Part 96, Chapter 1512
Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Twelve
1st October 1962
Tempelhof, Berlin
“We cleaned out your flat after your landlord grew tired of having it sit empty for so long and you not being there to renew the lease” Nadine, Ben’s Mother said as she opened the door of his old bedroom. “We put your things in here while you were overseas.”
It was all a bit of an annoyance. When SKG 18 had been rotated home, Ben had been expecting to resume his old life. Instead he had returned to find his flat had been rented to someone else, so he was having to move back home until other arrangements could be made. It was also already way too late to get into the current term at University and Kiki had apparently vanished off the face of the Earth. He was staring at his bedroom which was crammed full his things from the flat. It all seemed to be a jumble that was in no discernable order.
“Your friend Wilhelm called” Nadine said happily, “He says that his girlfriend’s friend needs a date tomorrow night and wondered if you were busy.”
That was all Ben needed as far as complications went. He had met Wim’s girlfriend once before they had gone to Korea. She was a statuesque bottle blond who was an odd mixture shallow and stupid. Ben had never understood what Wim saw in her. She loved the idea of dating a fighter pilot though it had been explained to her repeatedly that wasn’t what Wim did. Her friends were cut from the same cloth and Ben knew that they would only be interested in talking about frivolous things while he sat there bored out of his mind. They had only been back home for few hours and already Wim had reconnected with her, hardly surprising. Ben’s Mother was pleased with the idea of him going on a date now that he was home. She would be far less pleased if she knew about him getting back together with Kiki, who she had never really liked. Though Ben was unsure about where that relationship stood, he didn’t want to mess it up again. In the past whenever Kiki hid from the world it had proven to be a bad idea to seek her out. When she was ready, Kiki would appear on her terms. Ben just hoped that she resurfaced soon.
“I’ll call Wim back later” Ben replied. Not saying that he agreed to do anything, but his mother didn’t seem to care.
Nadine smiled at that and left Ben to sort out the ungodly mess that was his bedroom.
Elbe River, Near Barby
It was with considerable embarrassment that Kiki picked up the brass cartridges from the deck of the barge. For the last couple days, she had been unable to shake the feeling that she was being watched. Shortly after she tied up on the shoreline, this evening, she had thought that she had seen movement in the tree line above the bank. Without thinking about it, Kiki had drawn her pistol and fired into the trees. Hera, who had been by her feet, had vanished the instant the firing started. After six months in Korea and never firing a shot, Kiki had only lasted a few weeks before she had done it here.
Kiki counted, eight brass cartridges. Which meant that she had emptied the magazine at shadows in a completely undisciplined manner and Kat would be very disappointed that she had done such a thing. It was fortunate that there was no one in the woods or elsewhere along this isolated stretch of the river, just Kiki’s paranoia at work. What if there had been someone on the bank? She might have just seriously hurt, or even killed someone. When Kiki had seen that a psychological evaluation had been requested, she had been resistant to the idea. Now with this latest incident she saw that there was probably a good reason for it. She had been debating which direction to go in tomorrow, the Elbe-Havel Canal would take her back to Berlin. Kiki was thinking that it would be a good idea to go that way, if for no other reason than to talk with Doctor Berg.
Things had been so wonderful on the rivers and canals. It all had its own rhythms and moved at an unhurried pace. The peaceful nature of it had been exactly what Kiki had needed. She had gone all the way up the Elbe to Prague and in Bohemia she had been able to be completely anonymous. It was amusing to see how the people there regarded her older brother. Michael had led a Panzer Platoon in Korea and had spent the conflict mostly conducting infantry fire support, the not so glamourous job that the Panzer Corps had actually been created for. The Bohemians had a different take on it though. The Empire had gone to war and their King had proven himself in battle. The next time she saw Michael she would need to ask him what the real story was.
Glancing down the river, Kiki realized that she couldn’t stay here for the night. It was too bad that the peace she had enjoyed out here had to end in such a stupid way.
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The instructions were simple enough, watch the girl on the boat. That was what Alexis Waltz had been doing with Leon and Andreas. They had been warned that this was revolutionary activity, so they needed to be cautious. What they had found instead was a girl cruising at an unhurried pace down the Elbe River with only a cat as a companion. She hardly seemed like an enemy, bespectacled with shoulder length hair that hung in brown curls. Then tonight, she had suddenly started shooting at them from the deck of her boat and they scrambled to hide. Leon was having to hold down Andreas and keep his hand over his mouth to keep Andreas from screaming because his shoulder was a bloody ruin. The concern was obvious, if she thought that they were still out here then the girl might finish the job. They had been warned that she was absolutely ruthless but that had seemed silly until now.
Alexis heard the marine diesel start up and the boat headed down the river.
