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DEAR OSKAR,

FIRST, MY KARLCHEN, YOUR MOTHER ASKS THAT I SEND TO YOU HER LOVE AND YOUR SISTER’S LOVE.

SECOND, AS YOU MAY HAVE HEARD, THERE RECENTLY HAS BEEN SIGNIFICANT DESTRUCTION IN THE RUHR VALLEY. KNOW THAT OUR FAMILY SUFFERED NO PERSONAL HARM, AS WHEN IT HAPPENED I WAS OUT OF THE COUNTRY ON BUSINESS AND YOUR MOTHER AND SISTER WERE IN BERLIN.

KAPPLER INDUSTRIES, HOWEVER, DID LOSE FIVE OF OUR SEVEN OPERATIONS THERE. IN DUE COURSE, I WILL SHARE MORE DETAILS ON THIS, BUT FOR NOW THE DAMAGE IS DONE AND BEING DEALT WITH AS EXPEDITIOUSLY AS POSSIBLE.

THIRD, AND I THINK PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANT, YOU SHOULD BE AWARE THAT I HAVE BEEN ASKED TO PERFORM SOME EXTRAORDINARY TASKS. THESE ARE ONES THAT I DEVOUTLY BELIEVE OU

R ALMIGHTY GOD HAS CHOSEN FOR ME TO DO. AND I HAVE AGREED TO DO SO.

BECAUSE THEY ARE OF THE HIGHEST SECRECY, I KNOW THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THEY ARE DANGEROUS, AND MAY NOT END WELL FOR ME.

I AM SHARING THIS WITH YOU NOW BECAUSE IF SOMETHING SHOULD HAPPEN TO ME, YOU WILL NEED TO TAKE YOUR OWN EXTRAORDINARY ACTIONS. ONES TO SAVE YOURSELF FROM A POSSIBLE SIMILAR FATE BUT ALSO ONES TO SAVE YOUR MOTHER AND SISTER.

TO THIS END, YOU WILL BE APPROACHED BY A GENTLEMAN OF POWERFUL RESOURCES WHO FROM THE START HAS HELPED ME WITH ALL OUR FAMILY BUSINESSES AND INVESTMENTS IN THE AMERICAS. THESE NOW CONSTITUTE OUR FAMILY’S ENTIRE WEALTH, AS ALL KAPPLER INDUSTRIES IN GERMANY HAVE BEEN OR ARE ABOUT TO BE NATIONALIZED. THIS IS THE SAME THAT BORMANN HAS DONE WITH FRITZ THYSSEN, WHO YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND GORING PRESENTLY IS MOVING FROM A BERLIN ASYLUM TO A KONZENTRATIONSLAGER.

YOU WILL KNOW THIS GENTLEMAN IS LEGITIMATE IN THE SAME MANNER AS YOU KNOW THIS MESSAGE YOU NOW READ IS LEGITIMATE.

I CLEARLY APPRECIATE THAT THIS SUDDENLY PLACES AN UNFAIR BURDEN ON YOUR SHOULDERS, BUT KNOWING YOUR FINE CHARACTER THERE IS NO QUESTION IN MY MIND THAT YOU UNDERSTAND SUCH DESPERATE TIMES REQUIRE SUCH GREAT SACRIFICES.

LASTLY, AND SADLY, I AM AWARE AND ASHAMED THAT I HAVE BEEN REMISS ALL YOUR LIFE IN SAYING THIS ENOUGH TO YOU, BUT PLEASE KNOW HOW VERY PROUD OF YOU I AM, MY SON, AND THAT I LOVE YOU.

PRAY WITH ME THAT THIS WAR SOON ENDS, BEFORE MORE MINDLESS HARM IS DONE, AND THAT WE ALL WILL AGAIN BE TOGETHER AS A FAMILY.

STAY STRONG. MAY GOD BLESS YOU.

YOUR FATHER

END MESSAGE

HIGHEST SECRECY

* * *

Kappler, his eyes beginning to water, felt his throat constrict.

He looked out across the piazza and drained his coffee.

“I’m sorry,” Ernst Beck said softly.

Kappler looked at him.

“Yes,” Beck said, “I of course read the letter. It’s my job. But know that I am under orders to provide you with whatever you need.”

“My father,” Kappler said, “he is working with the Abwehr?”

Beck nodded.

“That is all I know,” he added, then nodded at the message. “But considering the urgency I was instructed to get that to you, something tells me this is all going to get very interesting very quickly.”

[TWO]

Latitude 37 Degrees 15 Seconds North

Longitude 4 Degrees 13 Seconds East

Over the Mediterranean Sea, North of Tigzirt, Algeria