Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand One Hundred Ninety-Four



1st January 1973

Schöneberg, Berlin

Kiki had traveled with Ben and Nina by train to spend the Christmas Holiday in Prague. Being Michael and Birdie’s guests for the Holiday had certainly been interesting. Especially because Kiki had found herself contending with a team of Doctors who Michael had hired to care for Birdie. Unfortunately, Birdie had passively accepted this dubious help. Kiki had been forced to clean house after calling for reinforcements in the form of Nora Berg and Frau Aue, the same Midwife who had assisted in the birth of Victoria’s children. She had then patiently explained to Birdie that all she needed was the help of two women who had together more than a century of experience in bringing heathy babies into this world. Birdie had later told Kiki that she was scared at the prospect of what the next few months held, she was now nearly six months along and was struggling with the expectations that the world seemed to have in her. Kiki had honestly told her that it was far better than having her pregnancy coming as a surprise when she was nearly to term. Birdie had been rather surprised that had happened for real.

Returning to Berlin and regular life had almost been a welcome change. Being in the Emergency Department certainly brought its thrills, then Kiki had found herself in a car that was speeding across town with lights and sirens going so that she could put her wealth of field experience to use.

Autobahn 100 was only twenty-one kilometers in length passing south of Mitte, part of an aborted attempt to build an inner ring around the center of Berlin. All proposals to extend the highway had been met with fierce opposition and most of the Berlin Government had sided with those who argued that the character of the City Center needed to be preserved. Some even going so far as to suggest that traffic be limited to delivery vehicles and public transit.

Even so, A100 was one of the busiest stretches of road found anywhere in the Autobahn system. Normally that wouldn’t present more problems than usual. The early morning hours of New Year’s Day were far from usual when inclement weather resulting in poor visibility and drivers who were returning home from New Year’s celebrations mixed with commercial traffic that had to proceed like if it were any other Weekday Morning, holiday or not. This conspired to create a massive pileup where the road passed through curving tunnels underneath Innsbrucker Platz Station.

Kiki had volunteered to work overnight on New Year’s Eve in the University Hospital’s Emergency Department. Only to be surprised when Ben had shown up just before midnight complaining that he couldn’t sleep without a kiss from his wife on New Year’s. It was the sort of thing that would give the gossips among the Hospital Staff a great deal to talk about in the first days of the new year, still Kiki had given Ben his kiss before sending him back to Plänterwald. It was a silly thing for him to have done and she liked that he did things like that. It was far better than the time that he had pulled similar stunt with a fighter plane, briefly escorting an airliner that he knew she would be on. Shortly after he had left, the call had come for Field Surgeons to go out into the field. It had been a bit of a surprise when Kiki had been informed that she was going to be the Ranking Surgical Officer on scene and the Incident Commander wanted to meet with her as soon as she got there.

As the car pulled up to the accident scene, Kiki saw lights reflected off shattered safety glass that was everywhere. The first vehicle she noticed was a lorry that was laying on its side and the cargo, cases of toilet paper, had been strewn across all six lanes of the highway. She couldn’t help but notice that the Fire Department Rescue teams were trying to pry a car out from underneath the lorry. It was then that Kiki realized just how bad this was probably going to be.

“Not a Public Holiday for us, Frau Oberfeldarzt” The Incident Commander said as Kiki climbed out of the car and approached him, it was sort of hard to see with the wind driving pellets of ice into her face. “As near as we can tell there was one collision at first, then additional cars and lorries didn’t see it until they were right on top of it.”

The Incident Commander was a middle-aged man whose rank in the Fire Service was equivalent to an Oberst. His demeanor was of a man who had seen everything in his line of work. If Kiki had to guess, he probably had. He was calmly watching as the Emergency Workers were streaming in from around the city.

“How many?” Kiki asked, half afraid of the answer.

“We count twenty-five vehicles so far” The Incident Commander replied, “Fortunately we got the road closed before it got worse.”

Kiki winced when she heard that number. Her original assessment was more on the nose than she had imagined. She was half tempted to ask how this could possibly get any worse.

“Also, nothing has caught on fire” The Incident Commander said, “So far anyway, but I have teams ready to spray foam retardant just in case. Spread the word that if you or any of your people smell smoke, get clear and let us worry about the passengers.”

Kiki understood why he had said that. Her job was to save as many as possible, but she also had a responsibility to keep her own people as safe so that they could go about doing exactly that.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand One Hundred Ninety-Five



5th January 1973

Plänterwald

“My windies” Nina said with as much solemnity as a two-year-old could muster and Charlotte wondered what she was talking about.

She had found herself watching Kiki’s daughter in the time between when Ben needed to go to the University and when Kiki finally made it home because Fianna their Nanny had gone home for the holidays and wouldn’t be back until Monday. When Kiki’s shift at the Hospital had ended, she had been asleep on her feet and in no shape to mind Nina. So, Charlotte had told her to go sleep for a few hours and Charlotte would mind Nina until Ben got back that evening.

It was something that Charlotte didn’t mind doing. Nina was a joy and somewhat refreshing after how complicated things tended to be with Nella and Nan these days. They were now young women and everything that came with that. For Nan it was particularly difficult because so much about her was just a series of open questions that could never be answered. She was also having difficulty reconciling her connection to her biological father and how he had apparently thought she was a failed experiment. Charlotte was of the opinion that if Nan’s mother had not done the deed herself, she would have liked to have had a go at that man with a mattock herself. He certainly deserved it after what he had done to Nan and her mother. Nella on the other hand, had grown up into a well-adjusted teenager. That meant that Charlotte only got into pointless arguments with her occasionally as opposed to all the time as she had frequently seen in her career as a Social Worker.

Now though, Nina had her face pressed up against the glass of the French doors that led outside and kept saying that she wanted her windies. Looking outside, Charlotte saw nothing but a cold winter day. Grey overcast and a thin layer of snow on the grass before it reached the tree line off in the distance. The cottage where Kiki and Ben lived during the winter was that direction and Charlotte wondered if what Nina was asking for had something to do what that.

Then Charlotte saw movement, and two figures raced out of the woods. Rauchbier and Weisse chasing each other around the field. Rauchbier in a red coat and Weisse being a far shaggier variant of the Whippet didn’t really need one. Kiki was standing by the tree line watching the dogs run, she looked like she was in a bit of a mood. Charlotte figured that the two often rambunctious dogs must have woken her, and she had little choice but to take them out for a run.

That was when it occurred to Charlotte that the two dogs were Nina’s “windies” as in little Windhund. It was a bit amusing. She wanted to go out and play with her dogs.

“Perhaps later Nina” Charlotte said, “When Nella and Nan get home, we can and play with your windies.”

Nina looked up Charlotte with a perplexed look on her face. It really did remind Charlotte of the times she had seen Nina's mother and grandfather have exact same expression.



Prague, Bohemia

“That is of course, a State secret” Michael said to Kurt and Gerta when they asked if they knew if it was a boy or girl.

After what had happened to Vicky last year, they were understandably reluctant to have made a public announcement about Birdie being pregnant too soon. They had waited until they were certain that everything was developing in the expected manner a couple months earlier. Kiki of all people tell them that they had probably waited too long.

The thing about having everyone know meant that Michael and Birdie had gotten a lot of calls from people with questions. However, the people whose opinion mattered most to Michael, Kurt Knispel, and his wife Gerta von Wolvogle, hadn’t said anything until today when they had been invited to be their guests in the Castle. Kurt had been busy incorporating what he had gleaned from the after-action reports from the Patagonian War into the structure of the Bohemian Army. It was something that Michael had taken a great interest in but had understood the reality that he needed to let the Generals do their jobs without any undue interference. They were the professionals while he was a bit of an amateur, having never commanded anything larger than a Panzer Company which had hardly seen any action in Korea. He remembered that it had seemed like he had spent the entire conflict chasing after the action only to get there too late. Both Kurt and Kiki had told him he was lucky in that regard, which had always seemed a bit odd.

Naturally, the first question that Gerta had asked was one that they had already been asked a number of times. The answer was one that Michael and Birdie had decided would go unanswered until their child was born.

“Gerta, they have been very clear about this” Kurt said.

“I know” Gerta replied, “But it is the juicy bit of gossip that everyone wants to hear. Surely, they have names picked out either way, you know, just in case.”

“Elisabeth after Birdie’s mother if it is a girl” Michael said, “And Konrad if it is a boy.”

Something about the look on Birdie’s face suggested that he had probably just told Gerta too much and she wasn’t happy he had done that. Everyone who knew Gerta personally knew that the ditzy persona concealed an extremely sharp mind.

“You wouldn’t want to give a little Prince a name that is a contraction, now would we” Gerta said with a slight smile.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand One Hundred Ninety-Six



13th January 1973

Tempelhof

Sprocket knew that it made his people happy when he responded to the name which they called him. Usually that was when he followed his nose towards something interesting or was interfering with the other that existed within his territory, the feline they called Cheshire who hissed at him when he got too close and wasn’t above swatting him across the nose, Which he didn’t like. He had gotten to know the garden quite well when he lived in the shed during the first weeks, but more recently he had moved into the house and found himself with a far larger set of people.

First there was his girl, whose bed he slept in most nights. As a dog he relied mostly on observing the cues and smells of his people and the girl occasionally slept fitfully, and the smell of fear was on her when she awoke on those nights. He was there to protect her though, so she had nothing to fear. Then there were the other times when the girl came home smelling of exertion, she just hugged him as she fell asleep and was still for the night.

There were the other girls who often played with Sprocket but weren’t as close. There was the older one who never smelled the same way twice. The one who was the same age as his girl, but whose right leg smelled odd and was cold and smooth as he had noticed the few times that he had licked it. Finally, there was the youngest girl. She frequently gave him a tidbit off her plate when the family were having meals and sang in a language that wasn’t what the others spoke. There was a young man who could throw a ball far further than the others, which was why Sprocket liked him. He had once told Sprocket’s girl that Sprocket was probably a Yorkshire-Poodle mix, among other things. That didn’t mean anything to Sprocket.

Beyond them, there was the young woman who came and went. Sprocket noticed that there was a great deal of tension in the house whenever she was around. There were the three women who were found in the kitchen, laundry room or the top floors of the house. Two were old, one was young. They smelled of spices and food. There were the two men who were with them most days who carried the interesting smells of alcohol and tobacco on them. Then there was the older man who frequently smelled of chemicals. Lastly, there was a woman who Sprocket occasionally encountered who came across with a great deal of authority, he had realized among his people, she was the one in charge and that the chemical man was her mate.

