Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Ninety-Four
20th September 1963
Jena, Thuringia
What fresh new Hell was this, Kiki thought to herself as one of her classmates took the time to show her the article in Playboy Magazine that she had been featured in.
Kristina “Kiki” von Preussen, Princess, Musician, Medical Student, Artist, Officer in the German Airborne Search and Rescue. Definitely not your typical Girl next door. It was an in-depth article about her by Hunter S. Thompson that featured a copy of the scathing letter that Kiki had written to Hugh Hefner telling him what she thought of his offer when she turned eighteen, as well as several photographs of her where she was fully clothed. Unfortunately, two of them she was still wearing the clothes that she slept in, her hair disheveled and wearing her glasses because she hadn’t had a chance to put her contact lens in. The others were of her playing her viola with Bob Dylan or eating breakfast with Zella and Vicky while they were talking about art with Warhol. Finally, there was one of her in her dark blue dress uniform, someone had taken the time to list all of the medals starting with the PLM.
Kiki obviously hadn’t quite been forceful enough when she had kicked Thompson out of her hotel suite. Oddly, one of the photographs depicted her doing exactly that.
The contents of the article itself was composed of biographical information and details from the observations that Thompson had made while he had been talking with her. Her time in Korea as well as her activities in Germany since she had come back from there were mentioned. Then it said that she had been accepted into the Friedrich-Schiller University. Kiki saw that after the article concluded there was a pictorial of a woman Kiki’s age wearing nothing more than a pasted-on smile and a suntan. She was disgusted that she had been featured in such a publication.
Mitte, Berlin
There were times when Manny realized that his parents were not quite who he thought they were. He had asked his father for his opinion about a paper that he been given by the Commandant of his Gymnasium’s Cadet Company; The 30 Commandments of the Panzer Corps Dragoon Company Commander.
“I think that your mother is going to kill me if she sees you with this” Was what Manny’s father had said. “She is determined that you are going to University.”
This was a continuation from years earlier when they had been reluctant to allow him to join the Cadet Company in the first place. That reluctance was a surprise. Manny’s father had served in the Panzer Corps in the Dragoons in Spain, Russia, Manchuria, South Africa, Mexico and Korea. Johannes von Mischner was a bigger than life hero who everyone said was being groomed to take over as Inspector of the Panzer Corps, a position once occupied by the legendary Field Marshal von Wolvogle and was expected to go even higher than that with time. Now it seemed as if having his son following in his footsteps wasn’t something that he wanted. When Manny had recently discussed this matter with Opa von Richthofen, he had said that having him continue the family’s Cavalry traditions would possibly be among the most noble things that he could be doing with his life.
There was the other aspect that Manny considered as well. His little sister Ina was one of most gentle people he knew. She was simply incapable of hurting anyone else or imagining that anyone might hurt her in turn. He had occasionally been forced to take corrective measures against those who would take advantage of Ina’s nature. It had come as a relief that Ina had made friends with Suse Knispel and Jo Falk. The two of them were formidable enough to chase off anyone who Manny would have had to deal with otherwise. Opa said that Ina was free to be how she was because people like Manny’s father and his Aunt Katherine had sworn an oath to protect that freedom. Manny had a choice of what to do with his life and compared with that, going to University first like his mother said she wanted him to do seemed selfish.
Washington D.C.
“Have you ever had dealings with a foreign Government?” The Polygraph Operator asked.
“Yes, you are aware of what I do for a living?” John asked in reply.
The Polygraph Operator frowned and moved onto the next question.
“Have you ever knowingly passed classified information to an agent of a foreign Government?”
“Yes” John said with an evil grin. And one of the observers spit out his coffee.
The Polygraph Operator looked furious as he marked the paper where John had answered that question.
“For clarification Director Aleshire was ordered to read in Sven Werth from German Federal Interior Intelligence into the investigation of the attempted assassination of President Truman and the Augusta Conspiracy” One of the Bureau Lawyers interjected.
“I think you’ve proven your point Sir” The Deputy Director who was John’s replacement in Counterintelligence said. It was part of a larger debate that was going on in the FBI as well as other Law Enforcement Agencies. The polygraph was a marvel of technology, but to rely on it was foolhardy in the extreme.
“My point is that if there is a high-level mole, I can guarantee that he could strap himself into this machine, answer the questions, lie his head off and the needle won’t move” John said.
“With all due respect Sir” The Polygraph Operator said, “This is the best our experts can come up with.”
“Do you honestly think that the other side’s experts are sitting still?” John asked in reply.
The truth that no one in this room knew was that the case that gave John the credibility to be the Director was one where he had been tipped off. For years, there had been rumors of a high-level German spy in the CIA who they jokingly called Jürgen. As it had turned out, Jürgen was real, and John had worked backwards once he had learned who it was to prove it. In reality Jürgen had gone rogue and the BND had suggested that John do something about him. Eventually it had come down an interrogation where John had verbally cornered Jürgen and got the collar. Everyone in the Bureau had said that it was legendary and had joked that one-day Hollywood was going to get ahold of that story and they would see it on the movie screen. John was aware that what had happened was also a warning to him about what would happen if he ever forgot who held his leash.
