Headquarters of the CIA, Washington
"Friedrich Lehmann. Born 8th August 1908 in Frankfurt, Germany. Not married. No children. Previous occupation..."
Werner looked at the man sitting before him, far too relaxed for his liking.
"Soldier?"
The metal door behind them creaked open as a woman stepped through. Her wooden leg clanked against the floor.
"More like a high-ranking politician," Hall said, leaning against the wall.
"Mhm," the man murmured, typing the information into the machine before him.
Silence.
"What is inside that coffer, Lehmann?" Hall asked sharply, her gaze fixed on the case beside him. Werner wore no handcuffs.
"Get me Carry and I will tell him," Werner said, leaning back.
"And what if I just break it open?" Hall asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Then... you die." Werner replied, his voice calm as he gave her a chilling look.
"Carry is no longer Director of the CIA. He doesn't have the authority for something like that," the male agent said, leaning back as well, watching the coffer.
Werner only smiled and closed his eyes.
Behind the tinted glass
"What is he doing?" A man entered the small room, looking through the glass into the interrogation room.
Sir!" Hall saluted as the man stepped in. The man who had become director after Carry. The man who had set an unbelievable precedent. The man who had once been a German spy before betraying his home country and becoming Director of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States.
Erich Gimpel adjusted his collar and stopped before the glass.
"Miss Hall," he said without sparing her a glance.
"Is he... sleeping?" he asked.
"I don't think so, but... he is demanding Carry," Hall answered hesitantly.
For a brief moment, a dangerous glint flickered in the director's eyes, though it might have been only her imagination.
Gimpel swallowed.
It was blood that had gathered in his mouth from biting his lip.
"I can't leave him behind, can I? That goddamn sage-like bastard," Gimpel muttered quietly, ignoring Hall's presence entirely.
Ten minutes later, Werner smiled as the sound of wheels echoed through the corridor.
"You know, James… I was there."
He opened his eyes slightly.
James was brought before him by Gimpel, who stopped just behind him and gave a subtle signal toward the tinted glass.
In that moment, the microphones in the room went silent, and the man behind the glass stepped away. Now it was just the three of them, deep inside the building.
"Who exactly are you, and how do you know my real name?" James asked, leaning forward.
"Did Paul tell you?" he added in a low whisper.
Werner's smile returned.
"In a way, yes. But tell me, how did you never think about the side character? The one always present, yet never truly noticed, while you two were busy fighting each other."
James said nothing at first. His eyes sharpened, his expression darkening.
"Are you… that assistant? That colleague of his?" he asked, his voice almost ghostlike.
"That assistant…" Werner repeated, his mind drifting back to those earlier days.
When Werner didn't answer, James' patience snapped.
"Tell me. Were you on that U-boat too?!"
Gimpel glanced at James, then at Werner, confusion flickering across his face. He had never heard anything about a U-boat.
"YES!" Werner suddenly shouted, rising to his feet.
"I was," he added, far more quietly, but he remained standing.
James shook his head, trying to make sense of everything.
"And now what? You betrayed Paul?" James asked, massaging his forehead while looking at the man before him in a new light.
"I had to," Werner whispered, sitting down again.
"And I should have far sooner," he added, pressing his lips together, his conscience burning inside him.
"Why now?" James asked, still skeptical about the new variable.
"I don't know," Werner answered, his eyebrow twitching.
James squinted his eyes. What Werner said before did not feel like a lie, but that twitch, that tone… there was something specific.
James looked at Gimpel.
Something that bastard probably shouldn't know, James thought, focusing back on Werner.
"His actions were visionary at the beginning. He was like a beacon of change, not only that, virtually a man of the future. But he has been poisoned by those around him, not only by them but also through the events he experienced."
Werner clenched his jaw, his voice cracking, growing more emotional.
"I tried over and over again, pleading with him…" Werner thought back to the night of crystal.
"Persuading him." His thoughts spiraled to the dozens of discussions regarding the freeing of the prisoners in the camps.
"Begging him," Werner whispered, his forehead full of creases.
James observed Werner, his own demeanor lowering. He too saw what Werner had seen. At the beginning he feared for his own interests, which were linked directly to the US, but later, after he lost everything because of Paul, his position, his influence, his wealth, and at last even his dignity, he knew what his single greatest regret in this and the life before was.
"I should have stopped him that night at the harbor. I should have been faster…" James muttered.
Werner glanced at him, then at Gimpel standing in the back, listening with interest.
His eyes filled with pent-up anger.
"Do not think I chose to betray Paul because you are the saints in this game. He wouldn't have changed this drastically if you hadn't killed his wife!"
James' eyes widened in shock as he turned toward Gimpel.
The two men looked at each other for what felt like an eternity, until Werner finally understood.
"You did not know." Werner let out a dry laugh, shaking his head.
James clenched his jaw. He truly had not known about that operation.
"And it was so close to being a success," Gimpel said, stepping away from the wall. His thumb and index finger nearly touched.
"This close. We would have killed the dictator of Germany with only some money and intel invested."
Werner scoffed.
"Your so-called investment turned out to be the powder that lit the fire even further. You created an inferno of resentment and anger."
Werner reached down to his coffer.
"I am here to somehow alleviate your grave mistake."
James and Gimpel both focused on the mysterious case.
"Heinrich Jaeger and his staff are actively planning a naval invasion of the UK," Werner said.
Gimpel only nodded. The CIA had already suspected something like that through their latest intel.
"What I am about to show you could change that war in its entirety," Werner continued, entering the code into the lock.
"War? I am sure you know that the US is not part of that war, Herr Lehmann," Gimpel said, folding his arms.
Werner scoffed again.
"Oh, but you are. The moment your country bound its economic interests to the UK and the rest of the Allies, you already joined. America is ruled by capitalist interests. If those are endangered, of course you will actively participate, even if your population is against it."
"But I am sure James has told you about the event unfolding at the end of the year?" Werner asked.
Gimpel smiled grimly.
"Paul will not join hands with Japan," Werner said, leaving it at that.
"Either way, you will find a reason to join, so this…" He opened the coffer.
"…is in your best interest."
James leaned back as he looked inside, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I don't believe it."
To Gimpel, it looked like some kind of writing machine, though it felt strangely familiar.
James' voice dropped dangerously low, and then both men spoke at the same time.
"ENIGMA."
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I wrote this one on my phone, sorry for any mistakes.
Thank you all for the support! I appreciate every Power Stone, comment, and review.