Today, things had changed again. Sprocket was sitting up in the basket that his girl had put on the front handlebars of her bicycle. The wind in his face brought a wealth of smells and there was all manner of movement in the bright winter day…



Sophie could see that Sprocket was excitedly watching the world from his basket. This had been Doug’s idea when she had gotten the rack that went behind the seat. He had suggested that she get a wicker basket for Sprocket that she could strap to the handlebars and how to fasten his leash to the inside to keep him from trying to jump out. His reaction seemed to be one of glee as he was wagging his tail furiously as Sophie pedaled up the street.

It was Sophie’s intention to run errands when she was free on a Saturday afternoon. That included stops to pick up a stack of used records from the music shop she frequented. The owner had been holding them for her until she had the money to pay for them, but not forever. She had finally gotten to that this afternoon. Then came the stops at the Bakery and a couple different shops to pick up items on the list that Petia had given her. In the process she filled the bags hanging off rack having to take care to balance the load. Everyone seemed happy to see Sprocket, that was, until she entered a Market that was her last stop.

Sophie had just locked up her bicycle in front of the Market, Petia had acquired the stout chain and lock for her. The Russian woman had made a point in telling her that it would be difficult to cut and if any man ever gave her some unwanted attention it made a great weapon. Entering the Market, the Clerk had noticed Sprocket and was not welcoming.

“You can’t bring your dog in here!” The Clerk yelled at her, forcing her to take Sprocket back outside.

“Can you at least keep an eye on my bicycle?” Sophie asked as she clipped Sprocket back into his basket. The Clerk made an indifferent noise that didn’t fill her with a whole lot of confidence. That made her move as quickly as she could as she grabbed the items and headed back towards the sales counter. No sooner than the items had been rung up and paid for, Sophie heard Sprocket going nuts. She left the counter as the Clerk was bagging and rushed out just in time to see a young man a couple years older than she was backing away from her bicycle. Sprocket wouldn’t have reacted the way he had unless he had been up to no good.

“What do you think you are doing?” Sophie demanded.

“Your dog tried to bite me.”

“Good” Sophie replied as the Clerk stepped outside and handed Sophie her bagged groceries. She couldn’t help but notice the Clerk had a smirk on his face suggesting that the young man was known to him.

“It would have been just deserts if your dog had gotten a piece of him” The Clerk said as the young man fled.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand One Hundred Ninety-Seven



20th January 1973

Los Angeles, California

While Richard Nixon was getting sworn into office in Washington D.C. Ritchie and Mike were getting treated to a different kind of patriotism. Probably not the sort that the Founding Fathers had in mind when they wrote the Bill of Rights. Of course, the Founding Fathers were mostly wealthy slave owners who couldn’t have imagined “Rights” being extended to anyone who didn’t look like them. California might as well have been China or the heart of Africa. And they would have found the idea of the Bill of Rights applying to Chicanos like the one who Ritchie and Mike had just nabbed preposterous.

“I know my Rights under the Constitution you motherfuckers!” Tony yelled as Mike had him on the hood of Frankenstein with his hands cuffed behind his back. “You had no reason to stop me! No probable cause!”

“So now you’re a Lawyer, Tony?” Ritchie asked mildly.

“He probably thinks that the State Bar exam is something they beat you with” Mike said with a chuckle.

Tony was not happy with direction of the conversation because he was actually quiet for a minute or two as Mike was searching his pockets for contraband.

“Care to explain this?” Mike asked as he pulled a plastic bag from the pocket of Tony’s coat.

“That’s for personal use” Tony said. Mike had his eyebrows raised as Ritchie saw that there was a lot of weed in the bag. If that was indeed for personal use, then Tony would be taking up mental residence on Mars while his feet were still in Los Angeles.

It was at that moment that Tony noticed that they had drawn a crowd and he started singing.

“José can you see, with how they got your Mexican ass in the bad seats…!” Was the first line in a song that was an odd mixture of the National Anthem and Take me out to the ballgame. Ritchie could hear the crowd laughing at the song and some even applauded as Tony was shoved into the back of the Patrol Car.

It wasn’t until they got around the corner from the stop and were driving out of Skid Row that Tony’s whole demeanor changed. He had stopped complaining about his rights and was laughing.

“You laid it on a little thick back there, don’t you think?” Ritchie asked as he turned Frankenstein onto the Freeway.

“Always leave the audience wanting more” Tony said, “Now, if I could have the keys to these handcuffs?”

“I think we can wait until after we get back to the Station” Mike said, “Wouldn’t want to risk your cover being blown.”

“What?” Tony asked. By now he had to be aware that they were going north on the Freeway. This was not the way to get to the Central Division.

“Me and Ritchie are grabbing lunch” Mike said as they turned off the Freeway and were headed down the road that led to the Ralph’s where Lucia worked. They found a parking spot right in front of the store, it being mid-afternoon they sort of had their pick.

“Don’t go anywhere ‘till we get back” Mike said as he got out of the car.

“Really funny” Tony said, “You are not really going to leave me out here guys?”

“Don’t worry Tony” Ritchie said, “We’re leaving the windows open a crack.”

Tony watched with dismay as Big Mike and Ritchie disappeared into the Ralph’s as a mother in her early thirties with a little boy walked out. The boy looked at the Patrol Car in amazement until he noticed Tony sitting in the back.

“Stay in school kid” Tony said with a smile as the mother pulled her child away with a horrified look on her face. If only she knew the truth.

----------------------------------------------------------------

“He’s an LAPD legacy, like for real” Mike said as they watched their sandwiches being made. “Do you Know Oscar Marin, a Captain out at Hollywood Division?”

“Only by reputation” Ritchie replied. “That’s his kid?”

“One of them” Mike said, “The Counter Narcotics taskforce has him hustling in Skid Row. Having us pick him up and the little show he put on will do wonders for his reputation around the neighborhood.”

“Odd thing to have him be up to” Ritchie said as he was handed the bag that held their lunch.

“Not really, most Officers of the Latin persuasion get recruited by the Drug Squad” Mike replied.

“I never was” Ritchie said.

“That’s because you’re the invincible Army Man” Mike said, “All the headlines you’ve been getting the last couple years have given you a very recognizable face. The Mexican gangsters ain’t stupid and they pay attention to that sort of thing.”

It was a reminder of what William Wilkinson said about how his reputation would follow him for his career. Wilkinson himself had a reputation as a gunfighter from back in the day when he had survived a shootout with some high-profile Mafiosos from back East. It had been noticeable that Wilkinson had found that reputation to be problematic at times with stories about “Wild Bill” floating around. Ritchie having the reputation of likely being the toughest guy in whatever room he was in wasn’t that bad.

Getting up to the check stands, Ritchie saw that register that Lucia was working today had a line. He didn’t mind waiting if he got a chance to talk to her for a minute or two. When Lucia saw Ritchie and Mike standing there she smiled.

“You know that there are a whole lot of other places we can go for lunch when they got us on days” Mike said.

“We could always go visit Clair over lunch” Ritchie replied.

“She works for the School District” Mike said, “Even if we could get lunch from there, I doubt we would want it.”

Ritchie just shrugged in reply.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand One Hundred Ninety-Eight



26th January 1973

In transit, Tempelhof to Plänterwald

It was a bitterly cold day even for the middle of winter. Clouds seemed to hang just overhead in a slate grey overcast. The cold didn’t bother Sophie though as she pedaled down the road. For her it was a bit of a challenge, wearing heavy enough clothes to keep warm but light enough not to encumber her as she rode. In the pannier bags on the back of her bicycle were the books and records she had borrowed from Nella and Nan. She had promised that she would return them today as soon as she got free and had just enough daylight to make it to Plänterwald and back.

Stopping at an intersection, Sophie saw a bit of movement in the basket attached to the handlebars. Sprocket stuck his nose out from under the blanket that covered the top of his basket, it vanished very quickly. That was in keeping with it feeling like everyone was a critic today. Even Sophie’s dog who normally loved going on these rides with her.

Ziska had not been interested in making this trip either. When Sophie had called her, she had asked if Sophie had seen the latest weather report. Not only was it cold, but there was a storm predicted to arrive that night. It was only afternoon with tonight was still a way off. She said that this was one of those times when friends would understand it if she couldn’t fulfill whatever promises she had made. It was something that she didn’t want to hear, to Sophie, a promise was something that she couldn’t break on a whim because that had happened to her too many times.

It started snowing as she crossed a bridge over a canal and took a righthand turn onto an avenue, just a few flakes at first but it picked up as she pushed on. At least the traffic was light as she rode until she needed to make a left turn onto a different avenue. Eventually, she came to a gate and had a man from the First Foot giving her a quizzical look from inside the heated guard shack as he opened the window. He looked like he was in his early twenties and the sort who hardly noticed Sophie unless he had no other choice.

“Can I help you Fraulein?” The Guard asked.

“I am on the approved list” Sophie replied as she handed him the booklet that contained her identification card, annoyed that even with the knit gloves her fingers were getting numb now that she no longer was being kept warm by exertion. “Antonia and Annett are expecting me.”

“We are not really expecting anyone, Freknur” The Guard replied with a chuckle as he looked at her identification. “Not with the weather today. And it is sort of odd to see a thirteen-year-old with one of these.”

What had he just called her?

“My Aunt Katherine said that I would need it if I was going to be entering restricted areas” Sophie said.

That caused the Guard to pause for a second. Everyone in the First Foot knew who Aunt Katherine was and had apparently been warned about those under her care. Oddly, they considered “Kat’s girls” to be something of a threat to them.

“I need to make a call” The Guard said.

“If you could just let me through” Sophie said, “I know the way.”

“This is out of the ordinary.”

“I’m here all the time, Nella and Nan are dear friends.”

“I don’t doubt that” The guard said, “But with the weather closing in…”

Sophie looked around. The snow had increased, and visibility had dropped to no more than a hundred odd meters. It meant that she needed to hurry up and get where she was going as opposed to waiting for this Guard to doublecheck things. The guard opened the door at the back of the guard shack.

“If you could step inside” The Guard said, “Get you out of the cold.”

Sophie was a bit reluctant to waste more time but was grateful for the warmth as she sat on a folding chair with Sprocket on her lap. The Guard was talking with someone on the other end of the phone. A few minutes later, the sound of an engine was heard outside as an Iltis pulled up to the shack.

“This is what you requested help with, Wulf?” A Noncommissioned Officer said as he poked his head into the guard shack.

“Hardly” The Guard, Wulf, replied, “She says that she is expected here this afternoon.”

“In this weather?” The NCO asked.

“That is why I stopped her” Wulf said, “She seems to be ignoring these things.”

Sophie was a bit annoyed by this. She had been doing fine until Wulf had stopped her. “I made a promise to Nella and Nan” She said, “That I would return some things that they lent me today.”

