The Children's War (126 page)

“Bouncy?” Peter asked in amazement.

“Yes, bouncy. Otherwise, they’ll think you’re miserable even when you aren’t. And don’t forget, for heaven’s sakes, clean up your vocabulary . . .”

Alex continued with his advice, and Peter nodded his head, forgetting for the moment that Alex could not see him. As Zosia noted her father’s suggestions, Peter wondered why they didn’t just hire an actor. By the end of their refinements, he would be unrecognizable. “What’s the point of my going?” he finally asked.

Alex seemed to understand his frustration. “You’ll do fine. Don’t worry. And despite these limits, the essential truth of your story will be very moving. When you tell everyone what’s happening there, they’ll believe you, because they can see the reflection of our people’s pain in your face. An actor would never be able to convey the poignancy of our suffering the way you will.”

Zosia raised her eyebrows at her father’s almost poetic efforts. Maybe studying-public relations tactics had influenced him. He dispelled that idea by concluding, “And besides, actors are expensive and you’re free! Beyond that, truth is stronger than fiction.”

“Stranger,” Peter corrected.

“Huh?”

“Stranger. Truth is
stranger
than fiction.”

“Stronger, too. Your story will never be disproved because it’s true, and that is a very strong point in our favor. The point is, we want to make Americans feel that they would be as vulnerable as you were. So we must avoid anything that the average American is sure he or she is not and that includes adulterer, alcoholic, drug addict, criminal, homosexual, dirty, smelly, or low class. And, oh, yeah, atheist.”

Zosia smiled at her father’s idea of tact.

“You forgot polluted by medical experiments,” Peter added wryly.

“Oh, that’s not your fault,” Alex assured him. “Anyway, they’re used to being poked at by obnoxious physicians here.”

“Thank God for small mercies. Anyway, that’s one I’ve decided to leave out.”

“What? Leave out? What do you mean?”

“There’s enough there without me talking about the medical experiments. Besides, from my point of view, it was nothing more than a needle jabbed into my arm. I don’t think it’s very impressive. We can let the data I translated speak for itself. Has it been released over there yet?”

“Released?” Alex repeated nervously. “Er, yes. Making quite a splash. Still, I think you should talk about your experience with that. It is important to have the personal touch.”

“No. Not on that. I don’t want to. Make sure it stays out of any previsit publicity. I really want to avoid discussions of my sex life. It could get complicated. It’s important, Alex, I mean this. No discussion of that sterility program!”

“You’re free to talk about whatever you want. If you want to leave that out, fine. Leave it out.”

“And, Alex?” Peter asked somewhat hesitantly. “Katerina said I can’t do any engagements for anyone else—you know, like one of the international prisonerrights organizations. Do you think you could talk to her about that?”

“No. She and I are agreed on that. You speak for us alone. We don’t want to dilute our message.”

“But maybe I could help by—”

“The answer is no. You are speaking for us, for the Reich-wide resistance movements. Nothing else.”

“But, Alex—”

“You owe us loyalty, Peter!”

“I know that. I know I owe you my life, and I am grateful to you all. And you
have
my loyalty. I just thought that maybe I could do some good—”

“No. We need to keep this thing under our control. The answer is no.”

53

“I
THOUGHT WE HAD
this damn thing under control!” the Führer fumed, so furious that his nails dug into the fine leather of his armchair. “You told me your source said everything had been taken care of! What is this, Günter? A betrayal? Are you trying to make me look bad?”

Schindler shook his head, genuinely perplexed. “No, no! I don’t know what’s going on—”

“Why not!”

“I haven’t been able to make contact recently. It’s very complicated, everything has to be run through various levels of government. Maybe my source got it wrong—”

“Wrong? Wrong? You’re the one who promised me your stupid sterility program would be carried out in the greatest confidence! You . . .” The Führer paused, at a loss for how to express his anger. His face had turned a dangerous purple.

“Mein Führer,”
Schindler pleaded, “whatever leaks we have had with regards to the Hamburg lab, it does not help to bring even more people in on it.” He
nodded toward the third person in the room, standing quietly off to the side, smoking pensively. “Why is
he
here?”

“Herr Traugutt was good enough to personally warn me of your lax security,” the Führer answered with suppressed rage. “He has gained my trust from his astute observations.”

Schindler glared at Richard remembering the inebriated dinner conversation that had led him to reveal state secrets.

“With only the most minimal digging, he managed to come up with details about your arrangements that no one should have been able to find out!” the Führer continued. “He worried, quite rightly, that if he could learn our secrets so easily, then so could the Americans! He warned me even before that incident in January.”

“You mean the attachó being kidnapped? That was nothing! He had no real information!”

“Well, as we both know, there was a breach somewhere. Now I’m being humiliated in America. It’s common knowledge there! Information has been officially released by their government about our secret sterility program—and you promised me that your people would keep a lid on it! If only I had listened to Traugutt back then, rather than you!”

Schindler’s look turned from one of fury to one of confusion. “How did you find out so much?” he accused Richard. “Is that why you wanted to snoop around there? I knew you were up to no good!”

“No, the request to visit was legitimate,” Richard explained. “Don’t you remember, it was you who told me that the laboratory was special to you.”

