Stupid Luck and Happenstance.

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Eighty-Two


12th December 1949

Jena

“This is something you should seriously consider” Doctor Holz said, he was referring to the pamphlet in Kat’s hands. The item described was a cupro-silver ring that got quite literally put where the sun doesn’t shine. Kat had been aware of what an intrauterine device was because Gerta had gotten one put in after her daughter was born. This wasn’t the first time it had been suggested to her.

“And unlike with the pill you can’t get stressed out and forget a dose” Doctor finished. That was the somewhat embarrassing conclusion that Kat had reached with the help of Doctor Holz. The most likely sequence of events was that sometime in late May when the personal and professional pressures on her had been highest she’d missed a day. More than likely the day in question was around the time when Douglas had then talked her into a morning romp when she should have been showering and getting ready for work at precisely the wrong time of that month. For some odd reason he was extremely attracted to her when she came in from doing her morning exercise and run. He could also kiss her so sweetly that she didn’t need much convincing to be talked into doing that with him. But for the pregnancy being unviable for some unknown reason she would be seven months along and completely helpless as the face of the events that that were unfolding in Berlin.

“I’ve other more serious problems to consider at the moment” Kat said, “Someone trying to send a message to my father murdered one of my half-brothers last night and I got into an argument with Doug about my efforts to get everyone to relative safety.”

“Why would your husband object to that?”

“It’s the secrecy that bothers him, I don’t want to get him mired in this mess with me.”

“I think you should give him more credit than that” Doctor Holz said, “I’m concerned as well about one of your brothers dying in the manner that you just described. It may have been a message directed at your father but that has to hit close to home for you.”

Kat knew as much already.

“I only spoke with him a few times” Kat said, “He was an extremely private man who wasn’t interested in getting to know me. While I think he didn’t deserve what happened to him, it was like seeing a stranger at any other of the crime scenes I’ve been to.”

“What you intend to do about it?”

“There’s nothing I can do” Kat replied, “I’m not going to be allowed anywhere near this investigation now.”

“Officially anyway” Doctor Holz said, flatly, “There’s no way you are going to able to just let this go after what happened the last time when you got caught in the middle of these matters.”

Kat frowned, there were times when she was aware that he knew far too much about her.

“And make sure that you don’t get so stressed out that you let trivial things slide in the meantime, those can become major problems for you later” Doctor Holz finished. As if Kat wouldn’t know what he was getting at.


Berlin

How did people live in this icy Hellscape?

That was what Nelson thought as he made his way through the front doors of the Berliner Tageblatt, stomping snow out of his shoes as he walked towards the elevators. The whole building smelled of hot metal and ink, the offices upstairs was where the journalists did their work. According to Maria von Holz-Acker, the Features Editor, they were going to close this operation soon and the building was going to be taken over by Der Spiegel, a weekly news magazine that was affiliated with the BT. The journalism was to be moved to a regular office building and a new press that could churn out tens of thousands of newspapers an hour was being installed in a warehouse elsewhere in Berlin. Maria said that it was the end of an era.

The bare-bones elevator clearly reflected the building’s industrial past but was better than having to walk up several flights of stairs. Walking into the bullpen Nelson was greeted by Friedrich Grossmann, the elderly semi-retired journalist had been everywhere in a long life including South Africa. That had included knowing Nelson’s Father. “Ready to start writing for us” Grossmann said, he said that every time Nelson entered these offices, especially after an article he’d written was going appear in the BT with Nelson credited as a guest columnist in the upcoming Sunday Edition. He had detailed the aims of the African National Congress, who they were and what they were about. It had been a bit difficult because he had needed to run that article by the ANC leadership and they had requested several revisions. The conclusion that had been reached was that the ANC needed to shed its revolutionary past and become a mainstream political party. It was as Hans Mischner had said, they needed to moderate their image if they were going to attract the sort of people who had suddenly found themselves upwardly mobile.

“Good that you’re here, Nelson” Maria said as he entered her office. The Features Section was a hive of activity, the rest of these offices might be relatively quiet on a Monday morning, but this place started the next feature the instant the last one ran.

“ASIA!” Maria yelled. The quiet girl who was Maria’s assistant appeared, “The article that Herr Mandela did, did you see where the latest draft went?”

The girl vanished, only to reappear with a copy of Nelson’s article, he noticed that it was covered in writing in red pencil. Suggested revisions. Nelson winced when he saw it. “I’ll need to look at that” He said, “When can I get it back…”

“There’s no time for that” Maria said, “We can find a desk for you to work on that. Good?”
Nelson realized that he wasn’t being given a choice in the matter.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Eighty-Three


13th December 1949

Berlin

“Kat wasn’t taking any arguments, Gia” Ilse said, “It was either this or Australia.”

“Would that have been so bad?” Gia asked only to get dirty looks from others.

Apparently, Kat had come home from Jena the prior afternoon and had a long talk with Douglas. Then she had called everyone in this morning for a full meeting of the sisterhood except for Gerta who was still in South Africa. They were told to pack their bags and head for the Hohenzollern Palace under guard. Douglas was backing her every step of the way. She hadn’t minced words, someone was making a major play for power in the Berlin underworld and they were all in danger because of their connection to her. Petia had stayed with Kat as they had closed up the house and removed anything of value, but she was expected to join them when that was done. Asia had confessed to Gia that she was scared that she would never be able to return to the house that had become her home. “It’s the people who make it home” Gia had told her. It was a lesson she’d learned over the prior months. As much as they aggravated each other at times, they couldn’t imagine life without this odd family they’d formed. Kat had said that life would go back to as normal as it ever was when she got to the bottom of what was happening.

Anne was delighted by this turn of events. While she and Kris obviously didn’t celebrate Christmas, with the Social Season starting and the Holidays coming they would all be in the same place for those things. It was a spin that was met with groans. Leave it to her to try to see the silver lining on this hurricane. Gia was happy that her suite of rooms had become the place where they had all decided to spend their time, she’d been lonely a lot over the last few months.


Warsaw, Poland

It was because he had gotten bored. Meyer Lansky had been approached by a punk named Justyn Kozlow a few years earlier. Justyn had led a gang of street rats in Danzig shipyards until he’d been caught and expelled from East Prussia following a lengthy sentence in prison. He’d only been freed because he’d volunteered to fight the Russians. It had been shortly before that Soviet War had ended that Justyn had approached Meyer. He’d been tempted to tell Justyn to get lost but he’d been sidelined for a while at that point. It was nice to have someone asking about the knowledge that he had.

Meyer looked at message from his protégé and hoped that the kid knew what he was doing. The plan was a good one, but he had his misgivings. It was like when Lucky had first made his play for power decades earlier. They had ruled New York after that, but few were as ruthless in the follow through as Lucky and Meyer knew that the Germans were complete savages when they went to war. The plan was to eventually eliminate Otto Mischner but that would do them no good if they didn’t take out his successor, the trouble was that no one knew who that was. Cut off the head and not only would a new one take its place, it would be looking for vengeance and it wouldn’t be satisfied until the vendetta was complete. Meyer was aware of several possibilities. Of the two legitimate Mischner children, the son was too straight-laced, was only dangerous in the context of his role in the military and his own Father-in-Law had told anyone who would listen that he was something of a dolt. The daughter was ruthless enough and was supposedly death personified. However, she disliked her father, was too much of a public figure and no outfit would follow a woman. Meyer knew that once moves started being made then all differences would be set aside, and the daughter was just too dangerous to ignore.

That left an array of illegitimate sons and one known daughter. The daughter was hardly the sort to offer a challenge, Meyer figured that if they told her to leave Germany forever then she would be on the next plane and the remaining sons had mostly all vanished in the recent weeks which was a worrying sign, that meant that there might be a leak in Justyn’s organization. The exception had been Joseph Keller. Sending a few knife men after Keller had been a waste of time and effort but Justyn had wanted to send a message that couldn’t be ignored. Their observers of the scene had said that Katherine von Mischner herself had been one of the investigators who’d responded. So, that meant the effort might have been worth it, but Otto had remained where he was for a long time because he was a cagey ruthless bastard. The counter move was coming, Meyer knew that hoped that Justyn was either fleet enough to pull Otto out of the shadows and still be able to get clear before that hammer came down.

So far from what Meyer had observed, Justyn lacked subtly. He went for big noisy spectacles and liked to be seen leading. He would learn some discretion or Meyer would miss talking to him after Otto got through skinning him alive. Either way, the tight-ass Germans who acted like they were the masters of the world and treated their neighbors with thinly disguised disdain would get some well-deserved comeuppance.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Eighty-Four


20th December 1949

Wunsdorf-Zossen

Spending the day embedded with the 140th Regiment again wasn’t a hardship for Doug. They were in Winter Quarters, but that didn’t mean that they were sitting still. Jost Schultz was famously allergic to inactivity and there was always work needed to be done when he was around. Finding himself with the same Company again but it having a different commander was a bit jarring as was finding himself talking to Stefan Gerstle. The Soldat might not have been as physically imposing as Hans but he reminded Doug of Hans when they’d first met in Poland during the Soviet War. It was also obvious that Hans didn’t have the first clue about who Stefan was, Doug had taken a photograph of the two of them standing next to each other. When things settled down Kat would probably get a laugh from that. Not that Hans was much in evidence around the Regiment these days. He had been selected to be in one of the working groups that was studying the recently concluded South African Campaign so that the lessons from that conflict could be incorporated into training and tactics.

