Chapter 14
Secrets
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    Major Johnson, the C2, looks down the long rectangular table at the concerned faces of those in the Inner Circle.  He's uncertain if he should claim that Operation Nighthawk was a success and decides to dwell only on fact, thus   beginning a very analytical presentation.  "Casualty report - 3 dead and one wounded.  Intelligence data - we haven't had time to completely break the code that's somewhat different from what we've seen in the past.  One thing, however, stands out that requires little analysis."   He passes out pictures of an elderly Cardinal and observes the expressions on all their faces.
    Someone says, "Who is that?"
    Johnson responds, "Cardinal Roman Vincinni, Protector of the Faith, and chief advisor to the Pope."
    There is another startled comment, "How in the hell did a picture of the Protector of the Faith get into Zonno records?"
    "Think about it," Johnson replies.  "Look at all the changes in the Church and breaks with traditions that have occurred over the past few decades."
    "Do you mean the infiltration has gone all the way to the Vatican?"
    "For some while, intercepted messages have referred to 'the reverend.'  We couldn't quite determine what they meant and brushed them off.  It's logical.  Even the Zonno realized what used to be the Catholic Church was the only entity that could take hold and get American back on the track.  The Pope has been quite ill for some time, and I'd venture to say it was Vincinni who was behind destroying so many of the old traditions.  We really don't need to try to figure that out now.  What's done is done, and The Restoration never has been under such subversive influence.  We've broken some of the coding that refers to a sequence of events specifically identified as:
        -potential initial event pending scandal
        -diversionary action
        -main attack on 4 cities
        -sustained insurgency
        -launch political front."
    The Leader remains very calm with his hands resting on the conference table and quietly says,  "The Vincinni matter is being addressed. I agree.  We need not worry about that. Can you put it all together into some general scheme of maneuver?"
    Johnson nods.  "For an operation with so many phases and with specific references to 4 attack sites, they must have substantial equipment and resources already in place.  I would expect the attack to start with diversionary actions from street gangs of Chytinos and Indicos in areas primarily populated by Malatas in localities where we have no security representation.  That would achieve widespread riots to fragment law enforcement forces before the main attack and also serve to break down the will to resist.  Any initial action followed by a much stronger event would certainly do that."
    Lt. Colonel Green, the C3, visibly perplexed, tilts his head to the side before looking directly at The Leader.  "Sir, I think we've go big problems.  Until now, we've developed ample forces to respond quite effectively to isolated incidents unsupported by the weaponry Major Johnson is suggesting.  We're looking at a general street war.  We can't cope with that or anything close to it.  We don't even know where to position the forces we have; and even if we did, we could lose everything in a single day."
    The Leader leans back and places his hand under his chin.  For a moment, he is immersed in deep thought.  Finally, he leans forward, alternating his attention between the C2 and C3.  The Circle members begin to glance around the table and mumble to one another, and it is that clear expression of doubt that causes The Leader to begin a very calculated presentation.  "Gentlemen, our movement became public knowledge only some months ago.  That I must tell you was by design of a plan that began long before and only came under the knowledge of a very few people in the world at the outset and then, a very limited number as time carried on.  The Restoration has existed for decades and simply was waiting for the proper time and place to reveal itself.  All these years, the most closely guarded secrets have been shielded from the world, because if revealed at the wrong time and before sufficient power existed, discovery could destroy it.  There is a story I must tell you."
    The Circle members come under increasing shock as he begins a revelation extending far into the past and beginning on the final days of the Battle of Berlin in World War II.

