Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

Especially since he's the kid of a infamous arms dealer the CIA would like to put in a shallow grave or a cell in Leavenworth.
But do they really want that outcome? Do they really? I mean, if they want Robin's name to be kept out of the file, someone has an interest in protecting the Bush/Pierce family.
 
But do they really want that outcome? Do they really? I mean, if they want Robin's name to be kept out of the file, someone has an interest in protecting the Bush/Pierce family.
Nothing says they can't just put him in a cell under an assumed name, or in an asylum, claiming he's just some madman.
 
So, is the CIA using Señor Arbusto as a money maker? Wouldn't be the first time the Cocaine Import Agency financed itself through dubious means.
 
If Mr. Arbusto gets captured alive by the US, the best option if you want to keep him alive and on a short leash would be to send him to a tame government. Talk to the CIA’s friends at United Fruit and see if one of their government liaisons can arrange something.

If the Germans get him, they could have a certain club owner in Berlin explain all the advantages of working with them. If he doesn’t want to cooperate lots of places he could go, say a small island in the Pacific.
 
It would be interesting to see him as deals with the fact that his Grandfather Prescott and Father George have turned in pariahs in this timeline, maybe he will breakout of that legacy and achieve greatness on his own terms.
G. W. Pierce, Air Force pilot-turned-(great) actor a la Audie Murphy/Jimmy Stewart?

Marc A
 
This would not be the first case where multiple agencies of the same government, or even different divisions of the same agency, work at cross purposes to each other. Remember that scene from "Lord of War"? The one where the US government agent is trying to interrogate the arms dealer, only for said arms dealer to tell him that the door would open and the agent would be told to release him because the arms dealer was a major "broker" for his government? That's what I think is happening here. Especially given the US habit of supporting outfits like United Fruit in its efforts to 'open' South America to 'free trade'. They publicly hunt GHWB/Arbusto while covertly using & protecting him. Arbusto has far too many back doors into various 'places of interest' for the CIA to want him shut down, not to mention Jorge definitely has a shitload of "open upon my death & burn before reading" files scattered around the globe in places the US government can't reach. Which is why I think Parker & his boys were sent there to act as a reminder of what could happen if he gets too far out of line. ONI, on the other hand, may have actually wanted 'their' rogue brought down.

Which also goes some way to explain why Robin Pierce is being kept out of the official US reports. She will, of course, be in the German & Italian ones.

As for German interest in Arbusto, while German intelligence agencies want to grab him for the information in his head, they mainly want him because he has supplied and/or instigated most of the fires that they've been called upon to put out.
 
It looks like that Rauchbier had a good and (re)productive summer and the one person who will have a good laugh will be Freddy as it was his gift to Kiki.

As for Senor Arbusto he has information that will bring down a bunch of governments and corporations around the world and a deal may be made where he pays a "substantial " find and he takes a lower profile from now on but I think that he provides a service that a lot of governments need but don't want to be directly involved with.
 
Thinking of randoms, shouldn't a 19 year old junior bodybuilder be doing his national service in Austria about now?
 
To give my two cents to the Bush affair...
If one of the big inteligence agencies is involved with his disapperance, either directly or by leak, I think it will be a major case of reproductive bird product to face. And it could destroy the credibility of said agency for a lengthy time.

Imo it would be even worse for the USA if one of their agencies was directly involved. As there is a way to construct an bigger involvement then there meight be. As Bush was a ONI operative "burned" and humiliated by Germans / Europeans.
So how would the world react if Bush, as a illegitimate merchant of death, is also an assat of the CIA or other agencies.

And what are the chances he works for someone else... like the British or French... or other thierd party organisations?
 
To give my two cents to the Bush affair...
If one of the big inteligence agencies is involved with his disapperance, either directly or by leak, I think it will be a major case of reproductive bird product to face. And it could destroy the credibility of said agency for a lengthy time.

Imo it would be even worse for the USA if one of their agencies was directly involved. As there is a way to construct an bigger involvement then there meight be. As Bush was a ONI operative "burned" and humiliated by Germans / Europeans.
So how would the world react if Bush, as a illegitimate merchant of death, is also an assat of the CIA or other agencies.

And what are the chances he works for someone else... like the British or French... or other thierd party organisations?
I'd say that Arbusto will supply and/or broker for whoever ponies up enough cash or cash equivalent. Bonus points (for him) if his own country comes begging for his services or if it gives them a black eye in some way (see Mexico). Even if he doesn't have links, official or otherwise, with various governments, he definitely has links with weapons manufacturers, other more legitimate surplus arms dealers and, of course, 'scrap metal' dealers.

Potential conversation Stateside:
US Army supply officer: "Are you sure these serial numbers are correct?"
Various government agents: "Yes. We triple checked to make sure. Why do you ask?"
US Army supply officer: "Because according to our records, this lot were all sold off for scrap 5 years ago & melted down. And this batch was declared surplus to requirements 2 years ago & released to various law enforcement agencies and to federal & state corrections departments. So, how the hell did they end up in **********?"

