264 | John W. Warner IV Bravo, young man, said Schafer, squinting at the sun. But today warrants a minor intrusion. Relishing fresh-baked bread with heaps of canned butter, Bernie looked to Alice and discreetly winked. Play along. My compliments, Herr Schafer, for a sumptuous meal of Westphalian ham and Spanish olives, the SS spares little for its exploratory subsidiary units I see, must be all that unfettered funding from the Reichsbank, Himmlers miraculous and unquestioned blank check and all. The SS Mountain Division Detachment Commander, Piter Klemperer, a big shouldered, muscular brown-blond-bearded Sturmbannfuhrer with a tanned iron face and big ears, fused his eyes on Bernie. How dare you… Bernie toasted him in English. Heres looltin at you, kid.Then drank. Schafer held up his calloused palm. Ah-ah-ah, easy now, Klemp. Let us be truthful to our special guests. Yes, yes, our entire SS funding stream is off the books. A proud state within the state. We are grateful to the Reichsfuhrer in no small fashion. Otvos suddenly stood at rigid attention with his water cup. A toast…to the Fuhrer and Reichsfuhrer. Everyone smartly stood and saluted, officers and enlisted, even Alice after a moment of prodding by Bernies elbow. Sieg HeiR everyone chorused. Alice noticed that Bea was quick to stiffen her spine and quicker on the salute, a reflex. What now? asked Bea. Nothing, chirped Alice like a songbird. Sit, eat, and be merry everyone, said Schafer, crossing his legs in commanding comfort. Bernie sniffed a Sorrento lemon with eyes closed then took a luscious bite, not wasting one tiny bit. He looked at the huge standing stone behind Bea, its spiral carvings and double eagles with swastikas highly intriguing. I see the Hittites were here at some point. How old is the fort may I ask? Any speculation? Ill be hornswoggled, dining like kings in the middle of the high Zagros, he thought. No one will believe us. Any sugar around? Schafer snapped fingers as a waiter brought fine sugar in an SS silver bowl; he bristled with confidence. Our estimates are in the fifteen to twenty thousand-year range, perhaps of the Heroic Age of Man. Many occupiers have come and gone over the millennia: Hittites, Babylonians, Parthians, Scythians, Armenians. But of course it was still active in Alexanders time, a time of Aryan conquest to the east towards India and