Lycanthropos by Jeffrey Sackett Page A

mechanism, if you will, of this gypsy’s madness, and if we can train him, condition him, manipulate his rage, we can smuggle him into Britain and use him as a weapon against Churchill."
    "You mean...you mean use him to assassinate...?"
    "Precisely. We have made attempts on Churchill’s life, but they have all failed. It is difficult to infiltrate England , and their security is unfortunately quite effective. But this man seems to be unstoppable when the madness is upon him. With Churchill dead, we might find ourselves very quickly fighting a one front war."
    Louisa stepped up to her cousin. "Has it never occurred to you that Churchill is not the cause of Britain ’s unwillingness to surrender? Haven’t you considered the possibility that the British may simply view your Hitler as evil, as a barbarian, as a threat to human civilization?"
    Schlacht dismissed her absurd comments with a wave of his hand. "The British are Aryans, as we are. The Jews are controlling Churchill. With him out of the way, the Jewish power in Britain will be broken and we can make peace." Louisa sighed and shook her head. This was becoming depressingly similar to the conversations she and her cousin had had so often when they were children.
    "Well, in any event," Weyrauch said, "why do you need me? I have some training in psychology, true, but I’m not a practicing psychologist, Helmuth, not even a practicing physician."
    "Yes, but you have knowledge of these things, certainly more knowledge than I have. And...well, you must realize that I am in competition with many other officers of the same rank. We all desire official favor, especially since the new European order after we win the war will rest upon a foundation of rule by the S.S."
    "In other words," Louisa said, "you want to arrange for Churchill’s assassination all by yourself so that you can get all the credit."
    He disliked the contempt in her tone. "Like it or not, my dear cousin, the future of Europe rests in the hands of the National Socialist Party, and the power behind the Party is the S.S. When this war ends and we are able to structure a new civilization that will last for the next thousand years, you might find yourself quite happy to be related to a confidante of S.S. Reichsführer Himmler. Happy, and secure."
    Schlacht turned from his cousin and rapped loudly on the large oaken door. A voice from within demanded, "Identity?"
    "Colonel Schlacht," he replied. A key could be heard turning in an inner lock, and then the door swung open. Schlacht motioned for Weyrauch and Louisa to precede him into the room. Weyrauch came to the portal and then stopped, as if the action of crossing over it would commit him to something which portended danger, as if he were somehow about to make an irreversible decision. He shook his head to dispel the foolish notion and took his wife’s arm to lead her with him through the doorway, but she pushed his hand away and entered before him. They walked past Schlacht and then, after following them in, he shut the door behind him and locked it. He turned to his guests and smiled. "Now, Gottfried, Louisa, allow me to introduce my lunatic."

CHAPTER THREE
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    The Ragoczy Palace in Budapest had been built centuries before as one of the many grand residences of the Magyar aristocracy which had dominated the region until the overthrow of the regime of Admiral Horthy just the previous year. The capital city, indeed the entire nation, was now effectively in German hands. A puppet Magyar regime still exercised nominal authority, but the realities of power were otherwise. The German army was in occupation of the country; the S.S. was supervising the coordination of Hungary into Hitler’s new order; and the Gestapo prowled the streets and cafes, the churches and the museums, the offices and the villages and the parks.
    When S.S. Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler had put Helmuth Schlacht in charge of the liquidation of Hungary ’s