Chapter 39
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Gary Fredo went to see John Larabee at his mansion. The rumors were true, part of this very eccentric home had been made into a horror ride. One part was called the "Duneon boat ride." John appeared and gestured for Gary to enter. This was very forboding, but Gary's curiousity was too great. Despite his attempts to maintain tunnel-vision for this assignment, he desperately wanted to know what exactly the Druid Order was. When Gary entered, this part appeared to be a real dungeon, and there was an old-fashioned partable radio.
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John: During the second world war, the owners considered the very real possibility of a nazi invasion. Had that happenned, they planned to use this to house german prisoners of war. The radio was to be used for entertainment, to keep these P.O.W.s from going stir crazy. The owners had similar ideas during the Cold War. Now it's just an amusement ride.
Gary: Interesting. So tell me about the Druid Order. What was it?
John: In 1939, Hitler and Stalin set aside their differences and began plotting the invasion of Poland. It seemed to some that evil itself was uniting against America. That may seem hyperbolic now, but their seemed little doubt that America would soon be at war with either nazi Germany, and/or the Soviet Union. So president Roosevelt began a classified operation known as "Operation Druid." I don't know why they chose that name, maybe they just thought it was cool. At any rate Roosevelt reached out to a number of wealthy individuals in Sanctuary, among them my grandfather. They used their resources to recruit assets within Germany, Russia, and the occupied countries. Low level assets who could commit minor acts of sabotage, disrupt their war effort. My grandfather always suspected that they were just one cog, that their were similar operations, other groups, but for obvious reasons he never asked. As it turned out, the prediction that we would be at war with both countries was only half-right. In December 1941 the empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and the United States then declared war on Japan. At which point nazi Germany, which was a strategic ally of the empire of Japan, declared war on America. But by this point Hitler had already betrayed Stalin and invaded the Soviet Union. For better or worse Roosevelt decided that the enemy of our enemy was now our friend. Our alliance with Stalin might have fallen apart had he discovered that Operation Druid had sabotaged his country. So president Roosevelt ordered Operation Druid to be terminated. He tried to arrange for these assets and their families to escape, and to quietly be granted assylum in America. Sadly, the success rates of these rescues were less than 100%, and the Gestapo were not known for being sticklers for reasonable doubt. I always suspected that some of the people they murdered, and their families, were completely innocent.
Gary: That sounds about right for them. Samantha told me that the Druid Order collaberated with the nazies, sold these names to german agents.
John: That's a lie. My grandfather was a patriot.
Gary: She also said that these men had clandestine affairs, kept their own sons out of the draft, even fought duels.
John: They were not perfect, but they were not traitors. Anyway, we couldn't brag about the tricks we used to win the war because we knew that we'd need them for the next one. The Druid Order was disbanded, at first. But during the Cold War, they were activated for a different reason. The town of Sanctuary became a safe haven for defectors from communist countries, and the Order agreed to protect them. We are now part of the federal Witness Protection Program. That is our current purpose.
Gary: People like Michael Morgan?
John: I had no idea what that tattoo meant, I thought maybe he was part of the Red Brigades or something. I know you had some questions about Patrick, how he got nervous when asked if he grew up in Brooklyn. He did. In 1950, at the age of sixteen, Patrick was recruited to be a spy for the Soviet Union. It was a different time, and he thought that the communists were the only ones fighting for civil rights, made him wonder what else the communists were right about. He was a spy for over ten years, until the Cuban Missle Crisis. At that point he came to believe that neither side really cared about him, or his family. So he took his wife and child, lived in hiding for almost 40 years. After 9/11 he turned himself in, wanted to help stop Alqueda, give his expertise. He was granted immunity, and quietly settles here. That old woman he takes care of, Bridget, she was a nazi spy during the war. She's part irish, part german, didn't believe the british propoganda about the holocaust. Her cell transmitted little pieces of intel, like departure times for ships, where troops expected to be stationed soon. She lived in hiding for 20 years after the war, until she was captured. She was given immunity in exchange for her expertise to stop communist sleeper cells. Those two young friends of theirs, Yusef and Danielle, Yusef was in Alqueda, Danielle was a suicide bomber who tried to blow up an abortion clinic. They both expressed remorse from juvenile hall, ended up part of an undercover cell that stopped an assasination attempt against president Obama. We protect them as a result.
Gary: These are some fascinating stories. Are you telling me that all the ex-cons in Sanctuary are or were undercover agents?
John: Ofcourse not. Most were criminals at some point, they just want a second chance. Their own pasts make them less likely to ask questions about those under our protection.
Gary: I've now heard two different versions of the history of the Druid Order. One makes them about to be patriotic heroes, if flawed. The other makes them out to be traitors and sociopaths. In my experience, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
John: Fair enough. Samantha didn't believe my version either, not completely. She only saw their flaws, not their service. She and some other young women started the Druid Sisterhood. They claimed to base themselves on a book called "the Sisterhood." The book is about a society where abortion is outlawed, and focuses on a group that provides black-market abortions. They funded this by selling tobacco, which is also outlawed in this society, and the crime families settle disputes with private duels, rather than wars with high numbers of casualties. Anyway Samantha, in her suicide note, claimed that the Druid Sisterhood planned to do this if abortion became illegal in this country, but they seemed to have descended into sex, duels, attempted murder.
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At this point their meeting was interrupted. John Larabee got a call from sheriff Duncan, the magistrate had arrived and was coming in.
John: There's a reason I asked you to come here past midnight. I want you to meet our magistrate, the one who leads the Order. But he's on a very tight schedule, and it's difficult for him to slip away.
Gary: Who is it?
John: Our first magistrate was president Franklin Roosevelt. Since him we've had another 14 magistrates, so far they've all been male, but we've had only one who was african-american.
Gary: Wait a minute. Are you telling me that the "magistrate" is the president of the United States?
John: It's an honorary title, but makes it easier to take orders from him. And president Odonnell is on his way now.
Gary: I'll believe that when I see it.
John: You're about to get your chance.
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The dungeon door opened and sure enough, Ryan Odonnell, the president of the United States, walked in.