“Just how were you planning on getting home?” The NCO asked.

“I have my bicycle” Sophie said, and she had both of these men looking at her like if she were insane.

“No matter” The NCO said as he picked up Sophie’s bicycle and sat it in the bed of the Iltis. “We can get this matter sorted in the Residence where we are not freezing. I figure your Aunt will not be happy to learn about your lack of planning and that you’re going to be a guest of the girls tonight. They will probably be thrilled though.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand One Hundred Ninety-Nine



27th January 1973

Plänterwald

Girls like Annette or Sophie presented a lot of challenges, not the least of which was that for a parent they were almost impossible punish. What was the worst you could do to them? They had already endured starvation and beatings. Compared to that, a week or two without television or a few hours confined to their bedrooms was nothing. It was particularly difficult with Sophie because she could be so fatalistic at times. She was expecting what she had to be taken away from her at any time by those in positions of authority. So, that meant that any move to do that by Katherine would just be negative reinforcement.

When Charlotte had spoken to Katherine on the phone, she had heard the frustration and worry in Katherine’s voice at Sophie having taken off on her bicycle in the face of a blizzard while not equipped for it. Charlotte had seen the clothes that Sophie had been wearing and it was a wonder that she hadn’t become a popsicle long before she had made it to the outer gates of the Winter Residence. That had been extremely reckless, but other than telling Sophie that it had been a foolish thing to have done, Kat was at a loss for exactly what to do about it.

If Louis were in town, Charlotte would get him to try to talk to Sophie, but he was in Spain getting the support of King Juan III for his so-far unnamed International support organization. Louis had fairly good track-record when it came to getting through to self-destructive adolescents. Though it was certainly debatable if that was something that his older children had ever really grown out of.

Friedrich clearly envied his younger siblings’ relative freedom in that regard. Michael seemed to want to revive the Knights of the Round Table. Kiki seemed to have settled into her life as an Attending Surgeon at the University Hospital in Tempelhof but was always volunteering to go out into the field. Louis Junior commanded a ship on the North Sea, something that was not for the faint of heart even when the Navy was not at war. Charlotte was surprised by Rea, who was playing a key role in shaping what Galicia-Ruthenia was in the process of becoming. Vicky’s life was just as strange as it had ever been. She was presently in negotiations with King Albrecht of Bavaria and her husband, Prince Franz, over whether or not they would attempt to have another child. It was an awkward situation to say the least, mostly because Vicky was holding all the cards this time. Charlotte was aware of how Vicky and Franz had entered into this arrangement to avoid scandal, any unreasonable demands by Albrecht would be inviting exactly that.

That circled back to Antonia and Annette. They had been friends with Sophie since they had all shared a room with Marie Alexandra von Mischner-Blackwood years earlier over a Summer Holiday spent at Hohenzollern Castle. Apparently, Sophie had borrowed some records and books from them and had decided that they needed to be returned immediately after Nella had asked about in earlier in the day. Apparently, weather had not been something that Sophie had cared too much about, having disregarded several warnings. Charlotte couldn’t believe Sophie’s hubris. On the other hand, Nella and Nan had been overjoyed to have Sophie and Sprocket as guests as they were spending the weekend by the fireplace in the game room.



Strait of Dover

The seas were high as SMS K24 “Grindwal” transited the English Channel. It was a trivial matter after the storm they had ridden out in the North Sea, the same storm that was dumping loads of snow on land. Louis Ferdinand Junior had almost delayed the departure of the Grindwal due to the storm, but by then the crew had been aware that he had received orders sending them to Cartagena on the Mediterranean Sea on a diplomatic mission. Any delays would have been met with outrage and Borchardt had told Louis that “Give the babies their bottle” was exactly what he should do in this case, just make sure that he battened down the hatches as it were, first.

Predictably, many of the Junior Enlisted had gotten seasick and Borchardt had hardly batted an eyelash as the Grindwal had been thrown around by the storm. Louis had been there years earlier, aboard the old Super Dreadnaught SMS Brandenburg. Being so ill that he had been unable to get out of his bunk while even a ship that size was tossed around as she had made the long journey in radio silence from Kiel to the Yellow Sea. It was part of the process of becoming a proper Sailor and getting your sea legs.

Today, the weather had cleared somewhat, and they were headed south at moderate speed. As expected, they were being shadowed by ships from the British Navy. Louis had seen them through his binoculars, three Destroyers. Radioing the respective Captains of those ships his regards had probably been borrowing trouble, but no more than encouraging the Radar Operators to practice getting a target lock on those ships. With the missile systems powered down and offline, it didn’t do more than set alarms off. They had certainly returned the favor.

Stepping out of the bridge, Louis scanned the horizon ahead. He would be absolutely shocked if the French Navy didn’t make an appearance soon.

“Will look at that, Sir” One of men said, pointing at the water towards the bow. Louis saw black and dark grey figures riding the bow wave of the ship and smiled. A pod of Pilot Whales, the Grindwal’s namesake, had joined them.

“That is what a good omen looks like” Louis replied to the Sailor who grinned back.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred



29th January 1973

Cartagena, Spain

It was the perfect day to arrive in Spain. Warm sunlight and a sky filled with puffy white clouds. Louis Junior didn’t see if there was any reaction from the ships of the Spanish Navy. The men he could see were going about their business, seemingly indifferent to the new ship that had just arrived. This seaport was one of the oldest active Naval bases in the world, with some of the most consequential expeditions departing from here, for good or ill.

While Wilhelmshaven might be their home port, the eternal gloom with it being overcast two thirds of the time left a lot to be desired. This was especially true during the winter when the cold and damp were ever present. That had meant that when Louis got orders sending them to Spain, he had hardly needed to have told the crew to prepare to get underway. Anyone who had dared to get in their way would have probably gotten themselves stampeded.

Picking up the phone for the intercom, Louis thought for a moment about what he was going to say. “I don’t think I need to remind you that we are guests in this country” He said, “I expect that with be reflected in your conduct when you are ashore.”

Louis half expected to hear laughter from throughout the ship when he said that, so he added; “This is a diplomatic mission and whichever of you manage to mess that up had better know that whatever the Spaniards do to you will seem very tame in comparison to what will happen once you are released into my custody.”

Both Oberleutnant Lehr, the Ship’s XO and Oberdeckoffizier Borchardt looked pleased to hear that. A Captain who would allow them a free hand to go after the Ship’s malefactors was always welcome considering that it was their job to enforce discipline. The Captain taking time out of his busy day to deal with someone meant that they were about to receive the full wrath of a man who only answered to God and the Emperor while the Ship was at sea, unless he mercifully delegated that to someone less inclined to keelhaul them.

Minutes later, after the crew finished tying up the Grindwal to the concrete pier, Louis saw the entire reason why he had been dispatched to Spain coming walking down the pier. Louis Ferdinand Senior and King Juan III of Spain were in a deep discussion completely ignoring the dozens of Marines who were acting as their bodyguards. Juan had been a Naval Officer before becoming the King of Spain having volunteered to serve with the Kaiserliche Marine in the Pacific after he had been given permission to join without giving up his Spanish Allegiance. Juan, considering himself a man of good taste was wearing a lightweight suit of the sort that was popular among Spanish businessmen. Louis Senior didn’t even pretend to care about fashion, with black synth-silk windbreaker and brown corduroy trousers, he looked like any one of the German retirees who came by the thousands to Spain and Portugal every winter. Of course, that sort of what he was these days. He had told Louis Junior that he wished that Charlotte could have made the trip with him, but she felt she needed to stay in Berlin to keep a close eye on Nella and Nan.

“Permission to come aboard?” Louis Senior asked the sentries who were clearly in over their heads.

“Let them through” Louis Junior told the sentries who looked relived that he had spoken up and the Spanish King and Former Emperor walked up the gangplank.

“The 1970 Class” Juan said as he shook Louis Junior’s hand. “Your father said that he could get one here but didn’t say that this was family business until your ship arrived.”

“It was just a coincidence” Louis Junior said, not really believing it. “The ship was ordered south, I just happened to be in command.”

“If you say so” Juan replied, “We will have much to discuss later.”

With that the Spanish King wandered forward to the turret containing the 12.8-centimeter gun. All it took was look from Louis to get Borchardt to follow.

“The Spanish Navy is thinking about licensing this ship class” Louis Senior said, “The word of Juan goes a long way with them, so I doubt that I need to tell you how important this is.”

“I thought that you were here to secure funding for your organization?” Louis Junior asked.

“I am, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t represent the interests of the country that I was in charge of for thirty years.”

“It also happens to make King Juan happy and more inclined to open his coffers.”

Louis Senior shrugged. “It will make the respective Navies of both countries happy as well as German industry because the Spaniards don’t have the capacity to do all the construction themselves” He said, “It also improves the relations we have with a long-time ally. Do I need to remind you how important Spain has been to us in the past?”

“No” Louis Junior replied. During the Second World War, the lifeline of materials critical for the war effort had passed through seaports in France and Spain. It had been deemed so important that the German Government at the time had risked intervening in the civil war knowing that the Soviets were backing one side of the conflict.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred One



31st January 1973

Mitte, Berlin

Having the children back in the house over the Christmas Holiday was a reminder of how Nancy had gotten used to how peaceful it was while they were gone. Putting them on the train back to Silesia had come before Nancy had been at the end of her wits, but it had been a close-run thing.

Tilo was gone much of the time, his career having taken some odd turns in recent months. They had expected that he was going to be appointed to be the Commandant of the Marine Infantry, instead there had been a need for a Deputy Commander in Chief at the Naval High Command. Tilo had said that he had gotten a lot of odd looks when he had walked into the Offices of the Grand Admiral of the Navy in Kiel. That meant that he was splitting his time between Berlin and Kiel, which was good for Nancy and great for his future career prospects. He had told Nancy that he had never imagined that his path would take him so high, but he was interested in seeing just how far it would take him.

By some odd miracle, Sabastian was staying out of trouble. Of course, Nancy suspected that it was because he was keeping a very close eye on his youngest sister. Gretchen was doing well enough, probably having the skids greased for her by constantly having the threatening presence of her older brother hovering in the background. Anna Gertrude was playing still the queen bee of the gymnasia she attended, and Nancy had been informed that there had been complaints about her social conduct this year. She wasn’t exactly sure, but Nancy was starting to suspect that aspect of Anna was the reason for many of the choices that Gretchen had made.

