A sleepless night in the study consisted of the following: stoke the fire, pace, piece together more of the wall, and repeat. Every hour or so, I would lay down and try to sleep, only to arise sometime later and begin the process over. As night turned into morning, I gave up on arising at all. I lay in the dim firelight, allowing pieces to fall into place.
The Chancellor's secretary was present nine out of ten times during meetings, even when they extended into the wee hours of the night. There was no way to know if he lingered after being dismissed. Was he observing the chancellery from dark corridors or other unseen spaces? All our efforts may have been compromised. We know he sent the invitation to Golda Eigner at the Chancellor's order, had that then been compromised too? All conversations had taken place in private in his or the chancellor's home, so he would be showing his hand if this mission were undermined. The important part now was to remove the parents from Vienna. Without anyone’s knowledge, if possible. Luckily, it seemed the elder Eigners were of no interest to the Chancellor’s secretary.
The last look at the clock read 3 o'clock. I missed Eva desperately. It was January 1, 1938, our appointment with the priest was the 30th, twenty-nine long days away. Closing my eyes, I envisioned Eva, smiling and laughing, throwing snowballs in the park. Hiking through the foothills, her hair askew, sweating, hating it but making the best of it for me. The sound she makes as she sleeps. Then the landscape changed. I knew I was dreaming. Someone was pursuing me. The area became a maze of foliage too high to see beyond and impenetrable. Thorns covered everything. I knew freedom lay just on the other side. Thorns tore at my skin as I pushed through. I ignored the pain and swallowed it down. I had to reach someone in danger. The world turned upside down. My body lay on the ground. I hovered just above it. The threat was close. I tried to rouse myself. I yelled at my body to wake up and get up. The ground was suddenly gone, and my body was falling freely into an abyss. I awoke with a start: 5:30. Hardly the restful night’s sleep for which I had hoped.
I opted not to try again. I dressed for a run and went to the kitchen for coffee.
"Mein Herr, just a few more minutes," Klaus greeted me.
"Good morning, Klaus. How are you this morning?"
"Very well, thank you, mein Herr. Greta will be over shortly to begin breakfast."
"No hurry, Klaus. Franz will want a good stretch of the legs this morning. Only after a good run will he be on the prowl for Greta's excellent cooking."
After receiving my coffee, I made my way to the turret. Mother had the most comfortable chair in her project room. I remembered curling up in it when I was small, watching her paint and often dozing off, only to wake with a blanket over me, curled comfortably into a ball. I looked out upon the eastern horizon, which was just beginning to pale and promised a colorful sunrise.
Draining the last of my coffee, I heard Fritzy coming up the stairs. "Sandy, you up here?"
"Yes, just coming down," I said, rising reluctantly from the chair as he came around the stairwell into the room.
"No matter how many times I enter this room, the magic of it always strikes me. When we were young, this was our castle. We have rescued princesses, hunted dragons, jousted on black stallions, all in this stone fortress."
"If only slaying all the monsters of life could be that simple. Rough night in the study for me. How did you fare?" I asked.
"Not well, a combination of last night's revelations and sleeping too long yesterday evening, I suppose."
Many more sleepless nights were likely at this rate. "Run?" I inquired.
"Part of me wants to decline the offer, however, I know it will help. As you can see, I dressed in anticipation."
It was going to be a long day. A nap was more in line with my thinking than a run. Franz was right, though. In the end, it would help more than hurt.
"If we do not run, my feelings will not be hurt," I said, patting him on the back and heading for the stairs.
Neither of us spoke as we made our way down the stairs and through the arched doors. We set a leisurely pace and kept it throughout, which was an uneventful run, both of us using the time to clear our heads. Upon returning, we each went to our room to get cleaned up before enjoying a hearty breakfast, after which, we headed to the study.
"Did you get any sleep at all?" Franz asked as he surveyed the new additions to the wall.
