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At that moment, a fireball from the roof of the distant Reichstag behind Halstead and the column rose up over the trees lining the Unter den Linden, causing thousands of eyes to shift as one. Halstead maintained his practiced façade of surprise for the proper interval, then shouted to an Ehrhardt lieutenant below to dispatch a squad to inspect the fire. Smoke outlined by firelight wafted up from the legislature’s home, the crowd began to murmur darkly, and Halstead ordered the entire brigade to secure the area before he retreated to the base of the column. In the entrance at the foot of the column, beyond the eyes of the dispersing crowd, Halstead huddled in a corner with Göring, Röhm, Goebbels, and Hess. “Is it sufficient?” the dictator whispered to his second-in-command. “More than,” Göring assured him in a low voice. “The Reichstag will be nothing but a pile of rubble and cinders by morning.” “Good.” Halstead turned to his liaison with the Wehrmacht General Staff. “Send out the Ehrhardt Brigade as planned. I want all members of the Reichstag and their immediate families rounded up before light and taken to Döberitz for ‘protective custody.’” Röhm saluted and stepped away to carry out his orders. Then Halstead turned his attention to Goebbels, his new Minister of Public Information. “Paul, I want you to do your usual tricks. Put out word, have the papers stop their presses if they must, that this was an act of Communist terrorism, and that appropriate counter-measures must be taken immediately. Since this attack was obviously directed at the Reichstag, its members have been taken into protective custody.” Goebbels nodded with a “Yes, mein Führer” and limped away to carry out his orders. Halstead, Hess, and Göring looked after him, then Halstead turned back to the other two. “Hermann, make sure that that arsonist, whoever he is, ends up in a police precinct sometime during the night, and make sure that he confesses. Right now, go make an announcement to what’s left of the crowd that a curfew has been imposed on the city and that they should all return home immediately.” |