Nephilim

© 2011 by Michael Holland. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 08/04/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-4723-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-4724-3 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011914007

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

Disclaimer

Compliment

First Interlude

Discovery

Rome 1942

Botticelli

Conspiracy

Prologue to Exile

Exile

1955

1975: The Diary

1177: The Sacred Stones

Second Interlude

Dr. Norris

Lundy Island

Training of the Nephilim

Oxford

Third Interlude

PresentDay

Meeting at the Saville

Gilgamesh

Alvitorio

Invasion

Revelation

Showdown

1955

Paula Wolff

Present time

The Island

Jorge Panayedis

Ordination

The Prime Minister

Extraction

Decoy

Sanctuary

Execution

Epilogue

Disclaimer

The Nephilim account of Genesis is according to the biblical cannon part of human history. This book is however a work of fiction and any names of the characters portayed in this book is part of this framework. Any similarities or duplication of such individuals is purely co-incidental.

While the author acknowledges and respects the beliefs of Catholic worshipers, certain historical facts in this novel cannot be disputed. It is not the intention of the author or publishers to offend such honest hearted devotees.

Certain passages in this novel have been researched extensively to ascetain historical and scientific facts and the accuracy of such. However the author does accept that conclusions drawn from such findings is open to debate and different interpretations from the readers of this book.

The information contained in these pages might be offensive to sensitive readers.

Compliment

Michael Holland is an aspiring writer, an outstanding story by this wonderful writer. I only can say, Keep and maintain your breathtaking style and continue writing. It is amazing how much one can learn from your books.

My entire admiration and my best regards to you—you really deserve a big success!

Lorraine Gokul

Acknowledgement

This goes to my editor Lorraine who convinced me to complete this book.

Michael Holland.

First Interlude

I think that the humans have found something. And have made a discovery"

I have sensed a change in things as well; I get the feeling that there is a shift in what has been predetermined. Shall I investigate what this is all about?

Yes, I think that would be wise; you never know… This might tilt the balance forever in our favor.

Marduk turned to look directly at his sibling.

"I know what it is you hope, so do I, I have thought about little else for over five millennia. Go, but don’t do anything; we will make a decision when all the pieces of this new development are in place.’

Discovery

Captain Werner Schroeder clambered stiffly off the turret of his Mark II Panzer Tiger tank. It was becoming unbearably hot in the cabin that he shared with the driver and gunner. The stench of body odors, increasingly short tempers and close proximity of the two other bodies had concocted a witch’s brew of intolerance that made life inside the tank untenable. Tempers were being frayed and tension was becoming too thick for such limited confines. Werner took out his battered field glasses, put them to his eyes and swept the unbroken horizon of grassland which seemed to stretch on forever. The sky was almost platinum blue and totally cloudless. The sun was beating down mercilessly on the column of tanks and armored vehicles. Of all the places in the world to be in, this had to be one of the most demoralizing. For days on end he had led his division through endless prairies, of what could be best described as savannah, like the plains he had seen in photographs of Africa. He had never imagined Russia to be anything like this. No wonder all the armies that had ever attempted to invade and conquer this country had failed. It was just so indescribably vast!

This was to be the invasion of all invasions; it was named Operation Barbarosa, after the Emperor Frederick Barbarosa of the Holy Roman Empire who was a 12th Century leader of the Crusades.

The High Command in Berlin had decided to use this operation for the rapid conquest of the eastern Siberia and then press on to Ukraine and assimilate Moscow in the process.

It was July 2, 1941 and the captain felt that they had not gotten any nearer their objective than when they had first crossed the Polish border into Russia a few months ago.

In preparation for the attack, Hitler moved 3.2 million German soldiers and about 1 million Axis soldiers to the Soviet border, launched many aerial surveillance missions over Soviet territory, and stockpiled material in the East. The Soviets were still taken by surprise, mostly due to Stalin’s belief that the Third Reich was unlikely to attack only two years after signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Soviet leader also believed that the Nazis would likely finish their war with Britain before opening a new front. He refused to believe repeated warnings from his intelligence services on the Nazi buildup, fearing the reports to be British misinformation designed to spark a war between the Nazis and the USSR. The German government also aided in this deception, telling Stalin that the troops were being moved to take them out of range of British bombers. The Germans also explained that they were trying to trick the British into thinking they were planning to attack the Soviet Union, while in fact the troops and supplies were being stockpiled for an invasion of Britain. As a result, Stalin’s preparations against a possible German invasion in 1941 were half-hearted. The spy Dr. Richard Sorge gave Stalin the exact German launch date; Swedish cryptanalysts led by Arne Beurling also knew the date beforehand.

