Of Wolves and Hounds [Raf]

[Otto Wolff]

Location: SS Headquarters in Berlin, Germany
Current Time: 11.00

The multiple corridors and offices of the SS headquarters were bustling with constant activity. Various matters of the Reich needed planning, deciding, documenting and archiving and each person inside the building was busy with one task or another, seeing to them with a characteristic German efficiency and punctuality. The busy sounds of typewriters tapping, phones ringing and the footsteps of the various SS men, secretaries and officials echoed from the upper floors into the vast reception area of the beautiful old building. A large bronze statue of an eagle was spreading it's wings proudly behind the reception desk and red-and-white flags decorated with swastikas were hanging over the balconies and some of them had been fixed on the walls. The Germans loved their symbols and it was hard to glance anywhere without seeing a swastika or the Reichsadler. The might and grandeur of the Third Reich was almost tangible enough to feel on one's skin as they stepped inside the building, which undoubtedly was the sole purpose of the decorations.

A tall and broad-shouldered man made his way towards the reception desk with easy, confident strides. He was dressed in a black Allgemeine-SS uniform, proudly displaying his Golden Party Badge, the long service award of the police and the decorations from the Great War on it's chest. A dark, long overcoat had been left unbuttoned and it's light fabric billowed like a cape behind the man as he walked on. Kriminalkommissar Otto Wolff was a man who was obviously very self-conscious and proud of his achievements; his posture was rigid and he held his chin up slightly, apparently not worried at all that people might have thought of him as being far too proud for his own good. Instead, Otto's dark eyes observed other people with a hint of slight disdain and his face was an expressionless mask, making him appear cold and clinical. He was already in his fifties and his dark hair was much thinner now than it had been twenty, thirty years ago, and the immaculate condition of his uniform and black jackboots made it quite clear that the man was very pedantic when it came to his appearance.

The journey from the main Gestapo offices to the SS headquarters was quite short; both the Gestapo, SS and Reich Security Main office were situated next to each other, so Otto had merely had to walk the distance. He paused at the reception desk, attracting the immediate and quite confused attention of the young brown-haired woman behind the desk. Maybe she thought that Otto's constant scowl was for some reason aimed at her, as she smiled very carefully, almost submissively. Otto nodded at the receptionist, asking for Sturmbannführer Wolfram's office and the young woman informed him of the correct floor and room. Otto did not stay behind to listen to the receptionist's other words concerning appointments and times. He had no time for such formalities right now and he was, after all, a member of the Gestapo. The Gestapo didn't need to think about arranging appointments.

Making his way up the large staircase, Otto adjusted the position of the folder under his arm. His jackboots clicked ominously and determinedly on the polished marble floors as he searched for the correct office. Another secretary, this one a young SS man, glanced at the newcomer from behind his desk, looking slightly perplexed after seeing the tall Gestapo officer. He knew that the Sturmbannführer did not have any appointments with the Gestapo for today and he was, like all the other higher-ranking members of the Waffen-SS, busy enough as it was. The man didn't have time to pose any questions, however, as Otto spoke first. "Sturmbannführer Wolfram, nicht?" the man asked, pointing a hand at the closed mahogany door.

"Ja, Herr Kriminalkommissar, aber der Sturmbannführer erhält im Moment nicht. Ich kann auf den Kalender schauen und sehen wenn-" the secretary bolted up from his seat suddenly, taking a few hasty steps towards the Gestapo officer who had already moved in to knock at the door. He knew that Sturmbannführer Wolfram would be anything but pleased of such uninvited guests and storming into the man's office was a highly audacious and foolish thing to do. This did not seem to bother the older dark-haired man, for he did not even wait around to hear an answer from inside the office and his hand was already pressing down the decorated handle of the door.

