Chapter One Thousand Fifty-Four
10th April 1954
Baltimore, Maryland
“Pleased to finally meet you Mr. Casey” The Suit from the Ford Motor Company said when he shook Jonny’s hand, “I was told by a mutual friend you are a Ford man.”
“I’ve a 39 Coup” Jonny said happily.
“That is a good year” The Suit said, “I also heard that you are also from the Bay Area, Petaluma. I’m originally from San Francisco and went to school at UC Berkley.”
“I am from Petaluma, Sir” Jonny said, “Instead of Berkley I went to the school of hard knocks in Mexico.”
The Suit laughed at that, probably unaware that Jonny was being dead serious with that answer.
“In many ways that makes you better for this than your partner” The Suit said as he removed a folder from his briefcase and handed it to him. Inside was a color hand-bill for that German film that had come out months earlier.
“Is this a joke?” Jonny asked.
“Hardly” The Suit replied, “The German firm Volkswagen is looking to eat our lunch, we believe we can eat into their market share, but that film proves that they have the jump on us and they have a rather innovative way of advertising it. This film for example.”
Skimming through the pages Jonny saw the details of what was being highlighted. The Silk Road, a ten-thousand-kilometer race from Beijing to Berlin across every kind of landscape imaginable. He saw a three-view drawing of a compact sedan, the Anglia 100E. “What exactly are you asking me to do here?” He asked.
“We want you on our team” The Suit said, “You are known as driver and a mechanic. We can make it look like you were hired for your talents. Your friend Jamison Parker the Third, who you met in the Army, has family money that is backing your entry into the race.”
“Wait one second” Jonny asked, “What the Hell kind of name is Jamison, since when is he my friend?”
“We know that the situation has been less than ideal” The Suit said, “But it shouldn’t be too difficult with Mr. Parker back into his normal element.”
That made sense, the CIA had been setting it up so that anyone who looked into them would have seen them working in the motor pool of various Army Bases. It would be no surprise when they turned up in Beijing at the start of the race. There was one problem though…
“This is outside of the jurisdiction of my Employer” Jonny said, “Industrial espionage?”
“Not as much as you might think” The Suit said, “The woman who has been working for Volkswagen was working for the U.S. State Department. The competition, General Motors, made the mistake of spying on her and found out the hard way that she is under the protection of a rather infamous German Countess. You know the brother of that Countess, a Colonel von Mischner?”
“I met him a few times, but I would hardly say I know him” Jonny replied.
“But what did he know you as?” The Suit asked, “That might be enough to keep you from being unceremoniously booted out of Europe. For the rest, you’re just to gather information that your Agency might find useful, photographs, specs and anything else you find that will be useful to my company will be passed along accordingly.”
“What’s the catch?” Jonny asked.
“You need to figure out how to make a compact economy sedan into a convincing racecar and make sure that Mr. Parker can spell you out as a driver” The Suit replied.
“The race starts in three months” Jonny said.
“You had better get busy then” The Suit said, “The car will arrive in the garage you’ve been using in Alexandria later today. Good luck, Mr. Casey.”
Then with that the Suit left.
11th April 1954
Berlin
It was supposed to have been a quiet spring morning instead Kat had found herself dragged out of bed as two Feldwebels from the 1st Foot had been pounding on her front door until Petia had been forced to let them in. Then they had gone straight to Kat’s bedroom door which was locked and started pounding on that. While it was fortunate that she wasn’t asleep, Kat and Doug had been in the middle of something that she was unhappy to have interrupted. The two Feldwebels waited red-faced in the parlor for a few minutes while she got cleaned up and dressed. The whole time her mind was reeling with the news that they had given her. Multiple bombings in the center of Warsaw. The 1st Guard Division was on high alert and had deployed throughout the city, the two Feldwebels had been sent to retrieve her so that she could help secure the Royal family.
Once she was in the Palace, Kat learned that the Emperor had already been taken to the Command Center of 1st Guard in Potsdam when he was being briefed on the response. It was possibly one of the most secure locations in the Empire. Kira was in the hall she used in the Hohenzollern Palace to hold Court in, surrounded by armed guards as well as her Ladies in Waiting. She had ordered Kat to prepare the children to leave the palace which had turned out to be more complicated then she had thought it would be.
Kat had needed Matthias’ help to find Freddy in the kitchen eating breakfast and to her great annoyance she realized that Freddy was now taller than she was. She had tasked Freddy and Matthias with getting Michael and Louis out of bed while she braved the perils of Kiki’s suite of rooms. Opening the door, Kat saw the usual detritus of Kiki’s varied interests spilled across the floor. Lately, Kiki had been putting in an effort to keep the floor somewhat clear so that the girls could practice dancing with Prince Louis as a reluctant dance partner. She found Kiki, Aurora and Anya asleep in Kiki’s bed. As Kat helped the groggy girls get dressed and find Kiki’s glasses she asked where Zella was.
“Zella's mother saw her marks on the last algebra exam and she just exploded, so Zella is being punished” Kiki said.
Then Anya muttered something in Russian that Kat didn’t quite catch but Kiki must have.
“I don’t think that math was invented by Stalin to torture people” Kiki said mater of fact to Anya.