The Germans set up deception operations, from April 1941, to add substance to their claims that Britain was the real target: Operations Haifisch and Harpune. These simulated preparations in Norway, the Channel coast and Britain. There were supporting activities such as ship concentrations, reconnaissance flights, and training exercises. Invasion plans were developed and some details were allowed to leak.

The Germans also closely studied Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. Napoleon had led a half-million man strong army along a central path leading to Moscow when he invaded in 1812, but from the beginning had faced stubborn resistance from Russian defenders, who burned the area they left in a scorched earth policy to deny their enemies food and supplies. The Grande Armée was also badly damaged by hit-and-run attacks by Cossacks and conventional Russian forces operating in small units that attacked their flanks. Napoleon did capture Moscow, but withdrew after a severe winter in the burned-out capital. Only about a tenth of Napoleon’s troops survived the campaign, and Napoleon’s military reputation was shattered, leading to his ultimate defeat in 1815.

At Hitler’s insistence, the German High Command (OKW) began to develop a strategy to avoid repeating these mistakes. The strategy Hitler and his generals agreed upon involved three separate army groups assigned to capture specific regions and cities of the Soviet Union. The main German thrusts were conducted along historical invasion routes. Army Group North was assigned to march through the Baltic’s, into northern Russia, and either take or destroy the city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). Army Group Center would advance to Smolensk and then Moscow, marching through what is now Belarus and the west-central regions of Russia proper. Army Group South was to strike the heavily populated and agricultural heartland of Ukraine, taking Kiev before continuing eastward over the steppes of southern Russia all the way to the Volga and the oil-rich Caucasus.

Hitler, the OKW and the various high commands disagreed about what the main objectives should be. In the preparation for Barbarossa, most of the OKW argued for a straight thrust to Moscow, whereas Hitler kept asserting his intention to seize the resource-rich Ukraine and Baltic’s before concentrating on Moscow. An initial delay, which postponed the start of Barbarossa from mid-May to the end of June 1941, may have been insignificant, especially since the Russian muddy season came late that year. However, more time was lost at various critical moments as Hitler and the OKW suspended operations in order to argue about strategic objectives.

Now it was winter and the invasion had hardly gone according to plan. Overnight the weather had changed from summer to winter. It had become bitterly cold; their summer uniforms were hardly adequate.The danger of frostbite and dying of exposure was very becoming very real. Despite desperate repeated requests for warmer clothing relayed to the Berlin, high command the answer was always the same: Stop pestering us with stupid demands and behave like German soldiers. The blizzards were totally debilitating and in the cold, their equipment became useless. Overall, they were stranded in the middle of nowhere surrounded by hostile forces of nature.

It was to become one of the greatest blunders in German military history. Of the 250 000 soldiers of the 6th army, only 7000 returned from Russia.

He had slept badly that night, fuel was running desperately low, and keeping a fire going for the whole night was fast becoming an unaffordable luxury. The incessant howling of the wind seemed to have abated during the night, and the dawn had greeted them with a freezing cloudless dazzlingly blue sky. The snow swept division of immobilized tanks, armored cars and transport trucks were looking more like a refugee camp rather than a modern well-equipped army with ambitions to conquer the vastness of Russia.

During the night there had been canon and mortar fire followed by what seemed to sound like a rock fall. Normally he would have ordered a patrol to go and investigate, but with temperatures below fifty degrees and with a blizzard cutting visibility down to a few feet, anyone venturing outside would be committing suicide. At that temperature, one could throw a bucket of boiling water out of one of the misshapen huts that was now the barracks and it would freeze solid before it hit the ground.

Slowly Werner stood up, every part of his body cold and stiff. The cold seemed to be all-permeating. The gloves on his hands were almost worn away at the fingertips, and summer was but a distant memory. He could hardly remember feeling warm.

Good morning Captain;

Yes Corporal, what can I do for you? Werner looked at his subordinate through the smoke of one of his precious cigarettes.

You had better come and have a look at this.

Irritably Captain Schroeder drew his threadbare coat around his shoulders and walked after the retreating form of the soldier.

Where are we going exactly?

