“Mein Führer,” she said, snapping out a perfect salute. “Heil Holliston!”
“Katherine,” Holliston said. He sounded oddly relieved to see her, even though she thought she was in trouble. Doctor Müller had probably told the Führer that Katherine had beaten him to death. “It is good to see you.”
Katherine frowned, inwardly. Holliston sounded… wrong. Not lecherous, not fearful… she couldn’t put her finger on it. But something was wrong. She looked down at his desk and had to fight to keep her face impassive when she saw the photographs. Scorched buildings, shattered lives… the men in the photographs looked as though they’d been through hell. And perhaps they had…
“Thank you, Mein Führer,” she said.
It struck her, suddenly, that Holliston had good reason to be paranoid. Not everyone would approve of his decision to use nuclear weapons. If a protest movement had started — and eventually overthrown the government in Berlin — because the government had covered up the deaths of German soldiers, who knew what would happen after word of Warsaw started to spread freely. Rumours grew in the telling…
…And not everyone would believe that the rebels had been the ones who’d detonated the warheads.
“Doctor Müller whines that you beat him up,” Holliston said. A ghost of a smile flickered across his face. “Is that actually true?”
“I threw him out of the room,” Katherine said, briskly. “He was on the verge of raping your… special… prisoner.”
Holliston lifted an eyebrow. “And is that a bad thing?”
“You gave me orders to ensure that Gudrun suffered no long-term harm,” Katherine said, firmly. “I submit to you, Mein Führer, that the beating he gave her was quite bad enough. It will be days, at best, before her face clears. Raping her would only push her completely over the edge.”
She paused for a long moment before pushing onwards. “I don’t believe that interrogating her offers anything of value,” she added. “She simply doesn’t know anything significant, not now.”
“We had her in our hands, only a couple of months ago,” Holliston said. His tone was so… distracted that Katherine honestly wasn’t sure if he’d heard a word she’d said. “If we’d known who she was at the time… we could have stopped everything.”
“Yes, Mein Führer,” Katherine said.
Holliston’s voice was beginning to worry her. He sounded as though he’d lost track of reality, as if he were refighting battles that were over and done with rather than rolling with the blows and looking to the future. She studied the Führer as carefully as she could, drawing on all her training to ensure he didn’t notice her scrutiny. She was no honey trapper, no woman trained in all the arts of seduction, but she knew enough to keep her interest concealed. And she also knew what to look for.
He’s not eating enough, she thought. Lack of sleep was bad enough — Holliston was hardly a young man any longer — but lack of food and sleep was worse. And he isn’t drinking enough either.
“There were traitors everywhere,” Holliston added. “We could have stopped everything if the traitors hadn’t intervened.”
That, Katherine knew, was true. Horst Albrecht could have betrayed Gudrun at any moment; instead, he’d sided with her despite the risks. And Katherine found it hard to blame him after meeting Gudrun. She’d thought that Horst was driven by lust, allowing his hormones to override his common sense, but there was something about Gudrun that appealed to Katherine too. What would Gudrun have become, Katherine wondered, if she’d grown up in Germany East? Would her… determination have been beaten out of her? Or would she have changed the world?
“Something must be done,” Holliston said. “She must be broken.”
“She is on the way to breaking,” Katherine said. She hesitated, then took the plunge. “I believe if I were to show her affection and support now, it would push her over the edge.”
Holliston seemed to snap back to reality. “And you think that would help?”
“Yes, Mein Führer,” Katherine said. “There is a point where punishment — harsh punishment — just hardens the soul. Gudrun may turn unbreakable — or she may die — if more beatings are handed out. But varying her treatment will undermine her resistance.”
She kept her face impassive, wondering if Holliston would take the bait. She’d known a teenage boy, back in school, who’d been stubbornly defiant to the last, despite regular beatings, forced marches and public humiliations. He would have been excellent material for the commandos, Katherine thought in retrospect, if he hadn’t disappeared during her sixteenth year. She had no idea what had happened to him…
…But she’d admired his ability to just keep going, whatever the teachers threw at him.
“Very well,” Holliston said. “You may do as you please.”
“Thank you, Mein Führer,” Katherine said.
She carefully kept her face impassive. She’d expected to have to search for a loophole, but Holliston had rendered it immaterial. Do as she pleased… she would do as she pleased. And Doctor Müller wouldn’t be able to say a word about it.
“I’ll return to the cells at once,” she said. “I’m sure Doctor Müller will be happy to hear the news.”
Holliston smirked. “You may give it to him personally,” he said. “And you can also remind him that my orders are not to be broken.”
“Jawohl, Mein Führer,” Katherine said.
She saluted again as he dismissed her, then wheeled about and walked out of the giant chamber. Holliston was clearly in a bad way, even though the enemy offensive had been halted before it could do serious damage. She couldn’t help fearing for the future. She’d been taught that the men at the top were cold dispassionate thinkers, ruthlessly putting their feelings aside to serve the Reich. But Holliston was nothing of the sort…
And if that isn’t true, she asked herself, what else isn’t true?
She mulled it over as she walked back down to the cells, passed through the security checkpoint and peered into Doctor Müller’s office. He hadn’t dared return to the cells, let alone his office. Katherine checked on Gudrun, just in case, but there was still no sign of Doctor Müller. She had no doubt he was amusing himself somewhere else in the underground complex while trying to work up the nerve to face her. And she was looking forward to that meeting…
But what do I do, she asked herself, if everything I’ve been taught is a lie?
She stepped back into the security office, dismissed the two guards on duty and sat down in front of the monitors. Gudrun was sleeping in the medical chamber, sedated. The doctor had cuffed her hand to the bed, but otherwise left her largely alone. Katherine was more relieved than she cared to admit. If she’d had to threaten a second doctor — and she knew she might have had no choice — it would have raised eyebrows.
And what would you do, she asked the sleeping form, if you discovered the truth?
But, deep inside, she already knew the answer.
No, she told herself. I know what you did.
Chapter Twenty-Four