“Excellent!” Ludendorff inserted a monocle in his left eye and looked closely at the map. Hess translated for a curious Hitler and a skeptical Goebbels. “This … perimeter between the … Keserne … barracks … is it fenced?”
“Twelve feet high. Wired by generators in each building for alarms. Patrols will be maintained twenty-four hours a day. Men and dogs.… I’ve paid for everything.”
“Excellent. Excellent!”
Scarlett looked over at Hitler. He knew that Ludendorff’s approval was never granted easily and in spite of their unpleasant encounter a few moments ago, Scarlett also realized that Hitler valued Ludendorff’s opinion, perhaps above all others. It seemed to Scarlett that Hitler’s penetrating stare, which was now directed at him, was a look of admiration. Kroeger controlled his own elation and quickly continued.
“The indoctrinations will be concentrated—each lasting four weeks with several days between sessions for transportation and housing. Each contingent has nine hundred men.… At the end of one year …”
Hess interrupted. “Prachtvoll! At the end of a year ten thousand trained men!”
“Ready to spread throughout the country as military units. Trained for insurgency!” Scarlett was fairly bursting with energy.
“No longer rabble, but the basis of an elite corps! Perhaps the elite corps itself!” Ludendorff himself was catching the younger man’s enthusiasm. “Our own private army!”
“That’s it! A skilled machine capable of moving fast, hitting hard, and regrouping swiftly and secretly.”
As Kroeger spoke, it was Ludendorff who now turned his phrases into the German language for the benefit of Hitler and Goebbels.
But Goebbels was bothered. He spoke quietly, as if this Kroeger might somehow catch the shaded meaning of his observations. Goebbels was still suspicious. This huge, strange American was too glib, too casual in spite of his fervor. In spite of the power of his money. Adolf Hitler nodded his head in agreement.
Hess spoke. “Quite rightly, Heinrich, Herr Goebbels is concerned. These men in Zurich, their demands are so … nebulous.”
“Not to them they’re not. They’re very specific. These men are businessmen.… And besides, they’re sympathetic.”
“Kroeger is correct.” Ludendorff looked at Ulster Scarlett, knowing that Hess would use the German tongue for the others. He was thinking as he spoke, not wishing Kroeger to have any time to formulate answers or comments. This Kroeger, although he did not speak their language fluently, understood far more than he let on, Ludendorff believed. “We have gone so far as to sign agreements, have we not?… Pacts, if you like, that with the emergence of our power on the political scene in Germany, our friends in Zurich will be given … certain priorities.… Economic priorities.… We are committed, are we not.” There was no hint of a question in Ludendorff’s last remark.
“That’s right.”
“What happens, Herr Kroeger, if we do not honor those commitments?”
Ulster Scarlett paused, returning Ludendorff’s now questioning gaze. “They’d yell like sons of bitches and try to ruin us.”
“How?”
“Any means they could, Ludendorff. And their means are considerable.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Only if they succeeded.… Thornton’s not the only one. They’re all thieves. The difference is that the rest of them are smart. They know we’re right. We’ll win! Everyone likes to do business with the winner! They know what they’re doing. They want to work with us!”
“I believe you’re convinced.”
“You’re damn right I am. Between us we’ll run things our way. The right way! The way we want to. We’ll get rid of the garbage! The Jews, the Reds, the stinking little bourgeois bootlickers!”
Ludendorff watched the confident American closely. He was right, Kroeger was stupid. His description of the lesser breeds was emotional, not based upon the sound principles of racial integrity. Hitler and Goebbels had similar blind spots but theirs was a pyramid logic in spite of themselves—they knew because they saw; they had studied as had Rosenberg and himself. This Kroeger had a child’s mentality. He was actually a bigot.
“There is much in what you say. Everyone who thinks will support his own kind.… Do business with his own kind.” Ludendorff would watch Heinrich Kroeger’s actions carefully. Such a high-strung man could do great damage. He was a fever-ridden clown.
But then, their court had need of such a jester. And his money.