‘You’re going to find it a lot different, working for a small outfit,’ he said to Vince, ‘instead of a cartel. The anonymity, the impersonal bureaucratic — ‘
‘Be quiet!’ Vince interrupted. ‘There’s another bulletin.
Again he turned up the car radio.
‘ … duties, because of his illness, have been assumed by the Vice President, and it is understood that a special election is to be announced shortly. Dr Rudi Kalbfleisch’s condition meanwhile remains — ‘
‘They’re not going to give us much time,’ Vince said, frowning nervously and chewing on his lower lip.
‘We can do it,’ Chic said. He was not worried. Maury would find a way; his boss would come through, now that he’d been given the chance.
Failure, now that the big break had arrived, simply was not possible. For any of them.
God, suppose he started worrying about that!
Seated in the big blue easychair, the Reichsmarschall pondered Nicole’s proposition. Nicole, sipped iced tea, silently waited, in her authentic Directorate chair at the far end of the Lotus Room of the White House.
‘What you’re asking,’ Goering said at last, ‘is nothing less than that we repudiate our oaths to Adolf Hitler. Is it that you don’t comprehend the Fuhrer Prinzip, the Leader Principle? Possibly I can explain it to you. For example, imagine a ship in which — ‘
‘I don’t want a lecture,’ Nicole snapped. ‘I want a decision. Or can’t you decide? Have you lost that capacity?’
‘But if we do this,’ Goering said, ‘we’re no better than the July Bomb Plotters. In fact we would have to plant a bomb exactly as they did or will do, however one expresses it.’ He rubbed his forehead wearily. ‘I find this singularly difficult. Why is there such urgency?’
‘Because I want it settled,’ Nicole said.
Goering sighed. ‘You know, our greatest mistake in Nazi Germany was our failure to harness the abilities of women properly. We relegated them to the kitchen and bedroom. They were not really utilized in the war effort, in administration or production or within the apparatus of the Party. Observing you I can see what a dreadful mistake we made.’
‘If you have not decided within the next six hours,’ Nicole said, ‘I will have the von Lessinger technicians return you to the Age of Barbarism and any deal which we might make — ‘
She gestured a sharp cutting-motion that Goering watched with apprehension. ‘It’s all over.’
‘I simply do not have the authority,’ Goering began.
‘Listen,’ she leaned towards him, ‘you better have. What did you think, what thoughts passed through your mind, when you saw your great bloated corpse lying in the jail cell at Nuremberg? You have a choice: that, or assuming the authority to negotiate with me.’ She sat back, then, and sipped more iced tea.
Goering said hoarsely, ‘I — will think further about it. During the next few hours. Thank you for the extension of time. Personally, I have nothing against the Jews. I’d be quite willing to — ‘
‘Then do so.’ Nicole rose to her feet. The Reichsmarschall sat slumped over broodingly, evidently unaware that she had risen. She walked from the room leaving him. What a dismal, contemptible individual, she thought. Emasculated by the power-arrangement of the Third Reich; unable to do anything on his own as a unique individual — no wonder they lost the war. And to think that in World War One he was a gallant brave ace, a member of Richtofen’s Flying Circus, flying one of those tiny, flimsy, wire and wood aeroplanes. Hard to believe it was the same man …
Through a window of the White House she saw crowds outside the gates. The curious, here because of Rudi’s ‘illness.’ Nicole smiled momentarily. The watchers at the gate … keeping the vigil. They would be there from now on, day and night, as if waiting for World Series seat tickets, until Kalbfleisch ‘died.’ And then they would silently drift off. Heaven knew what they came for. Didn’t they have anything else to do? She had wondered about them many times before, at the previous occasions. Were they always the same people? Interesting speculation.
She turned a corner — and found herself facing Bertold Goltz.
‘I hurried here as soon as I heard,’ Goltz said, lazily. ‘So the old man’s strutted his little period and now is to be hustled off. He didn’t last very long, this one. And Herr Hogben will replace him, a certain mythical, non-existent construct with that apt appellation. I was over at the Frauenzimmer Werke; they’re going great guns, there.’
