It did not last long, until Ivas was covered with a thick mantle of snow and it was bitterly cold. Frank and Alf could only stay in the largest room of their house, where the old wood fired oven was located.
This season was more than unpleasant and often both men needed some blankets to warm theirselves. But at least, the roof didn`t have no more holes and it didn`t snow into the upper floor of the old building. This was better than nothing.
Today, Frank Kohlhaas made the decision to talk to Thorsten Wilden. He wanted to become a real rebel and promised himself to join the fight – but he still didn`t know how.
It was a grey winter morning and the few sources of light in the inhabited houses of the village, had no real chance to repel the twilight.
A resolute Frank trudged through the fresh snow of the last night, toward the house of Thorsten Wilden. The young man finally had enough of the monotonousness in this so called rebel base.
„You want me? You can have me!“, he whispered to himself.
After a while, Frank reached the house of the village boss and knocked on the door. Agatha Wilden opened and Julia could be seen behind her in the corridor. Kohlhaas gave them a quiet „Hello!”. Then Wilden appeared on the stairs, which led to the upper floor.
„Frank! Welcome! What can I do for you?“, asked the gray-haired gentleman with sursprise. The village boss seemed to be overslept and was still unshaved.
„We need to talk, Mr. Wilden!”, answered Frank with a vacant expression, which neither Julia nor Agatha Wilden had ever seen before. Kohlhaas scowled and crossed his arms.
„Well, we go to my office!“, said the rebel leader.
„Okay! Let`s go!“, muttered Frank and went up the stairs.
Then both men sat opposite to each other and Frank started to talk, before Wilden could begin.
„This is not a holiday camp, you have said to me. Well! Well!”, spoke Frank with an angry face. „This is a rebel base, you have told me, Mr. Wilden!“
„It is!“, returned the older gentleman, looking at his young guest, who behaved queerly today.
„All right! Then we shall start a rebellion! First, I would like to learn to shoot! Assault rifle, machine gun, handguns. Is that okay, Mr. Wilden?“, said Frank, somehow demanding.
„I think you can! “, answered the village boss.
„Great, Mr. Wilden! I am ready now. I know that some of the guys here talk about me after the slogan: We just feed that Frank, but he is useless and does not join our great fight. Well, here I am! Ready for combat! If there is a big fight here at all, because I haven`t noticed a fucking rebellion yet!”, teased the young man.
„First and foremost, we develop self-sufficient structures. The armed operation, concerning your liberation, has been an exception. Otherwise, we plan no further things of that character for the next time“, explained Wilden.
„However!“, said Kohlhaas. „If any special operations start, then let me know it. I will join them. My life isn`t important and I will show you, that I have more guts, than most of these farmers, who treat me with scorn. Thus, you let me know, if there is some action, okay? Have a nice day and greetings to Fräulein Julia, Mr. Wilden!“
Frank knocked on the table, smiled informally and left the room. He ran down the stairs, murmured a “Tschüß!” to Julia and closed the front door behind him. Thorsten Wilden, his wife and his daugther were perturbed. This part of Frank had been unknown to them yet. And Frank was surprised about that side of his personality too.
“If I shall revolt, I have to learn to shoot, Alf! Where are your weapons?”, Frank edged his unnerved friend.
“You make my nerves explode, Kohlhaas! What do you want from me?”, screamed Alf. His roommate didn`t stop his urging and slowly became aggressive.
„I go to Wilden!”, grumbled the young man.
„Okay, I have a gun. If you like, we can do some firing practices in the forest“, groaned Alf.
„All right! What are you waiting for?“, answered Frank with a grin.
Bäumer went into the cellar and finally returned with a Glock in his hand. Then the two men left the house.
„I`m dying to know if you hit something!“, teased Alf his friend on the way to the nearby forest behind the village, but Frank just gazed at the ground. After they had waded through the high snow for a while, Alf stopped.
„Do you see that knothole in the birch over there?“, he asked Frank.
„Of course, give me the gun!“, answered Kohlhaas.
Without further thinking, the young man aimed for the tree, which was about ten meters away from him.
„Bang! Bang! Bang!“
Alfred ran to the birch, after Frank had shot the magazine empty. He was astonished. Most of the bullets had hit the little knothole and large pieces of crust had been torn out.
