Beast Machine (33 page)

Without giving it a
thought, Jeffrey said, “No, not really. I try not to think of you
that often.”

McCarthy scoffed, “Fine. I
guess I’ll tell you about the big, spooky shadow group – The
Flagship. They’re the big reason your lover – erm, boss – released
me from my comatose state decades early.”

“
I’d actually love to hear
about that organization, as Chairman Obelis rarely speaks about
them. I’ve only heard bits and pieces about them; I’m not even sure
if they’re still a functioning organization. Or even
real.”

“
Oh, Jeffrey, they’re very
real. Very real and obscenely powerful, at least they were powerful
when I knew them.” McCarthy sneezed into his handkerchief, though
zero slime came out this time. “They were the puppet masters; they
were the true rulers of humanity. I’m pretty sure they still are
pulling strings all over the world. In some capacity.”

“
How so? The history books
would have had something on them. A secret organization doesn’t
just escape modern history, or even verbal conspiracy theories. The
Freemasons, the Illuminati, Mormons – you don’t just escape modern
history like that, even when you get to write the history books,
someone will blow the whistle on your organizations.”

“
But they’ve accomplished
just that! They’ve done such an incredible job of keeping
themselves unknown. I don’t know if I could identify them, if
they’re still alive. The few permanent group members constantly
change their appearance, their location and their occupation. I’d
only be able to know who they were by paying attention to
mannerisms.” McCarthy decided to not reveal to Jeffrey that every
Flagship member had a permanent tattoo that properly identified
them, regardless of their physical appearance.

Jeffrey cut McCarthy off,
“Whatever, old man, let’s hear about what this group has supposedly
done. I don’t really care who the members are and how good they are
at hide and seek. Tell me what makes them so powerful.”

“
Okay, okay. Now, you’ve
heard about the World Wars, right?”

“
Obviously, I’m not a
dunce.” Jeffrey was mildly offended at McCarthy’s innocuous
question.

“
Just checking. Well, what
if I told you The Flagship were the ones that helped start
both
of those
wars?”

“
I’d say you’re
crazy.”

“
Ha! I’ve always been a
little ca-razy, Jeffrey,” laughed McCarthy. “It is known that the
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand spurred the First World
War, but it was The Flagship that truly set the war into motion
many years beforehand. The Flagship killed the archduke’s cousin,
Prince Rudolf, at a hunting lodge. It was made to look like a
suicide. A very believable claim, as Prince Rudolf had known mental
disorders and made a suicide pact with a mistress.

“
With Prince Rudolf dead,
this left Franz’s father Karl Ludwig in line for the throne of
Bohemia. The Flagship did nothing to Ludwig, as he died of typhoid
fever several years later. They knew that Ludwig was bound to die
of his own accord since he was rather clumsy and had horrible
hygiene. Him dying too early may have caused complications too, so
they just waited and let him die naturally.”

McCarthy picked his nose
and flung the resulting booger at the nearest window. A tiny
splat
could be heard and
Jeffrey trembled with minor rage. He suppressed the rage as he
wanted to hear more about The Flagship.

“
Apologies for that. Now
that Prince Rudolf and Karl Ludwig were dead, Franz was now first
in line for the throne of Bohemia! This is exactly what The
Flagship wanted and they bided their time to get it. They’re very
patient – waiting years, decades to strike. Anyhow, Franz was brash
with his ideals, he was obnoxious around the other leaders of
Bohemia, and he had a notoriously short temper that led to violent
outbursts. Despite this, he was a man of the people, truly a common
man’s man. He wanted his fellow man to truly succeed and prosper in
life, something the other leaders did not want. The other Bohemian
leaders could put up with a violent asshole because the violence
was never taken out on them, but they would never want the average
man rise up in the world – they were terrified of being associated
with the average man.

“
This caused the other
Bohemian leaders to hire an assassin, Gavrilo Princip, at the
behest of The Flagship through many letters. The Bohemian leaders
believed the information was from rebel Frenchmen that had ties to
Bohemia, but it was just another ruse from The Flagship as they
always disguised the information they sent.

“
Anyway, Princip was
Serbian and one of the millions of Serbians that wanted out from
under the Bohemian rule to create their own state. He was the
perfect man to do the job, so they paid him handsomely – he did,
however, give the money to his family. He may have been a dirty
assassin, but he knew he’d hang once the world knew what he had
done. It was smart to give the money to his family.

“
The day Princip
assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and Franz’s wife Sophie,
there were five other planned assassinations to disguise the motive
of the leaders of Bohemia. The death of Franz caused quite the stir
as his loyal supporters began to riot in the streets, looking for
Serbs to kill to avenge his death once word traveled that the
assassin was a Serbian man. The rioting and the assassinations
caused neighboring Eastern European countries to intervene to help
settle the violence, which eventually led to Germany entering the
fray – exactly what The Flagship wanted! They always get their
way!”

McCarthy coughed loudly and
readjusted his body on the couch.

“
The Flagship had wanted a
major European player to join the ensuing battle and got their wish
when Germany began to vie for control over the Bohemian region,
effectively beginning the First World War. They helped with the
rise of Adolph Hitler by keeping him safe during the First World
War and preventing his entry into an art school, but that’s another
story for another time.”

Jeffrey, ensnared by the
story, asked, “But weren’t the leaders found out? I can’t imagine
people were likely to keep their mouths shut about something so
tremendous.”

“
Ah, forgot that part ,”
said McCarthy. “The Bohemian leaders, though idiotic in their plan
that led to a World War, were smart enough to ask The Flagship to
help find someone to blame. Thus, the blame was foisted upon a
single man for planning all six assassinations. Danilo Ilić was the
fall man, and the perfect one as he, like Princip, wanted a
separate Serbian state, except Ilić wanted to do so peacefully. He
was the perfect guy to blame as there was
just
enough evidence on him to warrant
being the man behind the assassinations. He was killed by Bohemian
forces shortly after the Archduke’s death, but that, obviously,
didn’t stop the fighting.”

