############“Welcome to Berlin, Herr Hitler. I trust that your flight was enjoyable?” Halstead gave a stiff handshake to his host, who gestured to a chauffeured car waiting with its top down. “Yes, it was fine. Good weather for flying. A pleasant spring we’ll be having this year.” “Oh, yes, most certainly.” The Reichswehr major allowed Halstead and one of his two guards to climb into the back seat of the Mercedes-Benz. The second guard joined the driver in the front, and then the major waved to the Darbeitpartei pilot who stood next to his idle plane as the motorized fivesome rode off towards the Chancellery in Berlin. “It is fitting that such a change of the old guard would take place at the end of winter. ‘In the new, out with the old’ sort of thing.” “Yes.” Halstead glared at the guard squirming next to him in discomfort, then closed his eyes against the cold air that rushed into his face as the Mercedes passed through a heavily-guarded gate and raced away from the military airport. “How is the city faring from the strike?” “Doing fine, Herr Hitler. The workers have been reluctant to accept the new status quo. But they’ll come around, as they must.” Halstead did not have to look at the major’s face to know he was lying, but only had to look outside the car and see the closed shops and nearly empty sidewalks of a Berlin suburb to know that the strike called by the Social Democrats in response to the putsch was having its intended effect. “It’s awful quiet for a Monday morning, Major.” The major breathed in sharply and leaned forward to give the driving corporal a quick set of new directions. Then he leaned back and explained, “There’s still the fear of violence among the civilian population. We have officers at all of the newspaper offices, making sure that the editors get the word out that it’s safe for everyone to go on with their day-to-day activities.” |