"Two hours filled with nightmares and ghosts," I laughed as I said it, but he knew it was eating at me.
"Speaking of nightmares, any hope I may have held is slipping away, Sandy. Wilhelm's information from playing Nazi will only shine more light on the rats. They have been steering the ship much longer than any of us realized. All the while using the Chancellor's fear of violating the July Pact to infiltrate everything." Fritzy was moving a few more items around. "How knowledgeable is Henry about Vienna's duplicitous hierarchy?" he asked.
"You are reading my mind. Unknown, an analysis will provide a better picture," I said, heading for the drawing table. Over the next several hours, I charted the offices and people holding official Government positions, cataloging each person into known or suspected organizations. Guessing where their allegiances lay, to the best of anyone's knowledge.
A narrative appeared of a government all but taken over. Chancellor Schuschnigg, thinking the best of those closest to him, did not suspect they could be Nazis. Many were openly supportive of the Nazi party. Whether the Chancellor refused to believe it or if he simply could not fathom the truth of it, was a mystery. I had to try to convince him of the truth. I dropped my head in my hands, momentarily overcome by the frustration of what seemed an impossible task. I rubbed my face vigorously to get myself out of it and stood up to stretch.
"How about a game of chess to clear our heads?" Franz said it as a question, but I could feel the undertone of needing to step away for a while.
"I'll meet you in the library," I said. I headed toward the kitchen but found no one around. I set the kettle, fired up the stove, and went to find the coffee. The coffee did not reveal itself even after several minutes of searching in the pantry. Therefore, I began a systematic mission of discovery, accessing every vessel in the kitchen. I eventually found the pot and the screen, but no coffee. Down to the cellar, I went.
Luckily, the first set of shelves held the small burlap bags. I retrieved a cup full of beans and went back to the kitchen.
"Oh, Mein Herr, Greta keeps the coffee in the icebox, just here," Klaus said, startling me. Damn, if he did not have a fantastic ability to show up when needed. He proceeded to the icebox to show me the crock of ground coffee. "Allow me to finish this for you. Shall I bring it to the study?"
"The library, if you please, Klaus. We will be taking some time away from the study. I am certain Franz will want some biscuits to go with his, if you do not mind," I said with a sheepish grin.
"Of course," he replied. I offered my sincere thanks and made my escape to the library.
Upon entering, Franz stood before a bookshelf, engrossed in a book. I hunted for the Fall of Troy by Arthur S. Way, as he seemed occupied. Elsa appeared with coffee, cakes, and biscuits. Placing the tray on the table, she inquired about any other needs.
She then excused herself. Coffee in hand, I turned my attention to reading. Movement caught my eye. Franz, who had until that moment been engrossed, leaned against the back of the Chesterfield. The smell must have broken the spell. He marked the book, poured coffee, took a handful of biscuits, and sat in the chair opposite me.
His stare bore through my book, but I continued to read until he broke into my peace.
"Sandy, what if we have it wrong?" he asked, sitting forward, ready to make his point.
"Explain," I lay my book aside.
"If they want to assassinate Kurt, they could do it easily. The mourning period for his late wife, Herma, was the perfect opportunity. He was completely vulnerable. He had a bullseye on him, wandering around Vienna by himself so often," he shoved another biscuit in his mouth, sipped some coffee, and continued. "The subterfuge, the subtle manipulation, stacking government offices and official positions with Nazis all around. Each one adds to the game. They want him to step down, to surrender. An assassination was never the point. Another martyr hurts the cause. However, they can push him out if they make him look incompetent. The Führer would play savior, rescuing poor Austria, protecting her people." Franz finished pouring more coffee, taking a cake for good measure.
More pieces fell into place as he spoke. The idea was not one I had not previously explored. It seemed like far more work than Adolf would want to invest in one person he had no grudge against. Perhaps he did, though, a grudge appears to be unreasonable. However, the Chancellor accepted the position knowing the Nazi party was wholly responsible for his predecessor's death. The Chancellor understood their intention to overthrow the current government. Then, swoop in to rescue the nation. They were pulling poor little Austria in under the German wing for protection. After all, their supreme leader was himself a son of Austria.
