Stupid Luck and Happenstance.
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Depends on the country. The Nordic countries, Belgium, Portugal, and a bunch of others had already had their last peacetime executions by the time of the POD. Portugal had even abolished the death penalty in 1911. It was hardly a new idea, and I would assume that at least these countries would strive for its eventual abolition elsewhere as well.
Why should it be an international incident?
"Do you know who I am?"
"No, but if you have other identification we can read it to you."
"This is outrageous!"
"No, you're merely being annoying. At the end of my shift I get to go home; you, however, are going to jail."
"I'm Sir Dingbat-Asshole! I demand to speak to your superior."
"I'm Countess von Mischner. I am outranked by my Empress and your King, and I don't think either will take your call."
Part 57, Chapter 798
Chapter Seven Hundred Ninety-Eight
25th January 1950
Berlin
Gia was torn. While she was sad to see her friends leave and wished she would have been able to go with them, Gia was glad that she was getting her personal space back.
She had realized that meeting her grandmother had been a personal turning point for her. Her namesake Grandmother had made it clear that if she didn’t want to be the Princess that every expected her to be then she should just not be that thing. It had seemed like that was way too simple, yet it was the truth. Gia needed to be her own person, it was up to the rest of the world to except her for who and what she was. Her grandmother had said that she’d been absolutely delighted to read the column that Gia had written, it showed that she had the sort of grit that all the women in the Thomas family needed to have. Gia need to turn that grit into concrete action.
Freddy walked into Gia’s suite of rooms. All week he had been talking about visiting Oberstabsfeldwebel Schafer’s workshop in Potsdam. It was a stoke of genius on someone’s part. Having a bunch of ten and eleven-year-old boys hitting things with hammers, it was a fantastic way to keep their attention.
“Freddy, we’ve talked about this” Gia said. The Crown Prince had picked up some rude habits over the last month as the rest of the sisterhood had been present that she now found herself having to break him of.
“I’m not ever supposed to walk into a woman’s chambers uninvited” Freddy said in a droll voice that Gia didn’t find the least bit amusing.
“Why?” Gia demanded.
“Because it’s disrespectful of their space.”
Gia still didn’t like his tone. “And what happens when you are disrespectful of a woman’s space?”
“She kills you and everyone says you got what you had coming to you.”
“Good” Gia said, “Now what did you want?”
“I wanted to know if you could help me?” Freddy asked.
“And?”
“Michael is starting at the Gymnasium in June” Freddy replied.
“That’s wonderful” Gia said.
“Why do you think that?”
“When I was going to school it wasn’t until I started going with my adopted sisters that I discovered how it was easier when I had others who were always on my side” Gia said, “I wish I’d had that sooner.”
“But Michael is in a different year than me” Freddy said.
“A single year separates you and Mikey” Gia replied, “That’s really not a big deal. When you think about it, it’s really the two of you against the world along with Kiki if you are smart.”
Freddy looked at her like if she had grown a second head.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Meyer hated hospitals just like anyone else. The smell, it had everything to do with the smell. It had been expensive, but he had managed to get in to see Justyn without leaving a record of his presence. Meyer wanted to speak to him regarding what was expected of him, if Justyn couldn’t do that then he would become a problem needing to be solved.
“Get lost, Meyer said to the policeman guarding the door, “He’s not walking out of here.”
The policeman smirked at that. Local cops were the same all over the planet, too many were sadistic bastards and too few were on the take to be truly useful. Here in Germany he had the Federal Police and the shadowy BII to thank for much of that. A corrupt cop coming to their attention would either be bent to their ends or in jail in a matter of hours. He had to pay out enough to make it worth their time and even if they did take his money he couldn’t anything they said or did. Something he was not happy about. It had cost him a bundle just to get the unformed officer guarding the door to take a coffee break.
“You’ll be pleased to know that they are getting ready to move you to a more secure setting. A deal was reached to save your worthless hide. It seems that the courts are a bit less likely to shorten you by your head these days if you haven’t actually killed anyone they know about because the judges know that political winds are blowing against that sort of thing” Meyer said, “I just hope you’re smart enough to keep your trap shut.”
“I wouldn’t be here if that stupid bitch hadn’t broken my arm and leg” Justyn said. He had an arm and a leg that were in plaster casts.
