Chapter One Thousand Nine Hundred Forty-Four
8th November 1969
Changsha, Hunan Province, China
Looking at the men under his command, Sun Li-gen could the vast improvement in morale since the prior spring before they had run circles around Generalissimo Chiang’s forces. That had only been a small part of why he had conducted the operation the way that he had. The main reasons were to prove to his detractors, who had remained skeptical of his methods, that he knew what he was doing and to field test his theories. The last reason was to get a measure of Sun Li-gen’s principal opponent, Pan Yong. Looking several moves ahead, Sun recognized that he had put Pan Yong in an untenable position. If he remained in the capital, Pan had two choices, wait for Chiang to get around to dispose of an underling who was showing signs of having too much ambition or launch a palace coup. Sun knew full well that any coup attempt by Pan was doomed to failure before it even started. Beijing was the very center of the Generalissimo’s power, with the inverse pyramid that was the hierarchy of the Chinese State in place. Everything was dependent upon the continued existence of Chiang at the very bottom. Even in Pan succeeded in the coup, they would eat him alive even as the structure of the State collapsed around them.
Instead, Sun figured that Pan would come south in the hope that he could knock Sun out of the conflict before the Southern Army became too entrenched. In studying the Battle of Jonchon that had taken place during the Sino-Korean War had revealed a great deal to Sun. The conclusion that Sun Li-jen had reached was that Pan was hardly the brilliant military leader that he thought he was. He had managed to punch a hole through the Korean lines only to fail to fully exploit the breach once he had managed to achieve it. Instead, Pan had rushed back to Beijing in an effort to burnish his image. It had been no surprise that a counterattack had taken place a few weeks later that had largely pushed the Chinese Army out of Korea entirely with the exception of those unlucky enough to be trapped on the wrong side of the Yalu River.
Strutting peacock, Sun thought to himself.
Sun knew that Pan would come straight at him, his pride would allow him to do nothing else. Like in Korea he would be relying on numbers to carry him to victory. That was why it was fortunate that Sun had already found his “Ace in the hole” to barrow the American expression.
“Sir, your guest is here” Sun’s Aide said with a slight look of disgust on his face. Sun didn’t care what his Aide thought about this matter. Chiang was always carrying on about how the last century had been one of constant humiliation at the hands of the Westerners, that was because he didn’t really understand them beyond the need to express that grievance, which had as much to do with politics as it did to him personally. The British were a declining power who saw themselves located too close to Germany for comfort. Both of them looked with suspicion at the Americans. The Russians were paranoid but had shown no inclination to go past their present borders, for the moment anyway. Pretty much everyone disliked the French on some level, which was mutual in that the French seemed to dislike everyone who wasn’t French. The Japanese were safely contained on their islands, so some good had come of the Pacific War. If Sun couldn’t play a situation like that to his advantage, then he deserved to lose.
“Very well, send him in” Sun said to his Aide.
With that the Irishman who represented the British interests in China entered Sun’s office.
Tempelhof, Berlin
Their introduction to Frau Haas had not been what they were expecting. The flamboyantly dressed woman had spoken to Katherine for a spell before coming to introduce herself to Marie and Sophie. “So, you are the young woman who overdoes her makeup when she tries to use it and you’re the girl who has been trying to get into your older sister’s cosmetics?” Haas asked with a smile. Both of them had tried to deny that characterization, but it did sound like some of the things that had happened in the past. Haas had looked amused as they pointed that out about the other. Marie stopped arguing when she realized that continuing to do so just made her look more guilty.
“Your Mother has decided that both of you would benefit from the lessons that I will be giving you” Haas said, “And before you even ask. I am being rather well compensated for this, so I am not inclined to just give up no matter what you might consider doing.”
“Exactly what sort of lessons?” Marie asked.
“I am a Makeup Artiste” Haas replied, “And the face is my canvas.”
“Like professionally?”
“Of course, professionally” Haas said with a delighted smile, “If you watch television you have seen my work.”
Marie realized just who Frau Haas was while Sophie was still skeptical. If she really could deliver on those lessons… Still, after thirteen years of living in her Mother’s house, she knew the most important detail. What was the catch? There always was one.
