Missions of security, p.2
Missions of Security, page 2
“They are probably making it up as they go,” Neustatter agreed.
“How are eight of you going to guard hundreds of men?” Astrid asked.
“Oh, we are not. Look at the end of the orders,” Neustatter told her.
“Supply wagons.”
“Food,” Neustatter explained. “This would not be the only group coming to Camp Saale. Thousands of soldiers will need a lot of food. We are really there to guard the food from the recruits.”
Thursday, October 20, 1633
The men returned home Thursday night. The women had already gone to bed, and the knock at the door awakened them. Astrid quickly dressed and went to the door.
“Who is there?”
“Neustatter.”
Astrid hurriedly unlatched the door.
“Danke,” Neustatter said. He stepped out of the way as the rest of the men filed in. “Long march, new recruits, and Camp Saale is really busy.”
“More groups like the one you brought in?”
“Ja. There are more new volunteers at Camp Saale than there were men in the entire NUS Army just a month ago. I ran into Sergeant Wolfe from Bretagne’s Company. They just brought in two food convoys from west of here and are headed back out in the morning.”
“Do you have an assignment?”
“We are to meet a Herr Schrödinger downtown tomorrow. On Saturday, he has a shipment of goods going to Magdeburg. He is going, too.”
Astrid frowned. “He did not come to the office.”
“Nein, we got this assignment through the military.”
“Why?”
Neustatter grinned. “They did not tell us. You may draw your own conclusions about the nature of his cargo, of course.”
Friday, October 21, 1633
Neustatter decided they had time to talk to Leigh Ann before the men were due to meet with Herr Schrödinger.
As they took the long way around—the only way around—Neustatter muttered, “Ja, I want a bridge, too.”
Leigh Ann welcomed them in. She was holding a baby who could not have been more than a few months old.
“I did not know you have a newborn!” Astrid exclaimed. “I am so sorry for keeping you the other day!”
Leigh Ann tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Pffft. I needed the break, and my father is perfectly capable of watching Carrie for a couple hours and breaking up the occasional argument between my older two, Julia and James. Those are the two you hear in the next room. What do you think of the office furnishings, Herr Neustatter?”
“Just Neustatter, bitte. The desk and chairs are just what we need.”
“Good. Come, sit down.”
Leigh Ann led them to the same room as before. Once they were seated in the armchairs and had drinks, she got down to business. “We are having phone lines run to two of the offices. We’ll add the other if I can find a phone for it. You’re getting an old sit-on-the-desk rotary phone. I hope that’s okay.”
“Any telephone is more than we expected,” Neustatter assured her.
“Astrid said you needed up-time weapons and horses.”
“Ja. Und I agree that a bridge would be helpful, but I have no idea how to do that.”
“Let me ask my husband about that,” Leigh Ann told them. “He’s always been good at building stuff and put in a simple bridge on the back road to his hunting camp. It was a ways away and didn’t come through the Ring of Fire.”
“A hunting lodge?” Neustatter asked. “That is something the adel have.”
“And a lot of West Virginians. James belonged to a hunting club. A few dozen people got together and paid membership dues to keep up the camp building and rent the land from one of the big companies.”
“What was this camp building like?” Neustatter asked.
“I think we have a picture around here somewhere. Excuse me a moment, please.” Leigh Ann returned with a photo album and quickly leafed through the papers before stopping at a page with a couple pictures of her husband standing next to a buck.
“I have not seen that kind of deer before,” Neustatter said. “Up-time?”
“Yeah. Whitetail. But there are plenty of ’em over in North America right now.” Leigh Ann frowned. “Up-time, we had game laws. You had to get a license from the state, and that let you hunt during a certain season. There were special days you could use bows or muzzleloaders or hunt doe. The game laws kept the deer from being hunted out. There were seasons for other animals, too.” She paused for a moment. “I don’t know if there are any whitetail left in the Ring of Fire or not. We may have hunted them all that first winter, trying to keep everyone fed. I hope there are still some out there, but . . . ”
Neustatter nodded. “We have hunting rights, too, but they are limited. Und we understand—you could not let people starve that first winter. The building behind Herr Ennis is very large. Is that the hunting lodge?”
“Yeah. It’s got a big kitchen and dining hall and a couple rooms with rows of bunks. People can join the club, pay their due and a certain number of days’ labor, and hunt on the land the club rented from one of the big companies.”
“Hjalmar’s description of the barracks at Camp Saale sounded something like this,” Astrid said.
“Ja.” Neustatter smiled. “Until we went off to the war, I thought Herr Augustus lived in a schloss. It is really just a hunting lodge. The family divided their lands so much that there was not a real schloss left for each son and grandson.” Then he shook his head. “Und up-time commoners had something much closer to an actual schloss that they shared by subscription.”
“We had an upper class, too,” Leigh Ann said. “They didn’t have titles—not in the United States, anyway—but they had a lot of money. But there weren’t many of them around Grantville. Their hunting lodges were really fancy and had employees to find the game for them. In West Virginia, we hunted to put meat on the table. That means we had a fair number of guns, for deer, small game, birds, even bear.”