Doug was here because on Monday evening Kat had come home and said she needed to talk. It wasn’t until they were behind closed doors that she’d fallen completely apart. She had been trying to get her brothers to safety and had failed. What followed was her trying to explain what she was all about, words tumbling out regarding everything in no particular order. She told him everything, leaving nothing out. All the things she had done on behalf of the German Empire and at the direction of the Empress. It was all intermixed with recrimination and self-loathing. Finally, she said that any sort of life they might have built for themselves would be impossible because of who she was, and she wouldn’t contest it if he wanted a divorce. He’d seen that her heart was breaking anew with every word she said.

It had been Helene who had told him once that the tragedy of Katherine von Mischner wasn’t who she was or might have been. It was that in a more just world she would have married right out of school, had several children by the time she was twenty-five and never left the neighborhood she was born in. Instead she had been forced to become someone who she simply didn’t want to be, and it had been slowly killing her. Which was why she had tried to build a separate life with him. Now everything was falling apart again, and she was trying to save the people she loved, something that had become a herculean task. Especially because she couldn’t explain why. A contact of hers among the analysts of the BII had said that a previously unknown player was vying for power, she and those close to her might be targets. One of her brothers had already died at this person’s hand and she was having to become that thing she hated again if she was going to survive the days ahead. Doug had said that he would take assignments outside of Berlin in the coming weeks and that they should make no decisions until all of this was resolved. It was certainly easier for her knowing that for the next few weeks he would be surrounded by a Panzer Division.


Vienna, Austria

“Kilgore Trout is an absurd name” Nancy said across the table of the café where she had met her two friends this afternoon.

Jane Marie, Kurt’s wife started laughing at Nancy’s characterization of her husband’s latest work. Apparently, she had the same thought. Kurt himself didn’t seem to mind that fact that he had two women poking fun at him.

“It’s not even a Nom de Plume” Kurt replied, “It’s just a device for inserting a valuable perspective into the narrative.”

“Meaning your own” Nancy said.

Kurt just shrugged. Nancy had met Kurt Vonnegut and Jane at a party held for the small American expat community here in Vienna a few weeks earlier. He’d had some success as an author which had enabled him to move from New York to Vienna. Kurt had given Nancy a copy of his latest novel a few days earlier. It was a semi-autobiographical novel set during the Soviet War when he had been fixer for several war correspondents, the novel had then spun off in a bizarre Science Fiction story. Nancy seriously doubted that aliens from outer space had visited the frontlines and she knew for a fact that it had been Klaus Böhler who had made the scare cats. Still thought, it had been an extremely fun read.

“But you liked it?” Kurt asked.

“I liked it, it was fun. Though I could have lived without the comparisons of religion and of the protagonist’s… well” Nancy said, unsure how to proceed and trying not to blush.

Kurt laughed at that. It was the reason why his latest novel was being published here in Europe as opposed to in the United States. The joke was that religion was like a part of the male anatomy. It was okay to have one but when someone whips it out and starts shoving it in other people’s faces it creates problems. Kurt had devoted an entire chapter to having that joke play itself out in a real-world situation.

“I told you that this was going to be what happens” Jane said.

Again, Kurt just shrugged, “This isn’t grade school, and the adults who act like children might learn something.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Eighty-Five


24th December 1949

Berlin

Weapons sound nothing like they do in the movies and tracers are never seen on the big screen. The truth was that rifles firing intermediate cartridges make a clattering sound, submachine guns and heavier machine guns sound like ripping cloth. Kat was returning to her house because she figured that whatever was going to happen was going to happen there. It seemed that her unknown assailants had made other plans and she drove right into an ambush. Having green tracers fly past the windshield was the first indication that something was going on a heartbeat before it shattered. She threw herself as flat as she could, bruising her ribs on the emergency break lever and stomped the accelerator as all the windows of her car shattered showering her in safety glass. She made it most of the way down the block before the car collided with something, spun around and the engine died. She could hear the clanks of bullets hitting the car. She could also smell the petrol from the ruptured gas tank. It was something else that was the movies had that was bunk, cars didn’t just explode when someone shot them. Instead something ignited the petrol and they burnt. The heat that she could feel through the firewall suggested what that source was going to be, meaning that she needed out of her car, or what was left of it, that instant. Opening the door with some difficulty, her left arm didn’t want to work for her, she crawled out between two cars parked on the street and slid underneath one of them.

Kat’s breath was smoking in the icy December night air as she hid in the gutter trying to take stock of her situation just as there was a loud FOOMP! And her car was engulfed in fire. She had her service pistol and a spare magazine, a total of sixteen rounds against an unknown number of assailants with automatic rifles. She also had her karambit, for all the good that was. In short, she understood her tactical situation was that she was completely screwed if they found her. She heard footsteps and saw the feet of a couple men walking towards the car. These weren’t ordinary street toughs, two had gone forward to see if she was still alive and their friends were hanging back to finish her if she did something to them. Some of these men were not amateurs.

That was when the magazines for the machine pistol she had kept under the back seat of her car started cooking off which resulted in another round of rifle fire into her car. She was going to have quite the time explaining what she was doing with that, provided she survived the next few minutes. The fact that she really could have used that machine pistol right now was a sour thought as she scrambled for options.

“Is she still in the car!” One of the men who’d been hanging back demanded in Polish giving her some clue as to who had just tried to kill her. Kat couldn’t speak that language, but she could understand some of it.

“I’ve no idea” One of the men called back. He was only a couple meters from where Kat was hiding so she lay there clutching her pistol with her heart in her throat.

There was the sound of approaching sirens.

“You know the stories they tell about this bitch” One of them said, “She took on a team of killers from the NKVD and won, if she was still alive we’d know.”

That brought a round of laughter.

“Burn in Hell” One of them said and Kat heard the sizzle of a gob of phlegm as he spat into the wreckage of her car. They faded off.

Kat let out the breath that she had been holding.

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

The Patrol Officers and the Fire Department were surprised to see her crawl out from under the car she’d been hiding under. They had seen that she was not as brave or as invincible as the stories had suggested. It was no surprise that her car was a total loss. She had liked that car and all that was left was burnt out wreck. They insisted that she go to the hospital to see if there were any other injuries other than a lot of bruises and a dislocated shoulder.

“This is going to hurt a lot” The Doctor said.

“It already fucking hurts” Kat growled, “Just take care of it.”

Anton stood there with his arms crossed looking in a different direction as the Doctor worked to pop her arm back into its socket. The Doctor beat a swift retreat as she struggled to get her blouse back on. He had ignored the fact that she was sitting there wearing just her underclothing. He was more concerned with her present mental and physical state.

“Here, let me help with that” The nurse said. Anton had seen that her upper body was a mass of darkening bruises, she would be completely unable to move in a few hours. The nurse helped her get her left arm into the sleeve with some difficulty.

“You are lucky to be alive” Anton said.

“You think I don’t know that” Kat hissed in reply.

“You also did the only thing that you could possibly have done” Anton said, “Witnesses said that there were over a dozen men with automatic rifles that ambushed your car. There was no way that you could have engaged them with just this.”

Anton held out her pistol, he had taken it into his possession when Doctor had removed the shoulder holster with some difficulty. Kat took it back, “Once word gets around that I never fired a shot, I’ll be a laughing stock.”

“Our people have recovered over two hundred spent 7.92 by 38-millimeter cartridges so far” Anton said, “I figure that most of those ended up lodged in the walls of surrounding buildings but a number of those hit your car. You need to learn that you are no longer a soldier and that a surviving witness, which you are, is the goal here.”

Kat frowned, she was clearly furious, and Anton understood. Bravery would have only gotten her killed in this case. She had been alone, injured and in no state to put up a fight. He just wished she understood that.

That was when a dozen men wearing Heer uniforms entered and Anton saw that Katherine’s husband, Douglas was with them.

“I thought I told you to stay in Zosen” Kat said accusingly when she saw him.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Eighty-Six


31st December 1949

Berlin

It was a last night of this decade, the 1940s had dwindled down to only a few minutes. Good riddance, Kat thought to herself. This year couldn’t end fast enough to suit her. She’d spent the last week in the Hohenzollern Palace at Kira’s insistence in a suite of rooms that overlooked the Spree river. The fact that she was so beat up that she had nothing else to do but think about things.

Exactly ten years earlier she had been at Maria and Emil’s wedding and she’d never even flown on an airplane at that point. The Second World War wasn’t even thought of as a possibility yet at that point, though Kat now knew that Augustus Lang was already preparing for it. Douglas was a University Student in Montreal. In British Columbia, Henry Thomas and his wife Tatiana Nikolaevna were trying to figure out what to do about Tatiana’s sister Olga because they didn’t want their daughter reaching maturity in such isolated conditions. Unknown to them, they were rapidly running out of time. Ilse had just been transferred from the orphanage where she had spent her childhood to the State School for Girls while her mother was slipping away to addiction just a few blocks away. Hans had just returned from being in the field during the Spring and Summer Crisis in 1939 when the Second World War had nearly started during the Finland War and the chaotic days following the Reichstag bombing.

It had been Kat’s hope that the 1950s would be a time where she could just live her life in peace. It wasn’t looking like she was going to get what she wanted. Douglas had come with her from the hospital to the palace with Aunt Marcella as backup. Marcella was understandably upset when Doug had mentioned that Kat was prepared give up on their relationship over recent events.