The most bewildering turn was that after Jost had finally been forced to retire from the Heer due to his age he had knocked about for a bit before landing in Potsdam with a script for a Horror movie of all things. While he had not been able to sell the script to anyone, it had brought him to the attention of UFA who had hired him as a consultant for a war movie that was in preproduction. He had impressed the Production Managers with his stories about having personally known Walter Horst and Hans von Mischner among others. They also knew Lenz, the middle Schultz brother from a film that had been made a few years earlier about the air battle that had been fought over Odessa. Later on, when Jost had been asked to help train actors to act the part of soldiers he had fallen right back into his role as the takes-no-shit-from-anyone Noncommissioned Officer and that had resulted in a number of complaints to the Studio. Those complaints had backfired on the actors because Jost was asked if he would do that in the actual movie and he had asked if Nancy could help broker the deal. Of all the absurd things that could have happened, Jost getting paid what Nancy felt was an absurd amount of money to basically play himself had to take the cake.

As always, returning to the Press Office of the Hohenzollern Family was a refuge from the absurdities that abounded when you were a part of the Schultz family. Presently, Nancy was looking over the photographs that had been submitted to her office. After what had happened last year with Kiki being angry over a picture of her daughter Nina with the family dog being released without her express authorization, Nancy had made sure to doublecheck exactly where the photographs had come from.

Today’s batch was easy enough. They had already been cleared by the Press Office of the Navy. They featured Prince Louis Ferdinand Junior in command of 1970 Class Corvette K24, a ship whose informal name was Grindwal. There were a lot of pictures of Louis looking every inch the Master and Commander of the Ship in the white cap of a Captain and the imposing winter uniform of the Navy, looking stern as he stood on the bridge. However, there was also a picture of him leaning on the rail with a smile on his face talking to a Sailor as a pod of whales could be seen in the background. That was a one in a million shot in Nancy’s opinion. Finally, there were photographs of Louis Junior entertaining the Spanish King and Crown Prince. The reaction that Nancy had seem among the women of her staff to a picture of Louis Junior in the white summer/tropical formal uniform of the Navy at an event held the night before with his father, the Emperor Emeritus of Germany. It was the sort of thing that definitely made hearts flutter.

There were rumors, mostly pushed by the tabloids that Princess Margaretta of Romania was a romantic interest of Louis Junior’s. Charlotte had told Nancy that it was about as romantic as any other business deal. King Michael I of Romania didn’t have male issue and there was a chance that upon his death, the throne of his country could revert back to the House of Hohenzollern. That meant in practical term that Margaretta and her younger sisters would be living at the whims of the Head of the Family, presently Emperor Fredrich IV of Germany. The Romanian Government was also less than thrilled with that arrangement and there was a nascent republican movement Margaretta was trying to head off. For her, marriage to a foreign Prince who she didn’t actually know wasn’t the worst thing in the world. It was just a cynical display of realpolitik of the sort that didn’t make into the Disney version.

Years earlier, Kat had visited Nancy at the University of Washington and questions had been asked about what it was like for Kat to work directly for the German Emperor. Kat’s answers had sounded strange to Nancy at the time. Nancy understood far more now than she ever could have imagined back then.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Two



2nd February 1973

Tempelhof

Like always, Kat withdrew from the world on this date. Sophie knew the basic story. Kat had a building blow up in her face when she had been just a few years older that Sophie was presently. It was a major part of how Kat had become who she was today, however it was noticeable that she obviously saw things differently. Doug said that Kat had never considered herself to be the heroine that people thought that she was. All of that had happened long before Sophie had been born and for a long time all she had known was her maternal grandfather’s comments about how César Sauvageot had clearly not gone far enough because he had missed a few. Sophie had not understood what that had meant at the time beyond it being like many of the other things that her grandfather had said that seemed geared mostly to anger other people. Later, she learned that it had been because of Kat that many people had made it out of the building who wouldn’t have otherwise.

Still, life went on even if Kat was mostly absent today.

Like every other morning for the last couple weeks, Sophie had been made to read aloud the weather report from the newspaper to either Kat, Petia, or Doug. They thought that if she acknowledged that the weather would be bad that day, then she would think twice before she did something else stupid. The other thing that Kat had insisted on was that perhaps Sophie needed things to keep her occupied closer to home. That included minding Heinrich, or Henri as he preferred to be called, Asia’s nine-year-old son.

Presently, Henri was spinning around on his feet in the library until he grew too dizzy and lost his balance. He fell onto the carpet and was laying on his back laughing as Sprocket who had been circling him as he had spun licked his face. The pup just loved it when Henri was around to play with him. The treasonous little shit, Sophie thought to herself but did nothing to stop them from playing with each other. Sophie knew that if Sprocket wasn’t playing with Henri, then he would be begging her for attention.

“You are going to make yourself sick or get hurt doing that” Sophie said, Henri had done this a few times now and he seemed to have no regard to what might happen if his head hit something solid when he fell.

“So” Henri said. He really was being a pill today. His mother had dropped him off here this afternoon after Kat and Doug had told Asia that they could take him for the weekend. Apparently, Asia and Kris were throwing a party and they didn’t want a child underfoot. All Henri knew was that the grownups were doing something fun, he was being excluded and didn’t like it. He began running around the room with Sprocket. Considering the amount of noise that he was making, Asia had probably been at her wits end after having him cooped up inside all winter. Henri being away for a couple of days was likely preventing a homicide. Sophie went back to her studies, English this time. It was a particularly vexing class for her, and she was finding that she envied how easily Marie Alexandra picked up languages. Last year, French had been difficult, this year English was proving impossible.

“What are you doing?” Henri asked, pausing from his mayhem to take an interest in what Sophie was doing.

“Studying” Sophie replied, “It is important that I get a passing grade in this class, or else they will make me retake it next year.”

There was a good chance that Sophie would get to retake English anyway. It seemed like her school had a perverse sense of humor at times.

Henri looked at the textbook in Sophie’s hands and saw what purported to be a street scene in an English city with many common items labeled in German and English. There were also tape cassettes that were supposed to help Sophie with the pronunciation. With Henri in the room that was absolutely impossible.

“Which class?” Henri asked.

“English” Sophie replied.

Henri found that funny. “Howdy, howdy, I’m a Cowboy” He said in English with an attempt at an American Texas accent that simply didn’t work. Of course, most of the English he had been exposed to would be in the form of Cowboy movies and television shows that were American exports. Sophie had been told that they depicted an idealized, whitewashed version of the American Western Frontier from the prior century. So much so that recently Mel Brooks had done a movie starring Richard Pryor along with a cast of thousands that parodied the entire Western Genre. Sophie had wanted to see it, but the theater had refused to sell her a ticket. Apparently, the theater owners felt that a movie depicting the towns of the American Old West as backwards and racist with the people as boorish idiots was more than she could handle. As if she hadn’t seen a great deal of that exact same sort of behavior before she had been removed from her mother’s household.

“My English Teacher said that American movies are the worst way to learn language” Sophie said, “Cowboys and Gangsters seldom speak proper English.”

“Oh” Henri replied, sounding a bit disappointed.

“That doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be nice to be able to watch those films without subtitles” Sophie said.

Henri just shrugged. Then he stood up and resumed spinning himself around.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Three



10th February 1973

Tempelhof

Lunch with Anne was enjoyable right up until she mentioned what she had intended to talk with Kat about all along. Today, it had to do with a political comic that struck her as ringing all too true. What was depicted was the classic stereotypical Prussian Bureaucrat working away at his desk, in the background a bottle of poison labeled Anti-Semitism was in a glass case and the words “In case of emergency, break glass” was written across it. It was something that was constantly in the back of Anne’s mind lately due to events far across the ocean in the United States. As certain regions in that country had faced industrial decline, there had been a surge of groups that were organized on the sole purpose of hatred of longtime scapegoats.

Anne’s concern was that the same process of industrial decline was playing out in regions of the German Empire. Where it had been hatred of Blacks, and those of Spanish descent in the United States, Jews and Gypsies had frequently been targets during difficult times in Germany. Anne had her children to consider, and she had spoken at length to Kat about her fears and worries in that regard. She had followed the events in Poland. How the slow fade of mining had caused frustrations of boil over and catapulted Nationalists into power.

Anne had pointed out that one of the things that had provoked the civil war had been the pogrom in Lwów that had really caused the Jews of Krakow to throw their lot with the Galician Freikorps in what had been a profoundly ironic move on their part. At the time Kat had suspected that it was a case of choosing the lesser of two evils. It had however worked out in the end due to the influence of Marie Cecilie as the Queen of Galicia-Ruthenia and how she had insisted on the most liberal and inclusive State Constitution possible. The concern that Anne had was this was just glimpse of things to come.

The conversation eventually drifted around to what their children were up to. Anne’s oldest, her son Otto had gotten into the American sport of Basketball, a game which Kat found to be rather silly the few times she had seen the game mentioned on the evening news. Lina was at loose ends, having no idea what she wanted to do. Then what thirteen-year-old did? Sophie and Lina had never been more than acquaintances, something that Anne had always found a bit disappointing. Kat had told Anne all about how she had Sophie minding Heinrich, Asia’s little boy. Due to circumstances, Heinrich would never have any brothers or sisters so having Sophie as a big sister of sorts was going to be good for him.



Potsdam

The last year had been quite an education for Jost. He’d had no clue as to what he was going to do when the Heer had only left him with the option of retirement due to age. He had knocked about his mother’s house in Wunsdorf-Zossen for a while, after more than three decades as a Feldwebel, his pension had been considerable, so he had hardly needed to go looking for a job. His mother wasn’t happy with the situation though and had badgered him about how he needed to be doing something. For lack of anything better to do, he had used Tilo’s old typewriter to peck out a script for a Horror movie, the sort of movie that he would actually want to see.

The trouble was that Jost had no idea what he was doing when it came to shopping a script in Potsdam. Oddly, as it had turned out no one was interested in Jost’s script. Instead, the interest was in Jost himself as there was a war film in preproduction that depicted a battle which Jost had been involved in during the Soviet War. He had been hired as a consultant and tasked with getting a group of actors who seemed to think that hardship was living in a seedy Ukrainian motor lodge for a week or two during principal filming was going to be real a hardship to look and act the part of soldiers in the field. Jost showed them what actual hardship looked like over the course of a few weeks and had dealt with complaints the same way he always had, by ignoring them. However, the complaints had reached the ears of the Director and he had demanded to speak with Jost. That was where things became a bit odd, the Director, an American named Stanley Kubrick whose film Jost was familiar with had lunch with him and they had discussed movies, the Soviet War, and how Jost had been under the direct command of Walter Horst for much of the conflict. It had turned out that Kubrick shared his opinion of the actors and had suggested that Jost remind them that they had signed a contract that said that they would do exactly what he said they would.

