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Where was Susa

The panzer commander disappeared down into the turret once more, no doubt to get on the radio yet again. Heinrich would have given a good deal to be a fly sitting on the breech of the ca

He didn't emerge for some little while. When he did, his troubled features proclaimed that he didn't like much of what he'd heard. Even so, he raised the bullhorn to his lips once more. Gamely, he said, " Achtung!What the Gauleiter says is nothing but a pack of lies. Anyone saying such things about the Reichsfuhrer -SS makes himself liable to severe punishment. You have been warned."

Rolf Stolle laughed again. "Yes, you have been warned,Volk of the Reich," he called, mockery dancing on his voice. "And what have you got to say about that?"

He waited. So did Heinrich. Would the people dare, after they'd been warned not to by men with guns?

They dared. "Prutzma

Heinrich shouted it, too, as loud as anybody. "Prutzma

"Prutzma

"Kike! Kike!" Roxane chortled gleefully. The word was almost a joke to her. She didn't know that she'd ever seen a Jew, let alone that she was one.

Neither did Francesca. "I wonder what the Beast will tell us aboutthis," she said. "She was going on and on about how wonderful the Reichsfuhrer -SS was, and how brave, and how patriotic. If he's really a dirty Jew…"

"Dirty Jew! Dirty Jew!" Roxane didn't seem to care what she shouted, as long as she could make noise.

Alicia didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say. She sneaked a glance at Mommy, only to find her mother looking as confused as she was. Everything seemed not just upside down but dropped on its head. Alicia didn't know why Rolf Stolle and his followers thought Prutzma

Over the noise of the crowd, the a

"Can they do that?" Francesca asked in astonishment. The states that made up the Germanic Empire didn't talk back to the Reich. That was a law of nature. Neither did its little allies. Not talking back kept them from getting swallowed up.



"It means they think what's going on here is really, really wrong," Alicia said.

Mommy nodded. "That's what it means, all right. And they're braver than they used to be, because the new Fuhrer made them freer than they used to be."

"Holland has joined in the call for the rightful Fuhrer 's release. And"-even on this day of one astonishing surprise after another, the a

"Oh, my," Mommy said. "That will mean more trouble after they get this trouble settled, if they do get it settled."

"When's Daddy coming home?" Roxane asked.

That question had also crossed Alicia's mind. She thought she'd got a glimpse of him-and maybe even of Aunt Susa

"Pumpkin, I don't know," Mommy answered. "He went to the square there on the televisor this morning. Getting there was easy then. Getting away is liable to be harder. I'm not even sure they're letting people leave."

Alicia didn't like the sound of that. She tried not to show how worried she was. She had to stay strong, to help Mommy keep her younger sisters from getting upset. All she could do was wait and watch the televisor.

"Nobody's done any shooting here," her mother said. "As long as it stays like that, everything's all right."

And then, suddenly, the Berlin station a

There were banging noises, and shouts, and what might have been gunshots. Then the screen went blank. Alicia and her mother exclaimed in dismay. Francesca and Roxane were too little to know what that static and those swirling grays meant. As far as Alicia was concerned, they meant the end of hope.

"Change the cha

"Wait," Mommy said. "I want to see what comes on next."

What came on next, after three or four minutes of hisses and scratchy noises that made Alicia wish Mommy would change the cha

Horst Witzleben's grim face replaced it. The newscaster said, "The illegal and unauthorized broadcasts formerly coming from this station have now ceased. The public is urged and instructed to disregard them, and to ignore the slanderous insults aimed at the Reichsfuhrer -SS. Regular programming will now resume here, and factual bulletins will be issued as necessary. Good evening."

Regular programming turned out to be a rerun of a game show. Alicia looked at her mother. Shaking her head, Mommy got up and turned off the televisor.