Kurt Moeller drew in his breath; Captain Schroeder was not known for his patience and was actually quite feared by the soldiers that served under him and he was not sure what sort of effect his answer was going to have on his commanding officer.

I think it’s better if you were to see this for yourself sir.

After about two miles of tramping through the snow and ice and dodging loose rocks, Werner was about to reprimand Kurt when he rounded a corner to see a group of soldiers looking at something in the ice, as he got closer his eyes widened unbelievingly.

Has anyone else seen this? He demanded to the backs of the soldiers grouped around the object in the ice.

His voice had a whiplash effect on the men. As one, they turned on their heels and saluted him. He eyed them critically; their uniforms were shabby and after six months of combat and on the march, it was no wonder. They were also looking thin and malnourished, hardly the glorious 6th army that had marched though the center of Paris under the Arch de Triomf. It was now a rag tag; half-starving shadow of its former self. However, the discipline was still there he saw with some measure of pride.

None except us, Captain. Kurt answered him.

Then see to it no one does, I will contact Berlin and have it sent back home.

With that Captain Werner Schroeder turned on his heel and strode off, his mind was racing. What he had just seen in the ice challenged everything he had been brought up to believe and this discovery was going to change forever the way humans regarded themselves in the universe and in the stream of time.

Has anyone else seen this report?

No mine Fuhrer, this was sent to you in the strictest of confidence, we await your orders on the matter.

Very well then, report to me first thing in the morning, I have some calls to make

Heil Hitler, mein Fuhrer.

The secretary was dismissed with a curt wave of the hand and the report was laid carefully, almost with veneration onto the immaculate oak desk. The contents would in time change the course of human and universal history.

One cold wintry day, a startling discovery was made by a patrolling party belonging to one of the bases on the Siberians steppes. This was reported to the base commander, which in turn had the high command in Berlin scramble a cargo plane along with a team of scientists to fly directly to the area. The discovery was flown back under the strictest of security back to Berlin and for the remainder of the war was stored in a below freezing silo in a top-secret bunker.

All records of the discovery being lost to memory as the advancing Allies and rejuvenated Russian army destroyed everything in their paths.

The Third Reich had a unique and special relationship with the Vatican. In 1933, the Roman Catholic Church concluded a concordat with the Nazis. Roman Catholic cardinal Faulhaber wrote to Hitler: "This handshake with the Papacy . . . Is a feat of immeasurable blessing . . . . May God preserve the Reich Chancellor [Hitler]? As Roman Catholic professor of history at Vienna University, Friedrich Heer admitted: In the cold facts of German history, the Cross and the swastika came ever closer together, until the swastika proclaimed the message of victory from the towers of German cathedrals. Swastika flags appeared around altars and Catholic and Protestant theologians, pastors, churchmen and statesmen welcomed the alliance with Hitler."

This relationship would come into play when things went wrong for the Third Reich’s plans as the Allies scored victory after victory. One by one, the German High command and their relatives quietly vacated a besieged Germany via Rome to find sanctuary around the lesser corners of the globe, mainly in Catholic dominated countries such as found in South America. The discovery was moved from Germany, under cover of diplomatic immunity to Rome, and preserved in sub zero temperatures until science and technology could catch up with the ambitions of the German scientists and Vatican officials.

Rome 1942

Vatican City, officially State of the Vatican City (Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae; Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano), is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome. At approximately 44 hectares (108.7 acres), and with a population of around 900, it is the smallest state in the world by both population and area.

The state came into existence by virtue of the Lateran Treaty in 1929, which spoke of it as a new creation (Preamble and Article III), and not as a vestige of the much larger Papal States (756 to 1870) that had previously encompassed central Italy. Of which, most were absorbed into the Kingdom of Italy in 1860, and the city of Rome with a small area close to it, ten years later in 1870.

Vatican City is a non-hereditary, elected monarchy that is ruled by the Bishop of Rome—the Pope. The highest state functionaries are all clergymen of the Catholic Church. It is the sovereign territory of the Holy See (Sancta Sedes) and the location of the Apostolic Palace—the Pope’s official residence—and for much of the Roman Curia.