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    There were the constant sounds of the Russian artillery and the hissing of the rack-mounted rockets as they pounded the city of Berlin.  Dust, mixed with flakes of a late spring snow, clouded the air as Field Marshall Chrysler looked at a formation of American B17s overhead, escorted by P51s,  returning from some bombing mission on a target already wiped out several times before.  His face was twisted and his uniform caked with dust hardened by the moist snow and he uttered in a resentful voice, "What I could do, if I had such power in my hands."
    Then, he only had the battered remains of 3 divisions with limited ammunition and fuel.  He looked at Colonel Ritzner and in a ridiculing voice said, "This morning, I received a message from Hitler himself.  He told me to commit everything that was left in a flanking action to the east."
    Ritzner flinched as he watched the skeletons of bombed out buildings crumble under the Russian bombardment.  He removed his helmet, brushed the dust from his face and said in something of a disinterested voice, "And what did you say?"
    "I told him to go to hell, and I wasn't going to waste another single life.  It's hopeless."
    Ritzner slid down behind the rubble and said, "He'll probably send one of those goons from the Gestapo after you."
    Chrysler sneered.  "Those son of a bitches know better than to come out here.  All they're trained to do is kill women and children.  Hell, even the SS knows the war is lost.  They're looking after their own asses."  He raised to one knee and again stared over the devastation of Berlin.  "The bastards wouldn't even wake up Hitler on the morning of the invasion.  We had all those Panzer divisions just sitting in reserve, and Hitler wouldn't commit any of them under some insane idea Normandy wasn't the main attack point.  We had the Allies pinned down at Cherbourg and Caen but Berlin had all the trains tied up hauling off prisoners to the camps.  The idiots thought wiping out the Jews was more important than stopping the advance into Germany.  God damn.  Where did it all go wrong?"
    For a few moments, his eyes took on a reflective, glassy stare at the ground.  He could see and hear the shouting crowds, the marching soldiers and and people waiving thousands of small swastika flags at the rallies at Nuremberg during the 30s.  He was so moved by Hitler's speeches that spoke of nationalism and pride in Germany.  It all seemed so wonderful - watching Germany recover from the depravation after the first war and the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Versailles.  His voice quivered.  "How did it all lead to this?"
    The United States 5th and British 8th Armies had reached the Po River.  The Soviet 5th Guards Army had reached  Targau at the Elbe River.  The Soviet Army had encircled Berlin on 3 sides.  All resistance to stop the advance of the Allies in the west had broken down but the German Army was still desperately fighting in the east for fear of reprisals from the Russians when Berlin finally fell.
    Chrysler remembered being among the long armor columns as they plundered the Russians during the initial stages of Operation Barbarossa and how the peasants welcomed them with open arms.  Then came the SS.  Instead of organizing them into an effective fighting force, what did they do.  They killed them all and scraped their bodies into mass graves.  What could have been a valuable asset that might well have led to victory wasn't even recognized by those preoccupied with removing a race from the face of the earth.  
    There was a long silence before Ritzner casually remarked, "It's too late now." 
    Chrysler immediately responded, "The armies are defeated but not the passion!"
    Then, it was Ritzner who was staring at the B17s.  "What passion?  I haven't had a good meal in so long, I couldn't find my way into bed with a woman - much less fuck her."
    "Some still feel the burning pride we all had before the war.  The god damn Russians are going to put eastern Europe under worse oppression than our occupation.  All the French can do is drink and fuck.  The British will debate for years before they do anything.  The United States is going to emerge for this as the big winner.  Its economy isn't damaged.  They have much fewer dead and wounded.  It's going to gorge itself on world trade."
    Ritzner failed to see the point and only said, "So?"
    In a very thoughtful voice, Chrysler said, "Think of the world 50 or 75 years from now.  There'll never be another war such as this.  Those who will profit after it's over will become too ambitious.  Cooperate greed will take over.  There will be a loss of passion and purpose such as Germany once felt.  We can't let it die.  It might be 100 years, but a time is coming when that same spirit will be all that is left to free the world from what it will become."
    "Now how in the hell can anyone do that"?
    "Through the Church!" Chrysler almost shouted.  "I'm through with it all."  He took off his ammunition belt, threw  his helmet to the ground and got into a half-track with 3 other men.  The vehicle carefully entered the western section of Berlin and went directly to the Immaculate Heart of Mary church that, similar to many churches throughout Europe, had escaped the bombardment and stood undamaged.  Chrysler regarded that fact not as an chance phenomenon but an omen that reinforced his beliefs.
    They abandoned the vehicle.  When Chrysler realized what he had just done was his last act as a German soldier, a tear came to his eye.  They moved into the abandoned church, and a priest led them down a small stairway to the basement and then into a secret chamber obscured behind a janitor closet.  The floors were coated with dust from the constant bombardment, and the 4 of them sat down at a single small table in the center of the chamber.  Chrysler said, "We must start now.  We can't let the hope be defeated with Germany.  Once, I was a loyal Nazi but we now have so much we must repay the world.  Through the Church, we must seek out the passion I know still exists.  We must change how the world will remember the Nazi cause.  We'll use those same letters and call our movement the Zani'."
    And so it was then, in the ruins of Berlin that a new hope began - a hope that would rest itself in the Holy Catholic Church but that hope was later to be destroyed by the Vatican Councils and a changing world.

