Chapter 12


“What are they doing?” Barbara counted no fewer than a half dozen intersections that had Wehrmacht military vehicles parked there. The crews were just lazily hanging around the vehicles. They were dressed for combat but did not particularly look as if they were expecting any and, for that matter, they did not seem to be expecting much of anything. The grenadiers mostly just kept to themselves except when they would go to a nearby store and by drinks. Maybe they would wave at the occasional passerby but, mostly, the Germans just ignored everyone.

Jake was driving and unless one of those armored vehicles pulled out in front of him he was not all that concerned about them. “What is who doing?”

“Oh please Barton,” Barbara replied, “don’t tell me you haven’t seen all those tanks.”

“Haven’t seen any tanks actually,” Jake replied with a somewhat humorous tone. Before Barbara could contradict him he explained, “those are armored personnel carriers, not tanks. They carry troops and have smaller main guns. Trust me, if you see a tank you’ll know it.”

“Well excuse me,” Barbara grunted. She then went on, “the fact is that one of your armed carrier thingy’s could drive right over this car and we wouldn’t even slow it down. So excuse me if I’m not impressed by your little technicalities.”

Jake ignored the rebuke and answered her question, “from the looks of it, I’d say they’re getting in position to set up road blocks.”

“Oh my god,” Barbara said under her breath. She did not really mean that for Jake. He heard her but, kept silent. Then she did ask him a question, “why would they do that? For that matter, why are they sitting around doing nothing? I don’t understand.”

“It’s simple actually,” Jake told her as he made a left hand turn. “They got orders to move to those points and that’s exactly what they did.”

“I don’t believe it’s that simple, Barton,” Barbara replied. “Nothing is ever that simple.”

“It’s the military,” Jake told her as he started looking for the entrance to the office park, “K.I.S.S. is the standing order of the day. You know? Keep it…”

“I know what Keep It Simple Stupid is,” said Barbara cutting him off in an annoyed tone, “that doesn’t explain why. Either keep their jack boots in the damn barracks or use them. It’s almost like they’re…”

“Bluffing,” Jake said.

“Those tanks don’t…” Barbara saw the look she was getting and then barked, “I don’t give a shit what you call them, ok? They don’t look like a bluff to me. They could shut down traffic on the entire island if they wanted. What’s next? A curfew? Why send them out here if they’re not planning on doing it?”

“They aren’t going to do it Barbara,” Jake told her with confidence.

“You sound pretty confident,” she told him with a little of her own.

“I am,” Jake found the office park and turned into it’s main drive, “cause I know what’ll happen if they do. What? You think me getting called into the consulate this morning was just pure chance?”

Barbara crossed her arms, “oh, so you are working for the Americans. What did they do, have you sit in on the strategy session?”

“I wish they had let me sit in on a zoning and planning board,” Jake grunted. Before Barbara could ask him if he had gone crazy, he told her, “where the hell is this place? I see building after building that all look the same, and no signs?”

“It’s four oh seven,” she told him as she pointed to a number on the side of one of the buildings. Then she asked, “and don’t change the subject.”

Now Jake was getting into the rhythm of the addresses, even if they made no sense. There was no even and odd on the right or left and the buildings were not even in sequential order. All Jake had to say about it was, “how do you people ever find anything?” He then answered her question, “and no I was not sitting in on some war room meeting. They’d never let me in that even if they actually had a war room. Which, by the way, is only in the movies.”

When Barbara said nothing in return, Jake shot her a glance. Her arms were crossed and her face spelled out that she wanted a more exact answer. He gave her one “they called me in because they’re being thorough. From the sound of it, I’m guessing they’ve called in every American on the planet they can find. It’s an intelligence gathering method. Let all your legitimates be your eyes and ears.”

“Your what?” Barbara’s face wrinkled in confusion, “what’s a legitimate?”

“You know,” Jake shrugged, “your average guy that’s here for a real reason, not a spy.”

Barbara politely replied, “like you.”

Jake did not dignify the comment with a reply. He simply went on, “well they probably aren’t going to learn anything they don’t already know. It’s not the point of the exercise.”

“Then what is?” Barbara asked.

“To let the German’s see them do it, along with a lot of other stuff,” Jake replied quickly and in a matter of fact way. “They’re sending a message to Horst and his bosses. They’re letting them know if you make a move we’re ready. That’s why the Germans aren’t going to do anything.”

The next thing Barbara said was completely unexpected. It was a very simple and excited, “you just drove by the building!” Jake grunted as he looked for a place to turn around. When he finally was going in the right direction, Barbara said what she had meant to say, “I’m sorry Barton, you’re whole theory has a couple of holes in it.”

“Yeah,” Jake replied as he began looking for a parking space, “like what?”

“The American’s would never go to war over our colony,” Barbara told him with her own confidence. “There’s nothing here anybody wants.”

Jake mumbled, “don’t look that way to me.” He then spoke up so she could understand him, “doesn’t matter. Uncle Sugar can’t afford to let the Krauts break the treaty. That has repercussions elsewhere. The only good news there is the question is the wrong one. You shouldn’t be asking if the US would fight over this place. The question is, will the Germans? The answer is most likely not.”
As the car came to a halt in a parking space, Barbara tried to sound very condescending as she told Jake, “so you’re saying the Germans are the cowards and not you Americans? Is that about the size of it?”

“No,” Jake told her. “What I’m saying is the choice is up to the Germans and not the US. All the US can do here is react. They’ll only do that if the Germans provoke it. So it’s Berlin’s call. As you pointed out, there isn’t anything here worth a war, so, where does that leave Horst?”

Barbara leaned over and got in Jake’s face, “with his tanks in our streets.”

“Armored Per…”

“AHHH!!” Barbara growled, “tanks! T - A - N - K - S!”

“Yes sir,” Jake told her. Then he motioned to the building, “so what’s the plan? You know we didn’t come out here to win a spelling bee.”

Barbara backed off, “plan? We go in and talk to them Barton. That’s the plan. This is an interview, it isn’t a commando raid.”

Jake slapped his forehead.