“Katherine Katja Mischner, you took a solemn vow and I raised you better than this. To bail out at the first sign of adversity” Marcella said, Marcella saying Kat’s full name still had the power to freeze her in her tracks. “You agreed to spend your life with Doug and did you think it would all be roses?” Days later those words still stung. Marcella and Uncle Klaus had been together for more than thirty years and she had laid bare exactly how trite Kat was being.

As for the aftermath of the ambush, Kat had been visited personally by the President of the Berlin/Brandenburg Division of the Federal Police while she was recuperating. They were spinning her actions as heroic, not that she had run and hid, but once she had gotten herself free of the ambush she had the discretion and presence of mind not engage with heavily armed attackers. Minimizing the risk to herself and any of the thousands of civilians within the range of an automatic rifle. That was a complete load of crap, that was what Kat had said to the President. He had just smiled and said that she needed to learn to take her due. Then once the photo opportunity was through he left. There had been no word on what was happening next, but Kat feared that she was going to on the receiving end of another round of undeserved recognition. Why couldn’t people leave her alone?

Midnight rolled around, and Kat could hear people shouting and the pop of fireworks going off. Kat looked out the window at the flashes of light over the river.

“You ever just want to drive to Hamburg, then get on a ship and just keep on going?” She asked Doug.

Doug smiled, “I already did that” He said, “That’s how I ended up here.”

“That answer is both a beautiful and terrible” Kat replied.

“I’m extremely familiar with the concept” Doug said, and he kissed her on the forehead, “I’m going to bed, please try to get some sleep tonight.”

She sat there for a while looking out the window. She could hear Doug’s snoring in the next room. Eventually, she would join him, but every time she tried to sleep the instant she closed her eyes she saw the green tracers flying past the windshield of her car.

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

Fireworks were going off over the city as Justyn watched the display. It was a bitterly cold night now that midnight had come and gone. Meyer Lansky had warned him that if he tried to make a grab for power he needed to see it through. Most of all if he was going to go after the more dangerous people who surrounded Otto Mischner then he had to roll all sixes and he couldn’t afford to miss. His men had come back a week earlier saying that they had shot up the car belonging to the Tigress of Pankow, leaving it a flaming wreck with her in it. The problem was that between the flames, smoke, rounds cooking off and the police response coming they’d failed to actually see a body.

He’d learned a few hours later that the Tigress was banged up but still very much alive. As of this time, no one on that side knew who he was. That was a good thing because while the Tigress couldn’t rouse a scorched earth direct assault against him she did potentially represent the one force in Germany he could never hope to defeat. The Institutional power of the Empire itself. Now that his men had tried and failed to end her he was reminded that few things were as scary as wounded tiger in the bush.

When he’d been in prison Justyn had a cellmate who’d spent a few years in America. The cellmate had told him about American Football and something called an audible. When the Quarterback saw the formation that the opposing defense was taking he needed to change the plan on the fly. He needed to change the plan to factor in the survival of the Tigress. There were a few ways that he saw that he could work this to his advantage.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Eighty-Seven


2nd January 1950

Potsdam

Anton had been called into Headquarters unexpectedly. Normally he was able to work from his office in Central Berlin, taking cases as he was requested. Because he’d been called in he was wearing the uniform that he normally only wore at funerals.

“Thank you for joining us today Polizeihauptmeister Knoph” Franz Klimek, a Prosecutor who he had worked with in the past said. Anton knew this man to be an officious ass.

“If you could tell me why I am here?” Anton asked.

“We’ll get to that” Franz said, “But we first I must ask, how is your partner?”

“Still on medical leave, shaken up but she wasn’t seriously injured” Anton said, “There’s an ongoing investigation.”

“That investigation is why you are here.”

“I don’t see what I would have to do with it” Anton said, “I wasn’t present when the incident happened.”

“Yes, but you do know your partner” Franz said, “How would you describe her relationship with her father?”

“Icy” Anton said, “She doesn’t approve of him.”

“Would you say that he might make an attempt on her life?”

“That is unlikely” Anton replied, “They might not get along presently, but that is a personal squabble. Katherine has said that in the past her father was willing to do anything for her.”

“In the past, perhaps” Franz said, “Now, we’ve been hearing disturbing rumors.”

“Regarding?” Anton asked, he didn’t like the sound of that.

“Someone is making a play against Otto Mischner, who is a necessary evil if security on the railways is to be maintained. We have no idea who that is. Katherine von Mischner is known to be an ambitious woman.”

“I have no idea who might have told you that, but someone just tried to kill her.”

“About that. More than two hundred shots, her car destroyed, and she miraculously walks away. Eleven people in the surrounding buildings were injured.” Franz said, “There are a few things that seem somewhat suspicious.”

“If you are suggesting that she staged this then you have seriously lost the plot” Anton said, “I was there after she crawled out from under that car. She would have to be the greatest actress in the world to fake something like that.”

“I’m just doing my job” Franz said, “I would be remiss if I didn’t thoroughly examine this course of inquiry. There are procedures in place to handle matters like these.”

Anton had heard enough, “I know how you are with procedures, Franz, especially when there’s a chance to preen before the press” He said, “I was there for the Angel of Death matter, remember.”

It was the case that defined Franz Klimek’s career. Two years earlier a Physician in the Oncology Department at the University Hospital in Munich had been arrested on suspicion of poisoning a patient. A search of the Doctor’s home revealed something unthinkable. He had been conducting unauthorized experiments on his patients and had kept meticulous records. The Doctor had been totally unrepentant, he calmly explained to the investigating detectives that because they were dying anyway it didn’t matter. Only Anton, who had been called in to lead the investigation after the Munich Police realized they were in over their heads, knew the truth. In his hurry to pursue the case and make a splash before the cameras Franz had neglected to file the proper paperwork in the right order. If the defense had challenged the veracity of the search and subsequent confession, all of that would have been thrown out, Josef Mengele would have walked free. The Prosecution had gotten lucky in that the Defense was more interested in saving their client’s life, thinking they had been dealt a bad hand, than challenging the underlaying structure of the case. Still, the result was that Franz and Anton were irrevocably chained together professionally.

“Are you sure that this is the sort of matter you want to destroy yourself over” Franz said.

“You’ll go down with me” Anton said, “Now who told you this story.”

Franz sat there unsure how to proceed.


Berlin

The first day back in classes and Ilse had two armed guards escorting her. She had thought that her status as a social pariah was now indelibly marked until she was approached by another classmate who asked if her sister was alright. Gunfire within the city was huge deal and everyone knew what had happened. There were rumors that were swirling about what was going on. Kat had warned them that this was a war, but to Ilse it was very odd. Life was going on for ordinary people while who knew what was happening in the shadows.

Ilse had a better idea of what was happening then those who were surrounding her. Life was far cheaper than most of the students in the University ever realized. She preferred the view of the veterans who had seen what life was like on the front, but there were far fewer of them in her classes then there had been when she had started at University. When Ilse had been a child She had seen first hand the attrition that had happened among the others in the orphanage and that had been a lesson about the real value of life she had never forgotten. The number had been between three and five percent, per year, every year. Accident, disease, neglect, sometimes even just tough luck and she would be attending another memorial service for a classmate. Ilse remembered how she had an impossible time adjusting to living in Werder and Gia being generous with her things had caused her trouble because in her would no one had done something without expecting something in return. Generosity was something Ilse knew to be warry of because they had all heard the stories…

Now, someone close to her had been hurt, people were concerned about her even though they didn’t need to be, and Ilse was unsure on how to handle it.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Eighty-Eight


3rd January 1950

Pankow

“Why should we let you in?” The voice on the other side of the door asked before the panel on the door slammed shut.

Kat was seriously not in the mood for this. She had escaped the Palace through the tunnels that she probably knew better than anyone and had reached one of her safe houses where she had hidden weapons, equipment and money that she would need tonight. She had a long overdue meeting to take care of and she was hoping to be back at the palace before anyone noticed that she was gone. She pounded on the door again.

The panel reopened, “You deaf, get lost.”

“I’m not going anywhere” Kat hissed drawing her pistol, cocking the hammer and jabbing the man in the face with the muzzle through the opening. “You close that on me again and my father is going to need to find some other flunky to mind the door.”

“Enough” Kat heard a voice say on the other side. The steel door swung open, the rusty hinges squealing.

Kat threw a look of pure loathing at the doorman as she walked past into the small room. Kat had looked first at Gert’s Tavern but found it closed and empty. Otto and Gert were standing there with Henning Kraus and Urban Dreschner looking at photographs and a map on the table. Kat knew Henning to be one of her father’s lieutenants, a loyal though unimaginative man who went on the long rail journeys with her father. Urban on the other hand she had paid to leave the city, Kat was furious to see him here…

“I told you to leave Berlin, I can’t keep myself alive if I have to worry about you as well” Kat said, the stress of the last couple weeks reflected in the anger. She’d had enough, the next person that angered or even disappointed her was going to learn a very painful lesson.

“And I ordered him back” Otto said in the face of Kat’s anger.

The focus of her anger at that second became Otto, the cause of all her troubles. Before she was aware of what she was doing she flew at him wanting to break every bone in his body. Urban intercepted her and grabbed her arm. She broke his grip and spun into him aiming a blow at the bridge of his nose with the palm of her hand only to have him sidestep it. She shifted the attack to aim a knee to his groin instead only to have Urban twist his body away from the blow. She might not have connected with the part if him that she wanted but that still had to hurt. Then she saw his right hand move towards his side… Urban was escalating this and she was prepared for that. Kat was then knocked sideways off her feet by an open-handed blow to the side of her head, Otto then decked Urban.