Then Jost had been asked if he wanted to play a role in front of the camera. The idea was to have him basically play himself as a Senior Noncom. The trip to Ukraine had been like walking on ghosts, there he had been on the exact same ground that he had fought Russians over twenty-five years earlier. He had made damn sure that the actors knew the significance of that.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Four



3rd March 1973

Tempelhof

Riding around in the back seat of a chauffeured car had its disadvantages. Kat liked being able to pack up and leave on moment’s notice and the Mercedes Benz town car that she’d had seized from the estate Franz von Papen was a great wallowing barge on wheels. The reason why it had been suggested to Kat that she do things this way was because it was in keeping with her present station. Having the Prefect of Berlin driving around in a beat-up old VW Föhn wouldn’t be keeping up appearances. However, when one needed to comfort a distraught teenager without the distraction of driving there were advantages.

“After what she did to me… How could this happen?” Sophie sobbed.

“Five years is a very long time” Kat said to Sophie, who was having the worst sort of day imaginable.

Of all the things that Sophie’s mother could have done, there would have been few other ways for her to cut the daughter she had never wanted to the quick. It was something that had never once entered Sophie’s thinking over the last few years. That her mother had simply moved on with her life.

Everyone liked to think that awful people got what they deserved. However, Kat knew that justice was thin on the ground in the best of times. It seemed that Sophie had this fantasy that her mother was living an empty, miserable life somewhere and that had turned out not to be the case. Today, she had learned that her mother had a different job, better life, and apparently a new family. There was a religious aspect to all of that and of all the asinine things that Sophie’s mother might have done, she asked Sophie to forgive her in a way that implied that there was mutual blame to go around. Kat would have cheerfully torn her to pieces over that sort of haughty nonsense. Sophie wasn’t like Kat in that regard which was to her credit. That wasn’t to say that Sophie wasn’t above berating her mother in a public place and creating a massive scene. Kat got Sophie out of there before it escalated to a physical altercation.

Now, Sophie was still understandably upset.

“You never have to see that woman again” Kat said, “I believe that you rather thoroughly said your peace with her this time.”

“You think?” Sophie asked in reply.

“It was loud, and you were talking fast, but you mentioned everything including the beatings and neglect” Kat said, “She cannot deny any of that.”

“She certainly tried to” Sophie replied, “She implied that I played a role in that.”

“You were a defenseless child, and she held all the power in that situation” Kat said, “She just found out the hard way that is not who you are, not anymore. It becomes hard to hit someone after you know they can hit back.”

Though she was still crying, Sophie smiled at that.



Los Angeles, California

Earlier, as the Prosecution presented its case, Ritchie had been introduced as a star witness. He had just told what he had witnessed from his perspective with no embellishments. There had been experts who had traced the movements of all the players in Roosevelt High School. So, it was not Ritchie’s job to mention more than he had seen personally. Still, the State Assistant District Attorney had laid it on thick. He had introduced Ritchie as a decorated Police Officer and a Sergeant-Major in the California National Guard. That was supposed to lend him far more credibility with the jury than he would otherwise have. Then, after lunch, the Defense got their turn.

“You showed absolutely no hesitation in shooting my client, Officer Valenzuela” The Defense Attorney said with as much mock indignation as he could.

The client in question was seated quietly, his legal team having taken great pains to make look as young and innocent as they could. Ritchie knew that was a total load of crap. Before he had taken the witness stand, he had been warned about giving flip answers or engaging in sarcasm. The Defense was going to do their level best to knock down his credibility as a witness. The idea that Ritchie had been bloodthirsty and reckless was a part of that.

“The defendant had just shot one of the members of the facility right in front of me” Ritchie replied, “Stopping him was the only option.”

“Yes, stopping him?” The Defense Attorney asked, “You used an M-10A3 rifle of the sort that the Army issues. Many would argue that was overkill for that sort of situation. Is that typical for the Los Angeles Police?”

As if three blasts from a 12-gauge shotgun would have been better than taking three bullets from a Stoner Rifle. By some strange miracle, Dicky Scott had three 6mm bullets pass through him without actually hitting anything vital. The reason given was that Ritchie had used ball ammunition and they had not expanded or tumbled. He remembered that one of the Captains had given him a box of cartridges loaded with silverpoints, the sort used to kill deer by expanding and becoming spinning razorblades upon impact. He had told Ritchie to do a proper job of it next time.

“It is Department Issue” Ritchie replied, “Officers occasionally find themselves in situations where a pistol is insufficient. Like say, a mass shooting in a High School where the assailant is armed with a carbine.”

The Defense Attorney had clearly not liked that answer, but there was nothing he could object to too strenuously.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Five



18th March 1972

Tzschocha, Silesia

With it being a Sunday afternoon, everyone was watching television the common area of the dormitory when the show they were watching was interrupted by a breaking news story about the bombing of a Secondary School in County Tyrone, Ireland. For Mathilda it was more than just an annoyance. A year ago, she had been ignorant of these things. Going out into the wider world had meant that she had learned far more than she had imagined she would, but she had come to understand that it had not made her happy. In one of her classes, she had read a poem by an Englishman a couple hundred years earlier; Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise. There had been discussion at length about what that meant, as if Mathilda didn’t already know. She had lived in a forest on an island for her entire life before she had run off to Berlin.

Having had enough of a modern world that felt like it was spinning out of control, Mathilda left the dormitory room that she shared with a dozen other girls, walked to the castle courtyard and out the gates. She noticed that it was a cold afternoon as she crossed the causeway, and she pulled the hood of her coat over her head. She didn’t intend to go too far, she just wanted to ground herself after witnessing some of the chaos of the wider world. Part of her arrival to this place had been to learn the history. How there had been a fortress here at Tzschocha for centuries and it had changed hands many times with each successive owner adding to the complex, before falling into ruin after a fire in 1793. Then in 1909, an eccentric named Ernst von Gütschow who had made his fortune manufacturing cigars had purchased the castle and engaged in a massive reconstruction effort. Later, von Gütschow had been involved in a dispute with the Government of Silesia, the Mayor and Council of Breslau in particular revolving around his large private library, extensive collection of artifacts from the Romanov Family of Russia, and how they hadn’t liked a historic monument being privately owned. It was said that he had made a point of having the castle turned into a Gymnasia as a part of his will out of spite. No sane Government official would want the image of dozens of young ladies being evicted to appear on the evening news, not if they wanted to win another election in their lifetime.

Regardless of that, Mathilda had realized that she had found herself in a place that was truly ancient. From the stones of the castle to the forest that surrounded it, she could feel the weight of ages. The other students walked through life unaware of that. To them it was just a place they went to live while they went to school. The worst of them by far was Anna Schultz and her friends. They just drifted through life, only able to see the superficial and Mathilda felt bad for them. The world was such a rich place for those willing to see beyond the surface. They were determined to keep their eyes closed.

Once she was among the trees, Mathilda felt like she was exhaling after holding her breath for a long time. Tzschocha was far from the main roads, so the only sound was the wind through the branches of the trees overhead. Spring had not yet taken hold in the land, so it still slept. Mathilda could see the green buds on some of the trees though, she knew that it was dreaming of the rebirth that would happen when there was enough warmth to melt away the blanket of snow that still covered the ground.

Mathilda remembered how she had not been thrilled when Ilse had bought her the shoes that she was wearing. Hearing the snow crunching under her feet this was one of the few times she was glad that she wasn’t wearing the sandals that she normally preferred. Breathing in the fresh air, Mathilda tried to order her thoughts, only to hear approaching voices approaching.

Much to her annoyance.

Scrambling to one of the tree trunks, Mathilda slipped into the shadowy side and made herself as small as possible. With her grey dress and brown coat, she was almost invisible. She willed herself to be as still as possible and pictured herself as part of the tree trunk. Mathilda had no idea if that really worked or not, just that people almost always walked right past when she did this.

A few minutes later, Anna Schultz appeared with one of her friends. Mathilda had not bothered to learn the names of Anna’s friends. There was a half-dozen or so of them and they were all pretty much interchangeable. Small minded, petty, and shallow for the most part, they slavishly followed Anna mostly out of fear of what would happen if they ever found themselves on the outside of that circle. That didn’t mean that the girl was happy about following Anna into the forest this afternoon.

“I saw her come this way” Anna said.

“It’s too cold for this” The girl whined, “Why are we out here anyway?”

“Because I want to really see if that little freak sings to the trees” Anna replied as she stomped through the snow. “She left a saucer with little bits of food on it by one of the doors to the courtyard the other day.”

That was stupid, Mathilda thought to herself.

She didn’t sing to the trees. She sang for herself, and the forest merely provided the backdrop. The food on the saucer had been for the Tortoiseshell cat in the castle who she had been trying to befriend.

After a few minutes, Anna and her friend plodded off. Mathilda could hear them bickering for several minutes after they were no longer in view. Standing up, Mathilda walked off in the opposite direction, back towards the castle. With Anna out here in the cold trying to find her, it would make for a nice afternoon inside next to a fireplace.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Six



1st April 1973

Wahlstatt, Silesia

Their dormitory was a new building situated in the far corner of the grounds past the athletic field. Because there were relatively few of them it was small compared to the larger buildings that made up the larger school grounds. The way it worked, was that ten of them lived in rooms situated on either side of the building with rooms for washing and a common area in the middle. Today being the first day of April, meaning it was April Fools, Gretchen was leaving nothing to chance. She made sure to look around each doorway before she stepped through, checking every seat before she sat in it. It was with deep frustration that she knew she would probably need to strip her bed before lights out that night to make sure that there was nothing in it. Not for the first time Gretchen realized that her coming to this school had probably been a mistake.

At the time she had made her choice, it had seemed like the least bad option. Her reasoning now felt rather foolish. She had been scared of Anna and her friends. That there would be a repeat of what had happened in Primary School when Anna had gotten nearly everyone else in the school to freeze her out after an argument they’d had. She had been told repeatedly that she needed to stand up for herself, but she lacked Anna’s sharp tongue and when she tried to tell to tell Anna to stop it, it had only made things worse.

There was the other thing, which she had not breathed a word about to anyone. How she’d had a silly crush on Niko for as long as she could remember. It was absurd that something so stupid had played a role in her decisions. She knew that Niko barely knew she existed, yet here she was following him around like a puppy dog.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid” Gretchen repeated aloud to herself. It was something that she had found herself doing a lot lately.

“Just who are you calling stupid, Cadet?” Lyudmila asked.

Gretchen was a bit embarrassed. She had not noticed the Ukrainian woman approaching. Of course, sneaking up on people was basically Lyudmila’s specialty so it should have been expected.

“I’m stupid” Gretchen replied.