1st October 1962
Tempelhof, Berlin
“We cleaned out your flat after your landlord grew tired of having it sit empty for so long and you not being there to renew the lease” Nadine, Ben’s Mother said as she opened the door of his old bedroom. “We put your things in here while you were overseas.”
It was all a bit of an annoyance. When SKG 18 had been rotated home, Ben had been expecting to resume his old life. Instead he had returned to find his flat had been rented to someone else, so he was having to move back home until other arrangements could be made. It was also already way too late to get into the current term at University and Kiki had apparently vanished off the face of the Earth. He was staring at his bedroom which was crammed full his things from the flat. It all seemed to be a jumble that was in no discernable order.
“Your friend Wilhelm called” Nadine said happily, “He says that his girlfriend’s friend needs a date tomorrow night and wondered if you were busy.”
That was all Ben needed as far as complications went. He had met Wim’s girlfriend once before they had gone to Korea. She was a statuesque bottle blond who was an odd mixture shallow and stupid. Ben had never understood what Wim saw in her. She loved the idea of dating a fighter pilot though it had been explained to her repeatedly that wasn’t what Wim did. Her friends were cut from the same cloth and Ben knew that they would only be interested in talking about frivolous things while he sat there bored out of his mind. They had only been back home for few hours and already Wim had reconnected with her, hardly surprising. Ben’s Mother was pleased with the idea of him going on a date now that he was home. She would be far less pleased if she knew about him getting back together with Kiki, who she had never really liked. Though Ben was unsure about where that relationship stood, he didn’t want to mess it up again. In the past whenever Kiki hid from the world it had proven to be a bad idea to seek her out. When she was ready, Kiki would appear on her terms. Ben just hoped that she resurfaced soon.
“I’ll call Wim back later” Ben replied. Not saying that he agreed to do anything, but his mother didn’t seem to care.
Nadine smiled at that and left Ben to sort out the ungodly mess that was his bedroom.
Elbe River, Near Barby
It was with considerable embarrassment that Kiki picked up the brass cartridges from the deck of the barge. For the last couple days, she had been unable to shake the feeling that she was being watched. Shortly after she tied up on the shoreline, this evening, she had thought that she had seen movement in the tree line above the bank. Without thinking about it, Kiki had drawn her pistol and fired into the trees. Hera, who had been by her feet, had vanished the instant the firing started. After six months in Korea and never firing a shot, Kiki had only lasted a few weeks before she had done it here.
Kiki counted, eight brass cartridges. Which meant that she had emptied the magazine at shadows in a completely undisciplined manner and Kat would be very disappointed that she had done such a thing. It was fortunate that there was no one in the woods or elsewhere along this isolated stretch of the river, just Kiki’s paranoia at work. What if there had been someone on the bank? She might have just seriously hurt, or even killed someone. When Kiki had seen that a psychological evaluation had been requested, she had been resistant to the idea. Now with this latest incident she saw that there was probably a good reason for it. She had been debating which direction to go in tomorrow, the Elbe-Havel Canal would take her back to Berlin. Kiki was thinking that it would be a good idea to go that way, if for no other reason than to talk with Doctor Berg.
Things had been so wonderful on the rivers and canals. It all had its own rhythms and moved at an unhurried pace. The peaceful nature of it had been exactly what Kiki had needed. She had gone all the way up the Elbe to Prague and in Bohemia she had been able to be completely anonymous. It was amusing to see how the people there regarded her older brother. Michael had led a Panzer Platoon in Korea and had spent the conflict mostly conducting infantry fire support, the not so glamourous job that the Panzer Corps had actually been created for. The Bohemians had a different take on it though. The Empire had gone to war and their King had proven himself in battle. The next time she saw Michael she would need to ask him what the real story was.
Glancing down the river, Kiki realized that she couldn’t stay here for the night. It was too bad that the peace she had enjoyed out here had to end in such a stupid way.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The instructions were simple enough, watch the girl on the boat. That was what Alexis Waltz had been doing with Leon and Andreas. They had been warned that this was revolutionary activity, so they needed to be cautious. What they had found instead was a girl cruising at an unhurried pace down the Elbe River with only a cat as a companion. She hardly seemed like an enemy, bespectacled with shoulder length hair that hung in brown curls. Then tonight, she had suddenly started shooting at them from the deck of her boat and they scrambled to hide. Leon was having to hold down Andreas and keep his hand over his mouth to keep Andreas from screaming because his shoulder was a bloody ruin. The concern was obvious, if she thought that they were still out here then the girl might finish the job. They had been warned that she was absolutely ruthless but that had seemed silly until now.
Alexis heard the marine diesel start up and the boat headed down the river.
