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Halstead crossed a leg beneath the table. “They will do nothing of the sort, General. The order is not on me, but in Munich, where the Reichswehr are faced off in a stalemate with my Ordnertruppe and the rest of the Kampfbund. You arrest me, you kill me, and that piece of paper will never be found. I have given instructions to my commanders to release Ebert and his cabinet if they do not hear certain code words from me in any given forty-eight hour period. And the captives will released immediately upon my utterance of a second code, so don’t even think about trying to torture me. If you don’t do what I suggest, the strike and the chaos will go on, and you will have no choice but to allow Ebert and his fellow Social Democrats to return to Berlin in triumph and place all of you on trial. “However, you have a real choice. Have the marinebrigade Ehrhardt pledge a public oath of allegiance to me, along with all the Reichswehr units currently under your control, and I will have a lieutenant bring the rescission order to Berlin immediately. With a little persuasion, President Ebert will name me Chancellor, which will give me quite a bit more legitimacy than someone who names himself Chancellor, Herr Kapp. You, General Lüttwitz, will be named Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr. The strike will end, and the country will begin the long road to its restoration as a world power under my leadership.” All of the putschists sitting at the table stared in silence at the calm man sitting with a sunny disposition at one end. Then it was Major Pabst, newly promoted from Captain two days before, who spoke for the group facing Halstead. “Get the hell out of the Chancellery, Corporal. We will not turn the reins of power over to some upstart from Austria!” Halstead laughed even as he flushed with anger, and he slapped the table with his hands as he stood along with the others. “When you gentlemen realize that you have no choice but to accept my offer, you can reach me at my hotel.” Halfway to the door, he turned and stared down each and every man remaining at the table with a broad sweep of his eyes. “And allow me to present the stick to match the carrot, gentlemen. If you do not agree to my proposal by noon tomorrow, Herr Ebert just might ‘escape’ from Munich and return to a Berlin that has been paralyzed by strikes along with the rest of the country. I’m sure he will not be too pleased with the way things have been handled in his absence.” |