“As much as many would want to see who would win between a Hellcat and Sealion” Otto growled as he pulled Kat's pistol from its holster, “Our energies are best used elsewhere.”

Urban climbed to his feet, nose and mouth bleeding looking angry. Kat saw that he was holding a short truncheon in his hand, drilled out hardwood and filled with lead. She regained her feet, but her vision was swimming and her legs felt rubbery.

“You might have connected with that” Otto said, “But to get that close, she would have already gutted you, see her left hand.”

Kat was aware that her karambit was in her left hand, the ring her index finger went through had prevented her from dropping it.

“Your sister is ambidextrous, Urban, Katy always has been” Otto said, “Hardly anyone knows that, but I remember she drove her teachers to distraction when she started school because she was comfortable writing with either hand. No one ever looks at her left hand and it’s a fatal mistake.”

Urban made a noncommittal noise.

Kat was trying to gather her wits when Otto stepped close, “I’ve never raised a hand against you before today, but I’ll do worse if you don’t stop acting like a spoiled child.”

“What is Urban doing here?” Kat demanded.

“You never did know how to quit” Otto replied, “I called him back because he needed to be here. Now have a seat.”

Kat found herself, seated across the table from Urban who was still angry with her. Gert and Henning were totally unfazed by what had just happened. In this world fights between family members were common ways of settling disputes. The fact that despite her being a woman it had been a relatively even fight that had ended with Otto putting the two of them in their respective places was the best outcome they could have hoped for.

“Just as well that both of you are here” Otto said, “Both branches of the family tree, the one that pretends to be respectable and the one that is carrying on the family business. Both are useful in times like these but only so long as you understand that the bastard who overturned the applecart is the least of our worries and that we need to present a united front against the rest of the damned world.”

“That bastard, as you call him, tried to kill me and I’ve been called to give testimony over the incident before the Reichstag” Kat said, “This is an opportunity that the opposition, particularly the far-right Nationalists, have been waiting for. There are dozens of embarrassing questions that they’d love to ask.”

“Any thing else?” Otto asked.

“I liked that car” Kat said as she rested her hear on the table, she was bewildered about what was happening here.

Otto chuckled over that one. “I’m sure that if you call Wolfsburg they will happily sell you a new one” He said, “Go tell those frauds in the Government what they want to hear but use that brain that I know you have so that you can avoid getting us a date with Madam Guillotine.”

“What about me?” Urban asked.

“You have some Poles to dispose of without making a scene of it” Otto replied.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Eighty-Nine


9th January 1949

Berlin

“I’ve tried to sever all ties with my father” Kat said, “I’ve been aware of what he is and does for a long time.”

There were a multitude of lies in that statement, until a few days earlier she’d not been aware of the full scope of his activities. Before she’d been aware of what she’d wanted to see. Now she found herself answering questions before the Reichstag, once again having to take a hit because of something her father had caught her up in.

“I’m sorry Gräfin von Mischner but many would have a challenging time believing that. Especially after the recent attempt on your life.”

“Is there a question in that?” Kat replied.

“Why should we believe you?”

Aunt Marcella had told her once that when dealing with small minded men there was nothing like the straight unvarnished truth to shut them down. Kat regretted what she was about to say but it was something that she had spent a decade struggling to deal with and it explained her perspective like few other things.

“I was nearly murdered because I got caught in the middle of that garbage entirely because of my last name, twice” Kat said, “The first time I was twelve when I was also raped. You want me to describe what that was like? Would you also like me to tell you why I can’t be around my father because when I see him I want to systematically break every bone in his body.”

“No, Gräfin” The Politician said shaken by her being that direct, he was the sort that would be used to attempted evasion. “But you have to admit that gunfire in the streets is unacceptable?”

“I’m in perfect agreement” Kat replied, “The individuals who did that should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows. Do I need to remind you that I was the one on the receiving end of gunfire?”

“That’s good” The Politician replied, he had nothing to go on from that last comment. Though Kat had a feeling that the men who’d shot up her car were probably never going to see the inside of a courtroom having either run as far as they could, or they were already dead.

Over the last few days she had tried to get things back in order. This morning, Anton had shown up at the Hohenzollern Palace with the uniform she was to wear today. Apparently, her time as a Probationary Constable was over because it was the dress uniform of a Unterstützungskraft. Being a Support Officer, more than likely in Patrol was a kick up the ladder.

Getting ready had not been easy because she had not wanted to get out of bed. Anton and Doug had been waiting for her in the outer room of the suite and Doug, damn him, had told Anton what was going on with her.

“We’ll stop for a chocolate bar or something on the way to the Reichstag” Anton said lamely.

“For a man with a wife you certainly should know better than to say something so stupid” Kat had said, fixing him with a withering stare.

“In my defense, Agnesa is a bit past this sort of thing” Anton had said.

“At least it means that I don’t have the prospect of there being a child added to the rest of this Godawful mess this month” Kat said to Anton as she stomped past. Both Doug and Anton were clearly shocked by her blunt behavior, but she was tired of playing games and masking things behind pleasantries.

Her father, also damn him, had been right about what to do about her car. One call to the Volkswagen Headquarters in Wolfsburg and they sent a representative all the way to Berlin so that she, the famous, or more correctly infamous, Gräfin von Mischner, could pick out a color, interior and engine package. The car, a brand new 1950 Föhn 1200, was supposed to be delivered later this week. Kat had heard the investigation had concluded that the 1200 engine that had been introduced in 1948 had taken dozens of hits from 7.92mm bullets and kept running long enough to save Kat’s life. Only the belt that ran the cooling fan braking had caused the engine to seize and catch fire, otherwise it would have kept on going. Volkswagen had been delighted to learn this detail.

Then there had been what her father had told her. The German Empire was far larger than anyone imagined. Extending, from South East Asia on the Pacific all the way to South America. All of that moved on rails and ships with Berlin being the nexus. Raw materials and goods of every description were being moved. Money, billions worth of every sort of currency moved through the Empire every day. Most of it was above board but there was a substantial grey and black market that the rest of the economy depended upon that could never be eliminated. Otto had said his job was to tax and regulate it. Her Superiors in the Federal Police not only knew what he was doing but assisted his efforts provided that the right palms got greased, certain individual’s activities were kept out of the papers and illicit actively wasn’t spilling out into the streets. Kat wished she had been shocked by that, but it just confirmed what she’d known all along. The real surprise was where the money that came from the street tax had gone…

“Gräfin von Mischner” A different politician, one of the Nationalists she had figured would be trouble said, “I wish to thank you for taking the time today to answer our questions.”

“You’re welcome” Kat replied. She detected what was behind this man’s words, fear.

“We understand that you were the victim of petty criminals of Polish origins hoping to organize themselves along the Sicilian model” The Nationalist said, “It makes sense that they might go after a prominent member of society who chose a career in law enforcement.”

He was laying it on a bit thick but as her father had said, rob a corner market for a few Marks and they would throw you in prison. Steal a vast fortune from those feeding the appetites of the world’s hypocrites, your children are advisors to Kings and your grandchildren will rise even higher. There was a massive crackdown going on against Berlin’s criminal element, but it would never touch Otto Mischner. Even if it did, he’d made sure that Kat and Urban, his two designated heirs to the separate and distinct parts of his personal empire had access to the numbered bank accounts in Switzerland and Luxembourg.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Ninety


12th January 1949

Berlin

Fraulein Jehane Alexandra Thomas-Romanova

Regarding your recent inquiry about your blood tests. While the initial results should not be considered definitive, your levels of Factor VIII are within the normal range. We recommend that you continue to have this tested considering the risk factors involved including your family history…

It was like Gia let loose her breath after having held it for several years as she clutched the letter. This was just one test, but prior to this she had been afraid to have it done fearing the result. In theory, if she was a carrier of the gene that caused Hemophilia then the level of Factor VIII would be depressed. The fact that in this first test the level had been normal meant that she could be ninety percent sure she wasn’t a carrier.

“Good news?” Asia asked.

“One less curse that I might pass on to my children” Gia answered.

“Really? Is there some news that you need to share with everyone? Are congratulations in order?”

When Gia realized what Asia was getting at, marriage or pregnancy, she was mortified.

N-no, of course not” Gia stammered as Asia laughed.

Asia knew more about Gia than she was comfortable with at times. Fortunately for Gia, Asia only poked fun at her when they were alone, the rest of the time Asia kept her silence. Gia was seated at her desk with Asia laying on her bed staring at the ceiling.

The door opened, and Kira walked in, clearly unhappy. One of the quirks of this place was that only Louis Ferdinand and Kira had the authority to tell her what to do. Gia’s rooms had been where every one of them had been gathering since they had been required to come to the palace. The result was that the suite was a mess and the staff had been reluctant to enter since Kris and Tilde had taken it upon themselves to teach Freddy and Michael how to throw daggers on New Year’s Day because there was nothing on television.

“There’s got to be a better way to do this” Kira said in frustration. “You’ve been happier than I’ve seen you in a long time, but this is not working.”

Asia responded with a smirk, as far as she was concerned this was working just fine.

“Kat said that things are getting sorted” Gia said, “The rest of the girls will move back to the house when she’s satisfied it’s safe.” Gia left unsaid that if she had her way then she’d be going with them.

“Since you’ve managed to chase away the cleaning staff it seems that you’ve volunteered to do the job yourselves” Kira said, “I want these rooms cleaned out in an hour.”

