Stephen,
I had hoped that contacting you directly would be unnecessary. However, after your visit to Wold Newton I became aware of circumstances that were unknown to me. Had I realized that you had no knowledge of the Nussbaum family, I would have found a different outlet for these letters. Unfortunately, since you have posted the letters to the internet as factual instead of pretending they were fiction as the procedure calls for, you have unwittingly entered yourself into a world you are not prepared for. I can not explain everything now, what I can tell you will seem insignificant in the grand scheme of the events unraveling around us.
Your friend Keith has hit on a truth that many would have rather left buried. He discovered a link to the past with what he referred to as the Nussbaum Histories; most of his information was accurate. However he did make one mistake. The Nussbaum histories were not the fantastical product of a single man, but the efforts of a single family to chronicle the history of the Nussbaum family. The Nussbaum’s have always worked to make the world a better place, but to ensure the lessons of the past not be forgotten they needed someone to record their exploits so people would remember the appropriate heroes and learn the useful lessons.
The chroniclers of the Nussbaum family go as far back as Ulysses and continue through great historians such as John the Baptist, Allen-A-Dale, and your grandfather. During World War II your grandfather and Jacob Nussbaum worked alongside General Patton.
After finding out about your blog and reading it I discovered that your grandfather had died suddenly and I now believe without sharing your families legacy. I should have known this, I should have checked. Your life has been endangered by my actions, and for that I am sorry.
I am working to find you protection, something I can do to make sure you are safe. I owe Bill that much. I hope to one day sit down and talk to you about exactly what is happening to you and what should have been done about it. Until then, if you wish to be removed from this situation I can give you only this as an option, and to be fair it may not work. If you want out, simply stop posting the letters. As I said it may not work, but then again it may.
Good luck.
A friend.
To Stephen Mayne,
We have never met, but my name is J.P. Nussbaum. I have recently been introduced to your blog, and would like to first thank you for the kind words about my mother. Having said that, I do not know what kind of man you are, though I can guess. I have read your blog, seen your poetry, your short stories, and your description of events surrounding my letters. For any hardship you have been placed under, I am sorry.
With that out of the way, I must inform you my family has a very strict policy on how we handle correspondence. To wit, I must write someone and let them know what is happening to me and my team, should we fail at any point and need to be replaced, my siblings will be able to step in for us. I will continue to write, though I will be addressing my letters to you instead of my mother. If you wish to ask me anything, I will continue to read your blog when able, and respond to inquiries if possible.
Now, you should know that we raided Schuler’s home in Cairo. Franco and Jones had managed to get a complete layout of the structure before turning our prisoner over to the authorities. We each of us was armed with a firearm of their own choosing, I had a Walther. I know it’s not an ideal weapon for this type of incursion, my eldest brother used to mock me by calling it a lady’s gun. I also prefer it as I’m capable of firing it one handed, I was sick as a child and it has added a bit of a hurdle for me to overcome.
We started just after dusk, we wanted to take advantage of the lower visibility and the shift change of the guards. We knew there would be three teams of two walking crisscrossing paths around the house. We moved up slowly keeping to the many topiaries that Schuler has sprinkled around his land. We found and dispatched the first team with little noise. Christina was able to stop one man and silence him quickly with a thrown knife, she lived for six months in a Russian Circus where she picked up such skills. Jones stopped the second by grabbing him from behind and snapping his neck. We secreted their bodies inside the some of the bushes and continued to the house. It took a half hour of careful movement to reach the building, we were able to dispatch both remaining teams on the way.
The home had a security system and a series of electronic locks. The code to these was randomly generated at the start of each guards shift. Because of this we knew there was no way to retrieve the codes before hand. Jones had brought a bundle that we could use to enter the house. However, Beth examined the lock first and determined it was a Devlin and Rogers mark 5. She was apparently very familiar with this type of system and managed to open it in under a minute.
