The Heritage Paper

Chapter 38



Veronica remembered the last homework assignment she helped Maggie with. It was a math assignment about the lowest common denominator. She wasn’t much help—math wasn’t really her thing—but now she was starting to better understand the concept of LCD. And in this case the lowest common denominator was Aligor Sterling.

The last non-relative to visit Ellen was Sterling.

One of the few non family members invited to Maggie’s presentation was Sterling.

Carsten brought the letters between Ellen and Gus Becker to his boss … Sterling.

Rose Shepherd was in jail for blackmailing Sterling.

They sat quietly in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Maggie and Jamie were both giving her the silent treatment. Maggie’s angst was a result of being forbidden from the meeting with Rose Shepherd. But Veronica didn’t care if she didn’t speak to her for the next fifty years, she would protect the myth of her father and shield her from her family history of violence.

Jamie, on the other hand, was ticked off because he wasn’t allowed to stay and finish a video game he was playing with one of the children of the inmates. Their tactics weren’t working—Veronica was enjoying the rare quiet time.

Keeping with the theme, Youkelstein was silently reading in the backseat. Zach turned back toward him like he wanted to ask him a question and noticed his book. “Where’d you get that?”

“I carry a copy with me at all times.”

“Why on earth would you do that—you do know that book claims the personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of a Jew?”

“I carry it because I never want to forget.”

He held up an aged hardcover that displayed a menacing portrait of a youthful looking Adolf Hitler. The title Mein Kampf—My Struggle—was draped diagonally over Hitler like he was wearing a pageant banner.

“It’s currently banned in France and Germany,” Youkelstein added. “I don’t agree with that. I think it should be required reading in all schools throughout the world. It’s important for children to learn that such a level of hate exists, and how dangerous it can be when mixed with elements such as opportunity and charisma.”

“And what made you suddenly need to remind yourself again?” Zach asked. “You would think our adventures today would make you unable to forget.”

“Rose Shepherd’s accommodations.”

“You mean that furnished apartment that was disguised as a jail cell?”

“Yes, it reminded me of when Hitler was arrested for the Beer Hall Putsch in 1924—when he and his cronies tried to take over the government in a coup.”

“I know what the Beer Hall Putsch is—I just don’t know what it has to do with Rose Shepherd’s room.”

“Hitler was jailed, but not in a normal prison cell. He stayed in two adjoining luxury rooms like a four-star hotel and visitors could come freely. It’s where he dictated Mein Kampf to Rudolph Hess. It made me wonder if there are answers within these hateful diatribes.”

Zach looked skeptical. “Any luck?”

“Even if Himmler was the most powerful force within the Apostles, Hitler was still the original architect of the plan. And unlike Himmler, who operated under the surface, Hitler always laid out his ideology for the world to see. Mein Kampf is a prime example of this. He wore his emotions on his swastika’d sleeve. And in doing so, left the blueprints for the Apostles.”

“Did he by any chance leave a map to the bad guys?”

Veronica could tell that Zach was losing patience with Youkelstein’s cryptic responses.

“For starters, I realized that v^988v^ is not a code or puzzle piece in a treasure map. We were looking too deep. They didn’t need a stealth code to hide from capture. They were the only ones who knew the code—it was the most selective of clubs. It’s probably more of a rallying call, or a mission statement, than the secret code we’ve been making it out to be.”

“I was focusing on a date,” Zach said. “I thought the numbers might add up to a date of significance. That is how the military came up with the 21-gun salute—they added up the numbers from the year 1776.”

“That is a myth—the salute was instituted long before 1776. A petty point, I know, but one that reinforces the point that what is accepted as historically accurate is often untrue. This makes Kampf an important guide for us, since the words come right from Hitler’s mouth, and can’t be diluted by storytellers. In it, he writes of ‘A Thousand Years of Reich.’ He served from 1933 to 1945, twelve years, so 988 is likely referring to the remainder of the thousand years they are trying to recapture. And if you re-hook the horizontal lightning bolts that surround the number, you will have recreated the Nazi symbol of a swastika.” He scribbled it on the inside cover of the book, connecting the lines of the swastika. “That is what this is all about, returning the Reich to its position of power, as promised by Hitler himself.”

Veronica had stopped listening. She doubted that Zach and Youkelstein were on the path to the right answers, mainly because they were taking the wrong classes. They were studying literature, history, and symbology, when they really needed to be taking math.

She continued to drive toward Manhattan, to have a discussion with the lowest common denominator.