“That’s no way to talk about the young lady who saved your life” Meyer said, “If Gräfin Katherine hadn’t acted when she did you would have gone under the wheels of that train. Her father is good at making people simply disappear who won’t be missed. When he wants to make an example of someone, he arranges an accident like the one you nearly suffered.”
“That’s a load of shit.”
“No, it isn’t” Meyer said “And it’s your pride that’s hurt. You had your life saved by a woman you stupidly tried to kill, even as she set you up like a bowling pin.”
“Wait a minute…” Justyn started to say.
“No” Meyer said, cutting him off, “She played you from the second she walked into that room. Right down to knowing that you would panic and pull that trigger when you did and even if you hadn’t you still would have ended up right here in this room. So, this is what’s going to happen. You are going to keep your mouth shut and be a model prisoner. Then when you get out when the State gets tired of having you, you might have a life to come back to, use it as an opportunity to wise up. Otherwise, you’ll become a problem for everyone, and you know how problems like that get solved. Understand?”
“I understand” Justyn replied.
“Good.”
----------------------------------------------------------------
Unknown to Meyer Lansky and Justyn Kozlow a microphone in the hospital room’s ceiling recorded the entire conversation. The division of the BII set up to monitor organized crime been listening in, including the officer who Meyer paid to look the other way so that this meeting could take place. It was interesting, they had suspected that there was a falling out between Otto Mischner and his daughter, a split that had to be more profound after this latest incident. Thoughtful consideration had to go in to exactly what to do with this additional information.
25th January 1950
Berlin
Gia was torn. While she was sad to see her friends leave and wished she would have been able to go with them, Gia was glad that she was getting her personal space back.
She had realized that meeting her grandmother had been a personal turning point for her. Her namesake Grandmother had made it clear that if she didn’t want to be the Princess that every expected her to be then she should just not be that thing. It had seemed like that was way too simple, yet it was the truth. Gia needed to be her own person, it was up to the rest of the world to except her for who and what she was. Her grandmother had said that she’d been absolutely delighted to read the column that Gia had written, it showed that she had the sort of grit that all the women in the Thomas family needed to have. Gia need to turn that grit into concrete action.
Freddy walked into Gia’s suite of rooms. All week he had been talking about visiting Oberstabsfeldwebel Schafer’s workshop in Potsdam. It was a stoke of genius on someone’s part. Having a bunch of ten and eleven-year-old boys hitting things with hammers, it was a fantastic way to keep their attention.
“Freddy, we’ve talked about this” Gia said. The Crown Prince had picked up some rude habits over the last month as the rest of the sisterhood had been present that she now found herself having to break him of.
“I’m not ever supposed to walk into a woman’s chambers uninvited” Freddy said in a droll voice that Gia didn’t find the least bit amusing.
“Why?” Gia demanded.
“Because it’s disrespectful of their space.”
Gia still didn’t like his tone. “And what happens when you are disrespectful of a woman’s space?”
“She kills you and everyone says you got what you had coming to you.”
“Good” Gia said, “Now what did you want?”
“I wanted to know if you could help me?” Freddy asked.
“And?”
“Michael is starting at the Gymnasium in June” Freddy replied.
“That’s wonderful” Gia said.
“Why do you think that?”
“When I was going to school it wasn’t until I started going with my adopted sisters that I discovered how it was easier when I had others who were always on my side” Gia said, “I wish I’d had that sooner.”
“But Michael is in a different year than me” Freddy said.
“A single year separates you and Mikey” Gia replied, “That’s really not a big deal. When you think about it, it’s really the two of you against the world along with Kiki if you are smart.”
Freddy looked at her like if she had grown a second head.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Meyer hated hospitals just like anyone else. The smell, it had everything to do with the smell. It had been expensive, but he had managed to get in to see Justyn without leaving a record of his presence. Meyer wanted to speak to him regarding what was expected of him, if Justyn couldn’t do that then he would become a problem needing to be solved.
“Get lost, Meyer said to the policeman guarding the door, “He’s not walking out of here.”
