"The RWB is a hell of a good market for us, Arnie," answered the producer over the earphones.
"We're reaching into Europe on shortwave. Be nice and listen to the guy, it's his nickel and it's a lot of nickels."
"So -how are things in Munich, my new friend?"
"Much better- for hearing your voice, Herr Argossy."
"That's nice to know. I went to your fair city about a year ago and had the best sausage and sauerkraut I ever tasted. They mixed it all together with mashed potatoes and mustard. Terrific."
"It is you who are terrific, mein Herr' You are obviously one of us, one of the new Germany."
"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean-"
"Nanirlich, of course you do! We will build the new Reich, the Fourth Reich, and you will be our Minister of Propaganda. You will be far more effective than Goebbels ever was. You are far more persuasive!"
"Who the fuck is this?" roared Arnold Argossy.
"Cut the mikes and stop the tape!" yelled the producer.
"Christ, how many stations did this go over live?"
"Two hundred and twelve," replied an uninterested technician.
"Holy shit," said the producer, falling into a chair.
THE WASHINGTON POST
Quiet Investigations Alarming Hill FBI Agents Roaming
Around Asking Questions
WASHINGTON, D.C." Friday The Post has learned that agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been traveling across the country seeking information about prominent figures of the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as members of the administration. The nature of these inquiries is not clear and justice will not elaborate on or even confirm the existence of such interrogations. The rumors, however, persist, given substance by an angry Senator
Lawrence Roote of Colorado, whose staff admitted he had demanded an immediate meeting with the Attorney General.
After their conference, Roote, too, refused to comment, stating only that there had been a misunderstanding.
Hints that other "misunderstandings" have spread beyond the nation's capital came last night when the popular and respected anchor of MBC's evening news program, Franklyn
Wagner, set aside two minutes for what he called a "personal essay." In his normally well-modulated tones there was an obvious bitterness, if not a controlled fury. He struck out at what he termed "the hyenas of vigilantism who pounce on long-past but totally legitimate political positions, even names and their origins, to smear the objects of their disaffections."
He recalled the "mass hysteria of the McCarthy years, when decent men and women were ruined by innuendo and baseless guilt by association," ending his essay by saying he was "a grateful guest in this magnificent country"-Wagner is Canadianbut would grab the next plane back to Toronto should he and his family "be pilloried."
Bombarded later by questions, he also refused comment, saying only that the instigators knew who they were, and "that was enough." MBC stated that their switchboards were. overloaded estimating that the calls were well into the thousands, over eighty percent supporting Mr. Wagner.
The only clue this reporter has been able to unearth is that the inquiries are somehow related to recent events in
Germany, where right-wing factions have made significant inroads throughout the Bonn government.
In his still unfinished medical complex, Gerhardt Kroeger paced aimlessly, impetuously, in front of his wife, Greta, who sat in a chair in their quarters deep in the forests of Vaclabruck.
"He's still alive, that we know," said the surgeon excitedly.
"He's passed the first crisis, and that's a good sign for my procedure but not healthy for the cause."
"Why so, Gerhardt?" asked the surgical nurse.
"Because we can't find him!"
"So? He will die shortly, no?"
"Yes, of course, but if he has a cranial hemorrhage and dies among the enemy, their doctors will perform an autopsy. They will find my implant, and that we cannot permit! "
"There's not much you can do about it, so why aggravate yourself?"
"Because he must be found. I must find him."
"How?"
"There will come a time in his. last days, his last hours, when he'll have to make contact with me. His confusion will be such that he demands instructions, demands them."
"You haven't answered my question."
"I know. I don't know the answer." The telephone rang on the table beside the wife's chair. She picked it up.
"Yes? .. . Yes, of course, Herr Doktor." Greta placed her hand over the phone.
"It's Hans Traupman. He says it's an emergency."
"I would think so, he rarely calls." Kroeger took the telephone from his wife.
"This must be an emergency, Doctor. I can't remember when you called me last."
"General von Schnabe was arrested an hour ago in Munich."