Kurt not only accepted the Chancellorship but took it by the reins. In the beginning, he banned any outward displays of Nazism. Bolstering the Christian Socialist party, formerly the Fatherland Front. Indeed, without the ability to form a standing army of over 30,000 men without violating the Treaty of St. Germain, he created the storm squads in Tyrol to protect the region. He repeatedly tried to ally Austria with Switzerland, undone by Guido Schmidt working behind the scenes on the Führer’s or Goebbels's behalf. Attempts at alliance failed through the years with the Czechs and the other Baltic regions that were formerly under Austro-Hungarian rule. German counterparts were sabotaging all attempts at any alliance. One such effort with Czechoslovakia even resulted in the rumor of the declaration of an imminent Austrian invasion. The Austrian Chancellor became implicated in the subterfuge of alliance to facilitate an invasion. No one seemed to notice Austria had no army with which to invade, let alone defend herself. Doors were politely and not so politely slammed in The Chancellor's face.
Indeed, Kurt Von Schuschnigg, Chancellor of Austria, was quite a large and prickly thorn in Adolf's side. Germany desperately needed access to the Czechs. Austria blocked that access. They desperately needed the men and resources Austria could provide, and a single stubborn man could not be bribed, bullied, or cajoled out of the way.
“Fritzy, you arrived at the solution. Now we know why the whole thing is always off. Nothing quite flowed. Our assumption of assassination should have been assimilation.”
Returning to the study, we spent the evening working on the theory in conjunction with the information on the wall. There, in the study, we could analyze Mussolini’s continuous cat-and-mouse game of allying with Germany one moment, then placating the Germans but pretending support for Austria and the Chancellor. He would claim that Italy would defend Austria, only to state that Italy was unable to stand by its claims lest it hurt our German obligations, almost within the same sentence. It was just another tactic being used to keep the Chancellor alienated, frustrated, even anxious.
Megalomaniacs surrounded Austria. The only possible help was those who had doomed her in the treaty. Those that even now turned their back. Pleading passivity while watching the eagle with the broken wing, grounded, desperate to take flight with the wolves closing in.
The more we broke it down, the angrier we both became. With no area or gear for fencing or pugilism to work through our irritation, we turned to snowshoes, packs, and hiking. By mid-morning, we were geared up and ready to depart. We set off leaving instructions with Klaus to make Henry at home should he arrive early. It was partly cloudy, the air crisp without being bone-chilling cold. We headed up an old trail we used to frequent as boys. Quickly discovering that neither of us was in the condition we needed for mountaineering, we stopped frequently and shared jokes regarding our age and general well-being. Franz lost a strap on his snowshoe as we approached a tight switchback. We made repairs, but as we were finishing, the clouds began to cluster. We understood all too well the meaning. Gathering our items, we readjusted our packs and began to head down the mountain.
Within the hour, the air had changed, and snow would soon follow. We prayed for no wind, although we knew it would come. The only question was when. The snow began to fall lightly at first. The flakes were large and fluffy. Deceivingly beautiful. We picked up the pace.
"Do you have poles?" he asked. I shook my head no. We veered toward the line of trees on our right. Locating a slender branch, I cut it off with my hand ax, and we continued down. The snow slowly started to become heavier and faster.
"How much food do you have?" I asked.
"We’ve already eaten what I brought," Franz replied.
"I do not want to spend the night in the snow listening to your stomach," I said, laughing. Another half hour passed, and the trail was gone. We went on instinct now, the snow obscuring anything more than fifteen to twenty feet away. Franz fished a rope out of his pack while we were walking. He tossed me an end, and I tied it to my waist.
Then the wind hit. We huddled together to hear each other.