The policeman smirked at that. Local cops were the same all over the planet, too many were sadistic bastards and too few were on the take to be truly useful. Here in Germany he had the Federal Police and the shadowy BII to thank for much of that. A corrupt cop coming to their attention would either be bent to their ends or in jail in a matter of hours. He had to pay out enough to make it worth their time and even if they did take his money he couldn’t anything they said or did. Something he was not happy about. It had cost him a bundle just to get the unformed officer guarding the door to take a coffee break.
“You’ll be pleased to know that they are getting ready to move you to a more secure setting. A deal was reached to save your worthless hide. It seems that the courts are a bit less likely to shorten you by your head these days if you haven’t actually killed anyone they know about because the judges know that political winds are blowing against that sort of thing” Meyer said, “I just hope you’re smart enough to keep your trap shut.”
“I wouldn’t be here if that stupid bitch hadn’t broken my arm and leg” Justyn said. He had an arm and a leg that were in plaster casts.
“That’s no way to talk about the young lady who saved your life” Meyer said, “If Gräfin Katherine hadn’t acted when she did you would have gone under the wheels of that train. Her father is good at making people simply disappear who won’t be missed. When he wants to make an example of someone, he arranges an accident like the one you nearly suffered.”
“That’s a load of shit.”
“No, it isn’t” Meyer said “And it’s your pride that’s hurt. You had your life saved by a woman you stupidly tried to kill, even as she set you up like a bowling pin.”
“Wait a minute…” Justyn started to say.
“No” Meyer said, cutting him off, “She played you from the second she walked into that room. Right down to knowing that you would panic and pull that trigger when you did and even if you hadn’t you still would have ended up right here in this room. So, this is what’s going to happen. You are going to keep your mouth shut and be a model prisoner. Then when you get out when the State gets tired of having you, you might have a life to come back to, use it as an opportunity to wise up. Otherwise, you’ll become a problem for everyone, and you know how problems like that get solved. Understand?”
“I understand” Justyn replied.
“Good.”
----------------------------------------------------------------
Unknown to Meyer Lansky and Justyn Kozlow a microphone in the hospital room’s ceiling recorded the entire conversation. The division of the BII set up to monitor organized crime been listening in, including the officer who Meyer paid to look the other way so that this meeting could take place. It was interesting, they had suspected that there was a falling out between Otto Mischner and his daughter, a split that had to be more profound after this latest incident. Thoughtful consideration had to go in to exactly what to do with this additional information.
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Part 57, Chapter 799
Chapter Seven Hundred Ninety-Nine
17th February 1950
Tempelhof Airport
It had already been a few weeks, but she had already learned that businessmen as a class were problematic, those from the American State of Texas seemed to take that to a new level. For Kat, most people who could afford air travel were respectful to her. Because the airport doubled as a Luftwaffe base Kat was a part of the security of that base, the part that dealt with the civilian part of it. She was used to having been a Major before. Now, she was discovering that a Support Officer was about the equivalent to an Unteroffizer. In International Arrivals she was just supposed to be pleasant and keep the line moving along, not that the arriving passengers always made that easy. Because she spoke English, Kat was expected to deal with a large share of those from the United States and the British Commonwealth. Which was why she was talking to the Texan.
“Now, are all the women in this town as gorgeous as you?” The Texan asked with a smile. He was typical of what she’d come to expect. Red and cream suit, 10-gallon hat, bolo tie and cowboy boots. Her friend Martzel Ibarra, a Gaucho who was familiar with this sort of things would have described a man like this as “All hat, no cattle.”
“Passport, please” Kat said flatly.
He handed it to her, Jefferson Davis Beaumont. Wonderful, she thought to herself. A name like that let her know exactly what she was dealing with.
“The purpose of your visit, Mister Beaumont?” She asked.
“Business, of course” Beaumont replied, “Possibly pleasure, darlin. My friends call me Bo.”
Kat understood what he was implying to her annoyance. It was the sort of thing that she was on the receiving end of a dozen or more times a day.
“I’m married” Kat said, “Do you have anything to declare?”
“Just that it’s a crying shame that a pretty little thing like you is already hitched.”
It was all she could do not to grown over an asinine comment like that. Anton had said that she would do her time here and eventually move on to something better. Right now, that something better seemed extremely far away.
