Chapter One Thousand One Hundred One
22nd September 1954
Berlin
“It’s not my place to approve or disapprove” Kat said as she got into bed. With the nights getting cooler she was back to wearing the flannel nightgowns that only generated electricity from the static they threw off the sheets. For Doug it was just one more example of how she changed with the seasons.
“The Emperor clearly sees things differently than you do” Doug replied, “And he wasn’t shy in calling you out on it.”
It hadn’t been an easy week for Kat and it wasn’t over yet. The Emperor had found that giving Kat flying lessons would be a fun thing to do on Saturday afternoons. When it was pointed out that Louis clearly had not heard about the problems with cats in high places, seemingly everyone but Kat had found that amusing. Then Kat had learned about the secret mission that Admiral von Schmidt had taken. In many respects it was the final rapprochement for decades of strategic rivalry going back to before the First World War, but Kat had seen a copy of the report that von Schmidt had compiled and felt that it probably gave away too much.
“The British are not stupid, if they can read between the lines it is basically an outline laying out the schedule of the entire Navy for at least the next decade” Kat replied, “It even has things like the advancement of technology factored in.”
“If it is about building up a partnership” Doug said, “Someone has to show a certain amount of trust.”
“I can understand that” Kat replied, “But I wouldn’t have shown them that much.”
“So, you are comparing international relations to our first few dates?” Doug asked. He wasn’t being completely serious and was more than half expecting her to hit him with a pillow. Instead she looked at him thoughtfully.
“I always kept a knife and a gun within easy reach” Kat replied, “I would hope that the Emperor and the Chancellor would understand the reason for that.”
“I know that is probably the truth” Doug said, “But anyone who didn’t know you would probably find it very disturbing.”
“Yet you didn’t run away when you had the chance” Kat said happily.
“I figured that you would have just shot me in the back if I did” Doug replied. That was what got him hit with the pillow.
Langley, Virginia
“Are you kidding me?” Parker said in disgust as he learned what his next assignment was going to be.
“You need to maintain your cover” Jackson Grey, Parker’s superior in the CIA, said.
That very cover had caused Parker to get a bit of static when he had called his parents after he had landed in D.C. a week prior. They were completely confused about exactly what he was up to. His father going so far as to asking him if he had broken up with a girl and was suicidal or something. As far as they could tell Parker had joined the Army and then gotten into auto racing. They just had no idea why he had done it and he couldn’t tell them that he had joined the CIA.
Now, he had just learned that he was going back to Fort Meade where he would be changing oil and having Jonny chewing him out for some minor infraction. A crash course in auto-mechanics and immersion lessons in the culture of the U.S. Army.
“It will be better than before” Grey said, “You got promoted to Corporal, everyone knows about the race that you and Casey were a part of and there is this.”
Grey handed him a full color brochure from the Ford Motor Company that was advertising the new 1955 Ford Anglia “Rally” Model. Most of the changes and improvements that Jonny and Parker had made to the car were now part of the production model. Even a few that Jonny had wanted but couldn’t get, like the four-speed transmission.
The slogan across the top of the page read; Ford stands for First On Race Day.
Then below that.
The Anglia ran the most grueling rally race in the world, the Silk Road Rally Race. More than 6,000 miles across every sort of landscape, high mountains, torrential rains, scorching deserts and wide plains. Compared to that, your commute is nothing. Drive one of the most dependable cars in the world.
“Is this a joke?” Parker asked, “We didn’t come in first.”
“I got news for you” Grey said, “No one gives a shit. Sure, next year Ford is expecting a championship trophy but to go six thousand miles and come in second by a fraction of a second is the sort of thing that people will be talking about for decades and you had better believe it sells cars. Mr. McNamara at Ford, who I know that you and John Casey met with said that interest in the Anglia spiked after you were in the news.”
“I don’t see what the actions of the CIA have to do with an auto company” Parker replied.
“It provides you and Casey with an easy cover” Grey said, “And Ford gets the visibility. The car is seen, and most people don’t know you from Adam. You also got yourself into places that no official agent of this Agency could have gotten into.”
Parker sat there blinking for a few seconds. That was cynical and self-serving for all parties but somehow it was working.