Worlds Collide [The Man In The High Castle]

2

The next evening after work I stopped by the SS Headquarters. The doorman waved me into the building. Upstairs my father's secretary barely glanced up as I walked into his office. No one wanted to be the person that held up the Obergruppenführer's daughter.

"Good evening, Charlotte," he said without even looking up. "What brings you by?"

"Any leads on the case?" I asked.

"I told you, Athena is not needed."

"Okay, but your lovely daughter would like an update." I sat down across from him. "Did you question the Semite?"

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Yes, after an interesting morning. The ideas for some of these new interrogation techniques are beyond me."

"I still swear by the classic techniques myself." He smirked. "Did he give up anything?"

"Yes, but unfortunately not what we were looking for." I interlaced my fingers and leaned my elbows on his desk. I put my chin on my hands and looked at him. "No."

"I didn't even ask anything yet."

"The answer will still be no, regardless of the question."

I leaned back, and rolled my eyes. "You're right, I do come by my stubbornness honestly."

"No hands on work in New York, you know that."

"What about that guy a few years back?" I reminded him.

"You befriended a copy-editor, who happened to live next door to an SS agent, turned resistance operative."

"I think you're remembering wrong. I spotted a resistance operative, tracked him to his apartment and took him out. I met that cute copy-editor when I was scouting. Then we all pretended that I was going on a date, and just happened to use my sharp intellect to spot a spy next door."

That had been one of my first missions after I'd switched sides. It had sort of been on accident. The boy I'd killed was a loyal member of the resistance, but he wasn't very good at keeping a secret. He'd let too much slip and he was a liability. So in an attempt to protect the resistance and prove myself to my father, I'd taken him out all by myself. I hadn't wanted to kill him, but he asked me to. He didn't want to be tortured because he didn't want to give anyone up. He even told me where to find everything incriminating. I burned everything but an American flag. I told my dad the boy put up a fight.

"You know more than anyone how important it is for a spy to maintain their cover. You only work out of town, because it's easier to stay anonymous. That was the deal."

"Fine, but you at least have to keep me updated," I told him. "I want to know who's behind this just as much as you do." I paused. "You don't think it could be the infamous Artemis, do you?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Charlotte. Artemis is a myth created by the American Resistance to scare us. They caught wind of Athena, and invented a counterpart. The Resistance is unorganized, and they know we're aware of that. There is no single person orchestrating those people, mythological or otherwise."

"You're probably right." I shrugged. He was to an extent. Artemis wasn't the head of the resistance. I wasn't actually sure where that myth had even started. I wasn't even head of the East Coast Resistance, let alone the national one. But I was the best informant they had, and that had let me work my way up the ranks.

"Heard from Joe today?" I asked.

"No, not today." He was a good liar, but he still had a tick. I didn't push it. I'd try calling Joe when I got home.