Vienna, Austria
Nancy was enjoying an afternoon to herself. The Ambassador had returned home to attend a funeral. The term that he direct supervisor had used was “While the cat was away, the mice will play.” Not that the business of the Embassy had shut down, far from it. The men who worked on the third floor, that the regular Embassy staff weren’t supposed to talk about, were all busy in their comings and goings. For Nancy, no one needed her help to talk to Austrian Officials and not cause international incidents. Instead she was using an office typewriter to catch up on her correspondence.
Getting a letter from Suga-no-miya of Japan had been a surprise, for Nancy as well as her supervisor when she had reported it. All the Japanese Princess had wanted was some gift ideas for what to send Prince Friedrich of Germany. If the State Department had been up on it, they would have known that the two of them were friends having bonded over a State visit by the Japanese royals to Potsdam a couple years earlier. Nancy had said none of that, not being interested in overstepping her bounds more than she did already by having interesting friends. She also needed to write Ilse Tritten back regarding her desire to collect water samples in the rivers that flowed through Austria. Nancy wondered why Ilse would want her help. Shouldn’t Ilse have contacted the contacted the Austrian Government first? Nancy said as much in her letter replying to Ilse.
“Important business?” A voice asked.
Nancy looked up and saw the face of Mike Smith or whatever his real name was, the OSS Agent from Berlin when she’d been there.
“Not really” Nancy replied, “Just catching up on a few things. Any other of my friends you need me to spy on for you?”
“No need to be that way” Smith said, “We’re in a new era of interagency cooperation, President Truman said so.”
“What does that even mean?” Nancy asked.
“The Hell if I know?”
“It seems like that’s something that you should be learning instead of bothering me.”
With that she went back to her work, she wished her job was different and that the men she worked with would just leave her alone. It precluded a personal life for her. While her male counterparts had wives and families she was acutely aware that for her to get married she would be giving up everything she had worked for. A common joke Nancy had heard among the women who also worked for the State Department was that “I do” was synonymous with “I quit” or “I resign.”
Perhaps she ought to invite Ilse here. While her friend lacked the hard edges of her older sister and didn’t attract attention like a few things shy of an atomic bomb, she was still a lot of fun to have around. An explanation of Ilse’s work and why she of all people would be trying to work around the Austrian Government.
Mike walked off after a few minutes as Nancy composed her letter to Ilse. It was much easier than thinking about what sort of gift Prince Freddy might like for his birthday.
17th February 1950
Tempelhof Airport
It had already been a few weeks, but she had already learned that businessmen as a class were problematic, those from the American State of Texas seemed to take that to a new level. For Kat, most people who could afford air travel were respectful to her. Because the airport doubled as a Luftwaffe base Kat was a part of the security of that base, the part that dealt with the civilian part of it. She was used to having been a Major before. Now, she was discovering that a Support Officer was about the equivalent to an Unteroffizer. In International Arrivals she was just supposed to be pleasant and keep the line moving along, not that the arriving passengers always made that easy. Because she spoke English, Kat was expected to deal with a large share of those from the United States and the British Commonwealth. Which was why she was talking to the Texan.
“Now, are all the women in this town as gorgeous as you?” The Texan asked with a smile. He was typical of what she’d come to expect. Red and cream suit, 10-gallon hat, bolo tie and cowboy boots. Her friend Martzel Ibarra, a Gaucho who was familiar with this sort of things would have described a man like this as “All hat, no cattle.”
“Passport, please” Kat said flatly.
He handed it to her, Jefferson Davis Beaumont. Wonderful, she thought to herself. A name like that let her know exactly what she was dealing with.
“The purpose of your visit, Mister Beaumont?” She asked.
“Business, of course” Beaumont replied, “Possibly pleasure, darlin. My friends call me Bo.”
Kat understood what he was implying to her annoyance. It was the sort of thing that she was on the receiving end of a dozen or more times a day.
“I’m married” Kat said, “Do you have anything to declare?”
“Just that it’s a crying shame that a pretty little thing like you is already hitched.”
It was all she could do not to grown over an asinine comment like that. Anton had said that she would do her time here and eventually move on to something better. Right now, that something better seemed extremely far away.
Vienna, Austria
Nancy was enjoying an afternoon to herself. The Ambassador had returned home to attend a funeral. The term that he direct supervisor had used was “While the cat was away, the mice will play.” Not that the business of the Embassy had shut down, far from it. The men who worked on the third floor, that the regular Embassy staff weren’t supposed to talk about, were all busy in their comings and goings. For Nancy, no one needed her help to talk to Austrian Officials and not cause international incidents. Instead she was using an office typewriter to catch up on her correspondence.