Jeffrey was stunned at the
story. He had so many questions but decided to ask the one that
kept bouncing around his head. He asked, “How could one
organization know this all would happen? Exactly like
that?”

McCarthy raised his
eyebrows, “They just knew, my friend, they just knew. They’re
experts at understanding humans and how we’re going to react to
certain situations. Plus, it was known that Franz was a loudmouth
and hated many of his fellow rulers because of their disdain toward
the common peoples. By putting Franz in a position of power, he was
bound to cause some sort of large-scale battle – directly or
indirectly – which is what The Flagship wanted to have happen. They
have middlemen that they hire, and then later dispose of, that
gather information from all regions in the world. Sometimes,
though, the main members will do the dirty work themselves and they
had incredible technology to do so, even back then.” McCarthy’s
saggy face began to droop lower. “They may still be pulling heavy
strings today, but I’d have no clue on what strings they were
pulling, as there are so many conflicts happening today. They could
be behind all of the conflicts, none of them, or only some of them.
I do know they helped create many government spying agencies across
the globe. The names of those agencies have changed over the years
– I’d have to use that web box to look up the proper
information.”

“
I’m flabbergasted at this,
Joe,” Jeffrey said meekly. He cupped his head with his hands as if
this story had begun the process of brain implosion. “It just seems
so implausible, but so does reviving a guy from the 1950’s! Ugh! I
don’t know what to believe.”

“
They missed on their main
goal, however,” said McCarthy darkly. “I guess I misspoke when I
said they always get their way.”

“
How did they miss? They
got all the major countries involved in a war. That’s a direct hit,
Joe!”

“
The Flagship wanted the
United States to join the conflict immediately, but on the side of
the Germans. Not the allied powers.”

“
So these Flagship people
wanted us to join the Nazis?”

“
No,” said McCarthy, “They
weren’t Nazis yet; don’t you know your history?”

Jeffrey, still shell
shocked from this conversation, shook his head slowly to his left
then slowly to his right telling McCarthy, “No. Apparently
not.”

“
They were hoping the
United States, where an overwhelming amount of people were German
or had German heritage lived, would join with the German Reich.
German-Americans and white Americans in general had a lot in common
with German ideals back then. It would’ve changed human history so
drastically; it’s hard to even comprehend how different the world
would be had that happened. The United States could have helped
Germany take over most of Europe, if not most of the world. Or the
United States could have lost miserably with Germany and we would
have been under occupation by some other country.”

“
But why did they want the
United States to join Germany? Why would they want that?” said
Jeffrey quietly.

“
I don’t think you’d be
able to hear that truth at the moment,” laughed McCarthy. “You’re
already shaking quite a bit, Jeffrey.”

“
You’re right. Damn, I’m…
I’m gonna go for now, that’s a lot to take in, Joe,” said Jeffrey,
stumbling over his words. He wasn’t sure if the coffee affected the
seriousness of the conversation or if his brain actually was
imploding from learning this new information. Either way, Jeffrey
was filled to the brim with conspiratorial information from a
Senator from the 1950s and he needed to lie down. His nausea was
too damn high to be talking about serious matters.

“
Ha! I’m glad we had this
talk, let’s do it again in a few days?”

“
Sure… sure. I would like
that, I think.” Jeffrey repressed some vomit and gagged
loudly.

Chapter 31
Shallow Grave

“I want all the Aryan boys
– Aryan German Boys – gathered up and put into a youth camp of
sorts,” said a man. He wore a suave military uniform that looked
ready for a military hearing, not battle. He was issuing
instructions to multiple men, but only one man was recording the
message.

“
What would the name be?”
said a smaller man, writing down what his apparent leader was
saying. He was to give the instructions to military leaders not
present at the meeting.

“
It will be called
the
Hitler Youth
,”
smiled Adolf Hitler. “It will be a military camp for our young
boys. A place where they can learn how to become men, learn how to
survive in the wild, learn to appreciate the military leadership,
learn how to shoot properly, learn about Germany’s rich and
powerful history, and, most importantly, learn how to hate our
enemies.”

“
Well done, sir, well
done,” said the smaller man. His writing turned to unintelligible
scribbles that only he would be able to read. “Is there anything
else I would need to relay to the men?”

“
You have the gist of how a
camp for our young Germans would be run, yes?”

“
Yes, sir, I do,” said the
smaller man. “I imagine it like a youth bootcamp for our young men
before they enter the military.”

“
Good,” said Hitler. “Give
each boy a dog, a shepherd dog.”

“
Sir?” said the smaller
man. The few other men and the smaller man looked at each other in
confusion. “Why a shepherd dog?”

“
Give each boy a shepherd
dog. They will grow a strong bond and will both train as soldiers
to fight against any incoming threats! It will be a wonderful
bond,” said Adolf Hitler. A grim, sadistic smile began to grow on
his face, a look that the other men were used to seeing during the
crucial moments of the war. “Then after the boys and their dogs
have been put through all the tests and finished all the necessary
Hitler Youth requirements, I want the boys to kill their own
dog.”

“
Sir? Could you repeat that
last part?” said the smaller man; each of the other men were
equally appalled but tried to stay emotionless toward the
statement. No one wanted to disappoint the leader.

Hitler’s grim smile faded
and pursed lips of displeasure surfaced. He stood and contemplated
the small man’s life, but decided to let the man off easy, as this
information needed to be sent out immediately to begin the Hitler
Youth program.