The Governor's Representative still blocks the secured office doorway, warrant in hand. Unseen officers wait beyond, while Dr. Gerde keeps the sealed evidence folder on his desk and indicates the records room.
Dr. Edmund Gerde
The cord, receipt, and route schedule will be compared under seal. Then the folder goes to the Central Police Station, not to a private office.
Governor's Representative
The warrant orders the immediate transfer of the witness and all related materials. General Potiorek will not tolerate an unauthorized inquiry.
Mata Hari watches the representative's covered face. When the representative reaches for the folder, the Austrian Policeman shifts Viktor back and blocks the desk with his shoulder.
Mata Hari
If the governor's office wanted the truth preserved, they would not send a warrant that omits the evidence number.
The Austrian Policeman
The folder stays where it is until Chief Gerde verifies that paper.
A tense silence follows. Dr. Gerde opens the warrant beneath the lamp and finds the omission Mata Hari named. Its authority covers Viktor, but not the sealed record or its contents.
Dr. Edmund Gerde
You may take the witness when I receive a proper receipt. You may not take this folder. The attempt to bury the lead is now part of the record.
The representative lowers the warrant. In the corridor, the waiting officers do not enter. The evidence remains on Gerde's desk, and Potiorek's office has shown its hand.
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep the sealed evidence folder under Gerde's authority
“"Excuse me, I do not question the General's authority, but this situation demands immediate action, and I'm sure the General would agree. A Serbian agent is presently waiting at a designated point on the Appel Quay to receive this material, and he will not wait forever. He must be apprehended before he informs his accomplices that the plot has been discovered. Also, I suspect this railway timetable may mark the arrival time of further conspirators from Belgrade. If so, we must make haste to receive them, not leave them to their own devices at the station."”
FAILURE (Good Persuasion, rolled -3)
Fraulein Doktor
Excuse me. I do not question the General's authority, but this demands immediate action. A Serbian agent is waiting at a designated point on Appel Quay, and conspirators may be arriving from Belgrade by the timetable. We must apprehend them before they learn the plot is exposed.
The argument reaches the doorway, but not the conscience behind it. The representative studies the timetable, then closes the warrant with a deliberate snap.
Governor's Representative
Suspicion is not authorization. No officer leaves this room, and no pursuit begins, without General Potiorek's written order.
Dr. Edmund Gerde
Then the refusal goes into my record. So does the Appel Quay contact and the possibility of arrivals from Belgrade.
Gerde writes both leads into the sealed record and presses fresh wax over its fastening. The folder remains beneath his hand, formally retained under police authority.
The Austrian Policeman
Chief, give me the location. If the order comes, I can move at once.
Dr. Edmund Gerde
Fraulein Doktor, which lead takes precedence, the contact on Appel Quay or the arrivals at the station?
Apprehend the Serbian agent
Quest Complete
Keep the sealed evidence folder under Gerde's authority