Looking up at the ceiling, Lewis thought about Jan's sudden change in mood and her statement before answering. He knew what was going on in her mind and for a moment thought about offering her some comfort or reassurance. But since she had chosen to press on with the interview, Lewis decided to follow along and not press the personal issues. There might be a time, after he knew more about the situation, when he might need to do so, but this was not it. "I guess in a way you could say that." When Lewis looked back at her, he did so with a serious, reflective look. "It was more of an awakening. I suddenly realized that I was in my mid-forties. That I had two children in college with one about to be commissioned in the Army. That I had a wife who loved me and cared for me that I had lived with but had not talked to, I mean really talked to, in years. I suddenly realized that I was becoming like everyone else in this town, a self-centered, government-inspected, grade-A cynic."
Jan was touched by the confidence that Lewis was showing by telling her this. Ordinarily, politicians didn't discuss their feelings in such an open and casual manner with a member of the media. But Ed Lewis and Jan Fields-Dixon had a relationship, a bond of friendship, that was important to both of them. After barely escaping with their lives from a brush with terrorists during the second Mexican Revolution, the two had developed a close friendship that neither let the business of news and politics interfere with. So as they spoke in the quiet privacy of Lewis's office before starting the interview, it was as friends. "Sounds like midlife crisis to me, Ed."
"Perhaps, Jan, that is what it was. All I know is that I realized that I was impaling myself on every crisis and every stupid issue, often to no effect, without thinking about what it was costing me or my family. So I told myself, 'Self, this is dumb!' That is when I remembered the old Arab saying and finally understood what it meant" Sitting up, leaning across the desk, Lewis looked at Jan, wide-eyed and smiling. "Now, before I jump into the fray, I ask myself, 'Can I make a difference now, or should I wait? And when I do, what can I do to help?' "
"With age, Ed, comes wisdom?"
He nodded. "Something like that. Now I don't think you came down here with a camera crew just to listen to an almost old man wax philosophical about the meaning of life. What do you want to discuss in the interview?"
Opening a notebook that she had on her lap, Jan went over some of the questions she had intended to ask, in no particular order, explaining that she had no clear idea yet what she would emphasize. Therefore she intended to skip around with questions until they hit upon something that they could develop into a coherent and intelligent on-camera discussion. Lewis, in full agreement, listened to Jan's questions, making short comments as the mood struck him, or giving her a thumbs-down when she hit him with one that he really didn't want to answer. This continued for several minutes until Jan asked him about Germany. Like a bull tweaked by a cattle prod, Lewis jerked and sat upright Pointing his finger, his eyes narrowed. "There's going to be trouble with them. Mark my words, Jan. Big trouble."
Lewis's strong reaction to a subject that Jan was interested in exploring excited her. Lowering her notebook to her lap, Jan asked Lewis to explain.
"Well, in the first place, the administration has really screwed up how they've handled the Germans from the beginning. I get the impression that Soares and the rest of his crew at the State Department haven't woken up to the fact that the Germany we are dealing with today is not the same Germany we tried to play big brother to in the fifties. After fifty years of atoning for the sins of their fathers and living in the shadow of the Iron Curtain, the new Germans feel that it is time that they assumed their rightful place in the world as the leaders of Central Europe."
Lewis eased back a bit in his chair and toned down his comments, but kept on the subject of Germany. "Now I don't think we need to worry about anything as dramatic as the Fourth Reich or something like that. Still"
"Then, Ed, you feel that the Germans will do more than they already have?"
"I don't see how they can't. They are a proud, sometimes downright arrogant people who pride themselves on their independence and culture. They defeated the Romans and survived the Thirty Years' War that left their entire country devastated and one third of their population dead. In modern history, Napoleon couldn't crush them, and they've come back from the brink of oblivion after suffering the worst military defeat in history in 1945. While we've been busy elsewhere dealing with other problems, the Germans have been pulling themselves together, working to overcome years of internal strife and the stigma of the Holocaust. They are ready, Jan, to leap back to the forefront of world politics, with a vengeance."
"What do you think they will do?"
Lewis shook his head. "God, I wish I knew. I doubt that they will allow us to violate the nuclear-free-Germany treaty with nothing more than a harsh public reprimand, which by the way is what Soares is trying to convince the President is exactly what the Germans will do. No, Jan, our friend the Rat has no idea what he is dealing with." Lewis paused, looking down at his desktop for a moment. In his mind's eye, he could see the image of Soares with his pinched ratlike face that had earned him his nickname. The man, Lewis thought, was worse than an idiot. He was an idiot in an important position, which made him, in Lewis's eyes, a dangerous idiot.
Looking up at Jan, Lewis continued. "To answer your question, I don't know for sure what the Germans will do. Unfortunately, no one here in Washington does either. The Germans are, as Elmer Fudd likes to say, 'being very, very quiet' " Lewis paused, thought for a moment, then continued. "Whatever it is, it will be both forceful and something that we cannot easily ignore."
For the first time, Jan became concerned, and her voice showed it. "Military action? Do you think the Germans will take some kind of military action?"
Again Lewis shrugged. "Maybe. But who knows. What I do know is that it is never a good sign when two nations who have their horns locked together over an issue stop talking to each other. Why Ruff has chosen now, of all times, to refuse to be reasonable, as he always has been in the past, is beyond me. This, coupled with Ruff's statements to his own press and his failure to respond to our State Department's communiqués, baffles me the most"
For a moment, both Lewis and Jan sat there in silence. Finally Lewis leaned forward and placed both hands, folded, on his desk as he flashed the best smile he could manage. "Now, I don't mean to rush you, but I do have one more appointment this evening, and Amanda is expecting me home by seven for dinner."
Jan looked at her watch. "Yeah, time is sort of slipping away. I'd like to get this on the air by tonight. Okay, Ed, get yourself ready, and I'll get the crew in here to shoot"
Like all members of the German Army's 1st Parachute Division, the young soldiers of Number 2 Company, 26th Parachute Brigade considered themselves the best of the best. This, of course, was due to the efforts of their officers and sergeants, all professionals who were forever vigilant, watching, checking, and ready to correct even the slightest infraction of the regulations or slackness. They took their duties seriously. Which was probably why on the night of this operation the soldiers of Number 2 Company were so involved in their company commander's final inspection that no one noticed their brigade commander, Colonel Johann Haas, for several minutes.
As was his way, Haas had come forward alone to watch the final preparations and see his men across the line of departure when it was time. Known as the phantom, Haas made it a practice to move about in the night during exercises in the field checking on his men and ensuring that all was in order. On this night, the first time that his unit would be called on to execute the tasks it had trained long and hard for, Haas was everywhere.