But his favorites were the newest ones. Concentration Camp and Hangin’ with the Crowd were more sophisticated than the others. Concentration Camp was devilishly educational, and Hangin’ with the Crowd allowed players to insert their own faces on the men and women who were hunting down blacks. Hangin’ with the Crowd had already been previewed on-line in the United States, and record numbers of orders were being received for the game itself.
Concentration Camp was about to be previewed in France, Poland, and Germany— at one very special place in Germany.
These games would help to spread the message of intolerance, but they were just the beginning. Four weeks after the release of these games, Dominique would undertake his most ambitious game project. It would be the culmination of his life’s work and it would begin with a game sent free to on-line users. It would be called R.I.O.T.S.— Revenge Is Only The Start— and it would help to precipitate a crisis the likes of which America had anticipated only in its worst nightmares. And while America was distracted, and Germany wrestled with its own surging neo-Nazis, Dominique and his partners would expand their business empires.
Expand? he thought. No. Seize what should always have been ours.
In the 1980s, when President Mitterand needed to generate income for the government, many French businesses had been socialized. During the 1990s, those businesses began to collapse due to the costly burdens of health care, retirement packages, and catering to French citizens who were accustomed to being cared for from cradle to grave. The failing companies dragged numerous banks with them, all of which had helped to raise unemployment in France to a staggering 11.5 percent in 1995 and 15 percent now— twice that among well-educated professionals. And while that happened, the National Assembly did nothing.
Nothing except to put its rubber stamp on whatever the President and his elite advisors wished.
Dominique would begin to change things by purchasing many of those companies and privatizing them. Some employee benefits would be phased out, but the unemployed would have jobs and the employed would have security. He also planned to gain controlling interest in a French bank.
Demain money would help prop the bank up, and its international offices would enable him to invest in countless operations abroad. Funds could be moved around, taxes avoided, and currencies traded favorably. He already had acquisition deals pending with a British movie studio; a Chinese cigarette maker, a Canadian pharmaceuticals firm, and a German insurance company. In foreign countries, having control of important businesses was tantamount to having your foot on the throat of the government.
Individuals and small corporations couldn’t maneuver like that, but international conglomerates could. As his father once told him, “Turning one hundred thousand francs into a million francs isn’t easy. But turning a hundred million francs into two hundred million francs is inevitable.” What Japan had tried and failed to accomplish in the 1980s, to become the dominant world economy, France would achieve in the twenty-first century. And Dominique would be the regent behind the throne.
“Germany,” he muttered with contempt. They’d started out in history as a conquered people, beaten by Julius Caesar in 55 B.C. They’d had to be rescued by Charlemagne, a Frank.
Dominique had already signed a French singer to record something he had written just a few weeks before, “The Hitla Rap.” With a goose-stepping tarantella beat, it exposed the German people to be just what they were, a nation of humorless boors. When he had achieved his goals for France, Dominique had every intention of putting the Huns in their place— though he couldn’t resist the little head start he planned for Hausen.
Henri had phoned to report on his successful mission.
The fire was all over the news there. Half an historic block had burned in St. Pauli before firefighters got it under control. That was good, though Dominique was curious what the lofty Herr Richter might do in response. Would he kill Jean-Michel en route to tonight’s rally? Attack a Demain products distributor in Germany? He doubted it. That would raise the stakes to a dangerous height, nor would either act hurt Dominique very much at all. Would Richter capitulate and toe the line? He doubted that too. Richter was too proud to bend entirely. Might he tell the press about Dominique’s secret activities? That was unlikely. Richter didn’t know enough about them, and who would believe Richter in any event? He was a neo-Nazi purveyor of sex. In any case, nothing could be traced to Dominique.
But Richter would do something. He had to. Honor demanded it.
Turning from the window, Dominique made his way back to his office. Speculation was always fun, but ultimately it was pointless. There was only one thing Dominique knew for sure: he was glad to be in his position and not Richter’s.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Thursday, 3:23 P.M., The Leine River, Germany
As she cleared a patch of trees and looked ahead, Karin Doring allowed herself a very rare smile.
The camp was one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen. The spot on the Leine River had been bought by Manfred’s family over a decade before. It was twenty acres of sweet-smelling woodland, with the river to the east and a high hill to the west, directly behind them. A deep gorge protected them to the north, and the trees provided cover from spying eyes in the air. The camp her followers had erected was a series of tents arranged in four rows of five, with two people in each tent. The tops were covered with foliage so they couldn’t be seen from the air when the authorities went looking for the stolen movie prop van. The cars and vehicles which had brought them here were parked in rows to the south and were also camouflaged.
The nearest town of any size was Garbsen, which was nearly twenty miles to the south. The ground search for the terrorists who attacked the film set would start there and move toward Hanover, the seat of Chaos Days activities.
That was well southeast of them. The authorities would not look for them here, in the middle of this Grimm Brothers fairyland. They couldn’t spare the manpower. Not for three days, and by the end of Chaos Days Karin and her followers would be gone. Even if the police did conclude that the assault was her handiwork, and even if they did manage to find her camp, they would never take her and her followers.
Sentries would warn her and attack dogs would delay the police while the mementoes were dropped into the lake or burned. A sad but necessary precaution, for there must be no evidence to tie them to the attack.
Let them try to catch us, she thought defiantly. And if it became necessary, they would fight to the last soldier. The German government could pass its apologetic laws, deny its past, kowtow to the United States and the rest of Europe.
She and her followers would not bow. And in time, the rest of Germany would embrace the heritage she had helped to preserve.
The forty members of Feuer who had come here were among Karin’s most devoted followers. Cheers rose from those nearest the perimeter as the van pulled up. By the time Rolf had parked beside the line of cars to the south, her Feuermenschen, her “Firemen,” as she called them, had arranged themselves in a semicircle before the van. They raised their right arms diagonally, held their fists thumbside up, and shouted over and over, “Sieger Feuer!” “Conqueror Fire!” Karin said nothing as she emerged. She walked to the back of the van, pulled open the door, and grabbed a steel helmet. There were hints of rust, and the black leather chinstrap was brittle and cracked. But the red, white and black, white shield on the right side and the silver-white Werhrmachtadler, an eagle and swastika on a black shield on the left, were vivid and clean.
Karin held the helmet in her open hands and stretched it before her, face high, as though she were crowning a king.
“Warriors of the cause,” she said, “today we have enjoyed a great victory. These trappings of the Reich have been snatched from the curio-seekers and professors and resigned warriors. They are once again in the hands of fighters. They are once again in the hands of patriots.” The Firemen cried “Sieger Feuer!” in unison, and Karin hand the helmet to the young man nearest her. He kissed it, trembling, and held out his hand for more as Karin handed the relics to her followers. She kept an SA dagger for herself.
“Keep them safely,” she said. “Tonight they will be reactivated. Tonight they will once again be the tools of war.” As she handed out the items, assisted by Rolf, Manfred walked from around the cab.
“There’s a phone call for you,” he said.