Dead and Gone - Andrew Vachss [111]
“Oh, but the Vikings in the modern era are not as acceptable to Nazi mythology,” Aydah said.
“Why is that?” Gem asked.
“Because they fought against the Nazis in World War II. Norway was invaded and occupied, but it always maintained an active resistance, even with Quisling in charge. And that ultimate collaborator was executed for treason as soon as the country was liberated. Finland never surrendered at all. And everyone knows what the Danes did to protect Jews. Sweden was allegedly ‘neutral,’ but it actually served as a training ground for Norwegian resistance fighters. And what Raoul Wallenberg did would be enough by itself to make the Nazis hate his whole country. They probably feel betrayed because Scandinavians look so perfectly Aryan,” Aydah finished, bitterly. “That probably hurts the most.”
“There’s another reason for Sparta to be their Promised Land,” Minh said quietly.
We all turned to look at him.
“The Spartans are also revered by so-called boy-lovers. And the concept that a warrior is entitled to whatever he is capable of taking—that, too, is considered ‘Spartan.’ As is a high tolerance for pain and hardship … and superiority in battle.”
“I still don’t see the—” I stopped myself before I could say the word that flashed on my screen: “pattern.” Maybe I’d been there too long already.
Lune flicked his pointer, and words popped up on the wall. He talked as he pointed and clicked, like the spoken bridge in doo-wop I’d tried to tell Gem about.
“Thematic with hate groups,” he said, as everything from Nation of Islam to Aryan Nations popped up on the wall, “is this concept of a ‘homeland.’ While the more floridly disturbed of them actually believe a portion of the United States will be set aside for them—”
“Like Casino Indians,” Levi put in, bitterness blood-deep in his voice.
“—the more serious and committed ones understand they would have to go outside American borders to have their ‘paradise,’ ” Lune continued, as if the Indian hadn’t spoken. “There is ample precedent for such belief. There was that aborted white-supremacist coup on the Caribbean island of Dominica about twenty years ago. And the tiny Pacific island country of Nauru has converted itself into a major offshore-banking operation.” He looked over at Heidi.
“That’s authenticated,” the farm girl said. “They are, in effect, selling foreigners the means to cloak transactions. Although there is probably no actual foreign money on the island, hundreds of billions of dollars pass through it every year. Interpol believes it to be the largest money-laundering vehicle in the world today. The Republic of Nauru—all eight square miles of it—provides even stricter secrecy than such legendary havens as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.”
“All right,” I said. “Maybe I’m dense, but …”
“The overwhelming majority of that laundered money comes from Russian organized crime,” Heidi said.
I shut up. And paid attention.
Lune took over again. “Ever since the failed coup on Dominica, there have been numerous schemes, mostly but not exclusively promoted on the Internet, to purchase ‘citizenship’ in various ‘republics.’ The promoters purport to be creating these in the Pacific by purchasing and developing unclaimed … or even mostly submerged … islands,” he said. “Each project targets certain types. Mostly right-wingers who want freedom from any government intrusion into their lives—taxes, gun control, education. And there are the supremacists who want to live exclusively among their own while they arm themselves for Armageddon. But there are other groups seeking ‘paradise,’ too. A place where they can behave as they wish without fear of consequences.”
“Freaks,” I said, getting it now.
“Pedophiles, polygamists, incest-breeders, child-pornography manufacturers … yes,” Lune said, nothing in his voice but the patterns.
“Where does this all tie in?” I asked him.
“Darcadia,” he said. “A Pacific island with enough land mass to accommodate a small nation. It is undeveloped. Completely raw. It has a natural freshwater supply, but no infrastructure at all.