The Maya Codex (8 page)

‘We’re now rebuilding our armed forces, and as I predicted, Britain and France have done nothing,’ Hitler stormed. ‘Nothing! Already we have thirty-six divisions in the army. Germany has a right!’ Hitler’s eyes blazed with the fires of his own destiny. No one spoke.

‘The German
people
have a right to see the Fatherland restored to its place as a great power –
the
great power of the world. And we can only do that by force.’ Hitler’s voice rose and fell as he made his points. ‘We have retaken the Rhineland without a shot being fired. Now we must turn our attention to Austria and Czechoslovakia.’

Baron von Fritsch, Commander in Chief of the army, made the mistake of raising an eyebrow.

‘You look worried, Generaloberst?’ Hitler glared.

‘
Mein Führer
, no one doubts the progress we’ve made since you became Reich Chancellor,’ von Fritsch responded evenly, ‘but I would be remiss in my duty to you and the German people if I did not remind you of the risks involved in what you’re suggesting. If the British and the French oppose your plans to invade Czechoslovakia and Austria, a major war would risk disaster for the Third Reich. From the army’s point of view, we’ve made good progress in raising the thirty-six divisions you require, but it takes time to train over half a million men. More importantly, we do not yet have the logistics to sustain such a force in the field. I would urge you,
mein Führer
, not to move too quickly.’

‘There are always risks!’ the Führer shouted, thumping the tapestry on the heavy table. His face was flushed and his eyes bulged. As his commanders in chief were beginning to learn, the Reich Chancellor could become enraged very quickly. Hitler pushed his chair back, got to his feet and strode over to a large globe of the world supported in an ornate wooden frame. He gave it a spin and it turned soundlessly on its bearings.

‘You obviously don’t know much about history, Herr Generaloberst,’ Hitler sneered. ‘The leaders of all great empires – the Greek, the Roman, even the stupid British – have always been prepared to take risks.’ Hitler paused, then approached the head of the table and leaned on it.

‘The aim of German policy, gentlemen,’ he said more quietly, ‘is to preserve our racial superiority and enlarge it. Germans are the greater people, and, as such, we have a right to a greater living space than others.’

Suddenly it were as if he had withdrawn into a trance. His eyes bulged again and he pounded the cabinet table. ‘The most precious possession on earth lies in our own people! And
for
these people, and
with
these people, we will struggle and we will fight! And never slacken! Never tire! Never falter! Never doubt! Long live our movement! Long live our people!’

Hitler stormed out of the Cabinet Room and strode across the corridor towards his study, furious with weak generals like von Fritsch who failed to recognise the genius of his plan. They were irrelevant, he fumed. The swastika would soon fly from the elegant buildings of Vienna, and the streets of that great city would be free of the accursed Jew.

6

TIKAL, GUATEMALA

‘S
o, what have you discovered, Professor? And so early in the morning, too.’

Levi jumped back, startled by von Heißen’s sudden appearance from the overgrown jungle of the ball court.

‘Do you normally creep about like this, Sturmbannführer?’ he demanded.

‘That depends, Professor, on whether those around me have something to hide, something that might further the greatness of the Reich. I see you were taking bearings. There is presumably a reason for that?’

‘It’s quite common archaeological practice to take bearings before we grid an area.’

‘Yet you don’t find the need to take any notes? Fascinating. I will watch your progress with interest. Now,’ von Heißen continued, ‘Father Ehrlichmann is keen to make a start. I plan a meeting for after breakfast. If Ehrlichmann is right, we’ll find skulls not far from here.’

‘The ancient Maya were a very proud race, Sturmbannführer, and their victory ceremonies included the sacrifice of enemies. Centuries ago, teeming ranks of painted warriors thundered onto this very ball court, stamping to the rhythm of pounding drums and the scent of burning temple fires. They led their prisoners up those steps over there.’ Levi pointed towards a large stone at the top. ‘They ripped their hearts out while they were still beating. Then they decapitated them. The last time I was here I found several skulls in the jungle behind the ball court.’ Levi was more than happy to distract von Heißen with Himmler’s obsession with craniometry.

‘And you didn’t take any back to Austria?’ von Heißen probed.

‘Museums might be interested, but I don’t collect skulls, Sturmbannführer, nor do I disturb sacred ground.’ Roberto Arana, the shaman, had reminded Levi of the curse the ancient Egyptians placed on the tomb of Tutankhamen:
Death shall come on swift wing to him who disturbs the peace of the King.

Levi knew that those who had opened Tutankhamen’s tomb had succumbed to mysterious deaths. Roberto had warned that the Maya protected their pyramids and sacred ground with equal ferocity. ‘The secondary jungle has taken over,’ Levi observed, looking past the ball court, ‘and it’s very thick now, but the skull racks where the Maya displayed the heads of their victims should still be there.’

‘Excellent,’ von Heißen exclaimed. ‘I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the measurements of any skulls there are well within the cephalic index for the Nordic Aryans.’

‘Ah, yes. The mathematical formula for the shape of a head, on which you base your judgements on intelligence and race. If I remember rightly, it’s the ratio of head breadth to head length multiplied by a hundred. A fairly simplistic way of looking at things, I would think. Although your Reichsführer seems to place great faith in it.’

‘As do I,’ von Heißen replied icily. ‘Perhaps you should stick to your compass bearings, Professor, and leave the intricacies of craniometry to those who understand it.’