For almost 1000 years (324-1309), the Popes lived at the Lateran Palace on the Caelian Hill in the east of Rome. On their return from 68 years in Avignon in 1377, the Lateran building was out of repair, since when they have lived in the Vatican or, for a while, at the Quirinal, now the residence of the president of Italy. The Lateran Treaty by which the Vatican City State was set up is so called because it was signed in the restored Lateran building, which is now the residence of the Pope’s Cardinal Vicar General for the City of Rome. There have been two Vatican Councils, but five Lateran Councils. The Basilica of St. John Lateran, not the St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, remains the Pope’s cathedral.

Father Botticelli watched the proceedings with interest, he had been a resident of Rome for as far back as he could remember and he had never seen anything like this. A state of the art science laboratory was being assembled in one of Vatican Cities many halls, and if it was one thing that was in abundance was many empty halls.

Come on people we have a deadline to meet, the foreman looked up at the massive crane, they had been working nonstop for over 24 hours now. For the life of him, he could not see what the urgency was; the war was going the Axis way. The Allies were on the run and it was just a matter of time before the British capitulated, the Luftwaffe along with the floating fortresses were systematically leveling all the major cities and he could not see them holding out for much longer.

The Italians had been bullied rather than led into an alliance with Hitler earlier that year, many Italian people were dubious about anything to do with that madman, but you had to hand it to him, so far everything had been working out. The past year had resulted in spectacular successes so far, all his generals had been brilliant in their strategy of blitzkrieg, one by one the other European country had fallen, their rulers fleeing to foreign countries, the Netherlands, Belgium, as well as France had all surrendered. The Allied troops in North Africa had surrendered to General Rommel; it was good to be on the winning side. Mussolini had reciprocated by invading Ethiopia a barren desert with no real strategic worth. His obvious infatuation with his more powerful ally had polarized the thinking and more intellectual Italian populace from the masses that bought into his pouting and self-congratulatory demeanor. The papers had slated him as an interfering incompetent.

As World War II approached, Mussolini announced his intention of annexing Malta, Corsica, and Tunis. He spoke of creating a New Roman Empirethat would stretch east to Palestine and south through Libya and Egypt to Kenya. The Catholic Church had bought into this and had actually encouraged Ill Duce as he had become to be known to form an alliance with Hitler in order to ensure that their own agenda and ambitions were fulfilled.

Lately however, his early victories in Greece and East Africa had been short lived due to his meddling in matters best left to those who knew what they were doing. At least that is what the columnists were saying… as far as Carlos was concerned, all he wanted to do was complete his shift and go home.

Father Botticelli’s thoughts were as far removed from the supervisor’s thoughts as the Siberians cold wastes were from the deserts the Italian forces were occupying in Ethiopia.

The ‘package’ as the agents from Germany called it was unbelievably heavy and large; it came via train in a container that required heavy-duty cranes to lift it from the train to a waiting truck. The floodlit area resembled a scene out of a movie set with cranes, cables, trucks, technicians, and laborers. Usually these areas would be off limits for anyone other than the Vatican staff, but in this instance, exceptions would have to be made. The whole operation would have to be completed by the morning, away from prying eyes, and cameras as well as the rumored spy planes from the British, but then again, that was pure conjecture, however, one could never be safe enough. He was looking forward to his cup of morning espresso over the early edition of the newspaper, which would be brought to his room. It had become his custom over the years to wake early, watch the sunrise over the Rome city skyline, and sip delicately at his Espresso over the morning newspaper. He had a certain influence that came as a byproduct of his office, which afforded him the niceties of life.

His thoughts swung abruptly into the present as he saw a strident figure in a white coat approaching which stood out in stark contrast to the traditional black worn by the order.

Ah, father Botticelli, how pleasant to see you. I was hoping to get you here.

"Dr. Reinhardt, it’s always a pleasure to see you,

Botticelli’s voice had genuine warmth to it, I was wondering when you would be here. This is after all your project."

Yes, it’s going to be a real challenge to do what we plan to do here. I just don’t know if we have the science to bring this creature back to life, God knows I have tried to convince the Fuhrer otherwise, but you can’t reason with him once he has set his mind on something there is no talking him out of it

What do you mean old friend? Is there something inside that steel case that is alive?

You mean, no one has told you anything?

No, it’s all been very secretive

Well, where can we go to where we can talk in private?

Father Botticelli set his Espresso cup down thoughtfully. The sun was just making its appearance seen via the first rays of a new day. His balcony overlooked the cityscape, which was still shrouded in morning mist. It was the best part of the day, and the best show on earth and it was all free. It also put a fresh perspective on things as well. The dawn of a new day always seemed to bring hope and freshness absent in the morass of the previous day.

