object?”
“Bobby was working late one night and was alone. There were no security cameras. The owner was a tightwad. He looked around and finally found the box with the object in it. There were keys in the owner’s office and he had a habit of not locking it. Bobby found the key and opened the box.”
“And?”
“He wasn’t sure what he had so he hand-copied several pages. They didn’t have a copy machine.”
“Do you have the pages?”
“I do,” Ron said and handed Dave an envelope. “Don’t open it here.”
“Have you read them?”
“Yes.”
“So, what is it?”
“Basic stuff on electricity, magnetism and gravity, though I’m not sure where it was headed. I’d need the rest of the pages. But I did see something that turned my blood cold.”
“What?”
“A name.”
“What name?”
“Tesla.”
“What?”
“Yes, Dave, Nikola Tesla.”
“Are you telling me the owner has Tesla’s notebook?”
“Had.”
“What happened?”
“Bobby put the notebook back but a week later there was a break-in and one of the things missing was the package in the metal box. The owner was beside himself and he left. A few days later when Bobby showed up for work the door was locked. There was a sign that said out of business.” Dave thought for a few moments.
“Okay, so what does this have to do with you and me and all this spy stuff?”
“Three weeks ago, I received two visitors”
“They weren’t men in black I hope?” Dave said grinning.
“I wish they had been then maybe I could’ve laughed it off. No, they were dressed casually. They visited me in my lab and said they had a job for me that’d pay fifty thousand dollars.”
“Wow.”
“That’s what I thought so I asked what kind of job and they clammed up. They said it was not so much an offer as an ultimatum. I was to report the next day to an address and I’d be picked up and taken to where I’d be w
orking.”
“What’d you do?”
“What could I do but comply.”
“The police.”
“They told me if I went to the police, they’d disappear but they knew where I lived and all about my wife and kids. They showed me pictures of my family at home and away at other places. My wife at her workplace and my kids at college,” Ron said and handed Dave the pictures.
“They’ve been spying; these are closeup photos. They have sophisticated equipment. Looks like they know what they’re doing.”
“Yeah, so I reported for work.”
“What’re you doing?” Ron put both hands on the table and took a deep breath.
“They want me to finish Tesla’s work.”
“What work?” Ron looked around and took a deep breath.
“The Unified Field Theory.” Dave’s eyes widened, he stared at Ron then looked away and blew out a puff of air.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Yes, my feelings exactly.”
“How long have you been working on it?”
“Twenty-three days straight, weekends too.”
“What do they want it for?”
“Look UFT is part reality and part fantasy, you and I know that.”
“Yes, but Tesla and even Einstein thought there was something to it,” Dave posed.
“Exactly and Einstein suspended his work on it because of the negative possibilities.”
“Well, what’ve you found so far?”
“It’s preliminary but the things that could come out of the theory if it’s finally completed are scary.”
“Like what?”
“Teleportation.”
“The Philadelphia Experiment?” Dave queried.
“As incredible as it sounds, yes. I found the numbers that I think they might’ve used. They were seeking radar invisibility as we all know but ended up teleporting the ship hundreds of miles away.”
“Do you believe that?”