The Last Time I Saw Maurice

The last time I saw Maurice he was getting on a train with Irene. I don't think Irene was really her name. Nor was it Iryna, which she was also called by. I think both were code names, just as mine was Vienna. Maurice's actual name it turned out was indeed Maurice.

      He was a Catholic theology student and it seems he wanted to stay as close to the truth as ever. A fatal flaw, which for him not only meant no code names but issues of conscience and conflict regarding his own mental and internal debates, sometimes vocalized,  about whether witholding the truth was actually lying or not. Many saw him as a confused idealist. A few others, like myself,  saw him as a quiet borderline lunatic, which was one the terms and code words, we used for the man we had tasked ourselves to eliminate. By eliminate, you understand that we meant: assassinate. 'Elimination' sounded more politically correct and more noble in our international covert circle than 'assassination' which sounded more criminal and more like 'murder'. 'Elimination' implied hope of possible reprieve if caught while 'assassination' held only impending doom of a definite death sentence and sure, certain, eventual, execution. We were not part of some greater cell or anti-government group. Some funding trickled down to us from a lawyer named Nikolaus, and from a man named George in Canada. These pittances were delivered to us locally by a colleague of Maurice, named Dimitri, who had a powerful influence over Maurice. They were so close that I really wondered if love-struck Irene really stood a chance with Maurice, who was the object of her desire. The rest of us, and Maurice as well, were all inspired by an anti-government activist named Beppo (which was not really his actual name) who was currently incarcerated as a political prisoner. If we didn't count Dimitri, there were only four people in the group, the fourth person being Ursula, who was older than the rest of us and whose brother was a prominent Government architect. I know nothing about her previous profession. I only knew that while she was a Christian, through one or both parents, she had Jewish heritage, and like the majority of us in the group, including Dimitri (who called himself Marcel and used a false french surname rather than his russian one), the surname she used was not her birthname, but unlike most of us, it was actually her legal name. I had no idea why I was codenamed Vienna. I was not Austrian, was neither a great fan of the waltz nor of sausages, and even after an explanation from Maurice I still didn't immediately get it. Maurice explained it this way, "You are going to be our last man standing, the last holdout, if everything fails. Maybe the only survivor, maybe the martyr's avenger, maybe you will be only one at the end of it, maybe you WILL be the end of it. However you take it, you are our last hope, our last shot."

            Irene, I know, was formerly a cook at a hotel, and tried and failed in the past to kill the 'Evil Leader' another of the names we used for our intended target. This was before his armies current invasion. He had only claimed and later occupied some one very small neighbouring and disputed territory at the time but she foresaw his future aggression. She may have met and fallen in love with Maurice at the so-called Mission School, where he was a seminarian and she a member of the kitchen staff. That is unevidenced conjecture on my part, but self-confessedly, her heart had been broken many times before, and she had given up on romance, but after meeting the tall, blonde, beautiful Maurice, she decided to give love and romance, one last shot.   

        I was a theological student as well but while Maurice was Catholic, I was protestant. We were all Christians, politically centrist, some maybe a little left of center and others a little right of center, but definitely nowhere near and certainly opposed to the far-right or the far-left. We were anti-fascists and anti-communists and our anti-communism had given birth to us being all  anti-russian. For Maurice and Dimitri, being anti-russian meant being against the current Russian Government and it's evil leadership. After all, DimitrI was a russian. I never trusted any russian, whether individually, the Government, it's deceptive, demented leader or even Dimitri. Christianity, anti-fascism and anti-communism was the one thing we had in common and the glue that cemented the bond together was our unanimous and singlehearted determination to eliminate the Antichrist, another name we had for the Lunatic Leader and a title we truly believed to be befittingly accurate and genuine. Maurice referred to him as "the Man of Satan". Our resolve was now further reinforced and committed to that end after his now sudden aggressive incursion and impulsive invasion into this neighbouring independent nation, without previous provocation or cause. We had heard that he said he wanted to safeguard the security of his fellow countrymen living in that nation, which was the same reason he had used to previously occupy those other long-disputed territories. He mentioned some other crap excuses like securing borders, and it being an enemy nation on his borders, but Ursula envisioned it essentially as an attempt to eliminate the Jewish leadership in that country. For me, it was just typical european expansionism through the use of superior force. In retrospect, I am now seeing what Mr. Churchill foresaw and which I also suspected myself even if I had no knowledge of the secret Nazi-Communist pact between Germany and Russia to control and split the world between themselves. Now it is public knowledge and that the Russians defaulted on it and decided they wanted all of Germany as well though eventually settling for half instead but Russians have never stopped their expansionism-by-force policy. However, our mission had nothing to do with Germany or Russia. It had to do with the elimination of one ruthless leader. But could we get close enough to do it? It seemed to me to be more a long shot than a last shot.

          As Christians, we all believed that the death of one man can mean salvation of many previously condemned to death but to be honest, deep in my heart I still don't believe that the elimination of this one source of evil could reverse an unprovoked invasion. Dimitri had a list of half-told tales of men who had accomplished that, from Oliver Cromwell to Maximilien Robespierre. Maurice was always impressed with Dimitri's recitation, which rolled easily and constantly off his lips. The list obviously did not include the likes of Hitler, Lenin or Stalin and it never mentioned that both Cromwell and Robespierre, lost their heads, respectively to the same devices,  the ax and the guillotine, they used to chop off the heads of their respective monarchs, the King of England and the King of France. Maurice would sup up all Dimitri spat out then regurgitate for anyone interested in his spew.