„Not bad, boy!“, he remarked and waved the inexperienced shooter nearer.
„How many times have you already shot in your life?“
„Never before!”, answered Kohlhaas and smiled.
„Your lately grown self-confidence seems to make even a good shooter of you“, murmured Alf.
Shortly afterwards, Kohlhaas shot three further magazines empty. Then they had to stop, in order to waste not too much ammunition. Bäumer was quite impressed, that his fellow had hit the target relative exactly.
„Wilden can organize an assault rifle and a machine gun for you. Then you can practice with them“, promised Alf. A little later, they went back to their house again. Dusk was falling.
So strange and insignificant it was, at first sight - Alf`s compliment had filled the young Frank with pride. He smiled confidently and looked already forward to the next firing practices with the bigger war weapons, the real “Wummen”. Apparently, he had a talent for shooting. And that he had a talent for something, he hadn`t heard all too often in his life before.
Frank spent the first two weeks of the cold and wet January, the ugliest month the year, with numerous firing practices and the reading of political and historical books, that Wilden had given to him. Moreover with occasional works for the community.
Meanwhile, he felt a little more accepted by the other villagers, after he had signaled that he was ready to join the fight.
Even Julia Wilden had smiled at him for the first time, when he had asked her father for more ammunition for his weapons at the door. He blustered into the thought of becoming a rebel. Therefore, Kohlhaas shot during his firing practices, in his mind, rather at hazy prison guards, policemen or politicians, as at bottles or trees. Often he grinned like a happy child, when the cold steel of a rifle slid into his hand. His shooting results became better and better and when he went to bed, after an arduous day, he often mused about the blood moon and did not notice, how malicious his smile had become.
Alfred observed him with scepticism. Frank appeared calmly, and sometimes he just absently stared out the window and bit on his lower lip, till it began to bleed.
Usually he did not even seem to notice it. The young man was eager to learn the art of killing in all its facets. Often he talked of nothing else but fighting during the dinner. He philosophized about the possibilities of resistance, the revolution and the counter-propaganda. Some ideas appeared to Alf even ingeniously, others were just childish and crazy. Something proceeded under Frank`s skullcap, was slowly bred like an evil child.
In these days, in which Frank only talked about assault rifles, grenade launchers and methods of killing people, Bäumer thought, that Kohlhaas was screwy. Moreover, Frank asked John Thorphy to buy a whole arsenal of weapons for him.
„Maybe, your beloved war will find you sooner as you think, my friend”, told him Alf once. “We will have a bigger meeting at the end of the month, then I can take you with me!“
„A Meeting? What meeting? To shovel some snow?“, scoffed Frank.
„Fuck off! I can`t hear your speeches about the revolution anymore, Frank. Keep cool and find the way back to reality. We will not start to run around like a
horde of boozy apes to shoot everybody. Do your firing practices or throw your knife at trees or do something else!”, grumbled Bäumer angrily.
Now, Frank became angry too and went to his undercooled room. Most of all, he had liked to kick Alf in the face - or someone else. Meanwhile, Kohlhaas was burning inside like a torch. A stubborn hate had crept into his brain and he had problems to suppress this feeling. So the young man just brooded and escaped into a dreamworld full of rebellion and revenge.
The former citizen 1-564398B-278843 dawdled away till the end of the month and nervously waited for the meeting, Alf had talked about. From now on, Bäumer didn`t tell Frank any further details, concerning the gathering, and just ignored him.
It was the last day of January 2029, and the restless young man had got up early today. The meeting of the villagers was set for 18.00 o'clock, and Frank walked through the cold house for hours, like a nervous tiger. He friendly smiled at Bäumer, again and again, full of expectation.
In the late afternoon, Frank and Alf finally left the house and went to a brightly lit-up barn, where a few radiant heaters had provisionally been stationed. Wilden was waiting for them here, in the middle of a larger group of people.
Frank and Alf briefly welcomed the others and went to a dark corner. Both crossed their arms before their chests and looked at Wilden, who started his speech: „Welcome, my dear comrades!”
Kohlhaas nodded to Julia, who stood behind her father. Then he smiled and the young woman smiled back.
„I`m glad that all of you have come to Ivas. I welcome our guests from France and all the others, who visit our village today.”
