The phone rang and Winnie answered it, simply saying hello. As she listened to the voice on the other end, her eyes widened. “Yes, Reich Minister, everyone has safely departed.” she finally said in German.
Ernie grabbed a pad and paper and wrote “Goebbels?” Winnie nodded. She was talking to the head of what was left of the Third Reich. Winnie continued and smiled broadly. “Yes sir, I am part of a detail assigned to protect your property.”
There was more from Goebbels. Ernie tried to get close enough to hear what he was saying, but all he could hear was a nasally voice.
“Will that be all then, Reich Minister Goebbels? Good. Then perhaps I should inform you that I am not Swiss or German. I am an American and I work for the OSS. Ta-ta, Herr Scheissen.”
Winnie hung up and threw herself down on the couch, doubled over in laughter. When she finally got control of herself she took out a cigarette, looked at it and decided against it. She sat back and looked at Ernie. “This will be something to tell our grandchildren.”
“Ours?”
She walked over and kissed him on the cheek. “Yes, Ernie, ours. Remember what I said about my brother being entombed in the Arizona? Well, the Japs have been defeated and Germany is about to fall. Therefore, I have decided to start living again. For a while after he died, I went a little wild and crazy, actually more than a little bit. My brother was everything to me. My father was gone much of the time and my mother was too busy reading the society pages, so he took Dad’s place. He was the one who taught me how to shoot and fix cars. I thought about joining the women’s army, navy or Marines, but that wouldn’t put me anywhere near the Japs. The only way I could strike back at his murderers would have to be indirectly, so I used Dad’s influence to meet Colonel Donovan and he got me in. Working with the OSS has helped ground me.” She took a deep breath and smiled warmly. “I know you’re in love with me, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” he whispered.
“Well, I’m in love with you too.”
She took his hand and led him to the master bedroom. The bed was huge, twice the size of a normal double bed. There was a huge red and black swastika on the blanket. “Get undressed,” she commanded and he complied.
Very quickly they were both naked and they soaked in the sight of their bodies. Her breasts were small but firm, and her belly was as flat as any he’d ever seen, and Ernie was happy he’d worked out and stayed in shape. “You really do like me,” she said, laughing as she saw how aroused he was. They fell onto the bed and made love quickly. The second and third times were more passionate yet more delicate.
Finally sated, they lay on the bed and shared the cigarette Winnie had started. “Will we tell our grandchildren that we consummated our love on Goebbels’ bed?” Ernie asked.
“When they’re old enough to understand or we’re too old to care. I just wonder if they’ll believe it or if anyone will remember who Josef Goebbels was. By the way, Ernie, you will have fun with my father. He’s loud and pushy but he already respects you. I wrote about you and told him that you were a fighter pilot and now a spy. He never saw action in the first war. Like this one; he’s a civilian expert and stuck behind a desk and he hates it. Whatever you do, be firm with him. He despises weak people. By the way, when was your name changed to Janek?”
“I understand,” Ernie said and yawned hugely. Three times with this woman who was a tiger. She had wiped him out. “My grandfather did it shortly after his family landed at Ellis Island. It had been Janikowski and he felt it was too Polish. Sometimes I wish he hadn’t made the change. I think you should be proud of your heritage and, besides, I like Polish food.”
“So do I, or at least a lot of it. And when we’re back home and after we’re married, I want to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon. The government is going to make the Arizona a permanent grave and memorial. There will be no attempts to recover bodies. Too dangerous, I was told. And there’s likely not much to recover after all this time. Still, I would like to visit my brother’s grave.”
“We will do exactly that,” he said and yawned again.
He pulled her over and she rested her head on his shoulder. In a moment, his eyes were closed and he was breathing deeply. She slid out of the bed, padded across the room and got her camera from her purse. She smiled as she arranged a corner of the blanket to cover his exhausted manhood. She took his picture sprawled across Josef Goebbels’ bed with the swastika in plain view. Then she set the camera and the timer so she could be part of the scene, again discreetly arranging the bedding. She kept taking pictures until she was out of film. She would develop the pictures herself. It was another skill she’d mastered in Allen Dulles’ spy school. She almost giggled as she thought about sending copies to Josef and Magda Goebbels.
Winnie felt Ernie shift and his arm fell across her belly. “Just so you know, I really wasn’t asleep.”
* * *
Anton Schneider put his rifle in a closet and slammed the door. “Father, I don’t feel like dying for a lost cause. You can if you wish, but neither my friends nor I want to commit suicide. Let’s face it. Germany has lost the war and National Socialism has gone down the toilet.”
Gustav Schneider stood and barely controlled himself while his wife gasped. “How dare you say that? Yes we have suffered reverses, but we will prevail.”
Anton laughed harshly. “Reverses, Father. If these are reverses I’d like to know what you consider a real defeat. We’ve lost everything including all of Germany-or have you forgotten that where we are was Austria until only a few years ago. We have no friends, no money, and we are now living in a fucking cave.”
This time an outraged Gustav did swing his beefy arm, but a more agile Anton ducked under it. “Do you see what’s left, Father? Old men like you and boys like me. We have no modern weapons and no real training. When the time comes to fight the Americans we will be like lambs to the slaughter. We should be arranging our affairs so that we can either leave this godforsaken place and go to South America or surrender to the Allies and throw ourselves on their mercy.”
“He has a point,” said Gudrun. “For the last few years it’s been nothing but defeat after defeat and promises of wonder weapons that are never fulfilled.”
“We pledged to defend the Fuhrer,” Gustav said.
“Father, have you noticed that he’s dead? That ugly cripple Goebbels is not my idea of someone I would die for.”
“If we are captured by the Americans we will be punished severely,” Gustav said. “You might get away with a few years in prison because of your youth, while I would be executed as a war criminal.”
Anton was intrigued. “For what? You were a clerk, a bureaucrat. You had no real authority. What could you have possibly done to be considered a war criminal?”
To Anton’s surprise, his father looked genuinely saddened. “There are many reasons. I ran a ring of informers who told me who was being disloyal. I either accepted bribes from those cowards or sent them to concentration camps where they doubtless died. I stole food from government warehouses so we could eat better than others. And don’t forget, I did rape and enslave that Jewess, Lena. If she’s still alive, she could testify against me.”
Anton laughed. “And who would believe her? First, she’s probably dead and isn’t going to testify against anyone. Even if she still lives, I’ve been told that most women who have been assaulted don’t want to testify against those who attacked them. By the way, Father, how was she?”
Gustav laughed harshly. “Inert and as passionate as a large piece of meat. You didn’t miss much.”
“But it nearly cost me my manhood to find that out. Thank God things are back in working order. But let’s get back to the point. We have to get out of here. Just about everyone I talk to is saying they’ll make their way to Central or South America. There are rumors that Goebbels has sent his family across the border to safety.”