After the Game
Berlin - May 8
“…for years us Mexicanists have been forced to hide in the shadows, driven underground by the infidel Thordarsson and his godless Roman backers. But now, we have the power to overthrow this order and establish a new one, back in its proper place…”
Heinrich paused the video.
“I think I’ve seen enough,” he said, “As the rest of the country has.”
“Who kept broadcasting through the whole thing?” Diana said.
“Apparently most Schmitz channels didn’t get the memo,” Thierry said, “As did plenty of channels owned by other networks. We’re going to change this soon. A bipartisan bill to tighten network regulations and increase the reach of Watchtower should be passed tomorrow.”
“Frak, this is bad,” Diana said.
“But look on the bright side,” Wilhelm Karl said, “You took out those terrorists. We’ve arrested everyone who was still alive, and you killed their leader.”
“Their leader was about to spill the beans on the entire operation when an overeager Argus guard killed him,” Diana said, “If we kept him alive, we’d know who was funding them.”
“Yes, a shame, isn’t it?” Elias said. “A shame you couldn’t protect him.”
“A shame,” Wilhelm Karl said, “But what’s done is done.”
“I think his final words are still enough for me to follow a lead,” Diana said, “I’m going to start combing through records of a Matteus from Bern. See who he’s been in contact with, what he was up to in the last few years…”
“No,” Wilhelm Karl said.
“Excuse me?” Diana said.
“The Athanatoi will not be investigating this matter,” Wilhelm Karl said.
“Why?” Diana said.
“The terrorist cell responsible for the Uberbowl massacre is neutralized, and the Bureau of Justice has already uncovered a credible backer for them,” Wilhelm Karl said.
“Beretta Industries,” Elias said, “A rival to Tesla Dynamic in the arms business. Or rather, Tesla Dynamic is the upstart the centuries-old Beretta family keeps trying to put down. They were jealous Tesla Dynamic won the contract to redesign the stadium years ago and sponsored many of the athletes on both teams, so they decided to fund terrorists to get their revenge.”
“That sounds ridiculous,” Diana said, “As I said, there should be a formal investigation under the auspices of the Athanatoi Home Division…”
“But the Bureau of Justice under Minister Thalman has already begun investigating Beretta, and the preliminary results are very promising,” Thierry said, “It is likely they are the masterminds.”
“Director, I appreciate your eagerness, but your job is done,” Wilhelm Karl said, “And you didn’t do a particularly good job in Paris, did you? Last I heard, both the entire Patriots and Lilies teams were slaughtered, with the poor Tomas Patricia especially butchered, not to mention maybe 47 civilians in attendance were killed alongside them. And the eight Argus personnel we lost in the process.”
“There were Argus personnel on the scene?” Diana said. “I seem to remember them only showing up at the very end.”
“Then you remembered wrong,” Elias said, “Because they were there, and they lost eight men.”
“Drop it, Director,” Wilhelm Karl said, “The Bureau of Justice will take it from here. They have a good case against Beretta. And you frakked up in Paris. You must be getting old. I think you should take a break while the Diet launches an independent investigation into your conduct. The Athanatoi has demonstrated it has gotten complacent and incompetent with its handling of such important matters of national security. We will be transferring most of your duties and responsibilities to Heimat Security for the time being. If you interfere again, you can say goodbye to your job and pension. I’m not going to ask you again. That will be the end of it.”
Diana looked at Heinrich, who said nothing.
“I must defer to the Kaiser’s wishes,” Merkel said.
Diana sighed. She knew she couldn’t change anything. But she already knew that. And it was simply frustrating.
Brescia, Lombardy - May 9
The tranquil calm of the sunny May afternoon was shattered by several police cars zipping down the road, scaring off crows perched on the nearby power lines. The police cars pulled up to a large warehouse at the end of the road, and the officers got out. They kicked open the door and stormed inside, pulling tarps off abandoned machinery. One officer found a table stacked with flyers bearing Mexicanist imagery. Another opened a crate and found Nahua macuahuitls, obsidian daggers, and guns that showed signs of recent use.
“Looks like our intel was good,” the police chief said over the phone.
“There's enough evidence here to bury Beretta for an eternity,” Thalman replied.
Several hours later, the police burst into Beretta’s downtown offices and emerged minutes later with CEO Franco Beretta in handcuffs.
“This is an outrage!” Franco shouted. “I’m innocent!”
“Yeah, yeah,” the chief said, “That’s what they all say. It changes nothing. For the time being, we will freeze your family’s assets and close Beretta.”
“No!” Franco said. “Anything but that! Not my Beretta!”
Constantinople - May 16
Theresa met Anders and Diana at a bench in the middle of Kyparades Park.
“So what did you want to talk about?” she asked.
“It was more like I had a request for both of you,” Diana said.
“You couldn’t have told me at home?” Anders said.
“I wanted to share it with Theresa as well,” Diana said, “First, how was the investigation into Gertrude Anhorn?”
“I found something troubling while digging into the Strauss incident,” Theresa said, “It seems she may have come into contact with Brad Folger too, before.”
“Brad?” Diana said.
“Yeah, him?” Anders said.
“I dug up records showing Brad visited a red light district in Little Saray, Berlin,” Theresa said, “Several weeks later, Gertrude Anhorn visited him at the Reichstag. And then came his heel-face turn on India.”
“So she has him bought as well,” Diana said.
“I know I should expose Brad’s indiscretion,” Theresa said, “I’m a journalist after all.”
“And it would remove Gertrude’s leverage,” Anders said.
“But I fear she would get suspicious,” Theresa said, “And I feel like all this blackmail is part of a larger scheme.”
“A larger scheme?” Diana said. “For what end?”
“I don’t know,” Theresa said, “I need more clues.”
“I’ve got another clue,” Diana said, “I suspect the Uberbowl attack was staged or at least allowed to happen. Then they would point to me as incompetent and use that as an excuse to transfer my powers to Heimat Security and expand the surveillance state, removing me as a threat on the political side. Economically, they frame Beretta, which has always had a fierce rivalry with Argus. They refuse to sell weapons to Argus.”
“Argus?” Anders said. “Always knew there was something suspicious about them.”
“I don’t know how or why, but I just have this feeling,” Diana said, “Like we’re all poking at tips of the same iceberg, and it goes much deeper than we think.”
“The Justice Bureau also denied your request for an Athanatoi investigation, didn’t they?” Anders said. “Something’s definitely amiss there.”
“We’ll take a look at it,” Theresa said, “Maybe we’ll find a connection to Gertrude Anhorn.”
“Great,” Diana said, “Oh, and one more thing.”
“What is it?” Theresa said.
“This isn’t related to the other stuff,” Diana said, “But there was someone in Paris. One of the Argus guards. Anders, you remember Josh, right?”
“Yeah, Alex’s old bully?” Anders said.
“He’s an Argus man now,” Diana said, “He killed the terrorists’ leader just when he was about to spill the beans. Feels like a cover-up to me. And more importantly…”
“More importantly?” Theresa said.
“I looked ahead and found something,” Diana said, “I didn’t want to believe it, but it’s never wrong. Josh is going to kill me. And he’s going to kill you and Vincent, Theresa. And you, Anders. And Angie. And Olga. He’s going to kill all six of us.”
Diana knew she would never see Olga again.