Neustatter nodded his understanding.
“Right after the Ring of Fire, the Emergency Committee asked everyone to donate any weapons they didn’t need. We kept what we needed and donated the extras.”
Neustatter nodded. “We are issued up-time weapons when we are on an assignment for the army.”
“We Americans had a jillion different calibers,” Leigh Ann continued. “The army picked a few to make ammunition for. The rest have just been sitting there for a while now. They are starting to return those. If something like the Croat Raid happens again, they want those weapons being used. And quite a few of us up-timers have a lot of land and personal possessions but are cash poor. So, once the weapons are returned, some folks will sell them.”
“Adel, bürgers, and security services will be happy to buy them,” Neustatter said.
“We’ve had some returned, and we’d like to give you the first opportunity to buy.”
Neustatter appeared just as stunned as Astrid felt.
“Danke. We truly appreciate this,” he said. “What kind of weapons?”
“Pistols. A couple thirty-eights and a twenty-two. And a twenty-two rifle.”
“Those would be very helpful. Danke.”
They got down to haggling. In the end, Frau Ennis got a good price. On the other hand, if NESS were ever attacked, these weapons could literally be the difference between life and death.
When the men left to meet with Herr Schrödinger, Neustatter, Ditmar, Hjalmar, and Otto were carrying the up-time weapons.
Hjalmar, Wolfram, and Stefan came back to NESS’ quarters at dusk.
“Astrid, Herr Schrödinger did not just want to meet us. He wants us to guard the cargo tonight. So, you ladies and Johann are on your own until we get back. It will be three days by wagon, then we move the cargo to boats with engines. Whatever the cargo is, it is important. The mission will be two weeks, but if it turns into sixteen days, do not worry.”
“I will protect them,” Johann stated.
Hjalmar nodded solemnly at him. “You have the matchlocks if you need them,” he reminded Astrid. “Do you remember how to load them?”
“Ja.” Neustatter, Hjalmar, and Ditmar had drilled it into her often enough.
Hjalmar crossed the room to pick up one of the weapons. “Show me.”
Astrid pantomimed loading the matchlock.
“Gut. I have to get back.”
Astrid hugged her brother. “Stay safe.”
“Always.”
* * *
While the men were gone for two weeks, Astrid kept working on her English. Her class was learning up-time English, but in the hallways and around town people spoke a blend that was part English and part German. She heard someone call it Germlish, but it seemed like more people called it Amideutsch. Most people did not worry about what it was called. They just spoke it and felt no need to do so in exactly the same way that everyone else did, although there did seem to be a particular “flavor” of Amideutsch at Grantville High School. People could understand each other—that was what mattered. Astrid liked it for that reason.
One day Astrid asked Anna to stay in the office while she went downtown to the polizei office. She wanted to let Chief Frost know how NESS was doing.
“Miss Schäubin,” Dan Frost greeted her. “On your own today?”
“The men are still out on that mission.”
Frost nodded. “How are you all doing?”
“Well, danke,” Astrid replied.
Chief Frost leaned forward, elbows on his desk. He interlaced his fingers and rested his chin on them. “I have a question for you, Miss Schäubin. Are you and Neustatter seeing each other?”
Astrid tried to figure out the idiom. “Do you mean do we pay attention to each other? Of course. Neustatter runs NESS, and I am the secretary.”
“No, I mean romantically.”
Astrid’s head jerked back in surprise. “Of course not. Neither one of us has enough money saved up to marry, and it would not be to each other.”
“Just checking.”
Once outside—she didn’t want to insult Chief Frost—Astrid shook her head in bewilderment. Then she went by their old quarters in Spring Branch and Murphyhausen, just in case anyone had been looking for NESS there.
She could tell at a glance that a new family had moved into the refugee housing. There were a few plants on either side of the door, and a different set of cooking irons stood over the fire. When she knocked, the door was opened at once.
“Gut morgen.”
Since the greeting was in Amideutsch, Astrid replied in the same dialect. “Gut morgen. I bin Astrid Schäubin. My brother and cousin and I and some others from our village lived here when we came to Grantville.”
A short man looked out at her warily. “Dietrich Kluth, tinsmith from Brandenburg. Did you leave something?”
“Nein. I thought someone might look for Neustatter’s European Security Services here. Has anyone asked for us?”
“Nein.”
“Gut. We have an office on the other side of the Ring of Fire, out past the high school.” She noted his blank look. “How long ago did you come to Grantville?”
“A few days.”
She heard children inside. “Have you found the schools yet?”
An apprehensive look crossed his face. “We were not sure who could attend . . . ”
“Everyone,” Astrid told him. “The schools are very good. Stefan and Ursula’s son Johann is learning a lot. I attend the adult education classes. They help with learning about Grantville.”
“Come in, bitte. You should meet my wife Margareta and my sister Maria.”
Astrid answered their questions about Grantville and showed them where the school bus stopped. She thought about stopping by the office of the Grantville Ecumenical Refugee Relief Committee, but a different idea occurred to her.