Kriminalkommissar Wolff pushed the door open, the secretary hovering behind him in a mixed state of horror and anticipation. Surely the Sturmbannführer would lash out at both the bold Gestapo officer and the careless secretary who had so easily let someone in to disturb his work. His expression unwavering and his voice low and husky, the Gestapo officer raised his hand into a brief salute. "Heil Hitler. Herr Sturmbannführer, Kriminalkommissar Wolff von Geheime Staatspolizei. Ich hoffe, dass ich nichts unterbrach?" the man asked, the tone of his voice more presumptive than apologetic. The secretary behind the tall Gestapo officer cringed at the brash manner of the uninvited visitor, trying to come up with a sufficiently smart explanation for the intrusion. "Herr Sturmbannführer, ich versuchte ihn aufzuhören," the SS secretary blurted out quickly, glancing meaningfully at the Gestapo officer from behind him.


Translations:

"Sturmbannführer Wolfram, nicht?"
"Sturmbannführer Wolfram, correct?"

"Ja, Herr Kriminalkommissar, aber der Sturmbannführer erhält im Moment nicht. Ich kann auf den Kalender schauen und sehen wenn-"
"Yes, Herr Kriminalkommissar, but the Sturmbannführer is not receiving at the moment. I can look through the calendar and see if-"

"Heil Hitler. Herr Sturmbannführer, Kriminalkommissar Wolff von Geheime Staatspolizei. Ich hoffe, dass ich nichts unterbrach?"
"Heil Hitler. Herr Sturmbannführer, Kriminalkommissar Wolff of the Secret State Police. I hope I did not interrupt anything?"

"Herr Sturmbannführer, ich versuchte ihn aufzuhören."
"Herr Sturmbannführer, I tried to stop him."

[∬: Rafael Z. Wolfram]

The office was quiet, peaceful and surprisingly clean; not even the waste paper basket withheld any parchments of scrap paper. No, it was a fresh start to the Sturmbannführer with the abrupt change of transformation his serving division had taken recently, the entire regiment being transferred into the 3rd SS Totenkopf. It was quite a new change for everyone, but the Das Reich had served it’s day under the wing of Sturmbannführer Wolfram and now his loyalty laid to the Totenkopf, under strict orders of SS-Gruppenführer Rolf Shiller; who personally believed the entire regiment’s strengths laid else where for now. Most of the men called it a nice break, but Sturmbannführer Wolfram couldn’t help but feel as if he were being punished subliminally somewhere along the lines, after all, he was being sent to the eastern front - was he not?

Filing together a collaborate set of papers between his hands, Sturmbannführer Wolfram shuffled comfortably into his high-back brown leather armchair and folded his leg up to rest across his adjacent knee. Since the small incident with an assailant attempting to take his life one cold night whilst walking to his automobile, he’d suffered a horrific injury to his face, leaving him scarred and with minor iris discoloration; turning his eye a slight red. His vision with the eye wasn’t perfect now, perhaps slight blurry, but none the less in working order and with a good doctor’s examination, he was soon prescribed a monocle to help take the burden of the strain. Any severe and he would have found himself strapped with an eye patch.

The monocle laid dormant inside of his left tunic pocket, with a silver chain draped outside of the uniform pocket neatly. Fiddling his fingers into the tight chest pocket, he slipped out the silver framed monocle and attempted to reframe from gripping by the glass ends, as to not smudge the lens, before fitting into the crevice of his eye and brow to poignantly sit. After a second’s worth of scrunching his brow and blinking with his discoloured eye, he gained what satisfaction he could from the lack of comfort it offered and bowed his head to look at the papers within his hands, skimming over what few details were written. Award ceremony for a fellow Waffen-SS division returning from the frontlines of Normandy, the Sturmbannführer being requested to attend the small parade in honour of their valour - pulling a disgruntled look, he shuffled the summoning invitation to the bottom of the files at hand and continued to read on with another documented letter within his hands; however, this one caught his interest.

Leaning forwards, the Sturmbannführer reached for the telephone sitting on his desk, lifting the receiver to his face. Waiting patiently for a brief second, he listened as the telephone line scratched and a young man spoke down the opposite end; “Das Maschinenbediener-Sprechen”[/b] the man spoke quickly, distant voices in the background emitting down the phone from numerous other operators also taking calls. “Können Sie, mich durch einem SS-Obersturmführer Erik Schneider bitte flicken” Sturmbannführer Wolfram calmly asked, the operator going silent for a moment, before he spoke again. “Können Sie, die Vorwahl für mich bitte, Herrn nachprüfen” the operator asked stiffly, obviously having more than one result for the given man requesting to be contacted; before the Sturmbannführer even opened his mouth to utter out a syllable, several knocks erupted against his office door, followed by what seemed to be muffled talking.