Kohlhaas` expectation rose to the immeasurable. He gave Julia a volatile look again. She winked at him and Frank winced, because he had never seen such a friendly gesture from her before. Her father continued: „I`m sure you all know, what is our topic today. I`ve bought this village some years ago, anyhow, some of the houses, in order to create a retreat for all, who have pure hearts and want to fight against the global system of enslavement. Since then, we have achieved a lot and this former ghost town has been made to a halfway habitable place again. We have our peace here – so far.
However, I have the impression, that many of us meanwhile enjoy this calm life so much that they have forgotten, what the true sense of this base is. The sense is to have also a place for a free life, for those, who still know, what freedom really is, but Ivas is more than that. It is a place of resistance against the World Government.
The last months have been calm, we have behaved calmly. We have renovated our village and have secured our subsistence, what is essential before you start a great fight. This phase is finished now, and the question remaines, how we can bring back freedom to our brothers and sisters in our old homelands. The fight must begin now!”
A short applause from the about 100 persons in the large barn followed. Frank was staring into space with blank expression.
„Most of you, who are here today, live in Ivas. Others are from the outside. Andrej is here, from the “Russian Patriotic Section“, Robert and William from the organization „Free Britain“, moreover our friends from Belgium, better from Flanders. Further, Baptiste and Hugo from France. And also comrades from Scandinavia have visited us.
Apart from this, I don`t want to forget Soheil and Nirvan, the rebels from Iran, because they probably have the longest way behind themselves.
Unfortunately, our comrades from the Spanish „Citadel Group“ had not been allowed to leave their country, and I hope they are fine. Well, I think that I haven`t forgotton any other guests from outside!”, said the village boss.
„Now I want to give a lecture on our actual topic: Today we talk about March the 1st, 2029, when the World Government will celebrate the “Festival of the new World”. This worldwide event, which takes place in Kiev this year, here in the sector „Eastern Europe“, is also celebrated in Paris, in “Central Europe”. For that reason, the new governor of „Central Europe“, Leon-Jack Wechsler, will come to the former capital of France, in order to open the ceremonies and military parades.
The international media will report about this event, whereby the ceremonies in New York and Paris will be the politically most important ones, and will get the greatest attention.”
„That much is clear!“, whispered Alf quietly.
„Since the official takeover in the year 2018, the celebrations of the “Festival of the new World” have always been an enormous spectacle, that even excelled the soccer world championships and the Olympics!“, said Wilden.
„Even if the media have hushed it up in the last months, France is a country, which stands close to big chaos. The introduction of the “additional water consumption tax” in the last year has annoyed millions of people.
Furthermore, the poverty of the masses is still becoming worse, as everywhere in “Central Europe”. Meanwhile, the conflicts between the Moslem Algerians and the other immigrants, who have the majority in all big French cities, and the native population, has achieved an explosive extent. If the GCF occupation troops wouldn`t press the lid on the cooking pot with outermost force, France would fall to pieces tomorrow“, explained the rebel leader, while the two Frenchmen nodded approvingly.
„Already in the last year, there have been social and racial riots in Paris and Marseille with almost 1000 deads. The police and the GCF have finally shot down the people without mercy. We all know the pictures”, said Wilden.
„Anyhow, it has still become worse this year, as I have already expected it. More monitoring, more unemployed people, more homeless people, more crime and more war in the streets, as everywhere „Central Europe“, where the so called philanthropists give us their political benedictions!”
„He talks about politics again...”, groaned Frank.
„What will we do now? What will we do on 01. March 2029, when probably between one and two million spectators come to Paris?“, asked Wilden the others.
„If the media and so many people are there, why don`t we make any spectacular actions? With transparencies for example...“, suggested a villager.
„We plan a lot of such things, and we don`t need any foreign assistance for these simple campaigns. We have enough men in France for actions like that!”, explained one of the Frenchmen and shook his head.
„Perhaps, we should join the crowd and…”, said a young man.
„Wait!“, interrupted him Frank suddenly. „We kill that Leon-Jack Wechsler! Than we would set an example!“
Wilden and the others turned their heads toward the dark corner, from where the bold proposal had come. Frank stared back and kept a straight face.