Dr. Reinhardt’s revelations had kept Father Botticelli awake the whole night. He was sure that there was nothing, which could be done what the German scientists were trying to do. It went totally against everything he believed in and could not imagine that the Church was actually sanctioning this conspiracy.

Carefully, almost reverently, he placed his tiny espresso cup back in its saucer and got up slowly. The night’s activities were catching up on his joints. He got up and walked slowly to the open doors to his chamber, the breeze was blowing the lace curtains slightly which seemed to be having a conversation in a language all of their own.

He was not sure how to confront his superiors about his misgivings, if he was going to confront them at all. Life in the Vatican was as if walking a tightrope that had ice on it, not only was there a long way to fall if one lost favor, but also, it was very treacherous as well, the underlying politics, and undercurrents were as subtle as they were deadly. This was going to require a lot of prayerful thought.

He had formed close ties with Cardinal De Francesco and during their conversations; he had picked up that there were serious misgivings between him and Cardinal Da Silva, which was intriguing since their close relationship was well known. Late at night he had heard a commotion between them; the argument was heated but he was not able to discern what was being said without making it obvious he was listening in. He would delicately interrogate De Francesco when the time was appropriate, he did not care for Da Silva’s close ties to Von Papen who in turn was one of Hitler’s puppets. The whole closeness of the church to the Nazi regime was making many in the Vatican nervous but to openly question anything without an official papal decree was the quickest way to end up in a backwater parish in one of the far reaches of the Catholic Empire. His thoughts backtracked to an incident in Germany some years back.

In October 1938, thousands of Catholic youngsters followed an invitation given by Innitzer to gather in the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Vienna for prayer and meditation. In his sermon, Innitzer stated, there is just one Führer: Adolph Hitler. The following day about 100 Nazis, among them many older members of the Hitler Youth, ravaged the archbishop’s residence. His ambiguous relationship with the Nazi regime brought him a lot of criticism after the war (he was referred to as the Heil Hitler Cardinal).

Since then, he had openly supported and used his influence to get Rome to support the ambitions of the Nazi regime. They needed it since a sizable proportion of the German and Austrian population was Catholic and was needed to support the war effort. The more Botticelli thought about it, the more appalled he was at the notion that the Vatican and all that he held holy was in tacit support to what he knew were atrocities to humankind up north in the concentration camps and what was more disconcerting was the deafening silence from the Pope Pius XI office. He knew that the Pope was a good man, but lately no one could get an audience with him. Much less explain the Vatican’s position on what was going on up in Germany who was now unbelievably an ally.

Doctor Reinhardt had also spoken of the intrigues of the goings on in Berlin High command, Heinrich Luitpold Himmler himself had instructed Reinhardt to go ahead with the project. The project itself was totally above TOP SECRET and the ambitions bordering on blasphemy. It was one thing trying to win a war, but even then, there were lines that should not be crossed or even attempted crossing.

He decided there and then to keep a diary of everything, notes, and people he had been exposed to, places he had seen and anything out of the ordinary. Thoughtfully, he tied the sash of his office around his waist and closed the oak door behind him as he walked down a set of stone stairs to the breakfast hall.

Botticelli

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually a bishop, of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and making themselves available individually or collectively to the pope if he requests their counsel. Most cardinals have additional duties, such as leading a diocese or archdiocese or running a department of the Roman Curia.

A cardinal’s other main function is electing the pope whenever, by death or resignation, the seat becomes vacant. In 1059, the right of electing the pope was reserved to the principal clergy of Rome and the bishops of the seven-suburbicarian sees. During the sede vacante, the period between a pope’s death and the election of his successor, the day-to-day governance of the Church as a whole is in the hands of the College of Cardinals. The right to enter the conclave of cardinals who elect the pope is now limited to those who are not over 80 years old on the day of the pope’s death or resignation.

The term cardinal at one time applied to any priest permanently assigned or incardinated to a church, or specifically to the senior priest of an important church, based on the Latin cardo (hinge), meaning principal, or chief. The term was applied in this sense as early as the ninth century to the priests of the tituli (parishes) of the diocese of Rome. In the twelfth century the practice of appointing ecclesiastics from outside Rome as cardinals began, with each of them being assigned a church in Rome as his titular church, or being linked with