‘What do you want here?’ Nicole demanded.
Goltz shrugged. ‘Conversation, perhaps. I eternally enjoy chatting with you. Actually, however, I have a distinct purpose: to warn you. Karp und Sohnen has an agent in the Frauenzimmer Werke already.’
‘I’m aware of that,’ Nicole said. ‘And don’t refer to the Frauenzimmer firm as a “Werke.” They’re too small to be a cartel.’
‘A cartel can be small in size. What matters is that they hold a monopoly; there’s no competition — Frauenzimmer has it all. Now Nicole, you had better listen to me; better have your von Lessinger technicians preview events vis-à-vis the Frauenzimmer people. For the next two months or so at the very least. I think you’ll be surprised. Karp is not going to give up that easily; you should have thought of that.’
‘We keep the situation in — ‘
‘No you don’t,’ Goltz said. ‘You have nothing under control. Look ahead and you’ll see. You’re becoming complacent, like a big fat cat.’ He saw her touch the emergency button at her throat and he smiled broadly. ‘The alarm, Nicky? Because of me? Well, I guess I’ll stroll on. By the way: congratulations on stopping Kongrosian before he could emigrate. That was a genuine coup on your part. However — you don’t know it yet, but your snaring of Kongrosian has dragged a little more than you anticipated into existence. Please make use of your von Lessinger equipment; it’s so uniquely valuable in situations like this.’
Two grey-clad NP men appeared at the end of the corridor. Nicole signalled brusquely to them and they scrambled to get out their guns.
Yawning, Goltz vanished.
‘He’s gone,’ Nicole said to the NP men, accusingly. Of course Goltz was gone; she had expected it. But at least this had terminated the conversation; she was rid of his presence.
We ought to go back, Nicole thought, to Goltz’s babyhood and destroy him then. But Goltz had anticipated them. He was long since back there, at the time of his birth and onward into childhood. Guarding himself, training himself, crooning over his child-self; through the von Lessinger principle Bertold Goltz had become, in effect, his own parent He was his own constant companion, his own Aristotle, for the initial fifteen years of his life, and for that reason the younger Goltz could not be surprised.
Surprise. That was the element which von Lessinger had nearly banished from politics. Everything now was pure cause and effect. At least, so she hoped.
‘Mrs Thibodeaux,’ one of the NP men said, very respectfully, ‘there is a man from A.G. Chemie to see you. A Mr Merrill Judd. We brought him up.’
‘Oh yes,’ Nicole said, nodding. She had an appointment with him; Judd had some fresh ideas as to how to go about curing Richard Kongrosian. The psych-chemist had approached the White House as soon as he had learned that Kongrosian had been found. ‘Thank you,’ she said, and started towards the California Poppy Room where she was to meet with Judd.
Damn those Karps, Anton and Felix, she thought as she hurried along the carpeted corridor, the two NP men following behind her. Suppose they attempt to sabotage the Dieter Hogben Project — perhaps Goltz is right: perhaps we’ve got to act against them!
But they were so strong. And so resourceful. The Karps, father and son, were old pros at this business, even more so than she herself.
I wonder what Goltz meant exactly, she thought. About our having dragged more than we anticipated into existence when we regained possession of Richard Kongrosian. Something to do with Loony Luke? There was another one, as bad as the Karps or Goltz; another pirate and nihilist, out for himself at the expense of the state. How complicated everything had become, and still there was the unfinished, nagging business deal with Goering hanging over everything else. The Reichsmarschall simply could not decide and would not, would never finalize, and his indecision was stopping the wheels, keeping her attention fixed there, and at far too great a cost. If Goering did not decide by tonight. He would be, as she had assured him, back in his own time by eight this evening. Involved in a losing war which would eventually — and he would be acutely aware of it cost him his fat life.
I’ll see that Goering gets exactly what’s due him, she said savagely to herself. And Goltz and the Karps, too. All of them, including Loony Luke. But it must be done carefully, with each matter handled in sequence. Right now she had a more pressing problem, that of Kongrosian.