Execution [Book 2 of The English Lion]

VII. Douglas

Wednesday, 23rd August 1939

With all that worrying, the anxiety and the paranoia the past months coming from Alexander had finally paid off. Alexander, Hugo, Emily and I are in his office at Headquarters, when an agent rushed in, interrupting whatever we were doing. He made himself presentable, bowed and hurriedly walked over to Alexander, and handed him a telegram. Alexander read it as there was silence.

"YES. FINALLY," Alexander yelled out, scaring all of us in the room, before handing the telegram to Hugo, who read it, stunned before giving me the telegram.

Guten tag General-Director,

Earlier today, the Nazi-Soviet Pact has been established. This pact allows Herr Hitler and Herr Stalin to come to an agreement in regards to dividing Poland between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

Sincerely,

Gustav Wagner

I stared at it in shock, before giving it to Emily. I looked at the agent and nodded, so the agent bowed and left, closing the door behind him. But not without a worried glance at Alexander. The three of us looked at him, who was standing.

"Are you alright," Hugo stated.

"No. Months after being silent. Germany has spoken! None of you has taken me seriously. I thought I was going crazy! Guess who's proven right!" Alexander replied as Emily gave the telegram back to him. Alexander takes another look at the telegram, before looking horrified. We all immediately became more worried.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked, worried.

"I know where the war will begin," Alexander replied with realisation, being calmer now as he sat, throwing the telegram onto the table. We all looked confused.

"War is now inevitable as it will start with the German invasion of Poland. Immediately evacuate every single member of Regillus Eques, and bring the Jews with them," Alexander ordered. Again, we all look confused.

"You all clearly didn't read Mein Kampf. He's planning to eradicate them all," Alexander continued in a sombre tone, as he ran his hand through his hair. He seems to be staring into space. Once he realised that we are still stuck in our chairs, he looked at the three of us.

"Now, scram, the three of you. I want all Regillus Eques members to bring themselves, and their most valuable possessions with themselves, not to mention the Jews too. Get them out of there by any means possible," Alexander snapped.

"What about the Regillus Eques papers in Poland?" I asked.

"Burn them. Other branches have the translated hard copies of the same documents anyway," Alexander replied. We nodded and stood. Hugo, Emily and I saluted him before leaving.

As soon as the door to Alexander's office was closed, I looked at the other two.

"Am I the only one who thinks Alexander is currently sleep-deprived?" I asked. They both nodded.

"At least I'm not the only one. Anyway, who thinks it's been more than a month that he had proper sleep?" I continued.

"Um no, Douglas... He's been like that for over two months, so it's safe to say that it's been that long?" Hugo replied. Emily and I stopped and looked at him.

"What?" He asked.

"You've become Alexander 2.0 with the logic. It's creepy," I said.

"Oh..." Hugo stated, "Anyway, don't we have somewhere to be?"

Emily and I nodded, and soon we scurried off to where we needed to be.

Friday, 25th August 1939

After what happened two days ago, the Anglo-Polish Common Defence Pact has been established. Once Alexander heard it, he just shook his head.

"This is the least they can do," Alexander muttered.

"Meaning...?" I asked.

"We're following the appeasement policy set out by Chamberlain, remember?" He continued. We all nodded.

"Everyone should have foreseen this years ago," Alexander muttered, "But no one did, did they? What happens to the implementations throughout the world's recent history that place so much emphasis on the damn subject itself, hm?!? Everything was outlined in Mein Kampf. No one foresaw it. No one knew this thing was coming."

"Except for you," Hugo said.

"Yes. Except for me," Alexander muttered, "What is the situation with the Poles?"

Hugo, Emily and I glanced at one another.

"Well, come on now, spit it out," Alexander said, sensing our silence, as he reads a particular section of Mein Kampf.

"Everything is going to plan. Approximately 50% of the paperwork has been burnt," I started but before I could finish, Alexander cut me off.

"Approximately?" He asked, questioning me.

"No. It's definitely 50%. Now, 25% of the Jewish population has been evacuated alongside members of Regillus Eques," I replied.

"That's not good... Time is of the essence! We don't know when the war will start," Alexander told, sighing as he rubbed his temple, "Now, you may leave."

"What about the Inner War?" I asked.

"When the right time comes, I will tell you. Unfortunately, now is not the right time," Alexander replied, making it final. Emily and I glanced at one another before both of us stood, bowed and left. Hugo followed shortly, leaving Alexander to his own thoughts.

"I guess we need to pick up the pace in Poland," Hugo stated, "Transfer all Regillus Eques Poles and redistribute them to other branches. Especially the neighbouring states."

"Will do," I said and all of us went our separate ways.