Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Twenty-Eight
19th July 1973
Fritz von Below Barracks, Wunsdorf-Zossen
Life within the vast military base was very much dictated by the seasons. The first half of the summer was dedicated to practice and that the second for maintenance. It was during this time of the year that the barracks were entirely opened up, cleaned, and any outstanding repair work was handled. The thing was that this resulted in a blizzard of paperwork that needed to be done in triplicate and submitted to the Administrative Services Battalion. That was what Manny’s desk was currently buried under and he figured that he would see the surface of it again about the time requisitions for supplies for winterization, fuel, firewood, and winter gear buried it again.
Just the fact that Headquarters needed a battalion sized unit to handle the clerical aspect of running the 4th Division spoke volumes. Manny knew better than to complain too much about any of that. His Uncle Stefan had commanded Admin. Services for a while before he had gotten promoted to command the 8th Panzer Dragoons and eventually the entire Division.
Unfortunately for Manny, the tasks required for fixing up the barracks were deemed perfect for teaching Cadets in the final years from the various Prussian Institutes the art of soldiering. It was more like them learning shirking, evasion, and goldbricking from the pros. That was why he was not at his desk doing his job but talking at a group of Cadets, including two of his cousins, as they were covered in yellow paint that should have been on the interior walls. They had done a rather sloppy job the day before and the Feldwebels had given them an early lesson in just who you don’t mess with, ever. They had redone the job today, properly this time.
Into this, a familiar face decided to make an appearance.
“The face of the German Army, Captain von Mischner?” Captain North asked in English with a laugh as he saw the gathered Cadets. “The yellow stripes are a nice touch.”
“God help us” Manny muttered. North was the last man on Earth he wanted to deal with. He saw Sabastian Schultz give North a dirty look, at sixteen Bas stood taller than most men, knew how to fight, understood English and contrary to the impression he gave of being easy going, had a volcanic temper. U.S. Special Forces or not, North would find Bas to be more than a match if he picked a fight.
“Who is that?” Niko asked, stepping around Bas. He had grown into the leadership role that he had been thrust into by the academy. Preventing Bas from getting into too much trouble seemed to be a key part of that.
“He’s a visitor from the U.S. Embassy” Manny said, “An observer who we are supposed to extend every courtesy to.”
“Who came up with that bullshit, Sir?” One of the Cadets asked as they started moving in a group towards the Mess Hall. It seemed like food was one of the few things that truly motivated them.
“They seem like a bunch of smart-alecks” North said.
“The two who did most of the talking are relatives of mine” Manny said, “They can speak to me out of turn in an informal setting. Besides, they have spent the last several days getting yelled at by Sergeants. So, I took a bit of mercy on them.”
North chuckled at that.
For some odd reason, North thought that they were friends. The truth was that Manny found him to be arrogant and pigheaded. There had also been some of the comments he had made regarding what could only be termed American Exceptionalism that made Manny’s skin crawl.
“Exactly what do you want, Captain North?” Manny asked.
“You were in La-La Land last year?” North asked.
“Because script writing is an obnoxious process” Manny replied, “I needed to go there to straighten out a mess of my own creation.”
“You have friends there though?”
“Hardly” Manny replied, “I was staying in the house of a man who owed me a favor.”
Manny didn’t want to jam up Ritchie, so they had both agreed to the story about a favor being owed. Everyone involved was Special Forces in some capacity, so the idea of a debt being cashed in was a concept that would be understood instantly.
“Oh” North said, “I was hoping that you knew who I could sell a script to.”
“You wrote a script?” Manny asked. He had once heard a comedian joking about seeing a wreck coming, but not being able to look away. Captain North writing anything had that same feeling.
Schwielochsee, Spreewald National Park
It had taken all morning, but Sophie had covered the distance between Tempelhof and Schwielochsee. She had reached the camp in the early afternoon and found that she was the first one there. Oddly, this had been Doctor Berg’s idea and Kat had agreed to it. It was figured that she was old enough to find her own means to get to the camp where she had spent the last few Summer Holidays. It being a Thursday, the rest of the campers would not arrive until Saturday. The adult staff had been a bit put out that Sophie had shown up a couple days early, but the Head Councilor had figured that if she wanted to help with the finishing touches of the set up then the more the marrier.
The truth was that Sophie had found the silence in the cabin a welcome relief as she enjoyed the first afternoon alone. Especially after how noisy her life had become in recent days. The best part was that the staff had seen that she had brought everything on the list of required clothes and equipment in her panier bags they had not thought to check further. She had smuggled all sorts of goodies into the camp in the basket in the front of the bicycle. It almost made up for having to leave Sprocket behind for the holiday. She had considered smuggling him in but figured that would have taken things a bit too far.