Getting a letter from Suga-no-miya of Japan had been a surprise, for Nancy as well as her supervisor when she had reported it. All the Japanese Princess had wanted was some gift ideas for what to send Prince Friedrich of Germany. If the State Department had been up on it, they would have known that the two of them were friends having bonded over a State visit by the Japanese royals to Potsdam a couple years earlier. Nancy had said none of that, not being interested in overstepping her bounds more than she did already by having interesting friends. She also needed to write Ilse Tritten back regarding her desire to collect water samples in the rivers that flowed through Austria. Nancy wondered why Ilse would want her help. Shouldn’t Ilse have contacted the contacted the Austrian Government first? Nancy said as much in her letter replying to Ilse.
“Important business?” A voice asked.
Nancy looked up and saw the face of Mike Smith or whatever his real name was, the OSS Agent from Berlin when she’d been there.
“Not really” Nancy replied, “Just catching up on a few things. Any other of my friends you need me to spy on for you?”
“No need to be that way” Smith said, “We’re in a new era of interagency cooperation, President Truman said so.”
“What does that even mean?” Nancy asked.
“The Hell if I know?”
“It seems like that’s something that you should be learning instead of bothering me.”
With that she went back to her work, she wished her job was different and that the men she worked with would just leave her alone. It precluded a personal life for her. While her male counterparts had wives and families she was acutely aware that for her to get married she would be giving up everything she had worked for. A common joke Nancy had heard among the women who also worked for the State Department was that “I do” was synonymous with “I quit” or “I resign.”
Perhaps she ought to invite Ilse here. While her friend lacked the hard edges of her older sister and didn’t attract attention like a few things shy of an atomic bomb, she was still a lot of fun to have around. An explanation of Ilse’s work and why she of all people would be trying to work around the Austrian Government.
Mike walked off after a few minutes as Nancy composed her letter to Ilse. It was much easier than thinking about what sort of gift Prince Freddy might like for his birthday.
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It's seems that a large number of Texans are showing up in Berlin lately on business or more accurately "Oil Biddness", while Germany IOTL had an advanced Petro-chemical industry they do not have the experience in oil exploration ,that is where the Texans come in.
The Texans also have extensive contacts in the Middle East that Germany needs if they want to be independent of foreign oil companies like Standard Oil, Fina, BP , and Elf.
The Texans also have extensive contacts in the Middle East that Germany needs if they want to be independent of foreign oil companies like Standard Oil, Fina, BP , and Elf.
Maybe a Japanese forge? He's recently discovered that he also loves hitting things with hammers. Or heck, maybe a swordsmith, if he's told her about playing in the the metal shop, to help him forge his own sword. I doubt he would be particularly dangerous with a sword, he should have been impressed for a long time that weapons are tools, not toys.
Having someone in passport control that has a really good BS detector is a good thing. She might even spot someone she's seen overseas and knows is a bad guy even before he pulls his papers out.
Kat is also in the enviable position of not needing the job, so she can, if need be, pay more attention to what's necessary than to that the boss wants. How wealthy is the lass?
Kat is also in the enviable position of not needing the job, so she can, if need be, pay more attention to what's necessary than to that the boss wants. How wealthy is the lass?
Very, she owns the land a whole military base is on.
Of course she also just found out that she will inherit some numbered Swiss accounts from her father.
I had a feeling that she was pretty wealthy, but there are nobles a-plenty tht are rich in lands they can't sell, and that keep them poor.
The numbered Swiss account might not go to her at all if Otto's pissed enough at her--and he has kids that aren't filthy rich already.
Part 58, Chapter 800
Chapter Eight Hundred
24th February 1950
Berlin
There were days when Otto just wanted to smash something. Here he was at probably the height of his personal power and wealth but for the first time in decades he was left feeling completely helpless. He was looking at the photograph he normally kept in his wallet. Taken in 1928, he was with Kat in Constantinople when she was six years old. Marcella had been reluctant to allow her to go on that trip, but Kat had been so excited to go that her aunt had relented. Her wide-eyed excitement had been infectious as they had traveled through every major city. He found that he missed that that innocent little girl.
