The Auspicious Case of the General and the Royal Family

By Harry Katzan Jr.

This story is a total work of fiction. Nothing contained in the book is true and the persons involved do not reflect actual people unless by coincidence. Names and places, except for minor exceptions, do not reflect actual entities. The London City Airport actually exists to service London travelers. The characters Matthew Miller, Leslie Miller, Buzz Bunday, Sara Harris, Rachel Brody. Lisa Miller, Kathy Richards, Shirley Richards, Ashley Wilson and others do not exist in the manner reflected in the narrative. Also, there is no one called the General that the author knows of. Coincidentally, persons with those names may exist somewhere in the world, but the author is not aware of them. There are some minor exceptions. Generals Doolittle, LeMay, and Splan and Admiral Halsey are real American war heroes and Giles, O’Donnell, and Powers are American wartime pilots. Other military personnel in the story reflect fictitious names assigned to non-existing people. Names in Switzerland and computer facilities do not exist in real life. Facilities and other operations invented to support the story are derived from the author’s imagination. The manner in which these services are used is purely fictitious.

The book has two main objectives: to serve as a sequel to two books in the trilogy: The Mysterious Case of the Royal Baby and The Curious Case of the Royal Marriage, that are examples of a rumor or conspiracy that has been materialized to entertain the reader. That book introduces a new genre in fiction writing – which is its primary objective. This book gives an example of how the important characters could have turned out.

The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of his wife Margaret in the preparation of the manuscript.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781532087806

Harry Katzan Jr.

Harry Katzan, Jr. is a professor who has written several books and many papers on computers and service, in addition to some novels. He has been a advisor to the executive board of a major bank and a general consultant on various disciplines. He and his wife have lived in Switzerland where he was a banking consultant and a visiting professor. He is an avid runner and has completed 94 marathons including Boston 13 times and New York 14 times. He holds bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees.

Book preview

THE

AUSPICIOUS CASE

OF THE

GENERAL AND THE

ROYAL FAMILY

A Novel

Harry Katzan, Jr.

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THE AUSPICIOUS CASE OF THE GENERAL

AND THE ROYAL FAMILY

A NOVEL

Copyright © 2019 Harry Katzan, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

A block club section along with pertinent questions is given at the end of the book.

iUniverse

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-8781-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-8782-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-8780-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019918072

iUniverse rev. date: 11/07/2019

CONTENTS

Major Characters

Part One

The General

Prologue

Chapter One: Born To Fly

Chapter Two: The Tokyo Raid

Chapter Three: The Berlin Assault

Chapter Four: Competitive Events

Chapter Five: The Largest Air Assault In Recorded History

Chapter Six: After The Air Assault

Chapter Seven: The Solution

Chapter Eight: Promotion

Chapter Nine: New York City

Chapter Ten: West Point

Chapter Eleven: Back In New York City

Chapter Twelve: Reporting For Duty At The Pentagon

Chapter Thirteen: Reassignment In England

Chapter Fourteen: We’re Going Home

Chapter Fifteen: Colonel Les Miller

Chapter Sixteen: Ready, Set, Go

Chapter Seventeen: Graduation

Chapter Eighteen: The Oss

Chapter Nineteen: The Last Military Flights

Part Two

The Royal Family

Mesologue

Chapter Twenty: Familiar Faces

Chapter Twenty-One: Messaging With Matt

Chapter Twenty-Two: Problems In The Royal Family

Chapter Twenty-Three: The General Goes To London

Chapter Twenty-Four: The General And The Queen

Chapter Twenty-Five: Follow The Money

Chapter Twenty-Six: Introduction To Block Chain For Royals

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Meetings & More Meetings

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Zürich

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Limmat River

Chapter Thirty: The Results Are In

Posteriority To The Trilogy

Afterwards To The Auspicious Case Of The General And The Royal Family

About The Book

About The Author

Book Club Information

Once again, for my wife Margaret

MAJOR CHARACTERS

A few essential characters are introduced in previous books in the trilogy. The previous novels are:

The Mysterious Case of the Royal Baby

The Curious Case of the Royal Marriage

The General – A wealthy business executive and a retired Army officer who has supported various activities of a humanitarian nature. His given name is Les Miller.