„Forget about that, boy! Around Wechsler is a security zone of two kilometers, full of GCF soldiers, agents and cops!“, said a man and looked disdainfully at Frank.
„No more nonsens! Just shut up!“, hissed Alf nervously.
„Well, but throwing leaflets at the soldiers during the parade, or stick out the tongue at the governor, is just pathetic!“, returned Frank. „I will kill this son of a bitch! Who comes with me?”
Now Wilden intervened, because many visitors became angry: „We should be realistic. There is no place here for macho behaviour, boy!“
„I`m not joking! Absolutely not!”, screamed Frank. „I know that it is dangerous, but I don`t fear death. Thus, who wants to follow me? Let us kill this motherfucker!”
„Enough, Kohlhaas!”, yelled Wilden.
„Who are you, young man, that you have such a big mouth? You are hardly a few days here and you already play the big gorilla!“, insulted him a young woman from the other corner of the room.
„That`s right! You are that crazy guy from the holo cell. And there, your brain has been damaged!”, shouted someone in Frank`s direction.
„We don`t need your show, boy!”, it came from the side.
„Now, shut up! This is just embarrassing!“, railed Alf and nudged Frank.
„I am Frank Kohlhaas! I say it now, in front o
f all of you, although I don`t know the most of you very well. I will go to Paris to kill this fucking Wechsler, if you give me the weapons and the equipment. Maybe I die! So what? I just give a shit on that!
I swear, by my honour and my name, the good name of my father and my sister, who were murdered by people like this bastard Wechsler. If I change my opinion tomorrow, then I beg you, to shoot me, because then I have no right to life anymore!”, screamed Kohlhaas.
Bäumer sighed and held his head. Others looked disbelievingly at Frank. Nevertheless, some of the villagers seemed to be fascinated by the young fanatic. Julia Wilden belonged to the latter group, as Kohlhaas hoped.
„The guy is crazy!“, Frank heard someone say.
Wilden tried to interrupt Frank`s lecture: „Well, I would like to tell you a little more about the political situation. Frank, just shut up now!“
But the young man had not finished yet: „I have to say something to you glorious rebels! And you shall listen to my words: I WILL KILL LEON-JACK WECHSLER! Or the cops will kill me! I mean it. If necessary, I will go all alone. It would only be nice, if one of you brave warriors could give me a map of Paris. If I should have changed my opinion tomorrow, then you have to kill me! I ask you again: Who comes with me?“
A loud mutter went through the barn. Alf looked embarrassingly at the ground and tried to explain his neighbor that Frank could also be “normal”.
It took some minutes for Wilden to restore silence. Meanwhile, the young man had gone back to his corner again and seemed to have calmed down.
„Mannomann!“, hummed Bäumer. „Everyone here reputes you as a total crank now. Killing Leon-Jack Wechsler? Such an imbecility!“
Alf`s friend didn`t answer and just looked at him with cold eyes, then he grinned grimly. For the rest of the meeting, which lasted not much longer anymore, Frank behaved calmly, giving a black look to everyone, who seemed to doubt about his fanatical resoluteness.
The two Frenchmen, Baptiste and Hugo, who obviously belonged to a patriotic group from Northern France, briefly explained, what they had planned for the day of the festival. They were sure that the masses in the capital of former France would be dissatisfied and rebellious enough, to go on the barricades. Some Islamic groups from Paris had also agreed to a temporary pact with the organization of the two Frenchmen, although both sides actually were sworn enemies. But on this particular day, they would fight against a common opponent, the World Government, and so they had put their differences aside this time. However, they just postponed their fight for the supremacy in former France. It was not improbable that the new governor of „Central Europe” was awaited by the hate and the displeasure of big parts of the population, but whether they would dare it, to carry their discontent on the streets, was another question. Leon-Jack Wechsler and the whole World Government were internally hated by many people, but the powerful had an enormous might, which the masses feared with good reason.
The police force and the monitoring functioned. The GCF troops, which mostly consisted of mercenaries from overseas, who had no closer relationship to France or Europe and therefore shot at the native population without hesitation, if they received the order to do this, were numerous. Furthermore, they had deadly weapons, particularly to strike down large crowds.
Soldiers of French origin mostly served in countries far away and not in their homeland. So they also had no connection to the people they had to control. Like that were the rules of the New World Order.