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    The Leader surveys the shocked expressions on the faces of the Inner Circle members before saying, "Our movement began then.  To this very day, in the small Immaculate Heart of Mary church in Berlin, in that same secret chamber, there is a small staff that has worked throughout the decades.  It has obtained many and substantial financial resources and selectively, has indoctrinated many generations of a growing number of families throughout these same decades in the beliefs of the essential power of the Church and absolute nationalism.  All held to a belief that such a day as the one we are about to face would eventually come and require military action but that has been effectively planned as well.  Through all these years, our secret representation in the United States military grew substantially.  Once the G1 United States command was penetrated, Berlin could direct the placement of those few who still held to the cause into specific military units.  From generation to generation, career soldiers reached the command structure and the network continued to build within the military.  Through careful administration of personnel records and transfers, there are now full combat units loyal to the cause and ready to be called into action."
    Expecting someone to say something, he pauses but the shock of the stunning revelation has left everyone in a transitory disposition.  Much more deliberately, he goes on.  "We're all members of the Zani'.  The Church and The Church alone can restore love, understanding and meaningful devotion within the country."
    After a sustained moment of silence, someone says in a hardly audible voice, "If this ever gets out...."
    Someone else asks, "Do you mean that for decades, everyone in the Zani' has been standing around with their hands in their pockets, waiting for some crucial event to call them all out of hiding?"
    "By no means," The Leader quickly responds.  "Please don't place too much weight on the military aspect of the movement.  Simply look at what we've done since The United States Church Of The Restoration was formed.  We've fed the hungry, engaged in medical research and taken many steps to restore a failing economy.  True, medical research and economic reconstruction are relatively new activities but during all this time, in many natural disasters, still quite secretly I assure you, we've had volunteers at the disaster sites doing what they could.  Often, it was only digging the dead from the rubble.  Other times, we delivered food and clothing as well as emergency medical assistance.  Please realize such situations were greatly different than the one we now face and required a different response.  Funds and volunteers have established many homeless shelters in many churches - both Catholic and Protestant.  Our theme has always been as Christ instructed - the priesthood, and now the Zani', should pledge its allegiance and duty to one belief, and their must be but one Church that is unselfish and one that refuses any change in the doctrine under the false pretext of modernization.  Soon, we'll be opening the political front and offer candidates for public office.  This is a natural development - one brought about by circumstances and not only by the design and intent of the Zani'".
    Without pause or further explanation, he faces the C3 and says, "Colonel Green, take your intelligence.  Do further work on the code, and at the next meeting, you'll need to make firm recommendations on how we can best meet the big show that I assure you is coming."  He reaches into his briefcase, produces a number of green and white computer prints and says, "These are the regular military units that will come under Zani' command.  There's a detail of present locations, unit sizes, equipment and estimated deployment times to meet strikes within a number of geographic areas."
    With that, the meeting is adjourned.

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    The small dead end street in Berlin has little traffic.  There are a few small shops, a number of vacant buildings and several apartments housing those who seem to have lost their places in the world.  The Immaculate Heart Of Mary Church remains open 24 hours, and on this day, there are a number of modestly dressed persons kneeling on the prayer rails, staring at the Crucifix, votive candles and statues.  When the church and a number of others throughout Europe, refused to remove what the Vatican Councils described as "too fatalistic and too representative of a museum," they were all promptly excommunicated by Rome.  Of course, none of them except this one small church recognized such developments were within the Zonno plan to fragment the one institution in the world that could defeat its subversion. 
    That same secret chamber where those 4 men met the day the Zani' was formed is now an efficient office with much computer and teletype equipment.  Just as the church, it operates 24 hours a day and is in constant touch with churches and military units in the United States.  People are moving about the room, looking at computer and teletype printouts and there is the constant monitor of military personnel records.  As the material is read, there are voices...."3rd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division has 3 retirements and openings for 2 platoon sergeants and 1 first sergeant...."  "Second Fighter Wing has just received 10 new F24s.  We need to find and transfer 7 pilots...."  "The Pentagon just announced 3 posts in Alabama will be closed.  We need to get equipment delivered to the maintenance buildings.  The gate guards and post security are cleared."

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    In a few days, in many newspapers throughout the United States, obscured far behind the front pages is the seemingly insignificant report:

    "Cardinal Roman Vincinni, Protector of the Faith and chief advisor to the Pope, was found dead of an undisclosed cause in his Vatican apartment.  Cardinal Vincinni was educated in Germany where he worked as a parish priest before beginning a rapid advance through Catholic hierarchy that eventually lead him to Rome.  Cardinal Vincinni was the principle author of The Revised Items of Expression on which the last 2 Vatican Councils were built and was viewed by many as most likely to succeed the Pope."