"Sandy, we both know how this goes. What do you want to do?" None of the options were perfect, but digging in was our best bet. Not one to jump to the safe route, I opted for the risk.
"We only have a few hundred yards to the bottom. Before the visibility got bad, I had a glimpse. I say we risk it, Fritzy, but it's your call."
He bent his head down on his chest. He checked my knot and took up more slack in the rope. "Proceed slow and steady, Sandy.” We both pulled our wraps up over our mouths and noses and proceeded. The going was painfully slow. More than once, I wanted to call it quits. We knew that these storms could last two hours or two days.
We were prepared, having everything necessary to make it through–except food and water. It was a beginner’s mistake, and we both knew it. We could melt snow to obtain water, but food would not be so easy to come by, mind you, it would not hurt either of us to miss a few meals. Plus, Henry had either already arrived or, worse, might be stuck out in this as well.
Although it may have been snow blindness, I would have bet I saw light in the distance before we lost all visibility. I adjusted our course accordingly. What seemed like hours went by as we walked, directionless and hindered by the snowshoes and wind. Vertigo affected me, and I tipped to the side a few times. I slowed down enough to get the stick from my pack. Fritzy helped me get it loose. He was struggling on his own, so once I had the stick, he placed his left hand on my shoulder, and we pressed on as a unit. We proceeded like this for an eternity before he tapped my shoulder. We stopped at 16:20, darkness coming on quickly.
"We have to call it Sandy. I can barely feel my hands," he yelled in my ear. I gave him a thumbs up. We looked around, spied some trees not far from us, and headed there. They were thick, bunched close together like a hedge or windbreak. We got between them and pulled our scarves down to talk. The trees sheltered us from the worst of the wind and snow so we could hear each other. It would be a good shelter.
"I'll start the shelter if you get wood. Keep the rope on," he said. I nodded, and he untied the loop, handing me the excess rope. Moving down the tree line, I began gathering wood and started hallucinating.
There was a whisper in the air. "Jim, hallo, Jim, I stopped and listened, but I heard nothing. I half-expected the screaming pain of the mysterious headaches which now randomly plagued me. They were increasing in frequency over the previous months, but nothing came. Continuing to gather wood, I thought I heard a sound again, faint and far away. I returned to Fritzy, who had set up a small shelter.
"No tent?" I questioned.
"I didn’t see the point with no wind and clear ground. With the fire, I think we will do well. Once I pull back the branches, we are set."
"JIM! HALLO, JIM!" We both heard it this time, and it was louder. It had come from directly in front of us.
"HERE!" We both yelled at the same time.
"YELL!" we heard and yelled again until a snow-covered figure appeared before our position. I pulled the figure into the shelter.
"Henry, what the hell are you doing here?" I asked, brushing snow off of him.
"Looking for you, you bloody Austrian tosser!" he countered.
"Looking for us in a blizzard, Henry? Are you crazy, man? You are damn lucky you did not wander away snowblind and die!"
"Look who's talking. Besides, we are all out here looking for you. Here," Henry said, beginning to tug on the rope. "HERE," he began yelling. A moment later, a snow-covered Klaus appeared from the dark fog of snow. "We have a rope on everyone back to the house," he said. I looked at Franz as realization hit.
"We're in the windbreak adjacent to the house" we said in unison. Hurriedly, we packed the few items we had removed from our packs. We tied our rope to theirs and slowly tracked back through each person in line–a strange man I had never seen, Greta, Elsa, Maria, Otto, Jakob, and, at last, Alexander, who was secured directly to the door. Then, the warm, comforting house.
We stripped off packs and gear, skipping introductions, pleasantries, and manners in lieu of the hottest baths we could stand. Klaus knocked to inquire if I would like supper in my room and sleep. It was tempting, but I declined, considering our company. The man I had not seen before never did unwrap at the door. Hopefully, he had not tried to return to town in the storm. Then I relaxed into the bath's heat, letting all thoughts slip away into the water.