That got her a raised eyebrow.

“It’s like this Frau Pavlichenko, I made a bunch of decisions out of fear rather than thinking through the consequences” Gretchen said, “I’ve also had this stupid crush on a boy who I’m invisible to. So, I’m incredibly stupid.”

Lyudmila seemed to have a slight smile on her lips as she stared at Gretchen for a long, excruciating moment.

“I don’t think you are stupid at all” Lyudmila finally replied, “Most women are far older than you are before they start to figure out what they are doing wrong.”

“Oh” Gretchen said.

“Please be careful when it comes to love” Lyudmila said, “I have done that a couple times and have been unlucky.”

“How unlucky?” Gretchen asked, half afraid that she would get an honest answer.

“Divorce the first time and watching the other mistake die right in front of me” Lyudmila said, her voice flat.

“Mistake?” Gretchen asked, not quite believing what Lyudmila, an adult, was telling her.

“Anything that allows an opening for them to hurt you is always a mistake” Lyudmila replied.

Gretchen had heard whispers that Lyudmila was a bit insane. That after she had been ended up as a Prisoner during the Soviet War, she had ended up in a rubber room due to a severe case of Traumatic Stress leaving her unable to function. Something about the way that she had said that last sentence suggested to Gretchen that there might be some truth to those rumors.

“My mother told me that her coming to Germany to be with my father was not a mistake” Gretchen said.

“I didn’t say that there are not those who are lucky” Lyudmila replied, “Why are we even having this conversation? And why am I trying to use logic with a child? It is natural that you develop feelings for this or that boy, but you shouldn’t act on that because it is against the rules. Understand?”

Gretchen gave Lyudmila a look that suggested the next, most obvious question.

“Because I said so” Lyudmila said before she stalked off.

It was one of the most bizarre conversations that Gretchen had ever had. Lyudmila was not anyone’s idea of the maternal sort and that was about as close as a heart-to-heart conversation as was possible with her. Lyudmila had said that she had been in a relationship that had ended in divorce. It was hard to imagine her having gotten married in the first place.

Gretchen heard the others in the common area, they were excited about how the upcoming Easter Holiday. She found that she couldn’t share in their merriment. This was because Sabastian had warned her that the Faculty loved to spring some form of unpleasant surprise, usually in the form of a white glove inspection. Gretchen wondered if she ought to start cleaning now. Jump before she got pushed as it were. She considered whether or not to tell the others about her brother’s warning, but then remembered what the date was.

“Stupid” Gretchen muttered to herself. This time she was directing this outward. The whole situation was stupid. The Prussian Institution with its Byzantine rules, Anna and her friends, Lyudmila, and finally Gretta herself. Everything and everyone, it was all so incredibly stupid.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Seven



6th April 1973

Tel Aviv-Yafa, Palestine (British Mandate)

SMS K24 Grindwal had been ordered to the Eastern Mediterranean after Spain and the region was just as chaotic as Louis Junior had remembered it. At the moment interest had shifted from the Adriatic Sea to the old sore spot dubbed the Holy Land, where religion had long provided an excuse for every hothead with a grudge to carry out what they probably would have done anyway. There was also the long running rivalry between the Greeks, Italians, and the British over the Mediterranean Islands. When Louis had been briefed about the current situation, it occurred to him that little had changed since he had last been in the region. Or the last few thousand years when you got right down to it.

The old seaport of Yafa had seen the coming and going of dozens of Empires during its long history, the British being just the latest. Having the Grindwal in these waters was because one of the bitter lessons that the German Empire had learned over the last several decades was that trouble in the Near East, and Balkan Peninsula had a way of becoming everyone’s problems closer to home.

Louis remembered reading articles about his great-grandfather, Wilhelm II, and the comments he made about Germany having a place in the sun. Well, after a several wars and police actions it was starting to look like they were out in the sun and getting burnt. Louis had seen as much as the Grindwal had crossed the Mediterranean and had seen the presence of the Italian Navy, the ship being shadowed as soon as they had rounded Sicily. Later, there had been a Greek ship trailing them as well. Louis had seen the two ships on the radar scope. They were lingering just on the horizon. Keeping a wary distance apart. The reason why was simple enough and it had nothing to do with Louis commanding the Grindwal for once. It had to do with the German Navy being a neutral player in a game in which there was no such thing. He remembered how inaction had basically decided the Albanian War and apparently, so did everyone else.

Now, here in Tel Aviv he was finding it difficult to push the complicated situation he had found himself in out of his mind. He had a letter from his brother that had been delivered to the Grindwal that afternoon. Michael wasn’t the most literary sort, so it was just a few lines and a few photographs of Michael, Birdie, and the newest addition to their family. It seemed that fatherhood agreed with Louis’ big brother, though he had seemed to have made a point of throwing the Press out of Castle in Prague. The letter sat on the table forgotten for the moment.

With most of the crew on liberty, Louis was in a hotel bar that was frequented by high-ranking British Officers. With Admirals, Generals, and an Administrator or two in the room, a mere Ship’s Captain didn’t draw too much attention. The place itself was like something from a James Bond Movie, though with Louis’ luck it wouldn’t be James Bond walking in and taking a seat at the bar to order his famous Martini. Instead, it would be Cosimo de’ Medici who would take a seat across the table from Louis and lecture him about how he needed enjoy the finer things in life while he was young enough to truly engage in them. He had run across the Italian troublemaker a few times now and it was always the same.

That was when he saw a face which he recognized enter the bar. It was decidedly not Cosimo, but someone else he had been running into a lot lately.

She was wearing a dress that was the latest fashion from Paris, which was exactly where she had just come from. It showed off that she had a nice figure, which was entirely the intention, she also seemed to be delighted that every eye in the room was on her.

“Wrong side of the sea, Margareta?” Louis asked as she sat down opposite of him. “Shouldn’t you be in Paris? Your University?”

“I came on a whim” Margareta said with a smile.

“No one with any sanity comes here on a whim” Louis replied, “Unless you are one of those crazy Zionists who set off a car bomb in Jerusalem last month. They seem to like it here.”

“Have you seen the beaches around here?” Margareta asked in reply, “This place has a lot going for it if they could convince tourists to come.”

Louis hadn’t paid too much attention to that with his main concern having been the harbor and the disposition of the Grindwal. Some of the men had mentioned the beaches in passing, but seedy bars that catered specially to men of their profession were more their speed.

“I’ll take your word for that” Louis replied, though Margareta was no longer paying attention. She had found the photographs that Louis had left on the table. He had heard jokes about women squeeing, referring to the noises they made. This is what Margareta was doing as she was looking at them.

“This is your new nephew?” Margareta asked, looking a picture of the baby who sleeping in the arms of Birdie. “Philipp, right?”

“Yes” Louis replied, “After his maternal grandfather.”

“What will the Lady be having?” The waiter, who had approached the table while Margareta was looking at the photographs, asked.

“I don’t know” Margareta said, “Whatever Louis is having.”

“Another sparkling water then” The waiter said before he walked off.

“Seriously?” Margareta asked.

“I like to keep my wits about me when I am in public” Louis replied.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Eight



8th April 1973

Tempelhof, Berlin

For Kat, the breakfast meetings with the women she had close relationships with over the last few decades were something that she did to try to maintain a connection with the reality on the ground. Increasingly, she felt that she was isolated behind layers of security and her own reputation had driven many people away for long time before that. Having Gerta and Helene present at the same time was a rare treat these days, even if they seemed to be spending a lot of time grousing about what their adult children were up to. Kat’s nephew and god daughter were who they were mostly talking about in a manner that was deeply ironic considering their own personal histories. There was still an annual ride through the streets of Berlin every autumn by the German Cavalry along with representatives from various other countries entirely because of Gerta’s inability to get herself together a couple decades earlier. With Manny and Suse, they would do things at their own pace or else they wouldn’t do things at all, parental approval be damned.

The other thing this morning was that Nancy seemed troubled after she had spoken with her son earlier this week. It seemed that her youngest daughter was totally miserable with her present lot, but Gretchen wasn’t the sort who would complain. Only endure. Kat had said that it reminded her of someone who she had known a few decades earlier. Nancy had asked about whom she was talking? There was also, Nancy’s oldest daughter having grown into a selfish, ruthless little bitch who was almost impossible to control. Kat refrained from telling her that Anna was truly Tilo’s daughter and that like him, it wouldn’t be until life knocked her down a time or two that she would start to come around. For Tilo that had come in the form of the Marine Infantry and a walking tour of Vietnam, China, the Russian Far East, and finally Korea that had lasted several years. Kat had no idea what the equivalent for a young woman might look like.

Later, when Kat was talking with Doug, he found it all amusing. Nancy and Tilo’s careers kept them incredibly busy which was why they had many of the problems they presently had. Children who felt that the adults in their life ignored them tended to act out. Sometimes a firm hand was needed. Unfortunately for Nancy, it seemed that the wrong daughter had landed in the Prussian Institute. At least, that was Kat’s opinion.



Mitte, Berlin

Of all the times for things to go sideways. Sigi had been trying to get her mother’s affairs straightened out and that had taken months. The house on Potsdam had already been deemed an uninhabitable ruin, it had needed to be torn down before the land could be sold. Then just as Sigi had thought that she had gotten things under control several things happened that had upended everything. After how difficult it had been getting her mother to go along with the necessary course of action, Astrid von Grimmelshausen died as the result of multiple organ failure. Jay Parker hated to even think it, but it would have been better for everyone if that had happened last July before he and Sigi had come from Spain.

There had been a blizzard of paperwork with a lot of red tape to cut through to transfer the estate to Sigi. There had come the moment when the executors of her grandfather’s estate were finally deservedly sacked, but Sigi had not been able to enjoy it because she had gotten sick. At first, they had thought that the constant stress of the situation over several months had worn her down and made her vulnerable to a viral infection. Then it had turned out not to be a case of the flu and that changed everything when Sigi had found out that she was pregnant.

For Sigi, this had resulted in a phone call to her nephew to keep the weight of the military and academia off her back. Parker had a hard time reckoning with just who Freddy was even though he had met him several times by now. What that resulted in was an awkward conversation in car from the airport about why they were having a courthouse wedding where the paperwork had to be expedited and Parker had found it difficult to explain just who Sigi’s family was. Mostly because it sounded totally insane.

