The Great War of the Quartet (The Imperial Timeline Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

aides to take care of it.
    “Working late, huh?” Fritz smirked while the captain unlocked the safe in the office just outside the private study of the minister.
    The official offices of the war minister were quite palatial, and Fritz was no stranger to delivering secret correspondence on Colonel Kretschke’s behalf. The minister presumably received much classified information directly to his office, and the young officer didn’t seem at all surprised by Fritz’s appearance or the “ Classified ” seal on the report which had to be broken to read the document.
    “It’s just one of those days,” von Weiszer said over his shoulder as he opened the thick safe hatch.
    The handsome officer was quite young, but he came from a good family of Junkers from West Prussia, and his uncle was apparently a division commander in Russia. The young man had several cousins and a brother who had senior positions in the army as well, so he was exactly the kind of man who had the blood of the old Prussian warrior class flowing through his veins. He had a very beautiful smile, manly, yet not rough. It seemed somehow like the kind of face that would have inspired ancient sculptors as the embodiment of the youthful, erotic young man, and Fritz felt a little dirty from admiring his undeniable Grecian beauty.
    After he had opened the safe he came over to Fritz to take the sealed folder, and Fritz worried that the young man might notice his peculiar interest in him, surely looking like a small enamored girl rather than a man who was almost old enough to be von Weiszer’s father. His sentiments were quite disturbing, and they usually did not strike as badly as they did now. Perhaps it was his tiredness after a long day that was bringing out his inner pervert from its hiding place in the bestial part of his brain.
    “The minister should read it as soon as possible,” Fritz said when the folder changed hands, hoping to mask his awkward, unseemly interest in the young officer.
    “I am sure that the minister will look read it as soon as he comes in,” the assistant said, not showing any curiosity at all about the folder before he walked over to lock it inside the safe until the minister would arrive to read it.
    Jakob had no idea whether this was another one of the kind of reports the minister would just go through in a minute or two before destroying it. He was a difficult man to sort out, but Jakob didn’t want to dash anybody’s illusions about the minister actually combing through a report. Most of the important data came through Army High Command rather than directly to the War Ministry anyway—the minister was just in charge of the Ministry of War, he wasn’t the Chief of Staff of Army High Command.
    Fritz wouldn’t expect that a fine man like von Weiszer would inquire about things that were solely for the minister—he probably didn’t even really know what Fritz was doing. A true Prussian’s highest virtue was his loyalty, his fidelity to his duty to the country, the king, and God. Perhaps a lesser human being—like a Bavarian…—might be tempted to look into things he was not supposed to see, but not a man born and bred to be a soldier. If a soldier was told to not read something, then he would not read it. As much as a good officer should have a nose for taking initiative and being proactive, Fritz was certain that all good officers had a sense of duty to obey important orders ingrained in their bloodstream, and a man like von Weiszer surely had that in him just like Fritz.
    “Was there anything else?” the beautiful officer asked.
    Fritz was a little startled as he realized that the man was looking at him, his eyes so youthfully inquisitive.
    “No, no, I’m just tired,” he mumbled.
    He had enough decency to lie.
    “Merry Christmas, then, if you don’t come again before that,” the officer said.
    “Yes, indeed,” he mumbled absentmindedly. “Merry Christmas.”
    Fritz saluted the officer before he left. He really