Looking towards the door the whole while, Sturmbannführer Wolfram quickly cut the call dead with a - “Beunruhigen Sie nicht, annullieren Sie den Anruf”, during which time his office door swung open and both his secretary and a Gestapo officer bawled into the room boldly. Placing the telephone back onto it’s perched receiver end, the Sturmbannführer glared in sheer distaste as the man introduced himself ever so rudely and protruded a demeanour that was doused in self vanity; although, the Sturmbannführer was cut from the same cloth, with his immaculate fitted uniform, tailored to each of his maturing love handles and buttocks.

Standing quickly from behind his desk, Sturmbannführer Wolfram ignored the salute and petty introduction, merely glaring at the two men before himself in a temperamental fashion. Whipping the monocle clean from off his eye, the Sturmbannführer flustered out his chest and winded his lungs most probably loud enough for the entire corridor to hear. “Wie ist Ihr geschäftsKriminalkommissar? Dass Sie so grob unterbrochen haben, wie Sie haben!” he demanded with a vigour of aggression to his tone, his hand instinctively retracting to his hip, where he unclipped his holster and stared the officer down; the mild dangling of his monocle from his chest pocket the only distraction in the room, as the single spectacle lens wobbled back and forth from Wolfram’s strutting movements.


Translations:[/b]

"Das Maschinenbediener-Sprechen"
- Operator speaking

"Können Sie, mich durch einem SS-Obersturmführer Erik Schneider bitte flicken"
- Can you patch me through to a SS-Obersturmführer Erik Schneider please.

"Können Sie, die Vorwahl für mich bitte, Herrn nachprüfen"
- Can you verify the area code for me please, sir.

"Beunruhigen Sie nicht, annullieren Sie den Anruf"
- Don’t worry, cancel the call.

"Wie ist Ihr geschäftsKriminalkommissar? Dass Sie so grob unterbrochen haben, wie Sie haben!"
- What is your business Kriminalkommissar? That you have so rudely interrupted as you have!

[Otto Wolff]

The Sturmbannführer bolted up from his seat and bellowed angry words at Otto, demanding an explanation for the Gestapo officer's rude intrusion. Otto was certain that the angry shouting was heard by the entire corridor, but he wasn't really surprised by the reaction. Otto had - as always when a case was assigned to him - read the Gestapo files regarding Rafael Wolfram, learning quite a few things about him and his career. He was familiar with the man's temper and had more or less expected such a reaction. Besides, Otto had experienced, on more than few occasions, how people in Waffen-SS and Wehrmacht seemed to enjoy their shouting - an understandable military trait, of course. Personally Otto found such shouting distasteful, but he did not let his expression change, not even when the Sturmbannführer's hand moved to his sidearm, unclipping the holster.

The Kriminalkommissar returned the man's stare in a cool manner. His dark, deep-set eyes did not betray emotions of any kind and even though Otto felt the automatic desire to reach for his own sidearm, he did not so much as move a muscle for a moment. The secretary took an awkward step behind the Gestapo officer, maybe hoping that if bullets started flying, they would hit the Gestapo officer first. Otto held his chin tilted up as he spoke in the same impassive tone as earlier. "Wieder, meine Entschuldigungen, Herr Sturmbannführer. Ich hätte natürlich für eine richtige Sitzung Vorkehrungen getroffen oder vielleicht Zeit verbracht, mit Ihrem Sekretär darauf streitend, ungeachtet dessen ob meine Sache wichtig genug ist, um solch ein unerwartetes Hörvermögen zu bevollmächtigen, aber ich fürchte mich, dass ich Zeit für solche Dinge nicht habe. Also, um Ihre wertvolle Zeit - oder meinig, was das betrifft, nicht zu vergeuden - lässt mich sofort zur Sache kommen. Das ist eine Sache der Geheime Staatspolizei und als solch..." Otto glanced at the SS-secretary skulking behind him. "Das ist geheime. Wenn ich bitten darf..." the man waved a hand at the secretary, motioning for him to leave the two officers alone in the office. Clearly the SS-secretary meant to protest, planning to direct the Gestapo officer out of the office, but the Kriminalkommissar placed a hand at the man's shoulder and quite rudely pushed the man outside.