Matthew Miller – the grandson of the General and a college friend of Ashley Wilson, whose name was changed to Sara Harris. Matt is a serious student, professor of mathematics, and an excellent golf player.

Ashley Nicole Wilson – An American actress that marries into the royal family aspiring to be a celebrity. Alternate name is Sara Nicole Harris. Known as the Duchess of Bordeaux.

Prince Michael – Grandson of the Queen and husband of Ashley Wilson. Known as the Duke of Bordeaux.

Buzz Bunday – The General’s Army buddy, fighter pilot, and employee of the British Services (BSS).

The Queen – The monarch of the United Kingdom and a notable British personality.

PART ONE

THE GENERAL

PROLOGUE

T wo U.S. Army officers stood along a runway at a large air base a few miles southeast of London. The runways were covered with dripped oil and the original grassy areas were worn down to the underlying gravel. The speaker, an Army Colonel, was conversing with a Royal Air Force 1 st Lieutenant who had just returned from a dangerous mission. The Royal officer was on loan to the American brigade because of the scarcity of P-51 pilots. The advanced fighter plane was difficult to operate, and the British aviators preferred to work with Americans because of their devotion to duty and general knowledge of the art of enemy engagement.

It’s looking bad Buzz. He has only a few minutes of flying time remaining until he runs out of fuel. His Mustang hasn’t arrived. I know he’s an ace and has had several modifications made to his aircraft, but I don’t think they are related to fuel, or fuel consumption, such as auxiliary fuel tanks. He might have had to ditch in the sea, provided that he is returning at all.

He’s the best fighter pilot you have, and I radioed him that he shouldn’t chase a German fighter that had downed one of the B-17s, the Lieutenant replied. It was an FW-190, the renowned Focke-Wulf 190, that is no match for your P-51 Mustang. But what happened to him, I cannot say. The fighters lead the bombers, so he was well into the attack zone.

At that moment, the Colonel, Joe Bradley, heard a rumble from the south and exclaimed, I hear something. It might be him. The rumble turned into the sound of a broken aircraft approaching. Then the rumble stopped and the aircraft came into view. He’s run out of fuel. What a lucky guy, said the Colonel.

As it approached the runway, the landing gear was up indicating there was a major problem with the hydraulics. The pilot was going to attempt a dead-stick landing, something he was trained to do. The Mustang skidded down the runway and ran into a soft barrier designed to stop a small aircraft. The undercarriage and wings were shot up but the pilot had survived. Because of the lack of fuel, the Mustang didn’t explode or burn.

The officers raced to the plane, but were surprised when the pilot emerged with an unanticipated reply, I got him, a FW-190. That’s number 36 for me. All the Colonel could say was, The lack of fuel prevented a fire. You’re a very lucky soldier. You did your job admirably. Congratulations. The two soldiers left for the headquarters building.

This story describes the events preceding and following the scenario given above.

ONE

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BORN TO FLY

A s long as he could remember, Les Miller wanted to be a pilot. He loved the air races held in major cities. His father, a schoolteacher, and his mother, a homemaker, supported those interests that led to Miller passing the pilot’s exam with an instrument rating as a teenager. He did not particularly like school, except for his math courses, but did well enough to be elected into the National Honor Society. In college, Miller majored in math and took all the courses available to him. His minor field of study was international relations. He was regarded as a good student and a respectable athlete concentrating on intercollegiate golf. Actually, he was the NCAA golf champion in his senior year.

World War II was picking up steam about the time Miller graduated from college, and the military draft was something to think about. Miller joined the Army with the promise of a chance at pilot training. His thinking was quite clear for a person of his age. If he couldn’t be a pilot, he could be a navigator, because of his excellent math background.

Miller’s athletic ability, keen intellect, and college degree enabled him to be a star trainee in Army boot camp, and he graduated with a commission of 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Miller’s pilot license came in handy and helped him to gain admission to pilot training. Miller had his choice, single engine fighter or multi-engine bomber. He wanted both and his Captain suggested that he choose fighter pilot and after 25 active duty missions – often called sorties – he