After the accident, Stephan remained in the theater, but not as an actor. Since his mother had taught him to sew, and he was pretty good at it, he remained in the profession as a costume maker. His many actor friends and contacts with other companies over the years had his talent evolve into a permanent, respected tailor shop.
“No, I haven’t done costumes in years.”
There was a reason for this. In the past, most of his business came from the Jewish population of Berlin in the pre-Nazi theater era. Now however, this significant part of Berlin’s culture had been decimated. One of those destroyed, a Barbara Nitsche, who lost her life during Krystallnacht – and who Stephan Johanstall was in love with deeply – was the reason the old German tailor was working for the British.
“Do you know why Jews…?”
The group could hear the Baroness begin another round of approved Nazi humor. She paused just long enough to let the question settle in her audience’s mind. Then when the group was completely silent blurted out the punch line.
Once again the audience burst out in a roar and applause.
“Baroness! Baroness! The Governor General called as his group approached the rim of the crowd. There is someone here we brought all the way from Switzerland to meet you!”
Baroness Fredricke slowly turned towards Dr. Frank, then glanced over at Krafft and Elaine. In the blink of an eye her mood flashed from being the jovial life of the part into one whose anger could kill. She looked back to the Governor General with her pale blue eyes.
“What have you done to this woman?”
Fesel was watching the snowflakes silently collide against his huge window. His office, his entire project, was situation in what was once the Buchfabrik, a Jewish publishing house specializing in school textbooks and medical publications.
The previous owners, Jan and Anke Wiessenberg, were persuaded to flee for their lives in 1936 from this building that had been in their family for generations, with what possessions they could carry on their backs. This happened to many Jewish firms throughout the country as part of the Nazi ‘cultural purification’ program. The Wiessenbergs were one of the lucky families; they managed to make their way to America. They reached Ellis Island without one Reichmark from their family business that had been created and maintained since 1879. But they were alive.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, Frau Mann, please have a seat. Would you like a coffee?”
Ewa Mann nodded ‘yes’ and the doctor turned to look through the glass divide, which caused his secretary to stop typing and return the look. Fesel held up two fingers on one hand and made a drinking gesture to his mouth with the other.
The secretary knew how much cream and sugar was the preference for each and every employee in the Dark Fire project. She got up and headed for the kitchen.
“So, how was the party at Frau Ney’s…?”
“Well, the food was first rate, as usual.” Ewa wanted to say something positive to start the conversation, for she was usually disgusted with the crowd that often came to one of Frau Ney’s gatherings.
“And our subject, Herr Krafft? Is he still there?”
“Yes, the Governor General will see they remain the entire weekend.”
“Did he see you leave?”
“No.”
“Good, good.”
Long before Krafft was ‘requested’ to come to Berlin, Fesel had him watched and studied. What kind of women would he glance at while walking down the street? What were the appearances of his past sweethearts? What kind of women did he seem to take a liking to at the shops he visited, or would speak longer to after one of his lectures?
Once a composite was made, Fesel ordered a search to find the perfect girl Karl Ernst Krafft would have a weakness for; possessing every quality he was attracted to. He found that in the girl now sitting in front of him: Ewa Mann.
“What did you think of our Herr Krafft…?”
Maxi had been waiting in his taxi in front of the German High Command for about forty minutes. What appeared strange to Maxi on this particular day was the amount of civilians who were coming and going through the huge metal doors of the building. On any other day there would be a regulated flow of Luftwaffe, SS, Army, and Navy uniforms.
Why all the civilians? Maxi wondered. He hoped that one of them – a talkative one – would require a taxi. Perhaps some friendly conversation could help piece some of the puzzle together. Oddly, most of these men and women were either picked up or delivered by cars driven by lower ranking men in uniform, or they were all using the Hansaplatz U-Bahn station nearby.
“Ah! Ha ha ha..!” Maxi recognized the laugh of the fat General Schmidt-Prange even at a distance. Turning in the direction to where the laugh originated, Maxi saw the General with Birgit and two other men, both in civilian clothes.
“I’m sure when the signal comes, you will do your job well.” The General said to the men, while looking at the sky above him. At the bottom of the steps, the two men each shook the general’s hand, bowed to Birgit, then departed towards the U-Bahn station.
Birgit and Schmidt-Prange watched the men walked off, traded comments that Maxi could not hear, then walked by Maxi’s taxi.
“Can we trust them?” Birgit questioned.
“No matter.” The general answered. “If they do their job, then all will go as planned. If they don’t, which has already been taken under consideration, things will just take a few hours or days longer. Either way they will not be alive by the time we arrive.”
Both Birgit and the general walked right in front of Maxi’s taxi in order to take a short cut to cross the street. Realizing they would not use his cab today, Maxi leaned out of the window so he could hear every word.
“Have you seen the message from Schellenburg reporting the situations on Holland?”
“His report arrived just as I was leaving, so Violetta will have it decoded when we return.”
Maxi was surprised how business-like Birgit seemed as she walked off. Usually she was laughing and joking whenever he had seen or drove her in the past. Now she was just as serious as all the other Germans in uniform who made this building their home. Her sexy figure however, did not change with her new cold and calculating attitude.
Suddenly the back door to taxi opened, and a heavy-set, red headed man with a black full-length leather coat twisted himself in the back seat. He had a thin military-style briefcase in one hand and a large white box in the other. Both items were thrown to the space next to him in exhaustion.
“Schulerstrasse, Bitte.” The man said without looking at Maxi.
“Uh, ummm, uh…” Stuttered the Governor General of Poland. Because of his position, he was not used to being spoken to in such a shocking tone, especially by a woman. The experience came as an even greater shock to him, and to the audience, since the Baroness and Dr. Frank were known to have a deep friendship that had endured many years.
“What have you done to upset this woman?” The Baroness repeated.
“Uh, do you know Karl and Elaine Krafft?” Was all the Governor General could think of to say at this awkward moment.
“No, not their names, I don’t care about names.” The Baroness stopped after looking into Karl Ernst’s eyes. “Yes, yes…” She said, as if going into a trance. “These are the eyes of one who looks into the future, one who can feel… the stars…”