“You son of a—”

“Not only that, Günter,” the Führer continued darkly, “but my dear friend Richard also warned me that your source in America was misinformed. He warned me that the project would be made public despite your agents’ efforts, and it’s only thanks to him that I was able to take abortive action!”

“Abortive?” Schindler asked worriedly. He glanced involuntarily over his shoulder, looking instinctively for an arresting officer.

“Don’t worry, I don’t have to sacrifice you,” the Führer sneered. “Not this time, anyway. It seems neither you nor I knew anything about this secret laboratory. It was that underling of yours, Rattenhuber, who cooked the whole damn thing up. You can thank Traugutt for that. With his timely warnings, I was able to have my own people discover the sterility program and close it down before the Americans publicized their information. Rattenhuber is being appropriately handled, and you, ignorant as you were of the whole thing, are being let off with a warning to keep your people on a tighter leash! Understood?”

“A tighter leash, yes, of course,” Schindler muttered contritely. “What about my son?”

“Amazingly,” the Führer explained, “he knew nothing about it at all.”

“Excuse me,
mein Führer,”
Richard interrupted, “but I believe he was the one
who tipped off your people in the first place. It was a clever move on Herr Schindler’s part to put his son into that laboratory.”

Schindler nodded his gratitude. “Yes, yes. My son, quite the hero. Saved the day . . .”

“That’s right. This time. All I can say is, there had better not be a next time!” the Führer warned.

“A next time?” Schindler asked. “You’re not really going to kill the project, are you?”

The Führer sighed. “I have no choice. This was too close a call. They have an entire overview of the program: experimental data, human subjects, supply sources. Where the hell they got such information . . . As it is, my ability to deny any high-level involvement has been severely strained, and the idea that one underling was responsible for the entire conspiracy hardly holds water. Only the fact that I closed it down
before
they released the information has saved me. Or rather, you.”

“This is certainly going to be an unpopular decision amongst our own people!” Schindler argued.“My God, it’s a complete capitulation to the capitalists!”

The Führer pulled out a cigarette, and Richard lit it for him before Schindler could even react. “I know. I’m not happy about that, but I can’t afford to be linked to anything like this—it violates several treaties we’ve signed on biological warfare.”

“Damn the idiotic treaties.”

The Führer shook his head. “I wish we could. It’s these trade deals: oil, plutonium. . . The bastards are killing us, they keep putting pressure on all these neutral countries, them and their damn money.”

Schindler snorted his disdain. “We don’t need them, any of them!”

“Yes, we do. I don’t really understand all the details, but the Economics Ministry never stops yammering at me. And Defense. And Labor, too. It’s a mess. You don’t see the reports, you have no idea what a mess it is.”

“We’ve managed to keep going this long!” Schindler retorted.

“We’ve managed to keep going this long,” Richard explained, “by using up every resource of our erstwhile neighbors, but that’s not sustainable, we’re going to be in trouble soon.”

“If we show weakness, that’s when we’ll be in trouble!” Schindler snorted.

“Maybe you’re right,” the Führer sighed. “But we’re not showing weakness here. By preempting the Americans on this, it doesn’t look so bad for us.”

“Our own people will know,” Schindler pointed out. “They’ll know you rolled over for the capitalist dogs.”

“It’d do well for you, Günter, to remember to whom you are speaking.”

“My apologies,
mein Führer.
It is only my absolute loyalty to you that makes me worry so much.”

“Ach, well, anyway, we don’t have to worry about what our own people think—most of them weren’t supposed to know about the project. As for those
who did, well, the program wasn’t working anyway, and as far as they are concerned, that’s why it was abandoned.”

“It just needed time!”

“Perhaps, but we don’t have the time. According to the rest of the world, we’ve stopped a small-time conspiracy cooked up by some overzealous fanatics, and thanks to Traugutt, you’re in the clear this time.” The Führer waved toward the door. “Now go see if you can’t put your house in order for me, so that I can maintain my trust in you as a senior adviser.” As Schindler hesitated, the Führer waggled his fingers impatiently in the direction of the door.
“Go!”

Richard sighed his relief once Schindler had left. He had taken the calculated risk of alienating Schindler to ingratiate himself to the Führer and set himself in obvious and direct competition for the title of heir apparent. He still was unsure of the wisdom of his move. The Führer was notoriously unreliable, his own position was still extremely tenuous, his power base weak, and Schindler would be a powerful enemy. It was possible he had made his move too soon, but the opportunity had arisen and he had not been able to pass it by.

“Do you think he’s going to cause trouble?” the Führer asked.

“I think our real problems are going to come from elsewhere,” Richard guessed. “There has to be a reason our people lost control of this issue, and I’m afraid we’re going to find out what it is, all too soon.”

“Will you advise me, Richard?” the Führer asked almost plaintively.

“It would be an honor,
mein Führer.”

“Maybe you could bring your daughter along to the consultations? Whenever she’s in Berlin. We’ll need someone to take notes, and she seems like a clever girl.”

“Yes, she’s clever,” Richard agreed worriedly.

“A very pretty girl.”

“That she is.” Richard paced to the window and stared out for a moment. He brought his cigarette to his lips and could not help but notice that his hand was trembling. “I’m sure she’d be very pleased to be of service,” he said without turning around. “It would be a great honor for her.”