        Maurice could ramble on forever about the three R's, though it was really two due to his intention mispronounciation of one name: Romanov, Russia and Assputin (instead of Rasputin). If anyone dared to to add Revolution (as in the russian one) to it, he would threaten them with his old Haenel Schmeisser Model 1, a pocket pistol he really hoped to impossibly kill the evil leader with from a fairly far distance. It wasn't a long shot weapon even if Maurice's plan was. Maurice seem to incredulously believe that the elimination of this man would impossibly restore the Romanovs to the discarded throne of Russia. Why did he believe this foolishness? Dimitri told him so. Maurice was not even Russian. He was Swiss, which in Dimitri's eyes made him the ideal and diplomatically-neutral assassin. Maurice was indeed ideal because he was an idealist (as I considered myself a realist) but he was neither a diplomat nor neutral, even if he was Swiss. The only times he eschewed these qualities was when Irene pressed him about his intentions and feelings toward her. Diplomatically, he remained neutral and kept silent. Her response to me, not to him, was the typical and the usual, "Vienna I'm still going to give him on last shot."

        My own secret falling-out with Maurice had to do with his constant comparisons of the Evil Leader to late Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, the Anglican founder and martyr, burnt at the stake by the Catholics (but who supposedly returned from the grave and stuck down his main rivals, one Archbishop Pole and that bloody Queen Mary both of whom eventually died on the same day). Obviously I am Anglican though the group only knew I was protestant and assumed it to be Lutheran, which after all, is almost Anglican, Anglicanism, unadmittingly, being the english version of the german Lutheranism. In reference to the Evil Leader's disregard for peace pacts and discarding formerly and formally signed agreements, Maurice loved to say only Archbishop Cranmer had more recantations than the Evil Leader.  A below-the-belt post-reformation Catholic joke that reminded me I was not only anti-fascist and anti-communist but also anti-catholic. Maybe that's why I had remained so unconcerned about the Spanish Civil War because it was just Fascists and Catholics fighting Communists. No grey area there and as far as I was concerned they could all have decimated each other. In fact, Maurice's inside joke (though he was only insider) made me realize I had far too many more anti's than I had uncles.

        Regardless of the fanciful and farcical plans, ideas and ideals that he had, Maurice and I agreed, and the others as well, that if we didn't try to stop this, the next country to be invaded would be Poland. Maurice thought that eventually Switzerland would be targeted. Nonetheless, we agreed that the so-called great powers, like England and America, were standing around doing nothing, afraid of starting another World War or just simply afraid of the Evil Leader and his superior army and armaments. I also agreed with Dimitri that Maurice was the best man to carry out the mission. I was not a coward but I found myself facing the futility of a possible fiasco. We had named our little group, The Cause of Hope, but in my mind It was the Lost Cause of Hope Forlorn. Maurice seemed to be most courageous of us although I personally perceived it as Dutch courage, even though he was neither a drinking man nor a Dutchman.

      So anyway, so was he sent and so he went. His first botched attempt he blamed on crowds blocking his view. First he said the leader was surrounded by soldiers and he only wanted to eliminate the Leader, but then he changed it to civilians and/or their hands and whichever way you took it, he didn't want to harm soldiers, civilians or their hands. On top of all of that the Evil Leader was walking on the far side of the road, at a distance that further diminished the accuracy and the aim of his pocket pistol. Only Irene had gone with him and she confirmed everything he said, but in a very elusive manner: "Whatever he tells you that's what happened." However she later confided in me, "Maybe he was a bit overwhelmed. The crowds and everything..."

          Maurice then hatched a new plan which involved delivering some important diplomatic papers to the Leader, with the intention of shooting him dead in the center of his forehead with the little pocket pistol. Maurice seemed to think that shooting a man was like shooting the paper boats he made and floated on the lake for target practice. In any case, he was supposedly blocked with every attempt and prevented by the Leader's security for seeing him. They had heard that there had been an intended attempt on the Leader's life at a previous parade and had heard gunshots nearby earlier that day. That had actually been Maurice using some of the trees for target practice. He was like that famous pussycat who went to London to see the Queen but instead got distracted and only frightened a mouse under her chair. Maurice had got so close and instead of shooting the leader only shot some trees outside the residence. This is what he told us because only Irene was there but she confirmed that what he said was true. "Exactly as he told you," she said.

      After that Maurice and Irene spent months and funds tracking the leader all of the country in vain. When they went there, he had just left there and was now here. When they came here, he had already gone there. When they went there, he had changed plans and never went there and was now back here. There, here, here, there, there, where? Hey there!

      With funds running low, they decided to recoup and give it one last shot. He for the mission and she, for love. And that was the last time I saw him, boarding that train, with Irene in tow. It was not the last time I saw Irene though. She related to me what happened after.

          "Funds were low so we could only buy one ticket" she explained "so when the conductor started checking tickets, he passed the ticket to me and said 'good night irene and tell Max, good night Vienna. Then the conductor escorted him away. That self-sacrifice exemplified the love that he must have had deep down inside for me. That was not only the first time I knew your name was Max [it isn't] but it was also the last time I saw Maurice."

From a letter in the possession of Rev. Dr. Binyamin Navarra and written by one Max Vienna.

NB. Maurice Bavaud, when searched,  was found to be in possession of pocket pistol, cartridges and a map of the area which included the Evil Leader's residence. He was handed over to the authorities and like any good Catholic and Christian, foolishly spoke the truth and confessed that he had indeed intended to assassinate that "Man of Satan" Adolph Hitler. He was executed May 14, 1942. As it was then, so it is now, except that the names and faces and some of the places have changed, but evil intentions remain the same, Maurice.