GCF soldiers of German origin preferentially served in this time as occupying forces in the Near East or in Africa, while old Germany was occupied by GCF soldiers from Africa, Asia and other regions. And so it was everywhere.
When the meeting came to an end and the visitors left the large barn, Frank was examined by many of them. Alfred Bäumer was still confused. His fellow seemed to stand close to insanity. Julia Wilden finally came to him and tapped the young Kohlhaas on the shoulder.
„Hey, Frank!”, she said quietly. The rebel turned around and stared at her.
„What the hell was that? You know that your idea is just madness! What is wrong with you, Frank?”, she asked quizzically.
„I`m all right, Fräulein!”, answered Frank harshly.
„However, you will not really try this?”, she returned.
„Of course I will try it! Do you think, I`m a twaddler?”
„None of us would come only hundred meters in the vicinity of Wechsler“, remarked the woman.
„This will be my problem – and not yours! You can organize a city map of Paris for me, this would be a great help, Julia!“, answered Kohlhaas and regarded Wilden`s daughter with a vacant expression.
„I know, you think that many of the other villagers don`t take you to be a real rebel - and it is also partly correct – but such a suicide operation is just senseless“, said Julia, trying to change his mind.
„If you say so. It is my life and my concern. I don`t force you to come with me. Hand out your leaftlets or spray some philosophical slogans on the walls. I will do, what I think is right!”, said Frank. „The others may think, what they want. I don`t care about these idiots. They want to be rebels? I can only laugh! Well, the release operation of Alf and me was not bad, but we have to do more things like that. Those fucking guys, who destroy our lives, just think that they are invulnerable! But they can also bleed and die like all other people too. It`s time to hold them accountable for all this shit! It`s time to make them pay for all their crimes, Julia! And I will show those fucking pigs, that they can also be switched off. I will go to your father tomorrow and then I will ask him, to give me the necessary equipment for my operation!“.
„But…“, whispered Julia.
„I have to go now!”, said Frank and left the young woman alone.
The following days were full of disputes with Alf and Wilden, who meant that the Frank had made a fool of himself. Nevertheless, he didn`t listen to them and became obsessed by the thought, to kill the governor of „Central Europe“, in order to point the way for others. And some of his proposals were not stupid at all, although they appeared crazy and daring.
„You want to enter Paris as a visitor with your falsified Scanchip. Okay, that could be possible“, said Wilden. „Border controls had already been abolished, since the times of the European Union, and today, in a time of free trade, they would be even inconceivable, from the economic point of view. The close monitoring of the masses is much more effective.”
Yes, I know!“, answered Frank impatiently. „How can I get through this security zone to shoot Wechsler? Should I take a sniper rifle to kill this guy?”, asked Kohlhaas.
„This will be difficult, because in the periphery of at least one kilometer, security forces will be everywhere, also on the high buildings and of course inside the zone“, replied the village boss.
„When will the police establish this secured area?”, asked Frank.
„Maybe two or three days before the event. But I don`t believe that you could hide there somewhere, boy!“, returned Wilden.
„I will find a way. If they kill me or not, is not important for me anymore. I only have to get in that zone – this would be enough”, murmured Kohlhaas.
“Well, you could support us with other operations in a much better way, Frank. Have you ever thought about that? Operations, that will not end in suicide”, Wilden tried to explain.
„Perhaps! But I have already said it in front of all the men at the meeting, and now there is no more truning back. But how?“, said Kohlhaas thoughtfully.
„As you may think fit… “, groaned the village boss.
„If there is no way to reach this scumbag at the surface, then I must look for an alternative...?“, pondered Kohlhaas. „But I have just no knowledge about this damn city.“
„What do you mean?“, Wilden was baffled.
“If I wanted to make such a job in Berlin, my hometown, I would come through any tunnels, old underground pits or something like that“, said Fr
ank.
„You would find a lot of tunnels in Paris. This city is more undermined than each anthill, there are probably innumerable underground entrances, particularly in the inner part of the city“, admitted Wilden.
„Who can give me more informations about this? These two Frenchmen are nevertheless still here for a few days, right?”, mumbled Frank.
„Well, I hardly believe that they know every tunnel under Paris. In addition, they are from the north of the country. But there are construction plans of tunnels and sewers in the data bases of the administration or on the Internet. You should ask HOK!