With that the Empress turned on her heel and left.

Asia started to laugh as soon as Kira was gone.

“What’s so funny?” Gia asked.

“That she thinks that’s the worst thing she could ask of us” Asia replied.

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

“Is that a joke?” Kat asked.

“Hardly” Anton replied, “Your little misadventure cinched to deal.”

No wonder Volkswagen had been so happy to get a new car to her. The Federal Police were looking to standardize their fleet of vehicles and a special edition of the Föhn 1200 had been selected to be the standard police car. While the latest Föhn with its 1.2-liter 30 kW engine was faster than the earlier Volkswagen cars it hardly set land speed records.

“What are they thinking?”

“They understand that it’s difficult to outrun a two-way radio, so the police need a vehicle that is efficient, dependable and inexpensive in equal measure” Anton replied.

“If you say so” Kat said.

They were sitting at an intersection waiting for the light to change. The new car was a different color scheme, a dark metallic blue and white. Kat was still getting used to it, there were minor differences. The wheel-base was slightly longer, and the seats were new. The cushions on the old car had only just gotten broken in, those had burnt up with the rest of it. It was an icy morning, so she was driving slowly and with a bit of caution. One thing that the Föhn had going for it was the front wheel drive, useful in conditions like these.


Wunsdorf-Zossen

“You’ve said you wanted to take a vacation” Hans said with a smile, “Just the two us.”

“This is not what I had in mind” Helene replied, wondering what could have possibly made Hans think she would agree to such a thing.

“You have to admit that Rio de Janeiro would be incredibly romantic” Hans said, “We’d be guests of the Brazilian Government, a self-funding vacation.”

“And you would have us in Brazil right when the World Cup is going on there” Helene said trying really hard not to show her annoyance, “I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.”

“See” Hans said, “It just keeps getting better and better.”

Helene just shook her head, the great Oberstlieutenant Johannes von Mischner had volunteered to spend three months on a training mission with the Brazilian Army so that he could be paid to go watch Football. With anyone else Helene would consider that too far over the top to be believed.

“Our National team is the best we’ve had in ages” Hans said as he swept Helene off her feet, held her in his arms and kissed her sweetly, then he finished “I wouldn’t want anyone else in world at my side to watch them be the best in the world.”

You bastard, Helene thought to herself as Hans lifted her back to her feet. How was she supposed to say no after that?

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Ninety-One


14th January 1950

Wunsdorf

By the time you read this it will by the new year how you reckon things. It is my wish that you enjoy good health in the coming year…

Tilo was unsure how to respond to the letter he was rereading. Because the information about the practice of Zen Buddhism in Germany was limited he had written to a Zen Master in Huế, Vietnam asking for information. The Zen Master had given the response to the youngest monk in the temple. It was at moments like these that he wished he could talk to Duc Phan and was aware of his acute ignorance regarding the culture. Instead of providing information, this Nhất Hạnh had sent a letter full of encouragement and expressed an interest in Tilo’s own beliefs.

“Your father has the same look on his face when face with a particularly vexing problem” Helga said, “Or when he’s trying to talk to his friend, the Sailor.”

“Grand Admiral von Schmidt is a bit more than a Sailor, Ma” Tilo replied.

His mother just shrugged and went back to the magazine she was reading. Helga turned to a page that mentioned a recent spate of violence in Berlin. “What is this world coming to?” She asked.

Tilo held his tongue, he’d seen an assessment that had been compiled by the Government as part of a Behavioral Sciences class he’d been taking. It had suggested that many veterans of the Second World War were expected to have trouble adjusting to the transition to civilian life in the coming years. He understood his own restlessness and spiritual exploration. For others it was hardly a surprise that it would manifest itself in other, far less healthy ways.

“Eric, Karl, you two, stop doing that right this instant!” His mother suddenly yelled as she slapped Eric who was within her reach on the back of his head. Eric and Karl were Tilo's semi-feral nephews, two cousins who were roughly the same age, only a matter of weeks separated their birthdays, and they were often mistaken for being twin brothers. They had started flinging oatmeal at each other across the breakfast table. Their younger siblings showed signs that they were about to join in on the fun when Helga started yelling at them.

“Prison or the Heer, right Ma?” Tilo asked.

His mother shot him a dirty look, “It wasn’t funny when your father said that about you and your brothers, it’s not funny now.”

“We all did end up in the Luftwaffe, Heer and Kaiserliche Marine, Ma” Tilo replied. That didn’t make his mother any happier. She’d spent the entirety of the Second World War worried sick about her children. Unlike many other houses on the block she'd not lost any of them. Jost was too mean, Lenz was too crazy and Tilo was… whatever he was, to come to grief. But still.

With that Tilo got up from the table and walked back to his bedroom. He had some letters to write and he didn’t intend to waste this weekend.


Washington D.C.

The new year had not brought a stop to old problems. With it being Saturday Truman could just hear Congress gearing up to come back from the recess on Monday. He had other more immediate concerns. Like how a former debutante getting shot at merited international coverage and what impact that might have on this side of the Atlantic? Looking at the photograph on the front page of the New York Times Truman saw why instantly.

“If she looked like my Mother-in-Law no one would give a damn” Truman said, “I find it hard to believe that this young lady is particularly dangerous.”

“Imagine if Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker had a daughter and she grew up inside the OSS” Allen Dulles said, he remained the head of that particular organization, a holdover from the Dewey Administration, mostly because Truman couldn’t find anyone he trusted for that position. And like the unlamented, missing former director of the FBI, Dulles knew where too many bodies were buried to be allowed to provide his services elsewhere. He was here giving the weekly security briefing, on Monday Truman would be too busy trying to herd cats in Congress to do it then.

“No such thing exists in your outfit?” Truman asked.

“No, Mr. President” Dulles said, “Clyde Barrow is dead. Bonnie Parker remains in Federal Custody and she has no children we are aware of.”

“Good” Truman said, hoping that he’d not just given Allen Dulles any ideas. “What are the implications here?”

“The FBI isn’t aware of it, but they brushed against this woman a few years ago in Seattle, it didn’t go well for them.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She passed through Seattle on unknown business and didn’t want interference from the FBI” Dulles replied, “It took us several days to figure out what had happened, by then she had already gone home. She didn’t kill anyone or go anywhere near anything sensitive like the Boeing factory which was why she had gone unnoticed, so the OSS let it go.”

“Would you be nearly so sanguine about this if she had gone after your agents?” Truman asked.

Dulles just shrugged. Interagency rivalry rearing its ugly head, Truman knew that was what it was. They had their own fiefdoms and were perfectly content to watch a rival take a kick to the seat of their pants.

“Next week I’m scheduling a meeting with you and Director Ness” Truman said, “This rivalry is over as of this second, am I clear.”

“But Sir, the OSS and FBI have separate jurisdictions by design” Dulles replied, “There’s a reason for that.”

“You withheld information from the FBI because of that” Truman said, “But you also just hinted that you withheld information from this Office as well.”

“When did I do that?” Dulles asked, not liking the sudden turn.

“Does it matter?”

“I don’t understand, Sir.”

“You tell me that a German agent was on American soil and is suspected of acting against the U.S. Government” Truman said, “And you didn’t tell anyone else because you consider who she acted against rivals. How long before that sort of bull bites this country on the ass?”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred-two


16th January 1950

Berlin

The new car had a better radio, Kat had to give it that much. It was her turn to pick the radio station this hour. Anton had picked a news and weather station in Berlin until his time had run out. She had tuned it to the University radio station that was playing Jimmy Preston’s Rock the Joint. She was paying attention to driving but she could easily imagine the look of discomfort on Anton’s face when she heard the risqué lyrics, even the saxophone playing was suggestive. The song reached its raucous conclusion and the Kat heard Anton sigh with relief. The DJ came on and engaged in some banter with his friend there in the studio and they were talking about a show that had happened the prior Saturday where the police had broken up the show and it had turned into a riot.

“What are we listening to?” Anton asked, the tone of his voice reflecting his bewilderment.

“People cutting lose on a Saturday night” Kat replied as the voice of Big Joe Turner filled the car. “I wish they played more bands from the Berlin scene.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, there’s this vibrant scene, Berliner Jazz or Gutter Blues. A few kilometers out of Berlin and you’d never know it, and they like playing mostly American music at the University. It’s like the world ignores Berlin.”

“It depends on how you look at things” Anton said, “A few kilometers out of Berlin and you might as well be in the Fifteenth Century where the people are suspicious of newfangled ideas like indoor plumbing and that a radio is a box possessed by demons. This music does sort of prove the latter idea though.”

Real funny, Kat thought to herself.

Anton had been wondering where Kat disappeared to every Monday afternoon. Kat had eventually told him that she went to the University there to see Doctor Holz, that the renewal of her waver to serve the State in an armed capacity was dependent upon her seeing him weekly. To Kat’s profound dismay Anton had reached out to Doctor Holz and received an invitation to come in with Kat. They had remained partners for now though they knew that Kat was going to be reassigned at any time.

Doctor Holz was in Berlin today, which saved her the long drive to Jena. Kat thought about that as she pulled into the car park that served the Psychiatric Department of the University Clinic. Turning off the engine, Kat unbuckled the seatbelt and opened the door.

“Please try not to embarrass me” Kat said.

“What would I say that you might find embarrassing?” Anton said, “I’ll just say the truth, is that alright?”

