Chapter 101: Present and Future
Astor was not a particularly brilliant businessman, but he understood one simple truth very well: if one side was offering something of value, then the other side would one day be asked to pay for it.
He knew perfectly well that although Jörg spoke lightly, the demands hidden beneath those calm, almost casual words were anything but light. One careless step, and he could plunge straight into an abyss.
Making a deal with a man like Jörg was no different from dancing with the devil.
But he also knew he had no other choice.
The memory of Jack Morgan and Rockefeller barely sparing him a glance in the private room still burned in his mind. For the sake of dragging the Astor family back from decline, he was willing to gamble everything.
With that thought, Astor gave a firm nod.
"A pleasure doing business with you, Jörg."
Jörg returned the nod and shook his hand lightly.
"A pleasure doing business with you as well, Mr. Astor."
Then his expression cooled slightly.
"Though I do not think you are foolish enough to act carelessly, I should still remind you of one thing. Be very careful about confidentiality."
He looked at Astor steadily.
"Doing business with a high ranking foreign statesman is not the sort of thing that brings a man peace."
With that, Jörg did not linger.
He politely declined Jack Morgan's invitation to lunch, left the hotel, and, led by Senna, entered a coffeehouse with half its shutters drawn and a wooden sign marked Closed hanging on the door.
They went upstairs to the second floor and took a seat by the window.
There, an old man with a lean frame and surprisingly lively eyes sat arranging peas from a bowl into perfectly ordered rows while drinking coffee as though nothing in the world could possibly hurry him.
When he saw Jörg arrive, he finally spoke.
"So you're Jörg."
His tone was casual, almost dry.
"I'm Henry Ford. Care for some coffee? I come here often. The black coffee is excellent. The food, however, is another matter entirely."
Jörg shook his head with a faint smile and sat down across from him.
"Thank you, but I prefer tea to coffee."
Ford studied him for a moment.
"I heard you wished to speak to me about politics."
Without answering immediately, Jörg placed the stack of newspapers he had brought onto the table and pushed them toward him.
"I have read your views, Mr. Ford. At the very least, I think it is safe to say you hold rather strong opinions about the Jews."
Ford did not answer directly.
He was not the sort of man to casually confess his true political views to a foreigner. He tilted his head slightly, neither confirming nor denying anything, and instead pushed the question back.
"And what about you, Jörg? Since you arranged this meeting and brought those newspapers with you, does that mean you agree with the opinions written in them?"
Jörg gave Senna a brief glance, confirming once more that no one else was present on the entire floor, then calmly nodded.
"Of course."
For the first time, Ford's hand stopped moving over the peas.
He had not expected such a direct answer.
"You invited Morgan and Rockefeller today as well," he said after a pause. "Both men are Jews. Aren't you afraid I might repeat your words to them?"
Jörg's expression did not change in the slightest.
"No," he said, almost lazily, "because I know that you are even less interested in dealing with them than I am. And because your desire to drive them out of America, or perhaps out of the wider world altogether, is stronger than mine."
Ford's eyes narrowed.
Jörg continued before he could respond.
"You may deny what is written in those newspapers. That is your choice. But there is one thing you cannot deny. You came here."
He leaned back slightly.
"And the fact that you are still sitting across from me, still listening after I brought the conversation into politics, tells me that you are very interested in what I am about to say."
Ford's face remained unreadable.
"I'm here out of courtesy."
Jörg did not bother exposing the lie. He had not come here expecting Henry Ford to be won over by shared prejudice or ideological agreement alone. Men like Astor could be lured with opportunity. Men like Ford needed something greater.
So Jörg changed the angle completely.
"Very well," he said. "Since political talk does not interest you, let us discuss something else."
His voice became quieter.
"I have a way to help you swallow Morgan and Rockefeller whole. If things go well, you could become the most powerful and most admired industrial magnate in American history."
Ford let out a short laugh.
"Don't treat me like a child, Jörg. Anyone can promise the moon."
"I know you do not believe me," Jörg replied evenly. "And under normal circumstances, that would be wise. After all, even I am only an ant beside those two mountains."
He folded his hands on the table.
"But what if those mountains crack? What if they are dragged into the center of an economic storm? What if society itself changes under the pressure of that storm?"
His gaze sharpened.
"Would you still say it is impossible?"
Ford set down his fork.
"An economic crisis? I don't care for fairy tales."
"Neither do I," Jörg said. "I am not telling you a story, Mr. Ford. I am telling you a future."
He spoke without the slightest hesitation, as though he were not making a prediction at all, but merely reciting something he had already seen with his own eyes.
"In a few years, everything I have described will happen. You may laugh at that. A result that takes years to verify is, naturally, very easy to dismiss. But when the storm comes, and when what I have said proves true, will you cooperate with me?"
This time Ford did not answer at once.
He stared at Jörg for a long while before finally asking, "And if your prophecy is correct?"
Jörg relaxed slightly in his chair.
That one sentence was enough.
Ford had not agreed openly, but he had already crossed the threshold in his own mind. All that remained now was time.
They finished their conversation without further dramatics.
When Ford finally stood, Jörg rose as well. The two men shook hands in the dim afternoon light. Then Ford went downstairs, got into an approaching car, and disappeared into the traffic.
Jörg remained by the second floor window and watched the vehicle recede between the buildings.
His thoughts moved quickly.
Those two meetings, one with Astor and one with Ford, had already laid two highly valuable pieces on the board. So long as no major accident occurred later, both the weakening of America and the future purge of extremist Jewish influence would become far easier to shape.
Even the strongest enemies always rotted first from within.
America was like that. Germany was like that as well.
That was why he had ordered the Internal and External Intelligence Department to begin preparing early. When the storm finally broke, he intended to already be standing beneath a roof while everyone else was still staring at the clouds.
A pair of guards emerged from the alley below and handed him a freshly developed photograph of the handshake.
Alongside it were several other photographs, including Morgan and the others leaving together earlier.
Jörg ran a thumb across the edge of the image and let his thoughts drift further.
Would the crisis fail to come simply because he had moved a few pieces earlier than history had intended?
No.
He did not believe that for a second.
Human greed was a force far larger than any one man. He might redirect it, sharpen it, or exploit it, but he could not make it disappear.
And once the shipbuilding agreement passed, once capital surged even more heavily into the markets, the arrival of the coming crisis might not be delayed at all.
It might come sooner.
.....
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