Each official document must also be published in English. This is a regulation. Thus, you don`t even need to be able to understand French. Just ask HOK! Nevertheless, it`s a completely crazy idea! Either you will get lost in these holes or they will shoot you. But you will never reach Wechsler!“, prophesied Wilden.
But he just underestimated Frank`s imaginativeness and obstinacy. Only a few hours later, after he had reconsidered and noted, which weapons and articles of equipment had to be used for the assassination, Kohlhaas ran to HOK and forced him to look for some plans of the underground of Paris.
While Frank passionately told HOK his plans, the computer expert just groaned, because the young hotspur had disturbed him during an important work. But then he did Kohlhaas the favour and entered the world of data bases and electronic construction plans. HOK fortunately was a researcher nature and after approximately half an hour, he was also fascinated by his new task.
It lasted a while, until he had found so informations. Paris was really more hollowed out than all the other cities in Europe. Meanwhile, about 16 million people lived in the metropolis and the city drowned in its own dirt and stench.
Since 1850, when most of the tunnels and the comprehensive metro system had been built, the old capital of France stood on a network of mile-long corridors.
Already in 2010, the underground system could not be extended anymore, because the workers had already found old tunnels and holes everywhere .
After the world economic crisis in 2012/13 and during the following years, many metro lines had been closed in consequence of substantial budget cuts. After 2018, it had become worse, what still annoyed the people of Paris down to the present day.
Today many old underground tunnels were unused and led into nowhere. The tunnel system was so enormous, that even official construction plans could not completely show the numerous tunnels below the city. Nevertheless, HOK found some interesting data bases and struggled through mountains of new informations. The hours passed and the thick man was soon completely absent-minded again.
„Until tomorrow, I will search for some nice tunnels and corridors for you, which will lead you that close to Wechsler`s speech desk, that you can tickle his feet.
If the plans are still relevant at all, I can`t say, Frank. And I can`t give you a warranty. Much has changed in the last years. Many old, abandoned tunnels and so on...”, he said casually.
Kohlhaas waited for results and already imagined details of his assassination attempt in his mind.
„Have fun with all these plans, my friend. I will go now. Thank you!“, answered Frank and left HOK`s house with a happy smile.
After approximately one week, HOK and Frank had prepared a detailed plan, which should lead the rebel through a tunnel system of almost three kilometers.
The avenue of Paris, which had been called „Avenue de Champs Elysées“ in former times, had been renamed in „Avenue of Humanity“ in 2018, and the triumpal arch, one of the old landmarks of the city, had been torn down in 2019. Just as the Eifel tower, which had been dismantled one year later. In place of the “Arc de Triomphe“, the new rulers had built a modern art building called “Temple of Tolerance”, a giant dark pyramide.
Moreover, the “Avenue of Humanity“ had intensively been converted, whereby many of the old historical houses had been replaced by concrete buildings of an “unity-look”.
After initial protests, the citizens of Paris had become accustomed to them. They simply had other problems than worrying about the preservation of old landmarks or houses. And there were still further plans to separate the city more thoroughly from its old face, because modern slaves did not need an own identity or senses of home.
The parade of the GCF occupation troops should take place on 01.03.2029, at the „Avenue of Humanity“, just as other events to entertain the crowd. A part of the long, old street would be a fenced off, accessible for nobody. About thirty meters in front of the thing, called „Temple of Tolerance“, the speaker`s plattform, where Leon-Jack Wechsler would open the ceremonies, should be erected.
The masses, that would fill the streets around the security zone, should see the politician only on big video screens, which would be set up to hundreds along the “Avenue of Humanity“ and in the whole city.
What was allowed, to be admired from the proximity, were the GCF soldiers and the policemen, who would demonstrate strength, marching down the boulevard.
The governor of the administrative sector „Central Europe” would bring the “great message of humanity” of the New World Order, and the parade of the security forces and the military would show the people, that it was healthier to believe that message - in case of doubt.
It was a tremendous insanity to go to the dirty metropolis to kill this polititian. Nevertheless, Frank Kohlhaas bred it in his mind. He had nothing to lose. It could nothing happen worse than dying.
Procrastination is the Thief of Time!