|
“Yes, mein Führer, I would like some of both, indeed.” Göring nodded in response to the pair of Darbeitpartei salutes from the two guards in front of the doors, and stepped through the portal into the inner chambers of the Führer’s residency. After the door closed, he smiled and said, “I can see that you’ve been enjoying Berlin’s hospitality.” Halstead blushed and stepped to an urn to poor his henchman a cup. “You could say that. Are the preparations ready?” Göring shrugged before accepting the cup and saucer. “They will be this evening. The passage was there, exactly as you said it would be. We’ve even managed to bribe a man to start some fires of his own.” The minister grinned as he filled his cup with generous amounts of cream and sugar. “It’s amazing what some will do for a few marks these days.” Halstead retook his own seat. “Good, then everything is in place.” He reached to a plate in the center of the table for a still-warm appelküchen. “The German people have only begun to know the will of the German Workers’ Party.” Halstead laughed and started to consume his breakfast.
############That evening, Halstead looked out over the massive crowd that had gathered in front of the victory column on the Unter den Linden, to hear him speak at the first Darbeitpartei rally to be held in Berlin. Halstead had watched with the tens of thousands of others as the marinebrigade Ehrhardt, the paint of the phoenixes on their helmets freshly covering the swastikas that had previously appeared on the sides, marched into position in front of the column in quintuple file. Göring and an honor guard of eight storm troopers newly arrived from Munich flanked Halstead on the balcony, beneath the light of scores of torches and hundreds of stars. |