Casca 42: Barbarossa, page 22
August smiled reassuringly and patted her hand. “No, Isabella, don’t worry, you’re going to remain in Sweden. In fact, a move to Stockholm ultimately. Things are developing, and it’s because of the Brotherhood. Their existence at the heart of the Nazi Party means they now have access to so many diplomatic avenues around the world. In every neutral country they have a legitimate representative in their embassies, all so that they can spread their evil tentacles further and wider.”
Isabella looked appalled. “So what can we do? We are so few! It is becoming increasingly harder to keep ourselves secret. I only just managed to escape from Poland.”
August inclined his head. “It is true, Isabella, yet we have remained hidden from the Brotherhood for so long. It may well be that they are both too large an organization to efficiently process all the information they receive throughout the world, and also they are looking for just one man, and not a family.”
“So why am I going to Stockholm?”
“Two-fold. One, to seek out and kill any Brotherhood members there if there are any. It will be certain they would be operating from the German embassy. Secondly, and more important to us in the long term, you are to put down roots yourself and start the Scandinavian branch of our family; we exist in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Argentina and the States, yet we have nobody in this part of the world.”
“So – I am to recruit people?”
August chuckled. “No, Isabella, you are to begin a new branch of our family. Find a suitable husband, have children, train them in the Longini way, teach them of our ways, our founder, why we act the way we do, and of our enemy, the Brotherhood of the Lamb.”
“You’re asking a lot of me, cousin!” she sat up straight, red spots tainting her cheeks.
August was not sure whether she was angry, embarrassed, or a mixture of the two. “Relax. There’s no timescale,” he smiled disarmingly. “You’re a beautiful woman and men will fall for you. You’ll not lack for suitors, and I’m sure one day the right man will come. He must be the right man for the Longini, though, as I’m sure you understand.”
“Yes,” Isabella said with feeling, “it takes a special man to love a woman who shoots men in cold blood.”
“Oh, come, come, you’ve only done that to men who have deserved it! Executing Nazis isn’t a bad thing.”
“Have you done that? It’s an odd feeling, shooting someone from close range. Stabbing them, too.” She shook herself. “I know what you say makes sense, but I feel tired of all of this.”
“Don’t worry – we will use the family’s funds to buy you a property in a reasonable district of Stockholm and you can become the matriarch of our Scandinavian branch. All we ask is to eliminate the Swedish arm of the Brotherhood, should they exist. You have your ways – I could not possibly do what you’ve done for the family. Yet I have my own set of skills and use them accordingly.”
“I would like to know whether Casca is safe,” Isabella said quietly. “I would like to know that my efforts have not been in vain.”
“I think he is – you know he is in southern Russia as do we all. We know his unit and the Brotherhood do not. Let us keep it that way, and trust that he is kept safe from their clutches.”
“But what happens if the Brotherhood win this war?”
August tapped the table top for a moment. “They are locked in two huge battles with the British at El Alamein in Egypt and with the Soviets in Stalingrad. If they win those, then I do fear for the world – but if they lose, then I believe it’ll be the beginning of the end for them. They cannot keep on facing the might of the majority of the world with the losses they are suffering forever. Ultimately the numbers will count. Let us stay quiet, hidden, watchful. Our founder would wish it that way, and it has not done us harm up to now.”
Isabella sighed and nodded. The strain she had been under had left its mark on her. “I shall travel to Stockholm as you wish. Please do not push me into making a decision about whom I marry, let me decide that when and if it happens.”
August waved both hands in a placatory manner. “I would not wish to involve myself in a matter of the heart for someone else. I shall return to Switzerland and speak directly to your uncle. Funds will be sent to a new bank account that we are setting up for you. It will be the Svenska Handelsbanken, a well-known Swedish banking establishment in Stockholm.”
She nodded. “What help will I have in Stockholm? I can hardly operate there without help or assistance! And the language… I do not speak Swedish!”
“And that will be answered with one.” August looked smug. “It has already been thought of. You will receive Swedish language lessons through a professor of languages in Stockholm,” and he passed her a card with a man’s name and address on. “He is a man we know, a German by birth, who moved to Sweden to escape the Nazis. He speaks many languages and is naturally a German speaker, so there will be no problems in teaching you. He will be the contact point with us.”
Isabella took the card and read it. Magnus Schlager, the rest of it in Swedish and she could only half guess at what it said. His address was on it. She looked up. “And am I to go to this address when I get settled in my new address in Stockholm?”
August nodded. “We will leave everything to you. From this moment on it’s all up to you as to how you conduct yourself in this. We will not interfere – you are, after all, our representative here in Scandinavia,” he smiled. “Good luck, cousin.”
