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“General Zeitzler,” he said, turning his gaze on the army chief of staff. “How stand the armies in the west?”

Zeitzler was holding a single sheaf of paper, and he gave the impression of trying to hide behind it when he replied.

“The Northern Front is in collapse…Mein Fuhrer,” he replied, somewhat weakly. “Patton’s Third Army threatens to break through our final line of resistance. Army Group South is attempting to disengage, but…it is difficult. The fuhrer…the late fuhrer…his instructions to hold France…”

Himmler put an end to the excruciating performance with a wave of his hand. He spoke in a reasonable tone, attempting to soothe everyone with the equanimity of his reaction. Having been on the receiving end of Hitler’s ungovernable fury more than once, he knew only too well what a double-edged sword it could be. Terror was a marvelous inducement to perform one’s duties well, but it also clouded judgment and made it less likely that a leader would hear what he needed to hear, rather than simply being told whatever might avert another episode of explosive rage.

“The fuhrer did not know of the Bolshevik atomic threat,” he said, sounding more regretful than anything. “If he had, he would have recognized it for the mortal danger it is.”

There was still a great strain in the drawn faces and stiff postures of the men who stood facing him. But as Himmler spoke with-he hoped-great forbearance and composure, some of the more palpable tension began to ease.

“I am afraid the foreign minister had no good news to offer me when I spoke to him an hour ago. The British and Americans have very foolishly rejected our offer to establish a common front against Stalin. If we should fall, they will come to regret that decision. I believe that the very future of civilization will be decided in the next few days. The democracies are corrupt and hopelessly flawed, but beyond certain political matters they are not entirely alien. We share histories and enjoy many cultural meeting points with them. We are Aryan societies, after all.”

A few heads nodded here and there.

His SS troops never once relented in their machinelike surveillance of the room, but he felt as if everyone was beginning to relax, ever so slightly, despite the menacing presence of the guards and the press of events. The Reichsfuhrer-SS-no, the fuhrer-removed his hat and placed it on the map table in a consciously theatrical gesture. He sketched a thin smile.

“It has never been my way to downplay our setbacks, or to attempt to make more of good news than it deserves-to gild the lily, as the English say.”

Another smile. A noticeable relaxation in Zeitzler and the other army staffers.

“There is no point in looking to our own atomic program for salvation. I can tell you now that we are nowhere near close enough to testing a device in the hope that we might use it against the Bolsheviks.”

He registered the shock and disappointment on all of the faces, except those of his own men, who remained impressively stone-faced.

“However, we are not entirely defenseless. The Reich Ministry of Advanced Armaments Research isn’t the only body to have had responsibility for developing the Emergence technologies. Given the exposure of so many traitors within our midst, the late fuhrer and I judged it prudent to quarantine some of the research efforts, keeping them solely within the control of the SS.”

Radio receivers crackled in the background, relaying desperate messages from front-line units. Himmler was distantly aware of an air raid somewhere above them, perhaps miles away. It was more an intimation of destruction than anything, a faint rumbling and the slightest of vibrations felt through the soles of his feet.

“We have worked very closely with the Japanese on a few small but now vitally important programs. We do not yet have an atomic warhead capable of battlefield delivery, but we have other weapons, powerful in their own way. General Zeitzler,” he said, taking an envelope from his jacket and passing it over to the stunned Wehrmacht officer, “you will coordinate the release of these stocks to our forces on the Eastern Front. Specialist Waffen-SS units will be responsible for deploying the weapons. Your men will need to be inoculated beforehand. Rest assured, they will be perfectly safe. The necessary supplies have been pre-positioned for the most expedient dispatch.”

His hand shaking, Zeitzler took the sealed orders.

Himmler raised an inquiring eyebrow, and Zeitzler remembered his position.

“It shall be done immediately, Mein Fuhrer.”