Meanwhile I'm starting to suspect that 'Spectre' is a real outfit ITTL. Does anyone remember if Jorge owns a white cat?
 
Maybe George Jr starts with a little airline in Tx. Doesent Southwest start up in a few years. Stock ownership and hey I own an airline.
 
Part 108, Chapter 1771
Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Seventy-One



18th December 1966

Trieste, Austria

Today, Udi Brog had time to reflect on the events of the prior days as he walked randomly through the Medieval potion of the city. The Brass had made a big show of bawling out Brog and his men for exceeding their orders on Santorini and causing the only injury during the operation when one of the Amis had gotten an ass full of grenade fragments. What were they supposed to have done? Sit at the bottom of the cliffs while the actual fight, that wasn’t actually happening, but they didn’t know that, was happening elsewhere? They had not been about to let the Tabbies have all the fun to themselves, orders be damned. The Brass had understood that on some level because as soon as they finished yelling, they announced that Brog was getting promoted to Hauptmann. Kapitän Laninga had said that if they had expected the Marines to sit pat on the pier, they had clearly picked the wrong men. It was because being insane and doing the unexpected was more their speed. That wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement, but they took it as one. They were a detachment from the 3rd Marine Infantry Division, Tilo’s Marines, they had reputation to live down to and a commanding Officer who was Regular Navy casting shade upon them did wonders for that. Someone in Kiel or Cuxhaven must agree.

Prince Louis had just watched the entire thing with detached amusement. Because SMS T35 “Estoc”, a Type 39 Fleet Torpedo Boat, had been shifted to Trieste from the Baltic, he was no longer the ranking Officer in the flotilla. That suited him fine for now, as he had explained everything to Brog because they went way back to when they had both been Cadets on the SMS Brandenburg. Louis had said that the entire operation with the Q-Ships had revealed the weaknesses of the light units of the Flotilla. Having the four 10.5cm guns of the Estoc along was a welcome change for future operations. In the meantime, Louis was happy that he only needed to worry about his own boat. He had also pointed out something that was a bit amusing and worrying at the same time to Brog, an Estoc was a sword with no edge and a reinforced point for punching holes through armor. What did that say about the ship and her crew?

Rounding a corner, Brog saw that he was on the street that led up to the gates of Castello di San Giusto, the old fortress had stood over the city for centuries with portions of it dating back it dating back to the Roman Period. While from a military standpoint it was long obsolete, it still functioned as the administrative center of the defenses of the City of Trieste and the territory around it that Austria claimed. Part of the weird geography of the city meant that much of Slovenia was between it and the rest of Austria. What meant in practice was that even as Ljubljana made a big show of independence, the Slovenes had greater economic and political ties to Vienna than they had while they had been directly ruled by Austria.

As Brog approached the gates of the castle, he saw who was walking out the other way and almost turned and walked back the way he came but it was too late for that. Austria still had conscription and one of the Conscripts who Brog had gotten to know all too well was Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was the son of Gustave Schwarzenegger, a high-ranking Police Official and prominent member of the far-right Austrian Royalist Party. The same political party that pined for the long-lost Austro-Hungarian Empire and saw it as a complete injustice that the Germany had been united under the upstart House of Hohenzollern as opposed to a Hapsburg Emperor. They were also well known to be anti-Semitic and didn’t like Slavs much either which was why Brog, as a Lithuanian Jew, avoided them like the plague.

As a teenager, Arnold had yet to differentiate his views from those of his parents. It was doubtful that he ever would because word was that his father was leaning on him to join the Police when he returned from the Army. When Brog had first met him months earlier, he had not checked to see if Brog had horns and a tail, but it was obvious that was what was swirling around in the back of his mind. Brog also had a hard time imagining him as a Policeman. A term that the Americans had recently told Louis’ sister Kiki that she had in turn told Louis about was “Pencil-necked geek.” That term described Arnold perfectly, tall, rail thin without any fat or muscle on him. He was also prone to pithy one-liners that always had him on the edge of having someone about to kick his face in.

“Hauptmann Brog” Arnold said with smile, revealing the gap between his front teeth.

“Rekrut” Brog replied.

That made Arnold’s smile vanish. His one-year term of service might almost be up, but he still didn’t like being reminded that he remained one of the lowest ranking soldiers in Trieste.

“I heard that your outfit saw some action?” Arnold asked.

“It was hardly what I would call action” Brog replied, “It was a bloody pointless fiasco that failed in the end.”

“That was still more than is going on here” Arnold said.

“Be thankful for that” Brog said, “The things Recon are saying that are happening down south should scare you, boredom is good if that means the war isn’t being fought here.”

Arnold looked at him with some disbelief, some people needed to learn lessons the hard way.
 
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Interesting, perhaps if Arnold goes south, he’ll start going against his father’s policies.
 
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