She smiled briefly back as August stood up, doffed his hat once more and then left. So now she was here on her own, without recourse to the rest of her family except through this mysterious Magnus Schlager. She slipped the card into her small handbag and sighed. No doubt he would turn out to be a seventy year old fossil with hearing problems. No matter, she was her own woman now and was free to make her own life here in Sweden. In a way it felt liberating, but in others, intimidating. She hoped she would make a success of it and please her uncle, father and cousins.
Outside, August paused on the opposite side of the road and glanced once at the café. Isabella would find the young Magnus an interesting teacher. He smiled to himself. He had done well to find such a good looking protégé. He quite liked the thought of being a long-distance cupid. Schlager knew what he was to do; he had been prepped quite thoroughly by the family. Seduce Isabella, marry her, assist her in bringing up a family in the Longini ways. Schlager had been a childhood friend of August and had willingly volunteered for this assignment – especially once he’d seen a photo of Isabella.
He had been sent to Sweden a year previously, having learned Swedish, French and English at college. He was twenty-seven and full of vigor and purpose. All he had to do was to play the innocent suitor to Isabella and everything would be fine. The Longini would have a presence in northern Europe, something they desperately needed, and in time perhaps they could effectively counter the evil machinations of the Brotherhood.
Who knows what the future would bring?
____
Heidemann went along the sides of the neatly parked panzers arranged outside the Russian village, engines off. “Alright, ready to move out. Follow my panzer. We’re pulling out for Rostov.”
Gus heard and turned in his seat, a frown on his face. “Rostov? That’s hundreds of kilometers to the north! What’s going on, Carl?”
Langer slipped to the floor of the panzer. It was cramped but he could speak to his four crewmen much better here. “Stalingrad has been cut off. Ivan had launched a massive offensive and broken the Romanian armies on the flanks. The entire Sixth Army is surrounded and our flank is now wide open. If we’re not fast enough, we could get cut off down here. So we’re going to move out as fast as we can.”
“Well would you believe that!” the giant driver exclaimed. “All this damned foot slogging and driving all over the shit hole of Russia only to retreat because some group of peasants can’t keep Ivan from buggering them senseless. Looks like we picked the wrong allies.”
“Don’t disagree with you, Gus,” Langer said. “However, unless we move quick we’ll be next on their menu. Get back to Rostov and we have a chance to form a decent line to stop Stalin’s little darlings. Get ready you lot, it’s going to be a long drive.”
The men sighed and settled into their positions. Teacher caught Langer’s eye and the two exchanged a knowing look before Langer pulled himself up onto his seat. The year’s hard fighting had come to naught, and the Russians were just as strong as before and now with better equipment they could take on the Wehrmacht with more than an even chance of winning.
Langer popped his head out of the turret and regretted it. Ice and snow blasted across from the right – the east – making visibility poor. He huddled into his furs and shut the hatch. At least the weather would prevent Ivan’s bombers from attacking.
Heidemann’s voice came through. All was ready. The order came to move out. Gus switched the engine on, and whistling a terrible version of Lilli Marlene, no doubt with filthy alternative lyrics going through his head, slammed the lever forward and the Panzer IV jerked into motion, following the three ahead of him.
Langer hoped they could get to Rostov safely. This war was turning badly against Germany. One thing that consoled him though, was that so far, he had got his comrades through the fighting. He hoped to hell that this would continue.
THE CASCA SERIES IN EBOOKS
By Barry Sadler
Casca 1: The Eternal Mercenary
Casca 2: God of Death
Casca 3: The Warlord
Casca 4: Panzer Soldier
Casca 5: The Barbarian
Casca 6: The Persian
Casca 7: The Damned
Casca 8: Soldier of Fortune
Casca 9: The Sentinel
Casca 10: The Conquistador
Casca 11: The Legionnaire
Casca 12: The African Mercenary
Casca 13: The Assassin
Casca 14: The Phoenix
Casca 15: The Pirate
Casca 16: Desert Mercenary
Casca 17: The Warrior
Casca 18: The Cursed
Casca 19: The Samurai
Casca 20: Soldier of Gideon
Casca 21: The Trench Soldier
Casca 22: The Mongol
By Tony Roberts
Casca 25: Halls of Montezuma
Casca 26: Johnny Reb
Casca 27: The Confederate
Casca 28: The Avenger
Casca 30: Napoleon’s Soldier
Casca 31: The Conqueror
Casca 32: The Anzac
Casca 34: Devil’s Horseman
Casca 35: Sword of the Brotherhood
Casca 36: The Minuteman
Casca 37: Roman Mercenary
Casca 38: The Continental
Casca 39: The Crusader
Casca 40: Blitzkrieg
Casca 41: The Longbowman
Casca 42: Barbarossa
Author’s websites
www.casca.net
http://tonyrobertsauthor.com
Tony Roberts, Casca 42: Barbarossa