Then the unbidden thought came to Otto’s mind that she was gone forever because he had failed and betrayed her in many of the most profound ways possible. Everyone liked to think of themselves as the heroes of their story. Otto had realized at that moment in the warehouse that he played a different role. His sources had told him that the whole thing had been theater, but from his perspective at that moment he’d seen his daughter prepared to do anything to stop him even if it killed her.
The events of the last few months kept playing in his mind. The instant Kat walked into that warehouse and looked at him with undisguised disgust Otto had realized that she knew the truth about everything that had happened to her and hated him because of it. She now looked at him as the enemy and that was something that he would never be able to change. Hans, Kat and now Ilse were respected people. They would be his legacy, but he feared that it would be Urban who people would remember in connection to him. When Otto had found him, he’d seen that Urban was the right mix of ruthlessness and intelligence but had grown up in a moral vacuum, an attack dog too dangerous to let off the leash. He figured that one day it would be Urban who deposed him, now he feared that things beyond his control were moving the date of that transition to a time and date not of his choosing.
The note that had been received by Gert and passed to Otto had been what had cinched things. It had simply read, I was told about Joseph. If I see you, you’re dead. Otto recognized Hans' handwriting and realized that relationship was broken too. Different plans were going to have to be put in place if he was going to save his children from themselves because he wasn’t worth what it would cost them if it came to that.
Vienna
Nancy was wondering what Ilse was up to as she got off the train. While Ilse had never been anyone’s idea of fashionable she looked like a University student going to do field research when she got off the train. Khaki pants and an ugly green-brown sweater under a grey coat that Nancy was certain that she must have barrowed from her older sister.
“What’s up with all the cloak and dagger?” Nancy asked.
“Would you believe me if I told you the Danube?” Ilse said.
“What about it?”
“Sulfur dioxide and the University has found the Government in this country isn’t interested in cooperation about the effects.”
“What prompted this?” Nancy asked.
“A chemical analysis of rainwater collected on the von Richthofen Estate” Ilse said, “We found elevated levels of sulfur and we’ve been trying to find the source.”
“I see” Nancy said, it was clear that she didn’t.
“That rainwater had a PH of 4.2” Ilse replied, “It shouldn’t be that way.”
“Can you translate that to something I understand?” Nancy asked.
“That’s the same acidity of orange juice” Ilse said, “We think that might be what’s killing trees.”
“What does that have to do with the river?”
“Rivers, Nancy. It’s all connected. Sewage, agricultural runoff, industrial pollution. All of it is connected and the University is trying to prove it, but we are hitting walls. Politics and damned borders that people think are so important. If that’s what is killing trees in Silesia. What’s it doing to us?”
Nancy was a bit surprised by Ilse’s passion on the subject. In the past she’d assumed that Ilse was milquetoast about most things. This was a massive change.
“It’s nice that you’ve found something you care about” Nancy said, “But is there anything fun you want to do tonight?”
“I’m sorry” Ilse said, “I had Asia say that I tend to come on too strong when this subject comes up.”
Nancy almost burst out laughing over that. The fact that Asia Lawniczak had felt compelled to say something was quite a feat. Nancy had lived in Kat’s house for almost a year and Asia had spoken to her perhaps a dozen times in total. If Asia said anything at all, it was usually something that shouldn’t be ignored. The exception to that had apparently been Gia, but no one had any idea what the two of them talked about when no one else was around.
“It’s like this” Nancy said, “You are in a strange new city, let me show you around tonight and tomorrow. Have a bit of fun and on Sunday we can have you do what you came here for.”
“I guess” Ilse said.
“If you take things too seriously and don’t take time to enjoy things then you are shortchanging yourself” Nancy said, wishing that she could follow her own advice.
24th February 1950
Berlin
There were days when Otto just wanted to smash something. Here he was at probably the height of his personal power and wealth but for the first time in decades he was left feeling completely helpless. He was looking at the photograph he normally kept in his wallet. Taken in 1928, he was with Kat in Constantinople when she was six years old. Marcella had been reluctant to allow her to go on that trip, but Kat had been so excited to go that her aunt had relented. Her wide-eyed excitement had been infectious as they had traveled through every major city. He found that he missed that that innocent little girl.