Kristina, Sigi’s niece had helped somewhat because as a Doctor she was used to having difficult conversations with people. Of course, Kiki telling Parker a few minutes later that compared to telling someone that they were forced to amputate or that it was inoperable, saying that a young couple was having to get married because contraception had failed was nothing. It was then that Parker realized that Kiki was and wasn’t joking when she said that. In the end, Parker’s father seemed more bothered by the fact that golf wasn’t really a thing in Germany beyond some exclusive clubs and hadn’t made the connection with the name Hohenzollern and the Kaiser. His mother clearly had several questions but was waiting until they could talk at leisure without the walls having so many ears. That and to make sure that his father wasn’t allowed anywhere near someone who he could try to give a sales pitch to, she understood that Sigi’s family took a very dim view on anything that might be fraud these days.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Nine



9th April 1973

Tempelhof, Berlin

The Hospital was so familiar to Kiki that it felt like home. Just like in years past she agreed to meet with Doctor Berg in the Cafeteria. Unlike when she had been a student everyone knew that she was a Field Surgeon who worked out of Emergency Department of the Fredrich-Wilhelm University Hospital of Berlin, Humboldt Campus. That made her one of the elites among the Hospital’s Staff. That was reflected in how they responded whenever she asked for something.

It wasn’t until Kiki saw the bemused look on Berg’s face after she made sure that her lunch was in coming to her table. Kiki tried not to be as heavy handed as her mentor had been, but it was impossible not to see the parallels between then and now. Back then, Berg had made a point of getting Kiki to eat the sort of things that she should have been eating but wasn’t for a variety of reasons mostly relating to being an indifferent teenager. She now had a fairly good idea that Berg had been trying to get Kiki to adopt a set of healthier habits. That success was decidedly mixed.

“Do you have what it asked you for?” Berg asked as Kiki sat down.

“Yes” Kiki replied as she handed Berg an envelope from the pocket of her coat. “Next time just ask me directly with no cloak and dagger nonsense. I would have happily given them to you.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Berg asked with an impish grin.

Kiki was a bit annoyed that Berg liked doing these surreptitiously. Everyone knew that she was Nora Berg’s surrogate daughter and that extended to Nina as well. The envelope contained photographs of Kiki, Benjamin and Nina that were the sort that any parent would expect to receive. Kiki knew that Berg did these things after a lifetime of hiding a large part of who she was from her employers and most the people she knew. With only a few months until Berg retired from the Medical Service, she was sort of past caring what others thought of her. The habits of a lifetime were sort of hard to break though. Berg’s personal life was no one’s business but hers.

“I am just not in the mood for games” Kiki said, “My Aunt is getting married this week and the situation is complicated.”

“No more complicated than any of the dozens of other situations that we see here every day” Berg said as she opened the envelope and was looking at the photographs. “It just happens to be your family this time.”

Kiki frowned and took off her glasses. It was something she did when she didn’t want to deal with the world, as if not being able to see clearly more than a couple of meters would make the problems go away.

“Sigi says that she has been taking birth control pills” Kiki said, “But if she were, how did she end up pregnant and having to get married to Jay Parker in such a hurry? I know that those pills are unlikely to just fail.”

Kiki had talked about what had happened with Berg the week before. She hadn’t mentioned her doubts though.

“As I said, it is only because it is your family this time” Berg said before holding up her hand and raising fingers to emphasize her points. “First, that is what she is telling you then you need to give her the benefit of the doubt no matter how unlikely that seems. Second, most women in Sigi’s situation probably think that they did everything right, though they might not have. Third, she has been in an extremely stressful situation with her mother for some time and little things fall through the cracks when there is a family crisis. Including failing to remember that you were supposed to take a pill at the same time every day. Finally, how do you react when everything is falling apart? Say clinging to your partner for comfort at a difficult time, and you’ve just forgot all about that little package in the medicine cabinet. It is a mistake that anyone could make under those conditions.”

“I get it” Kiki replied, staring at a point on the table right in front of her.

“It is not like she was in denial about being pregnant for several months” Berg said which caused Kiki to give her a livid look before she calmed herself. Kiki knew that Berg was not planning on letting her off the hook for everything that had happened in South America. The situation that Kiki had been in was all too similar. Being the XO of a Medical Services Regiment and exceed the expectations of the job had caused Kiki to ignore what her body had been trying to tell her. She had little room to judge Sigi over matters like these. In her case though, it was because she had not realized that her body had somehow expelled the copper-silver alloy IUD that had been in her uterus. Nina had been the result of that particular oversite. She had replaced it after Nina was born because she had found it far better that the adverse side effects of hormonal birth control. That included having it checked every few months to make sure it was still where it was supposed to be.

“You know that Nina has the same color eyes as you?” Berg said changing the subject back to the photographs as their food arrived. “She is going to be very pretty when she gets older.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Ten



10th April 1973

Tempelhof, Berlin

Walking down the alley towards the back gate of the garden of her parent’s house was something that had never changed for Marie Alexandra. This place had always been home no matter how much things had changed. At the moment, there was a dispute about who in the neighborhood was responsible for maintaining the alley, so Marie was deftly skipping between water filled potholes that were large enough to swallow cars. The Local Council had pointed to the City, the City had pointed to the State, and the State had pointed back at the Local Council. Marie’s mother said that she was about to start shooting them and progress upward until they acted out of self-preservation. Marie had no idea if her mother was joking or not.

Navigating the space between worlds like Marie presently was, wasn’t easy. On one side was the adult world with its expectations and obligations. On the other was childhood with its easy answers that no longer seemed to wash and seemingly boundless time that she no longer had. This especially wasn’t helped by the adults in Marie’s life just barely managing to muddle through at the best of times. All the contradictions and near misses when it came to calamities. Often times, it felt like everyone was only a step or two away from disaster. That was if they had not already driven full speed over the edge.

None of this was helped the rumors that had flown around about Marie while she had been away from her school for a year. Everyone had thought that she was in a rubber room somewhere and doped to the gills after flipping out. The truth, that she had been attending a wretched school that stressed etiquette and social graces had never once entered anyone’s thinking, not even after she had been introduced to the Imperial Court as the new Kammerfräulein. And that was what the people Marie considered friends were saying. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what those who were of a less kindly disposition towards her had to say.

This had consumed Marie’s thoughts. That and being an official friend and companion of Suga was nowhere near as interesting as she had thought it would be. Most of the time was spent helping her organize the various charitable foundations that wanted to collaborate with the Empress of Germany, the generous annual endowment that she dispersed at the end of every fiscal quarter. It brought to mind what her mother had told her about dealing large amounts of other people’s money, so much dirty paper.

Crossing the garden, Marie entered the laundry room and found something that was the perfect metaphor for everything that she had been thinking about. Sophie’s puppy, Sprocket, had somehow gotten himself tangled up in clothes that had been hung up to dry. The line was almost two meters off the floor and for the life of her, Marie had no idea how Sprocket could have managed to do this. Trying to get Sprocket untangled from a shirt and what looked like Tatiana’s underwear proved difficult as he decided that it was a game. The situation was absolutely impossible, and Marie was trying to get Sprocket to hold still so she could free him before he strangled himself when Darya entered the room.

“How on earth…?” Darya asked, sounding bewildered, “I was only gone for a moment.”

As if Sprocket needed more than that to get into trouble.

“Grandmother is going to be furious when she sees this” Darya said in Russian as she tried to put things back in order as they finally freed Sprocket. Everyone in the household knew that with Petia everything had to be just so, or else.

“I won’t tell if you won’t” Marie replied in the same language as she held Sprocket in her arms. Darya had been a willing conspirator for Marie for a long time. Still, both of them knew that it was nearly impossible to keep things from her grandmother.

“If I thought that it would do us any good” Darya said with some exasperation switching back to German. “Grandmother is going to want these things washed, them being full of dog hair is unacceptable.”

“As if you would notice with Tatiana” Marie said, “She always has her knickers in a twist anyway. A little bit of extra itchiness would hardly be noticed.”

“That is a mean thing to say about your sister” Darya said.

“You didn’t say that I am wrong” Marie said as she set Sprocket down on his feet. He instantly ran for the door and gave a greeting to Sophie and Angelica as they entered through the door from the garden as if they had been gone for ages as opposed to just for the school day. Both Marie and Darya gave Sophie a sour look.

“What?” Sophie demanded as she walked past with Sprocket at her heel. Of course, he was well behaved in Sophie’s presence, she thought that he was perfectly behaved all the time because he did that.

“You won’t believe what that little demon did this time” Darya said.

“Sprocket is no demon” Sophie said before marching towards the kitchen. Angelica, followed behind the look on her face one of pure defiance. Marie wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Italian girl who had joined their odd family yet, but it was clear that she had found her place as Sophie and Ziska’s partner in crime.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Eleven



12th April 1973

Münsingen Proving Grounds, Württemberg

The 76th Motorized Artillery Brigade was doing a number on the hill that the 8th Dragoon Brigade was conducting a mock attack on as a live fire exercise. That included the 140th Regiment and Manny was watching through his binoculars as the big 15-centimeter “Evergreen” howitzers were dropping high-explosive shells onto the hilltop. If someone were uneducated, they would think that nothing could survive a bombardment like that. After having lived through the Battle of Paso de San Francisco and been on the receiving end of that sort of barrage, Manny knew better. The man standing next to him, the American who was acting as an Observer in the name of peace and international cooperation, clearly did not. Despite the fact that he was wearing the uniform of US Army Special Forces Studies and Observation Group. Captain North seemed to personify what Manny’s father had told him about how it seemed like a big mouth was almost always attached to an empty head or at least a closed mind. The night before at the formal reception, North had asked Manny about the PLM that he had been wearing. That question was a major faux pas that someone in North’s position should have known better than to ask. Manny had sarcastically replied that it came as a set with his Patagonian War victory medal. North had then asked if they really did things that way and Manny had no idea if the American was really that dim or if he had been yanking Manny’s chain.

It was then as the StuG VIIIs from the 103rd Motorized Artillery and the SpZ-4 APCs started grinding forward as the towed artillery and mortars got into the act. Everything from 10.5-centimeter howitzers and 8-centimeter mortars all the way down to the 55-milimeter “Commando” mortars that had evolved from the old Japanese Knee mortars and 40-milimeter rifle grenades. A huge amount of earth was getting churned up. The StuG remained mostly unchanged in form since the late 30’s, the hull was now the same as the Panzer VIII Leopard I and Krupp had made them by the thousands. The ability to provide direct artillery support to advancing Infantry was always welcome. That much was happening as the three Regiments of the 8th started their charge. As heavy infantry they were all about momentum, once they got moving anything that got in their way was quickly obliterated.

