March 23, 1944

Camp Stark

The secretary tore the page from the teletype and handed it to the camp’s commander. He held the thin paper in both hands and walked slowly to his private quarters while reading.

Aboard the HMS Majestic.

Somewhere in The North Sea:

Elements of Afrika Division 999 have surrendered and are being prepped for cross-Atlantic journey to your shore. Among them, a German doctor, who approached the ship’s own with information regarding one of his countrymen. Upon further interrogation, the doctor identified a contingent of SS soldiers as having been part of a clandestine operation West of Kirkuk.

Our network of intelligence finds the disguised SS contingent to have been closely guarding recent excavations in the Sumerian necropolis of Ur, led by Doctor Wilhelm von Boch, of Berlin’s Archaeological Institute. The SOE launched a surprise raid on the site with elements of the 21st Indian Brigade, both Dr von Boch and his guard detail vanished into the Western desert before the raiding party had arrived.

The prisoners were brought aboard HMS Majestic and sailed off from Gibraltar on 18 March. Of this group, the doctor was able to identify a certain soldier by the name of Johannes Friedrich who was said to have begun acting curiously to the point of rousing the attention of his countrymen and the doctor. Upon investigation, the on-board ship’s doctor concluded Herr Friedrich to have fallen ill at some point in the journey. However, upon further investigation and interviews with his fellow countrymen, including the German doctor, Friendrich had contracted the illness during his post at the site.