Then the unbidden thought came to Otto’s mind that she was gone forever because he had failed and betrayed her in many of the most profound ways possible. Everyone liked to think of themselves as the heroes of their story. Otto had realized at that moment in the warehouse that he played a different role. His sources had told him that the whole thing had been theater, but from his perspective at that moment he’d seen his daughter prepared to do anything to stop him even if it killed her.
The events of the last few months kept playing in his mind. The instant Kat walked into that warehouse and looked at him with undisguised disgust Otto had realized that she knew the truth about everything that had happened to her and hated him because of it. She now looked at him as the enemy and that was something that he would never be able to change. Hans, Kat and now Ilse were respected people. They would be his legacy, but he feared that it would be Urban who people would remember in connection to him. When Otto had found him, he’d seen that Urban was the right mix of ruthlessness and intelligence but had grown up in a moral vacuum, an attack dog too dangerous to let off the leash. He figured that one day it would be Urban who deposed him, now he feared that things beyond his control were moving the date of that transition to a time and date not of his choosing.
The note that had been received by Gert and passed to Otto had been what had cinched things. It had simply read, I was told about Joseph. If I see you, you’re dead. Otto recognized Hans' handwriting and realized that relationship was broken too. Different plans were going to have to be put in place if he was going to save his children from themselves because he wasn’t worth what it would cost them if it came to that.
Vienna
Nancy was wondering what Ilse was up to as she got off the train. While Ilse had never been anyone’s idea of fashionable she looked like a University student going to do field research when she got off the train. Khaki pants and an ugly green-brown sweater under a grey coat that Nancy was certain that she must have barrowed from her older sister.
“What’s up with all the cloak and dagger?” Nancy asked.
“Would you believe me if I told you the Danube?” Ilse said.
“What about it?”
“Sulfur dioxide and the University has found the Government in this country isn’t interested in cooperation about the effects.”
“What prompted this?” Nancy asked.
“A chemical analysis of rainwater collected on the von Richthofen Estate” Ilse said, “We found elevated levels of sulfur and we’ve been trying to find the source.”
“I see” Nancy said, it was clear that she didn’t.
“That rainwater had a PH of 4.2” Ilse replied, “It shouldn’t be that way.”
“Can you translate that to something I understand?” Nancy asked.
“That’s the same acidity of orange juice” Ilse said, “We think that might be what’s killing trees.”
“What does that have to do with the river?”
“Rivers, Nancy. It’s all connected. Sewage, agricultural runoff, industrial pollution. All of it is connected and the University is trying to prove it, but we are hitting walls. Politics and damned borders that people think are so important. If that’s what is killing trees in Silesia. What’s it doing to us?”
Nancy was a bit surprised by Ilse’s passion on the subject. In the past she’d assumed that Ilse was milquetoast about most things. This was a massive change.
“It’s nice that you’ve found something you care about” Nancy said, “But is there anything fun you want to do tonight?”
“I’m sorry” Ilse said, “I had Asia say that I tend to come on too strong when this subject comes up.”
Nancy almost burst out laughing over that. The fact that Asia Lawniczak had felt compelled to say something was quite a feat. Nancy had lived in Kat’s house for almost a year and Asia had spoken to her perhaps a dozen times in total. If Asia said anything at all, it was usually something that shouldn’t be ignored. The exception to that had apparently been Gia, but no one had any idea what the two of them talked about when no one else was around.
“It’s like this” Nancy said, “You are in a strange new city, let me show you around tonight and tomorrow. Have a bit of fun and on Sunday we can have you do what you came here for.”
“I guess” Ilse said.
“If you take things too seriously and don’t take time to enjoy things then you are shortchanging yourself” Nancy said, wishing that she could follow her own advice.
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Wrong Joseph. This was Kat and Hans' half brother, the one who was murdered.
Not Joseph Goebbles, Joseph Keller, another of Otto's sons who was uninvolved in Otto's business. Justyn Kozlow sent sicarios to kill him as part of his plan to unseat Otto.
I'm afraid that Otto's son Urban is going to have to be put down. I just hope it isn't Kat who does it.
thats a different jospeh. The note was about one of the half brothers of kat and hans. https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...nd-happenstance.405746/page-402#post-17052363