 Recorded books presents 1636. The Atlantic Encounter by Eric Flint and Walter H. Hunt. Narrated by me, George Goudel. Prologue. October 1635. Bomberg, capital of the state of Thuringia, Franconia, United States of Europe. Come in, Ed Piazza said, in response to a knock on his office door. His secretaries stuck her head into the room. Leopold Coriani is here, Mr. President, she said. Send him in, please. Ed pushed aside the papers he'd been looking at, opened one of the desk drawers, and pulled out a file folder. Then, with a peculiar expression on his face, part interest, part exasperation, he handed it to Estubán Miro. The new chief of intelligence for the president of the state of Thuringia, Franconia, half rose from his chair across the desk to accept the folder. It was rather on a thick side. What's this, he asked? One of the more, uh, adventurous projects left to us by our departed former prime minister. Miro raised an eyebrow and resumed his seat. Given that the former official in question, Mike Stearns, was not known to be risk averse, to put it mildly, this promised to be interesting. A man was ushered into the room. Estubán recognized him, although they'd never spoken to one another at any length. He was Leopold Cabriani, a close associate of Piazza and the person generally considered in charge of the far-flung and extended Cabriani family's commercial enterprises. The association in question was a rather gray and shadowy business. Piazza used Cabriani as an informal go-between and facilitator as well as a confidant. The president waited until Cabriani had taken a seat before proceeding. You can find all the details in the folder Estubán. For the moment, let me summarize the matter. He leaned back in his chair. A little over a year ago we were approached by a Dutchman named Jan van der Glinde. Miro cocked his side slightly. We? Meaning? Not me initially, I only found out about this when Mike Stearns handed the matter over to me, along with, again his expression indicated interest and this time more than a little exasperation, about eight jillion others. Miro nodded his understanding. The United States of Europe had a parliamentary system. Under it, the opposition party formed a shadow cabinet when it was out of power so that it would be ready to take charge of government should political fortunes turn in its favor. In this instance, though, there was a peculiar twist. The man who would normally be the recognized head of the opposition, Mike Stearns, was now a general in Gustav Adolf's forces fighting in Poland. Given that it was impractical for him to play any direct role in the affairs of the Fourth of July party, leadership of the opposition had fallen partly to Stearns' wife, Rebecca, and partly to Ed Piazza. The division of labor between the two was subtle and complex, and on Piazza's part, sometimes of questionable legality. Being the chief executive of the USE's most populous and wealthiest state, Piazza was in position to form what amounted to a shadow government, not simply a shadow cabinet. Ed Piazza, a high school principal in his former life, was somewhat uncomfortable in that role, certainly much more so than Mike Stearns would have been, but he'd taken it on nonetheless because the policies and political tactics being followed by those currently in charge of the USE, especially the Swedish Chancellor, Oksin Scherner, were of dubious legality themselves. The new nation was coming perilously close to open civil war. Piazza created his throat and continued. Van der Glinde initially approached Francisco Nasi, who passed the matter on to Mike. Nasi had been Stearns' chief of intelligence for all intents and purposes as Steuben Miro had succeeded to his position except that he reported to Piazza instead of Stearns. Van der Glinde came here from New Amsterdam, or uptime in a different world would become New York City. He claimed to represent the colonial authorities. It's hard to judge the truth of it, but Nasi did a little digging and discovered that this guy was also serving as an intermediary for Kilian van Renselar. For the first time since he'd entered, Renselar is the greatest patron of the Dutch colony, though he resides in Amsterdam. He's involved in a number of New World projects. Some have worked out, some emitted gestures if to say you pay your money and you take your chances. That was enough to jog Miro's memory. His wealth derives from the jewel and precious metal trade, as I recall. That's right, said Piazza. Asubon's mind was moving ahead, so he wanted assistance from the USC to fend... Sample complete. Ready to continue?