Otto closed the door after the secretary and turned around to regard the Sturmbannführer again. The two men certainly looked different from each other; with his blonde hair and proud features, Rafael Wolfram appeared like the ideal Aryan. Otto Wolff, on the other hand, had a crooked (at least twice broken) nose, very angular features and black hair and eyes, hardly anything that would have been found exemplary by Germans these days. Otto could easily understand why many men had spoken so highly of this particular SS officer; in addition to his Aryan features, he had a very intimidating and commanding aura around him, the effect further enhanced by his other curiously red eye. It was no wonder that the secretary had been so jumpy when Otto had decided to waltz into the Sturmbannführer's office - many men would have found the SS officer's mere presence somewhat harrowing, especially given the man's high rank in the notorious Schutzstaffel. Still, Otto Wolff was not a man easily intimidated. He was a veteran of the Great War and had served in the German police since 1922. As a member of the Gestapo he had learned to adopt a rather presumptuous and self-assured attitude and even when faced with this notorious Sturmbannführer, his expression did not so much as flinch. Pride certainly was Otto Wolff's most dominant characteristic and so the man stared Rafael Wolfram straight in the eyes, no matter how foolish the gesture.

"Herr Sturmbannführer, ich betrachte hier den verheerenden Aufruhr, den Sie in München erfuhren. Glauben Sie mich, ich bin ein Mann, der gute Manieren schätzt und ich Ihre Arbeit nicht so grob unterbrochen hätte, wenn Zeit nicht von der am meisten äußersten Wichtigkeit war," Otto removed his Totenkopf-decorated peaked cap and from under his other arm, produced the black folder he had been carrying. "Ich wurde damit beauftragt, die Untersuchung vor ungefähr vier Wochen anzuführen, und ich bin zufrieden, Sie zu informieren, dass Fortschritte tatsächlich gemacht worden sind. Ich habe hier die Information über fünf tschechische Männer, alles Verbundenes mit dem Angriff."

The tall Gestapo officer proceeded to move towards Wolfram's desk to hold the file out to him. The simple Reichsadler-decorated black folder contained surprisingly detailed information of the Slavic culprits with various pages of meticulously researched information and photographs of each of the men, including even the fingerprints for two of them. Based on the Kriminalkommissar's careful research, he was sure that Herr Wolfram would be more than keen on catching the criminals and would not feel quite so irritated by Otto's rude interruption anymore. Normally the older man would have not behaved in such an unseemly manner; he held proper etiquette and courteous behaviour in high regard, but right now he had his own reasons for hastening the matter. It was not only vital for the success of the operation, but he knew that if he wanted to stay on the case, he had to move fast and be the first one to present the information to the Sturmbannführer.

Otto raised an eyebrow expectantly, awaiting to see the man's reaction to the freshly uncovered information.


Translations:

"Wieder, meine Entschuldigungen, Herr Sturmbannführer..."
"Again, my apologies, Herr Sturmbannführer. I would have, of course, arranged for a proper meeting or maybe spent time arguing with your secretary on whether or not my matter is important enough as to warrant such an unexpected audition, but I fear that I do not have time for such things. So, as not to waste your precious time - or mine, for that matter - let me get down to business right away. This is a matter of the Secret State Police and as such..."

"Das ist geheime. Wenn ich bitten darf..."
"It is secret. If you would please..."

"Herr Sturmbannführer, ich betrachte hier den verheerenden Aufruhr..."
"Herr Sturmbannführer, I am here regarding the devastating riot you experienced in München. Believe me, I am a man who appreciates good manners and I would have not so rudely interrupted your work if time was not of the utmost essence."

"Ich wurde damit beauftragt, die Untersuchung vor ungefähr vier Wochen anzuführen..."
"I was assigned to head the investigation some four weeks ago and I am pleased to inform you that progress has, indeed, been made. I have here the information on five Czech men, all connected to the attack."