Kat give him a withering look over the roof of the car. It was obvious he was going to embarrass her, Kat shook her head and shoved her keys into her purse. How was it that she was incredibly annoyed by Anton while at the same time knew she would miss working for him. She said nothing as she walked through the doors of the clinic and towards the elevators. Anton stood next to her as the elevator ascended, she could smell the mint and cigarette smoke on him.

“This is the first time I’ve been in the new building” Anton said, “When I was working on my Master’s Degree it was the old psych ward and the asylum that looked like something from the Middle Ages.”

“There was a different understanding back then” Kat replied.

“I guess, never met a General before.”

“In the Medical Services” Kat said, “Not quite the same as Doctor Holz’s brother Emil, a Generalfeldmarschall is a force of nature. You notice it just walking into the room.”

“More so than the Emperor?”

Anton had never asked about Kat’s relationship with the royal family before.

“Louis Ferdinand is a bit odd” Kat said, “He likes to come across as a businessman or professional, but he also attempts to have the gravitas that comes from sitting on the throne.”

“A bit of a contradiction there?” Anton asked.

“The way he does it, yes.”

The elevator stopped at the correct floor. Out of long habit Kat walked towards the office that was now used by Doctor Holz but had belonged to Erma Tangeman.

“What about the way he does it?”

“He occasionally comes across as too nice” Kat said, “It’s fortunate that in a Constitutional Monarchy most of the tough day to day decisions get made by the Chancellor, Louis might try to please everyone if he had to play that role.”

“I see” Anton said.

“He also has Kira there next to him, the Russian revolution haunts her and every one of the surviving Romanovs” Kat said, “They know what can happen with an unaccountable autocrat messing things up and like the idea of someone else to act as a lightning rod if things are going badly. Small wonder that Gia wants nothing to do with that sort of thing.”

“Is the Grand Duchess really as much a saint as she has been depicted?”

Kat laughed over that. “Gia is totally human, she has faults, she gets angry and lonely. Most of all she dislikes the public persona that her cousins have foisted on her. I wouldn’t say she hates it because it’s hard to imagine her hating anything or anyone.”

“So, she's a genuinely good person?”

“She’s the sort of person that we need to protect if we are doing our jobs correctly.”

With that Kat opened the door to Doctor Holz’s office.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Ninety-Three


17th January 1950

Jena

Peter Holz was compiling his end of the year progress reports. It had been helped by the Joint Medical Service deciding that the work his was doing was valuable enough to have more than just two or three Doctors working on it. He now had a couple of assistants who were cleared to see what he was working on after he had impressed upon them the sensitive nature of the project. It was easy to understand why just looking at the files. There were things like an Oberst who had fought in two World Wars suddenly developing an irrational fear of the dark at age fifty or a decorated Oberfeldwebel suffering a panic attack, things that they obviously would not want to have spread widely. They trusted Peter because he kept those things confidential.

Today he was going over the year's notes for one of his thornier long-term patients and had reached a rather surprising conclusion. Not one that Peter could share with her because she would not take it well, but with Katherine von Mischner the right hand never had any idea what the left hand was doing. Last year when she had come under tremendous personal and professional strain she had a pregnancy scare, a prospect that she was genuinely frightened of. Looking at his notes from the time Peter realized that it might not have been as much of an accident as she’d led him to believe. She would have been required to leave the Police Academy and go on permanent leave from her reserve commission in the Heer. Her friends and family would have rallied to her side to see her through what would have been a fraught time for her. Much of that personal and professional pressure would have simply gone away. Also, trying to solve all her problems by creating ten times as many was perfectly in keeping with how she had handled things in the past.

The troublesome part for Peter was not that it was likely she had done it on an unconscious level or would never admit to it in a thousand years if she had been aware of what she was doing. It was that this strangely was a sign of her growth as a person, on some level she understood that the adult responsibilities that would have come with motherhood were not the worst thing that could happen to her.

Meeting Anton Knoph the day before had been interesting. It was rare that Peter found himself with a subject that studied him right back. Peter knew that Anton had directly confronted Kat with her worst demons and how they might affect her in her new profession. Peter figured that she would be better for it in the long term. Still, Peter had been aware that Anton Knoph had a darkness about his person. This was a man who’d seen the absolute worst that humanity was capable of over a lengthy career and it was as if it had left an indelible stain upon him. Was Peter looking at Kat’s future when he saw Anton Knoph?


Wunsdorf-Zosen

Sophie found it hilarious, of course she would.

When ever she came to Berlin, Sophie made a point of visiting Helene and Helene had been telling her about the “working vacation” that Hans had gotten her to agree to.

“He does have a point about Rio though” Sophie said, “You and your husband in an exotic city with no children for a couple months. Most of the women I’m working with would kill for an opportunity like that.”

“I’ve considered getting involved with the Berlin Chapter” Helene said, “Just so I’ve something to do.”

Helene had been trying to get back into being a student teacher, but it wouldn’t be until next winter before she could really get back into that. Having a baby last year and now the prospect of traveling to South America had thrown a wrench into the works for her professional aspirations. Sophie Scholl had partially founded this new organization that didn’t really have a name just yet that was dedicated to advocating for women’s issues and getting those who supported them elected to office regardless of political party or gender.

“They would be happy to have you” Sophie replied, “With the general election coming up this Spring they need all the help they can get and as much as it might annoy many of the redder tinged members, just your name will get you listened to by many in the halls of power who wouldn’t give them the time of day.”

“What will you be doing?” Helene asked.

“I’m running for my father’s seat in Munich” Sophie replied.

“Really?”

“Yeah” Sophie said, “And I’m hardly alone.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You were in the Auxiliary Corps” Sophie said, “And I remember you were at Erma Tangeman’s funeral march. You know that there are thousands of us, millions even.”

It was something that Helene had hardly thought about. It had been total war and the Auxiliaries had done hundreds of noncombatant tasks that had freed up men to be on the front lines. She had also overheard her father say something about how the 1950 elections were going to be the ruin of the Empire. Now those two things clicked in her mind.

“How many?” Helene asked.

Sophie smiled, “Running for office at all levels? I’m not sure of the exact number but the Reichstag is going to look very different next year.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Ninety-Four


20th January 1950

Berlin

The club was crowded as was typical for a Friday night, Manfred was enjoying the anonymity that such a place provided him. Whenever he went to pubic establishments he would swiftly find himself surrounded by members of the Luftwaffe, officers and enlisted, who wanted to share a drink with one of their greatest heroes. He certainly didn’t feel heroic these days. This week he had learned that Käte had agreed to take Helene’s children for a few months over the Spring and Summer while she traveled with her husband. He couldn’t begrudge Helene in this matter. He knew that his Son-in-Law agreeing to work with a foreign government in an advisory capacity would serve him well in the future. He knew that once Hans managed to advance beyond being a Staff Officer, diplomacy would become almost as big a part of his career as commanding forces. It didn’t surprise Manfred to learn that Hans also was angling to watch the World Cup while he was in Brazil. While Manfred preferred hunting to Football, he understood the lure of sport and he considered himself a patriot, so the prospect of watching the National team compete was something that he approved of.

Helene was facing the whole thing with a bit of trepidation, he knew his daughter. She was probably going to have a lot of fun being caught up in the energy of the crowd. As a guest of the Brazilian Government it would be five-star treatment the whole way. Manfred was sure that Helene would survive the experience.

“I thought that was you hiding in this booth, brooding in your drink” A familiar voice said.

Oswald Boelcke sat down, Manfred heard the asthmatic wheeze when he did. The ailment that had forced Boelcke into retirement years earlier. During the Second World War he’d served as an Administrator and Special Inspector at the OKL but never could meet the physical requirements to have his commission reactivated. These days he was in private business, sitting on the corporate boards of Focke-Wulf Aircraft and Junkers Aircraft and Engine Works.

“I see the asthma hasn’t killed you yet” Manfred replied.

“Still the hardass after all these years” Boelcke said, "It gets worse in the winter every year.”

“I thought you bought a villa in Italy, so you didn’t have to spend the Winters here?”

“And I would prefer to be there too” Boelcke replied, “But I needed to come back to entertain some bigwigs, Kaiserliche Marine LFK and Luftwaffe. Both Junkers and FW want the contracts that the OKW and scientific establishment are going to be issuing.”

“I quit when what my technology advisors said started to sound like Greek to me” Manfred said, “What’s the Luftwaffe involved with the sciences for?”

Boelcke gave a wheezing laugh. “That, my friend is where the future is for the Luftwaffe” He said, “You were the perfect man to give the Luftwaffe a grounding in tradition and you were wise enough to step aside when you did. Scientific exploration is where the ultimate high ground is to be found, orbital space, projecting power to every corner of the globe.”

Manfred recognized a sales pitch when he heard one. He figured that what Boelcke was describing would not happen quickly or be inexpensive, but even he understood the strategic implications if that could be delivered.

“Interesting” Manfred said, “Anything else?”

“Yeah” Boelcke said, “Your son Albrecht was there. I didn’t know he was a Lieutenant in the LFK. You must be proud.”

LFK, the Fleet Air Command. Manfred was not thrilled with the reminder.


Wunsdorf-Zossen

Helene got home late, she walked in on Hans asleep on the couch with little Manfred on the floor playing by his feet. Hans had a way of being instantly awake if he thought that either of the children were about to get in trouble or get hurt. The Nany came out of the back of the house. “I just got Katherine to sleep, Ma’am” She said, “I was just coming back for Manni” Hans was saying that they were going to have to move to a new, larger house and hire a larger staff in reflection of his steady increase in rank. It was a change that Helene was resistant to. There was a part of her that had enjoyed the freedom that they’d had when it was just the two of them. Those days were already gone, but she was reluctant to admit it.

