Chapter One Thousand Two Hundred Twenty-Six
27th May 1957
Berlin
Everything was falling apart, that was all Kat could think about as she collected Kiki from a Luftwaffe Airfield. The girl looked afraid, that was hardly a surprise because Kiki was in unknown territory for her. Unfortunately, it was territory that Kat knew all too well. Unlike many others in her family Kiki had to be aware that she was looking at evidence of a potentially lethal inheritance.
The month of May had started badly and then had gotten worse. First had come word that Asia had been kidnapped from the hospital where she had been detained. Kira had correctly suspected that Kat had played a role but because Kat had never left her post with the First Foot while that had happened and was keeping quiet nothing had come of it. Gia had remained absent from the Imperial Court and that had not been unnoticed.
Then in the middle of the month everything had come unraveled. Gia had turned up in Moscow and gave a press conference. She announced to the world that she had paid for and led the rescue of her adopted sister Asia Lawniczak at the hands of Danvers State Hospital and the Boston Field Office of the FBI. She had then presented the file that she had taken from the hospital so that they could see for themselves what had been happening. Finally, she had said that she had shot Doctor Walter Freeman in an act that she said she wasn’t proud of, but it was her reaction in the face of such evil. She was willing to be held legally accountable for her actions. Kat had realized at that until that moment, Gia had believed that she had killed Walter Freeman. The issue wasn’t helped by Walter Freeman’s reputation getting the full light of world focus shown on it. More showman than Doctor, Freeman’s nonchalance and selling on an invasive medical procedure as a cure-all was impossible to hide. There were many who thought that his fate was poetic justice.
Even if the U.S. Government wasn’t aware that no jury in the world would convict Gia, Russia itself had closed ranks around her. For years they had seen Gia as some sort of saint, and she had not really been a public figure. She had raised some eyebrows with her love of activities that were not considered feminine, fighting and shooting. However, when mixed with the pious, wholesome image that Georgy had sold them of Gia, they had a different picture of her now. She was someone who could not back down in the face of evil, and when she encountered it, fought to kill it. The accounts of the men who had accompanied Gia into Danvers, who Kat was certain were Russian Airborne Special Forces, had described a literal Hell on Earth that “Sasha Lukichna” had fearlessly entered.
Gia had also announced that Doctor Richard Ambrose and his accomplice Blair Pratt were to be tried under one of the Anti-Stalin Laws, any Official of the State who engaged in torture of an individual that they held in detention would be looking at an extremely long stay in Siberia. The U.S. State Department had lodged a protest that they were Americans who had been arrested in America. The Russians had found that amusing and had asked when the U.S. Government was going to finish paying the money that they owed. Kat understood the implications of that. The Doctor and Nurse had been caught in the act of doing something that they shouldn’t have been doing. Now they were pawns in a larger game while enjoying the comforts of Russian prisons.
Kira had not been happy. Of all the sisterhood, Gia was the one who she could not touch, and this had put Gia firmly in the pocket of Georgy. She had favored diplomatic means of getting Asia back. Normally that would have been the right call, but in this case, someone had move quickly or Asia would have been left physically and mentally crippled. Kat had found herself in the uncomfortable position of having to defend Kira to the girls while at the same time she was having to defend Gia’s actions with Kira.
Things had come to a head a day earlier when Kat had tried to tell Kira that Gia had paid a heavy price and would continue to pay it for years to come. She had was deeply in Georgy’s debt and Kat was trying to find a way to get Gia out from under that. Kira’s response had been to state that she felt that she needed to appoint a new Kammerfräulein and that if Kat said one more word defending Gia then she would be needing a new Mistress of the Keys as well. Kat had realized that Kira was seeing Gia’s actions as a personal betrayal similar to the one she had endured at the hands of her daughter and that the Empress couldn’t be reasoned with.
That was when something that Kat had long feared would happen did. Kira had collapsed there in the middle of the Court. Kat had found herself with the Royal Physician trying to save Kira’s life after she had suffered a heart-attack.
Now the next day, Kat had come from University Hospital to get Kiki from a Luftwaffe Airfield outside the city because that would keep the Press away from Kiki at this time. Kat didn’t need to tell her what was happening, her Aunt had passed away from heart disease just months earlier and she would know that it could run in families. Kat had no idea how Kiki’s maternal grandfather had died, just that he wasn’t particularly old when he had.
“How is she?” Kiki asked as Kat walked with her from the airplane to the waiting helicopter.
“She’s doing better” Kat replied, “The Doctors are keeping her comfortable.”
“What is the prognosis, Kat?” Kiki asked, “Please don’t try to protect me from it.”
Kat hesitated for a second, she might be a serious and dedicated young woman, but Kiki was still fifteen, that was quite young for what she was asking.
“You need to help with your younger brother and sisters” Kat replied, “They don’t understand what happened.”
“What are you trying not to tell me?” Kiki demanded, her determined look wasn’t one that Kat had ever seen on Kira. She wasn’t going to happy with anything less than the truth.
“Barring a miracle…” Kat started to say but thought better of it. “This is an opportunity for you to make peace with her, you need to make the most of it, for your own sake.”
It was just as well that the engines of the helicopter prevented further conversation.