Astrid backtracked to the last row of housing and checked to see if Maria and Wilhelm Rummel and their group were still there. The door opened at her knock.
“Astrid!” Maria exclaimed. “We did not know where you went from Murphyhausen.”
“You can find us at the high school refugee housing.” Astrid gave Maria a short account of what had happened. “Do not tell strangers we live there, bitte. NESS has an office out past the high school if anyone needs to find us.”
“We will not tell anyone,” Maria promised.
“How are you doing?” Astrid asked.
“All of us are working. Except for the children. They go to school. Some of us have found positions, but others are still doing day labor.” Maria frowned. “We have started to talk about moving out of the refugee housing. Wilhelm thinks we would need at least three rowhouses. He claims that if we can get three next to each other, we can turn the ground floor of one of them into additional bedrooms.”
Astrid smiled. “That is a good idea. I do not know if you will be able to find three in a row.”
“I have heard talk that the new row of houses will be three stories. I am trying to convince him to get two of those.”
“Also a good idea,” Astrid said. “Have you met the families in our old quarters?”
“Nein.”
“They are new here. Do you think you could show them around?”
“Like you did for us? Ja. What do they do?”
“Dietrich is a tinsmith.”
“Oh, he should have no trouble finding work. . . . ”
Monday, October 31, 1633
NESS received a strange request from the Marion County Tax Assessor’s Office, inquiring about guards. Astrid read it carefully, twice. Something did not seem right. Over lunch at Cora’s City Hall Café and Coffee House, she caught up on Grantville gossip, including a dispute over the Stones’ geodesic dome which had spilled over into a fight right there in Cora’s.
Astrid soon learned enough to realize that someone at the tax assessor’s office had overstepped his bounds, quite badly. She wanted no part of this, and Neustatter had authorized her to accept or decline assignments.
Back at the office, she declined the request. She also wrote a memo for Neustatter explaining why and promptly lost it. Astrid never did realize that she’d accidentally attached the memo to her letter to the assessor’s office.
Saturday, November 5, 1633
The men returned after fifteen days. Neustatter, Ditmar, Hjalmar, and Astrid gathered around the table after diner.
“It was a quiet mission,” Hjalmar told Astrid. “We had a chance to see some of Magdeburg. It is bigger than I remember it in May.”
“Any news?” Neustatter asked.
“The Kluth family moved into our old quarters in Spring Branch. They are from Brandenburg. He is a tinsmith, and the two families have half a dozen children. The Rummels’ group is doing well. No one has asked for NESS there. I did have one inquiry at the office, though.”
“Oh?”
“One of the machine shops needs extra security from time to time. NESS was not available this time, but there will be more chances. They have our telephone number.”
“Gut, gut. Anything else?”
“James Ennis is home.”
“We will not be, not for long,” Neustatter told her. “I do not know when it will be, but we heard talk in Halle and in Magdeburg. The USE is building an army of these volunteers. Lennart Torstensson is in command. They are preparing to fight the League of Ostend in the spring. They are pushing hard to have everything where it needs to be before the snow comes. We will not travel as much during the winter. Then in the spring there will be a lot of shipments before the campaign starts.”
“Will you be called up?” Astrid asked.
“I do not think so. There are a lot of the new volunteer regiments. Really a lot. But there will be plenty for us to do. For now, we need cold weather clothing. On Monday, I would like to discuss our finances with you.”
Monday, November 7, 1633
On Monday, Astrid showed Neustatter how she was tracking NESS’ income and expenses.
“I have everything since we left the village,” she told him. “Just not all in one place.”
“It is a good thing you can keep track of it.” Neustatter looked at her suspiciously. “Are you about to tell me that there is an up-time solution for this?”
“It is funny you should use that word ‘solution,’” she returned, “because it is something I heard about in math class—an account book.”
“If the cost is reasonable, buy it,” Neustatter told her. “Buy paper and folders, too, bitte. We should start writing a report of each assignment. It is something up-time detectives did, and those are all men who claim to hate paperwork.”
Next, they figured out how the telephone worked. Neustatter called the Hauns. After a brief conversation, Neustatter reported that James Ennis would be by the next day.
The men were taking a day off after their two-week mission. But Astrid soon realized Neustatter had two purposes for that. One was indeed rest. The other was buying winter clothing. Once he knew exactly how much money they had available, Neustatter took everyone downtown. They bought heavy coats and trousers, gloves, and hats. The hats were something the up-timers called fedoras. The coats were blue, of course. Neustatter insisted that Astrid, Anna, Ursula, and Johann needed them, too.
Tuesday, November 8, 1633
Astrid wondered if James Ennis approved of all of Leigh Ann’s decisions. It was not something they could, or should, ask. It would be like Ennis asking if Neustatter approved of the decisions she had made, except worse because James and Leigh Ann were married.
She recognized James Ennis from the picture Leigh Ann had shown them. He was a tall, strong-looking man with close-cut hair. He shook hands all around, appearing to study them carefully.
“Heard you were in the Reserves.”
“Ja. Basic in July and August and mostly guarding convoys since then.”