“I know” Helene said as she picked Manfred up, he was getting too big to be picked up at all. No longer a baby and already becoming his own person. Helene found that she missed the tiny little baby that she had worried over in the first weeks after he was born. Her mother had said that one day he’d be as big as Hans. That no longer seemed nearly as far-fetched.

The meeting had run longer than she had thought it would, Helene had not found what she had been expecting after she had talked to Sophie earlier that week. They were interested in her, just not as a volunteer. They expected more, and Helene wasn’t sure what to make of that. It was because Silesia was not a hotbed of forward thinking. With her personal connections and history, Helene was exactly the person they thought could win there. Until they had suggested it the idea had never occurred to her. It was an option if she didn’t go into teaching. She had to wonder what Hans would make of that, her father would flip his lid. While running for office was out of the question this year, in the future though…

“Poppa?” Manfred asked as she walked towards the nursery. Her two children were still sharing a room but soon they would be of an age when that would no longer be acceptable.

“Let him sleep, Manni” Helene said, “He works too hard during the day and doesn’t sleep enough at night.”

Manfred clearly didn’t understand. She hoped he wouldn’t understand adult concerns for a long time.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Ninety-Five


21st January 1950

Potsdam

The weather had made finding activities a touch difficult. Fortunately, Matthias was saved by Fritz Schafer. The rules were simple, don’t touch anything until you knew how to use it. Watching what the hundred-weight power hammer that Schafer used for his projects could do to a coconut impressed upon the boys the need for safety. Especially after Schafer had them clean up the resulting mess or at least Matthias hoped so. The boys had a horrible habit of being mesmerized by wanton destruction as those their age tended to be. It took the twelve of them more than an hour to find all the fragments. The workshop had started off as a hobby of Fritz Schafer, but it had turned into a profitable business, complete with several apprentices who were there to learn the complex blending of art and engineering that Fritz did during his off hours.

Now Schafer was showing them several examples of his work. Later he was planning on showing them how the process of pattern welding worked but for now they were looking at mostly finished work. These were orders that only needed the finishing touches before the customers picked them up. Schafer had said that they lacked the final sharpening mostly. Freddy looked at the pipe-backed saber that was going to a Panzer Corps Generalmajor and a Naval Dirk that was going to a Kaiserliche Marine Officer as a reward from his father. Then he saw one that delighted him, “What’s cat’s claw doing here?” Freddy asked.

Both Matthias and Schafer found that amusing.

“There’s never been a single cat’s claw” Schafer replied, “The one used in the Hohenzollern Palace and the one the Gräfin carried in Belarus are in the Military Museum on Fischer Island. She’s broken several and had one stolen.”

“Stolen?” Freddy asked, that seemed unlikely.

“Wish I knew who did that” Schafer said, “The sort of pick pocket with the balls and skills to lift a karambit from the Tigress belongs in the 28th Regiment.”

“It looks exactly the same” Freddy said picking it up, the other boys looked at what he had.

“It’s 1080 and 15n20 in a Turkish twist pattern laminated with a 1095 core, spring tempered, etched and with walnut scales to make up the handle” Schafer said, “I’ve made enough of those that I can do it from memory.”

Freddy put the karambit back down on the table. “What?” He asked.

“Terms you’ll need to learn in the future Friedrich” Schafer said, “All of you, these things are actually extremely important.”


Wunsdorf-Zossen

At first Stefan thought this place would be too rough for Ilse, it being the tavern whose customers were almost entirely enlisted men from the nearby base. Only to watch her stomp the instep of a man who didn’t take the hint that she wasn’t interested and break his nose on the top of the table she was sitting at as he doubled over in pain. She had wanted to come here, and it seemed that she could hold her own.

“I got you beer” Stefan said nervously as he sat down across from her as the buddies of the lout she’d just knocked senseless dragged him off. She had wanted to just kick around on a Saturday night and seeing that their older sister still wasn’t allowing her to return home, so she’d come to him.

Ilse took a drink, “They don’t serve anything harder?” She asked.

“Word is that whiskey would get out of hand around here” Stefan said.

“Fair enough” Ilse said.

She was very different from Stefan’s other sister, but she still had the tough as nails urban aspect to her. Ilse didn’t scare him at least.

“You either got balls of brass or a death wish, Gerstle” A Feldwebel from Stefan’s Company said when he saw them, “The XO is not going to happy to learn that you brought one of his little sisters here.”

Ilse blew a raspberry at the man who shook his head and walked off.

“What am I going to tell Hans?” Stefan asked, realizing that truth that he should have thought of before he listened to Ilse about what to do tonight. “He’s going to find out you were here.”

“I don’t know” Ilse replied, “The truth.”

“But Katherine said that was a bad idea.”

“Kat said it was a bad idea because you would have been sent to a different training depot and been made an Officer Cadet based on your familial connections” Ilse said, “Are you prepared to make a thirty-year commitment to the Heer?”

Stefan gapped at her, that was clearly another thought that had not occurred to him. Stefan might be her brother but he really could be thick at times.

“That can’t possibly be true” Stefan finally managed to say.

“You are the younger brother of a Gräfin and a Freiherr” Ilse said, “The Heer would have made you a cadet just for the principle.”

“And if I tell the truth to Hans now?”

“He might get pissed, not at you though. Kat most likely for playing games, he hates it when anything she does spills over into his Regiment. During the war, there was a coup attempt and the plotters attempted to suborn Hans at some point, he’s taken a dim view of some of our sister’s doings ever since.”

Stefan stared at the untouched bottle of beer in his hand trying to get a handle on this matter.

“All you need to remember is that Hans loves Football and hates politics” Ilse said, “He’s not a complicated man, that’s why we love him.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Seven Hundred Ninety-Six


22nd January 1950

Berlin

Arrogant ass, Meyer thought to himself. Otto Mischner had summoned him from Warsaw with instructions to collect his trash and presumably renegotiate the deal they had. War was in no one’s interest, not when there was money to be made. It was how the world really worked. Nationalities and ethnicity were mere window dressing. It was Dollars, Marks and Pounds that everyone was after. It was the power and control of those things that they fought over. The meet was in a darkened warehouse. The agreement was that either side could have six trusted men for security.

Upon entering Meyer saw that Otto and his men were in a pool of light under a single caged lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. Justyn was there held up by two men, he’d been beaten severely. Hopefully beat some sense into him, Meyer thought to himself. He was halfway tempted to leave him here, but he couldn’t do that. If he was going to avoid an all-out war he would need to do this right. Otto stood there, a grim smile on his face. At fifty-five he showed no sign of running towards flab like most men would have and was totally within his element here, not a sign of weakness in his demeanor either. Justyn had attempted to exploit what he saw as a weakness. If Meyer had met Otto like this before hand he might have warned Justyn not to make the attempt.

“That’s far enough” Otto said.

“I’m here” Meyer replied, “What’s it going to cost to settle this?”

“Cost?” Otto said, “For you, only a few minutes of your time.”

There was something very ominous about that.

“Time to do what?” Meyer asked.

“Witness what happens when I get crossed” Otto said, and one of his men slid open the back door of the warehouse letting in a gust of icy wind. “This evening’s Express to Kiel will be along in a minute and there’s going to be a terrible accident.”

“This wasn’t part of the deal” Meyer said only to hear the sound of a gun bolt chambering a cartridge above him and to his right.

“The deal is what I say it is” Otto said, “And I’ve got a man up on the walkway who’s a maestro with a machine pistol. It this neighborhood no one will hear it if he shoots you.”

Meyer a train whistle in the distance. This was checkmate, Otto had won this round and he wanted Meyer to witness it…

“No, Otto” Meyer heard a woman’s voice say, “I’m not allowing it.”

The daughter walked in. She was angry, wearing the green uniform of the German Police and she was not alone. There were a dozen others, they all armed with automatic rifles.

“This is none of your concern, Kat” Otto said, “Leave.”

“When Justyn Kozlow tried to have me killed it became my concern” Kat replied, “I’m here to arrest him.”

“This isn’t like someone caught shoplifting!” Otto yelled, “There are levels to this you don’t understand.”

“I understand perfectly!” Kat yelled back, “That’s why I can’t allow you to do this.”

There was another whistle from the train, it was getting closer. Meyer could hear the clicking of the steel wheels on the tracks getting louder as it raced out of the railyard towards the warehouse.

The girl stepped forward and pulled up a pair of handcuffs, she had a slight smile on her face.

“Do you have any idea how this will make me look?” Otto bellowed.

“I don’t care!” She yelled back, “Justyn Kozlow, you are under arrest for attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and anything else I can think of.”

Otto’s men who were holding Justyn looked to Otto, unsure of what to do.

“Let him go” Kat ordered.

Otto was about to say something when Justyn finally saw an opportunity he elbowed one of the men holding him in the gut and headbutted the other breaking his nose. Kat was within reach, so he grabbed the front of her uniform tunic, hauled the pistol out of the holster on her side and put her between himself and the other armed men in the warehouse. She dropped the handcuffs.

“This is how it’s going!” Justyn yelled, “I’m leaving and if any of you try anything funny the princess here gets it.” To add emphasis, he had the gun to Kat’s head.

“That’s not going to happen” Otto said flatly.