Levi said nothing. Clearly von Heißen was unaware of Mayan beliefs about the shape of the human skull. An elongated head was considered to be a sign of nobility, and Levi had discovered that the ancient Maya had bound babies’ heads, compressing them between boards for days to change the shape of their skulls.

It was midafternoon by the time the team of indentured labourers from the local village, beads of sweat glistening on their brown skin, hacked their way far enough into the dense secondary undergrowth surrounding the ball court.

‘Maestro!’

Levi moved forward but von Heißen and Father Ehrlichmann both shouldered him out of the way.

‘There! Look at the shapes,’ von Heißen enthused.

The local villagers, the modern descendants of the Maya, had uncovered the first of several grisly rows of skulls. Macabre, eyeless sockets stared at the intruders. Levi shivered. The heads remained impaled on the moss-covered rack, just as the original inhabitants of the city had left them more than a thousand years before. To disturb them now seemed to invite the retribution Roberto had warned of, Levi thought. Not far away, a large masacuata stirred at the sounds of its territory being invaded. The boa constrictor was the largest snake in Central America, and this one measured well over five metres.

Von Heißen ran his hands over the first of the skulls. Centuries ago, the racks had been drenched in drying blood, the stench of death heavy in the air, but now every skull was creamy smooth and yellowed with age. ‘Look at the size of them! Aryan!’

Father Ehrlichmann reached into his canvas satchel for a pair of sliding callipers. ‘An index of around seventy-five,’ he announced after he’d finished measuring the first skull. ‘Unusually broad, but I think Reichsführer Himmler will be pleased.’

Again, Levi said nothing. Ehrlichmann might be an acknowledged authority on the dubious science of craniometry, he thought, but like von Heißen, Ehrlichmann seemed unaware of ancient Mayan customs.

A week later, the Junkers returned on the first of its weekly resupply runs. Levi leaned back in the canvas chair outside his tent and looked towards the skies, his spirits lifting. Perhaps there would be a letter from Ramona. The aircraft circled the clearing in the jungle and then disappeared before lining up for its final approach.

Inside the plane, il Signor Alberto Felici tugged nervously at his large black moustache. Beads of sweat ran down his pale, pudgy face. He detested flying, and the DC-2 flight from Rome to Guatemala City, followed by the flight from Guatemala City in the Junkers, had done nothing to lessen his apprehension. Felici maintained a fierce grip on the armrest, but he needn’t have worried. Under the patient tutelage of Oberst Krueger, Leutnant Müller eased the Junkers onto the rough strip, turned at the far end and taxied back. He cut the power and the propellers phutted to a stop in quick succession.

Levi watched as a bald-headed, portly little man dressed in a fawn safari suit and carrying a large leather briefcase descended from the Junkers. Von Heißen and Father Ehrlichmann were waiting to welcome him. They disappeared into von Heißen’s tent and Levi wondered who would take the trouble to travel to such a remote part of the world, but he was not left wondering for long. The visitor, accompanied by Father Ehrlichmann, emerged almost immediately and they both headed in Levi’s direction.

‘Il Signor Felici is an advisor to Pope Pius XI,’ Father Ehrlichmann enthused after he’d made the introductions, ‘and he’s here on a fact-finding mission at the personal direction of Cardinal Pacelli, the Cardinal Secretary of State.’

‘Why would the Vatican be interested in the Maya?’ Levi asked politely after Ehrlichmann had left.

‘May I call you Levi?’ Felici asked smoothly. Levi smiled and nodded. ‘And I’d be grateful if we could keep our conversations confidential: the Nazi machine is not always to be trusted.’

Levi nodded again. Perhaps, at last, he had a friend in court.

‘The possible existence of a Maya codex has not gone unnoticed in the Vatican. Bishop de Landa’s burning of the Mayan libraries was a terrible loss to civilisation, and although the Vatican will never publicly admit to any involvement, privately, the support for this expedition is in recognition of a grave injustice.’

‘It will take a lot more than that to make amends, Signor Felici. Imagine the outcry if the Maya had invaded Rome and burned all the public libraries and art museums!’

‘It’s been a painful lesson,’ Felici agreed, ‘and one that should not be forgotten, but in the meantime I’d very much appreciate a briefing on your progress.’

‘What do you expect this codex to contain?’ Felici asked after Levi had dismissed the Nazi’s craniometry theories and brought the papal envoy up to speed on the expedition’s findings.

‘The Nazis think it will provide proof of a link between the Aryans and the Maya, but I think they’re wrong. The Maya were amongst the greatest astronomers of the ancient world, and from my study of their hieroglyphics, I’m convinced they’re trying to warn us of a rare planetary alignment that will occur in 2012. It won’t affect you or I, of course, but anyone who’s alive in 2012 will need to prepare against the full force of the cosmos. And there may be a link between the warning in the codex and the warnings of the Virgin at Fátima, which makes me wonder why the three secrets the Virgin entrusted to the children at Fátima have been suppressed. Are they just a threat to the papacy, or do they speak of the annihilation of our civilisation?’

‘I wasn’t aware they had been suppressed,’ Felici replied, feigning surprise.

‘The Maya predicted the Marian appearance at Fátima, a thousand years before the secrets were transcribed,’ Levi continued, searching Felici’s face for any reaction.

‘How?’

Levi smiled enigmatically. ‘They left a warning on a stela which was found not far from here. We still have a lot to learn about the Maya, Signor Felici. We’re only scratching the surface. Astronomers have now confirmed their predictions for 2012, down to the last second. If humankind is to have any chance of responding, it’s vital this codex be found.’