For Manny it was a matter of keeping up with the Company he commanded while making sure that the American he was saddled with was on an extremely short leash as he had been ordered. If the High Command didn’t want North to see anything, why had they saddled Manny with him? As it was, Manny hadn’t even bothered to learn North’s first name and the arrogant twit had not even noticed. He didn’t seem to be the type to see what was going on just past his nose. Like todays live fire exercise having little to no coordination in combined arms for example. As the General in charge of this mess, Uncle Stefan had said that he wanted the men to have a chance to blow off steam after a long winter spent in the Fritz von Below Barracks in Wunsdorf-Zossen. Shooting off several million Marks worth of explosives would do the trick nicely. At the same time, Stefan was with his Staff observing the “battle” looking to see just who showed a bit more initiative than others. In a couple days they would come back and do a more credible job of it when the international observers were gone. Hopefully, they would take those who were easily impressed merely by blowing things up with them.

Looking over his shoulder, Manny saw that Captain North was following him closely. It was rather obvious where he fell among the observers.



Los Angeles, California

“They found him guilty” Big Mike said as he sat down in the passenger seat. The suspension of Frankenstein rocked under his weight.

He knew that Mike was talking about Dicky Scott because the jury had been in deliberation. From here it would the penalty phase of the trial and no matter how it turned out Dicky would be thrown into a cage and wouldn’t be getting out alive. The only question was the method by which that would happen. After decades of irrelevance or the Chamber after the appeals process had run its course.

“Whatever happens next, our involvement is over” Ritchie replied as he pulled a folder of papers out of the center console. “We lock that one up and move on to the next dozen sick fucks.”

Mike chuckled when he heard that. “This is because of the briefing this morning?” He asked, “The Rabbit?”

Of all the absurd things that they had been told during rollcall at the start of the shift, it had been to be on the lookout for a grey or blue Volkswagen Rabbit. There had been hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of cars that matched that description which had rolled off assembly lines over the last decade. No actual description of the suspect beyond his car, but to consider him armed and dangerous. Delightful. Whoever this guy was, Ritchie’s hope was that he would get popped somewhere far away where he wouldn’t become Ritchie’s problem involving multiple appearances in the Courtroom and way too much drama. Since becoming a policeman, Ritchie had learned that getting the headlines wasn’t worth the cost to him personally.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Twelve



14th April 1973

Charlottenburg, Berlin

Zella was sitting on the couch by the window looking down at the crowds of people as they went about their business in the shopping district as she was procrastinating on a Saturday morning. Her own apartment, now that she had moved in, was six floors above those busy streets. She had spent a considerable amount of time finding an apartment that suited her needs. A modern building located in a neighborhood that had some life in it. Living in a business district where everyone went home at the end of the weekday, effectively making it a ghost town by early evening most days. Which was completely unacceptable. The energy in a place like that was always odd, artificial.

She had needed to move out of her parent’s house oddly because they were no longer there. With Zella’s mother having retired from the BT they suddenly had time to do the things they wanted to do. That had left Zella knocking about an empty house and the silence had really started getting to her. Moving into an apartment had its disadvantages, but you were always aware that there were people around. It was those interactions that Zella missed, despite how annoyed she got with her mother’s probing questions. It was also the first time in Zella’s life that she had not lived the townhouse belonging to her parents. Supposedly, she had moved with her mother back to Berlin after being born in Australia but had no memory of that move. That made it quite an adjustment.

Moving in had been simple enough with most of the furniture needing to be ordered, it had been delivered and set up before Zella had started moving her things in. Getting things just how she like was going to take a whole lot of time though and there were still boxes everywhere. The apartment itself was of an open floorplan with only a partition separating the “Bedroom” from the common area. A small bathroom was just off the kitchen. Zella suspected the kitchen probably wouldn’t see a whole lot of use and that it had been designed that way to simplify the plumbing. Bay windows made up the much of one of the walls and they gave her an excellent view of the roof of the Department Store across the street and the pigeons who roosted there. Beyond that, there was a glimpse of the Tiergarten several blocks to the east and the towers rising in the City Center.

There came a pounding on the door.

She had agreed to help her “Aunt” with a different niece who had been causing a great deal of trouble with one of her sisters lately and she had asked if Zella could help out? She said that it would be good for both of them, and Zella had felt obligated. With a great deal of annoyance, Zella got to her feet and padded over the door. Looking out the wide-angle lens of the peephole, Zella saw that it was the guest whose presence she was dreading. Throwing open the bolt, Zella opened the door. It was a heavy steel door hung in a steel frame set into reinforced concrete, so nothing short of explosives was getting through. Even so, it had ball-bearing hinges which meant that it swung smoothly open.

“Kat says that I am supposed to help you unpack” Sophie said with the sort of pout that was to be expected of fourteen-year-olds everywhere, her birthday having only been a couple days earlier. “It took me forever to find this place.”

“In this neighborhood?” Zella asked, “I doubt it was a hardship.”

“I don’t know where anything is around here” Sophie replied pushing her bicycle into the apartment. “I was…”

Sophie had stopped talking when she saw the boxes waiting to be unpacked and switched to several swearwords that Zella had been unaware that she would know. Of course, living in Kat’s household for the last five years must have been quite the education for her. Some of things that Kat insisted on were terrifying until you realized it was her way of teaching you to deal with those things out there which were far worse.

“I guess there is a lot left to unpack” Zella said, unsure about what else to say.

As Sophie looked around, she saw that one of the cardboard boxes contained hand tools. “Don’t you have a motorcycle?”

“It is in the shop” Zella replied, “And even if it weren’t I wouldn’t park it up here, there is a garage on the ground floor of this building, next to the loading dock.”

Zella’s motorcycle, a BMW K3 she’d had for the last few years was a model that was somewhat notorious for shredding tires. Michelin had finally decided to make a belted radial tire for motorcycles that promised to finally fix that problem and Zella figured that the new tires were worth springing for. The trouble was that she lacked the time to do it herself. So, Zella had swallowed her pride and taken her motorcycle to a mechanic who her father had recommended.

“The box of tools is not what we are going be unpacking today” Zella said, “The boxes over by the windows contain art supplies, I would like to get those sorted.”

Sophie brightened at the prospect of that.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Thirteen



15th April 1973

Charlottenburg, Berlin

Finding a child staying at Zella’s new place the prior night was not the sort of greeting that he was expecting. It being Sunday, Yuri had intended to go out for breakfast with her after working on an hour-long presentation that was going to air that night about the state of primary schools in Berlin for the entire week and late into the night before. He had managed to get a few hours of sleep before dragging himself out of bed. Admittedly his motivations for that involved a bit more than breakfast, but those plans were dashed in many ways.

Zella said that when she and Sophie had finished working on the apartment the night before, it had been too late to send Sophie home on her bicycle and the bicycle was too large to fit in her car. Having Sophie stay the night had been the easiest solution.

“Aunt Katherine sent Sophie this weekend to help unpack boxes” Zella said, “And that has worked out well.”

The apartment was a lot more organized than it had been when Yuri had been here last. The thing which stuck out though was that while evidence of Zella’s art was everywhere her actual work was nowhere to be seen. Zella had told Yuri that when she was at home, she wanted peace and video editing was the exact opposite of that. Dozens of bottles containing different oils and pigments were set up on the shelves by the windows. It seemed that was what Zella really wanted to get back into. There were also the hundreds of books and vinyl records that would take weeks to go through, not to mention dozens of keepsakes that she had acquired over the last three decades. Basically, Zella needed all the help she could get.

“Who are you?” Sophie asked Yuri as Zella was rummaging around in boxes for the coffee maker.

“I’m Yuri, Zella’s friend from work” Yuri replied. He was half dreading whatever Zella’s “Aunt” Katherine might have told her about his relationship with Zella.

“Oh” Sophie replied before seeming to lose interest.

“Hell” Zella muttered as she finally found the automatic coffee maker and the pot had a big crack running across it.

“I think you will need a new one” Sophie said, stating the obvious though it wasn’t remotely helpful.

“No place that sells these is open today” Zella said, staring at the offensive coffee pot in her hand.

“We can always get coffee elsewhere” Yuri said, “We were planning on going out anyway.”

“That was before I had company” Zella said.

“Just where were you planning on going?” Sophie asked, all innocence. Yuri’s sisters were only a few years older than Sophie, so he knew that was a total sham.

“There is a café open on Sundays that Yuri knows about” Zella replied. “It is not the sort of place that caters to families.”

“I’m not exactly family” Sophie said, there being a touch of petulance in her voice.

“No, but you are legally considered a minor” Yuri said, “That is what they mean by family.”

Sophie didn’t say what she thought of that, but the raspberry she blew at Yuri.

“I’ll call Kat and see if I can get her to come collect Sophie a bit early today, like as soon as she can get here” Zella said, a bit annoyed by Sophie’s attitude.

“See if you can get her to bring coffee” Yuri suggested, “Solve two problems at once.”

“That might not work” Sophie said, “One of Kat’s former Aides is getting married today, the formal church part anyway, the mother of the groom insisted on it. Small ceremony, immediate family only. Kat sent everyone but her and Doug elsewhere for the weekend too.”

“We’ll see about that” Zella said as she picked up the phone.

Minutes later, Zella looked rather cross as she resumed unpacking boxes with Sophie and Yuri. Kat had asked Zella if she could keep Sophie until early that evening as they had originally planned but promised to make it worth her while. Zella knew that was what passed as an apology from Kat, so she was forced to accept it. Kat had also said that she would make a call and bring in some additional help for Zella and they would be bringing food, so Zella didn’t have much to complain about. Or at least she though she didn’t…

Eventually they all heard the doorbell, which Zella had been unaware existed until someone pressed the button. Looking out through the peephole, Zella saw a woman in her thirties carrying brown paper bags and a carrier holding four large paper cups of presumably coffee. At the moment, Zella wouldn’t have cared if it were that maniac slasher in California that she had been hearing about in the wire feeds. If this person had breakfast, she would be perfectly prepared to let them in.

“You must be Zella…” The woman started to say, before her jaw dropped open in shock. “You’re Marcella von Holz… From television.”

“It’s a job, that’s all” Zella said as she swung the door open all the way.

As that happened the woman yelled over her shoulder. “Gabi, get in here now!” Before turning back to Zella. “The Kurfürstin said that you were doing her a favor and that if I could arrange breakfast for a few people, she would be most thankful. I had no idea that it would be you. I guess you can me Jana.”

She paused for a moment when she saw Sophie and Zella a sour expression crossed her face for an instant. Then presumably Gabi entered the apartment Zella instantly saw the close resemblance between her and Sophie and how close they were in age. As the two girls were going about the high-pitched greeting that their sort did, Zella saw the story, including why Jana was willing to help out even if it was something that she didn’t care to think about.

“Just who are you?” Jana asked Yuri who was looking to Zella to give an answer. Zella was giving Sophie a hard look to let her know not to speak out of turn though.