“It is” Justyn replied, “And you aren’t doing squat, hear me.”

Meyer noticed then that the girl’s eyes never left her father’s and she had that faint smile on her face again. There was a larger game being played here than he had realized. But how did this fit in with someone’s game by any stretch of the imagination?

With that, the Express the Kiel arrived with the trumpeting blast of the whistle and sound of the locomotive passing and the warehouse was filled with icy air as the train displaced the air before it. The whole warehouse shook and the lights in the passenger cars caused a strobing effect. In the cacophony Meyer saw Justyn’s finger tighten on the trigger. He had a feeling that something was going on that he didn’t understand but he knew with certainty that if that trigger got pulled then this was going to end badly. Too late to do anything he watched the slight movement as Justyn pulled the heavy double action trigger…

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Six Hundred Ninety-Seven


22nd January 1950

Berlin

“One way of another” Kat had said to Ilse, “This ends tonight.”

It was strange what Kat had been doing, she had an empty pistol cartridge on the table in front of her as well as a hand loading press. She had been testing cartridges in the basement all afternoon and was looking for a certain consistent result.

“What are you doing?” Ilse asked as Kat set primer into the cartridge with a special tool.

“My father cannot let something like this go” Kat said, “I need this to all be under color of law and sometimes things need to be stage directed.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Ilse asked looking at the cartridge as Kat seated a bullet in it.

“Insurance” Kat said, “There’s a chance that a man who is not very bright will do something very stupid. I don’t want to take any risks, but I want him to try.”

“If you say so” Ilse said.

Now, a few hours later Ilse watched the warehouse, listening to the train go by and hoped that her sister knew what she was doing.

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

There was a fainter than expected “Pop!” when Justyn pulled the trigger to his total surprise as the train finished going by plunging the warehouse into silence.

Meyer stood there with a shocked look on his face as Kat rounded on Justyn. The sound of the bones in his arm breaking were audible to everyone and the pistol was yanked from his fingers. She then kicked his leg and Justyn felt it fold under him and he was writhing on the concrete floor of the warehouse in pain, he felt her kick him a few times in places that would inflict a large amount pain but not do a lot of damage. The other police officers grabbed him, and his hands were roughly handcuffed behind his back.

“Another count of assaulting a police officer and attempted murder in front of more than a dozen witnesses, Justyn” Kat said but Justyn realized she was talking to her father, “You’ll be lucky if you can avoid getting the chop for this.”

Meyer and her father were both staring at her. Let them wonder, Kat thought to herself as she walked out of the warehouse. Her father’s men as well as those who had arrived with Meyer Lansky fled for the nearest exists as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

Then she noticed that Anton was looking at her gun, he was the one who'd gotten it away from Justyn.

“The bullet is lodged in the barrel” He said with narrowed eyes as he handed her pistol back to her, “You’ll need a dowel and hammer to get it out.”

“I can take care of that” Kat replied.

“I know you” Anton said, “There was no way that he should have gotten that gun away from you like that.”

Kat remembered how her father had disarmed her a few weeks earlier and didn’t want a repeat of the experience. But understanding that someone might try to take her gun had been instructive. Especially when she wanted to send a message.

“Live and learn” Kat replied.

“If we send that in for examination are they going to say you loaded it with squibs on purpose?”

“That is a bit of a stretch” Kat said, “I got lucky.”

“There’s luck and then there is having your thumb on the scale” Anton said, “Why do I suspect that many of the times in the past when you got lucky it was because you were the one with the thumb on the scale.”

“I don’t know” Kat replied as Ilse emerged from the shadows knowing full well that she would have all her weight on those scales if she had her way.

“How the Hell are we supposed to sell this to our superiors?”

“That we prevented further escalation in the gang war that has engulfed the city” Kat said, “We had actionable intelligence and we acted on it.”

“We both know there was more to it than that” Anton said, “I’m supposed to believe that wasn’t a shot across the bows directed at Otto Mischner?”

“My father has dragged me into the middle of his crap too many times. If this makes him think twice before it happens again because I might arrest him for it, then I’ll be better for it.”

“Can we finally go home?” Ilse asked, interrupting.

“Yes” Kat said to Ilse who looked overjoyed with that prospect.

Anton realized that what he suspected was street theater had happened so that Kat could go home, sleep in her own bed and have those people she considered family under one roof again. Ilse was practically skipping as she made her way to the car.

“I got the memo on Friday afternoon about your next posting” Anton said, “They’re sending you to Tempelhof.”

“Wait, what?” Kat asked.

“Passport control” Anton said, “I figure a bit of quiet would be welcome for you about now.”

He could see from the look on her face that this was anything but welcome. This was sending her to Purgatory.

“Is that really the best use for my skills?” Kat asked.

“It doesn’t matter” Anton said, “The Powers-That-Be want you somewhere where you can continue to learn and not cause much trouble.”

“For how long?”

“It depends” Anton said, “But one of the key duties of the Federal Police is controlling the borders, everyone does their time there. Consider this a sign that you’ve arrived.”

Arrived at what? Kat thought to herself.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

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.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

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.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

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.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter Eight Hundred-One


25th February 1950

Wunsdorf-Zossen

Helene was worried about Hans and the book she was trying to read wasn’t helping matters. Judita had lent it to her because it sounded interesting, but it had turned into a rather disturbing read if one understood the implications. Speculative fiction set in 20s and 30s, it depicted a world where the white peace of 1917 had not occurred. Instead the First World War had dragged into late 1918 and Germany had been forced to take a crippling peace deal imposed by the Americans and British at the insistence of the French. What then followed was popular revolution, the monarchy being dissolved, a succession of unstable governments, economic and political chaos.

The author had clearly intended it to be somewhat tongue in cheek when he depicted a militant political faction led Ernst Rohm and a violently unstable, autocratic demagogue named Martin Seiler. The name telegraphed the author’s intentions with the later character, a maker of rope. The political party was clearly modeled after the Spanish Falangists or the Italian Fascists, neither of those parties had been allowed into power for good reason. The book had been criticized for being a cynical depiction of the events in question and Germany in general but when Helene thought about it; Was it cynical enough?

It would not be the same Germany she lived in. the decades in question wouldn’t have been years of relative peace and prosperity. Instead, they would have been marked with the shortages, hardship and loss that would fuel the rise of someone like the Seiler in the book. People would turn even to someone like that if they got desperate enough. The man was depicted as a narcissist and pathological liar, again for laughs, but Helene knew of people like that who had managed to get into positions of responsibility. It was probably the depiction of how that man cynically used chauvinism and bigotry that disturbed Helene the most. That was entirely too plausible. If someone like that painted themselves into a rhetorical corner the results, though not depicted in the book, would be extremely ugly. Judita had said that there was a sequel coming but Helene wasn’t remotely interested. She had enough ugliness going on in her own house.

First, Hans had learned that Ilse was seeing one of his men socially. It was amusing to watch Hans suddenly become the protective big brother, even though Hans had not even met Ilse until she was sixteen. While Helene had not brought it up with her, but her opinion was that Ilse could do far better than Stefan Gerstle. Then a few days earlier Kat had come to Zossen and asked to speak with Hans regarding an important family matter that it would probably be safer for Helene not to be involved with. She recognized instantly that they would be discussing their father, something that had never made them happy in the past.

Hans had walked out a couple hours later, just furious. It was one of the few times that Helene had seen him this was way. Later he’d said that he never wanted to hear his father’s name spoken aloud ever again. The next day Helene had asked if he still intended to do something about Ilse. That had been a mistake because Hans expression had become clouded again and he said that he didn’t like being played like a fool without elaboration. This behavior was totally unlike him and it had Helene worried.

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

“Close the door” Hans said coldly.

As he closed the door Stefan knew that he was trouble from the tone of his voice. The XO must have learned that he had been meeting Ilse off base. The problem was that wasn’t an easy thing to explain. Ilse had suggested that he just tell Hans the truth, but Stefan figured that Hans might not take that well and he was in a position make Stefan’s life absolute Hell. The worst part was that after Hans got through killing him, probably through exhaustion, the Oberst would congratulate him for making a splendid example of a Soldat who didn’t measure up as a warning to the rest of the men.

Stefan started to sit down in the chair opposite Hans desk…

“Did I say you were at ease, Soldat?” Hans growled, “Much less that you could pollute that chair by sitting on it.”

This was worse than he thought.

“I can explain, Sir” Stefan blurted out.

“Yes” Hans said, giving Stefan the distinct impression that he was being viewed like a specimen that was about to get poisoned, have a pin shoved through it and placed in a glass case. “Try to explain this to me.”

“Sir, I only met Ilse, your sister, for drinks a couple times, nothing more” Stefan said trying to keep the quiver out of his voice. “Sir, we’re friends is all, Sir…”

Stefan trailed off. Hans just stared at him, giving him the impression that he’d not only given the wrong answer, he’d not even been answering the right question.

“You and my sisters must think that I’m really stupid” Hans said flatly.

“Excuse me, Sir?” Stefan replied.

“I’m sure that you’ve been in contact with Katherine this entire time. Probably let Ilse in on the joke the instant you met her in my house” Hans said, “Had a good laugh over how thick I am?”

“It’s nothing like that, Sir. Katherine said I needed to get out of Berlin because I was no longer safe and that she could get me into your Regiment where I would be.”

Hans just stared at him after he said that. Finally, Hans said, “Yeah, so what.” Clearly unhappy with this situation.