We knew the house would have eight men in addition to Schuler. We entered through a side door that led to the kitchen. Everyone moved silently inside with Christina and Beth in front, Jones and Franco in the back, and I was in the middle. It was decided I would be best served there as my cane might make the scout and rear guard positions difficult. We entered slowly and moved from room to room making sure to keep our sightlines clear.
The first guard we came to went down quickly, Beth used a taser to bring him down. Unfortunately, when he fell his convulsions fired his weapon and alerted the rest of the house to our presence. At this point we had reached the living room and were quickly pinned down by guards firing from the doorways and a balcony that wrapped around the second floor.
Jones and Franco flipped a couch over and we dropped behind it for cover. However the bullets easily punched through the flimsy materials. We fired as quickly as we could, Christina managed to drop one of the men holding a doorway that led to the second floor stairs, but there was another one behind him.
Franco took a hit to the arm, and I had been shot three times in the vest. We were beginning to worry about our ability to survive, when Jones began doing something with his toolkit. After a few seconds he said, “cover your heads and count to three.” He then fired his assault rifle at the second floor balcony one handed while hurling his kit with the other. I ducked down as he instructed, and didn’t come up again until the entire house shook from a terrible explosion. Chunks of mortar and concrete rained about the living room, the fact that none of us were killed is a miracle.
Taking advantage of the sudden chaos Franco and Christina leapt up and started firing at the still stunned men around the room. Beth stood and drug me to my feet to helped me move towards the side of the room. Most of the balcony was gone now, and the house was on fire. As we moved from the center of the room the large crystal chandelier gave way and crashed down on the place we just left.
We dispatched three more of the guards, and I was would have been hard pressed to say how many were still up and moving after the explosion. We managed to reach a side hallway that led to a set of basement stairs. We had learned any hostages Schuler had would be kept there. We staggered through the building as gunfire occasionally sounded behind us. Franco and Jones did a good job of keeping would be pursuers at a distance.
When we arrived at the bottom of the stairs there was a solid steel door with an ancient lock. It took Beth less time to open it then I took to write these words.
We burst into a basement complex filled with empty cells. Schuler stood in the center of the room behind an over turned table with Lucia next to him. Lucia yelled out for us to save her and we scattered as Schuler opened fire on the door. Franco took a round to the temple and died there.
Christina was moving across the room in a serpentine pattern, moving back and forth with no rhyme or reason. She would occasionally come to a piece of furniture that she would either leap over or slide under. Every so often she would pause long enough to fire a shot from her pistol and then start running again.
As she neared him Schuler’s aim grew more deadly, at first he missed by wide margins but the more shots he took, the closer they came to striking my cousin. As Christina ran straight towards him firing her pistol Schuler aimed steadily at her approaching body. At the last second she started to slid under a stainless steel table only to shove her foot up into its underside and launch it over and use it as a shield. Schuler cursed, stood and began to move forward to engage her when a shot from behind him launched him forward over the table.
Jones stepped forward from the side of the room where he had circled around while Schuler was distracted. He stepped forward to help Lucia up from the ground. While this had been going on Beth had circled back to one of the cells and managed to free Maria, whose mouth had been covered. With her gag removed Maria shouted out, “Don’t trust her. She’s with Schuler.”
At that moment Lucia lunged at Jones with a hidden knife and stabbed at him. Fortunately, the blade glanced of his body armor and Jones was able to move backwards to safety. Lucia stood drawing a pistol and a shot rang out. Lucia stopped for just a second and then started moving again. She slumped forward an expanding spot of red oozing out from her chest. Christina stood behind her with a smoking gun.
We rescued Maria, returned to our safe house at which point I read your blog. Some things have happened since then. First, I was indisposed for a couple of days. Second, we spoke with Maria about what she could tell us about Schuler and his plans. Third, a friend of Beth’s went through the computer files from Schuler’s home and we believe we know where to go next.
We are now headed out of country.
When I have a clearer head and more time, I will let you know what is coming next. Until then.
Your friend
J.P. Nussbaum
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