Verbert walked briskly down the marble steps in front of the hotel with his briefcase, and a black limousine was already waiting in front of the door, and the doorman in a gray uniform with a beanie hat politely opened the door of the sedan for the customer.

Welbe pulled a couple of twenty-five cents from his trouser pocket and placed them in the doorman's open palm, and the older boy smiled happily and bowed in thanks to the generous patron.

After President Roosevelt stepped down, the "Roosevelt Depression" came to an abrupt end, and the booming intercontinental trade led to a rapid recovery of the American economy.

Ordinary Americans don't understand what geopolitics and war economics are, and they attribute it all to the victory of the Republican conservatives.

Although the lion's share of the profits still belongs to the capitalists, the opening of the factory means a stable livelihood, and the family can fill their bellies.

In 40 years, the average monthly salary of manufacturing workers in the United States was 130 US dollars, in fact, most people did not get that much, and the salaries of grassroots workers in the service industry were lower, such as this doorman, whose monthly salary was only more than 60 US dollars, and he had to pay for the uniforms and accommodation in the hotel, so the daily tip was an extremely important source of income for this big boy.

The doorman closed the door for Verbe, "Good luck with your day, Mr. Verbet." The boy said.

"Thank you, Tom." Verbe replied with a graceful nod.

The driver glanced at the back seat from the rearview mirror, then expertly shifted the throttle and the engine let out a dull roar full of power.

"Good morning, sir." The driver lowered the glass partition and asked the boss for the morning.

"Good morning, Clay." Verbe pulled out of his pocket and pressed the cigarette lighter on the walnut armrest.

"Isn't this car a little too conspicuous, Clay."

But the other replied, "I don't see it that way, sir, the place you are going to today must behave decently." ”

It was a brand new 1940 Cadillac luxury sedan, the most high-end model in the 60 Series. The car was sold for $3,820 at the time, not including the cost of customizing the interior and additional equipment. It's a luxury car geared towards the mid-to-high-end market, with a sleek sliding sunroof and driver's seat window, walnut and leather seats, closed headlights, and chrome plating on all interior and exterior edges.

"I think it's better to have the Chevrolet Master. "Although it was also a luxury model, it looked a little more understated than this Cadillac, and of course the price difference was more than a thousand dollars.

"Believe me, sir, this is the best one, sir." Seeing Verbe light a cigarette, the driver raised the glass vent behind the driver's seat.

The streets of San Francisco are mostly two-lane, and the traffic close to the Bay Area is relatively high, and traffic jams have become almost commonplace, and when this happens, it is time for a professional driver to show his value. Usually experienced drivers avoid roads that are prone to traffic jams and find the quickest route to their destination in the shortest possible time. Welbe felt that Mr. Clay was not one of the latter, for they were stuck in a main road along with a bunch of vehicles rushing to and from work.

Turning his gaze away from a hot dog stand on the side of the street, Welbe turned his face and raised his hand to tap on the glass partition between the back seat and the driver's seat. With the sound of an electric motor, the glass barrier with its chrome frame was smoothly lowered.

"Will you be able to get there on time, Clay?" Verbe asked.

The driver tilted his head to look in the rearview mirror and replied calmly: "It seems hard to say now, but I will do my best." ”。

"Didi... "The sound of street horns came and went, making people upset.

Verbet turned his head to look through the back window and saw the driver of the car behind him banging his head against the steering wheel with a desperate expression.

"Let's take a diversion at the next intersection, Clay."

"I don't think it will help, the surrounding area should be blocked, it is rarely like this here, there may be something going on in front of you." The driver raised his hand to adjust the rearview mirror, and Verbbe could see a pair of gray-blue eyes in the mirror.

Clay is a field agent of the German Intelligence Directorate, who entered the United States as a European refugee in late July and managed to infiltrate in San Francisco.

His group of "war" refugees were mainly from Germany, mostly of Norwegian, British, Austrian and Russian descent living in Germany, and of course many Germans. However, the Germans' passports were stamped with J stamps, indicating that they were all of Jewish descent.

The refugees chose a tortuous and arduous route of exile, first using various means to leave Germany and travel to the Far East on international trains or neutral country cruises. They then took a Japanese cruise from Shanghai and Siberia across the Pacific Ocean to the American continent.

They may not have been the first European refugees to leave the United States after the outbreak of the European War, but they were the first to enter the country from the West Coast. And no one has tried to go this route since them, partly because countries have tightened the examination of entry and exit status, and partly because the war in Europe was already over in August, and the exiles have lost their reason to become war refugees.

Clay was Austrian on his passport, and he was indeed born in Austria, but he immigrated to Germany with his parents at the age of four, and his family had a large number of relatives in Austria.

Before the war, there were many people of Austrian descent in Germany, and some of them were expelled by the Nazi authorities for political or personal reasons, and many of them were musicians, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and other social elites.

These people left their possessions and relatives in Germany and went to the New World on the other side of the world with simple belongings, hoping to live happily and peacefully, but the harsh reality soon shattered their daydreams.

After Clay entered the United States, the first days were quite difficult.

At that time, he was aboard the Japan Cruise Line's "Tatsuda Maru", one of the sister ships of "Chichibu Maru", and they were greeted by a joint investigation team of U.S. Customs, Immigration Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the San Francisco docks. In addition to checking the identities of all personnel, the agents also searched everyone's carry-on belongings, claiming to prevent anyone from bringing prohibited items into the country.

In the weeks that followed, Clay often found that someone was spying on him. At first, he thought his identity as an agent was revealed, but then he realized that it was not what he thought it was at all.

He was monitored by agents from the local police department, who were wary of the war refugees, because they had been told by experience that it was difficult for these outsiders to find suitable jobs in the area, and that they often took risks and did illegal work in order to survive.

Clay feared that he would arouse the suspicion of the police, and as a result, he insisted on not using the funds from his secret account during that time, even when he was destitute and stayed on the streets.

The elite agent of the German Intelligence Directorate then spent his days trying to survive, first as a stevedore at the docks, then as a grocery store salesman, as a bartender in a bar in the Tenderloin district, and as a bodyguard for a wealthy businessman for a while.

Until one day, Clay suddenly realizes that it seems that no one has been watching him for a long time, and it is obvious that he has gained the trust of the local police and has been crossed off the list of potential threats, which also means that he has successfully integrated into the city and is no longer a "foreigner" in the eyes of the locals.

Before Verbey arrived in San Francisco, Clay was considering a night shift manager job at a hotel, and he planned to rent a home in the sunset area and, if possible, find a girlfriend to keep his identity under wrap and continue to lurk there.

However, it seems that Clay's plan cannot be continued for the time being, and he will follow Welbe as his personal chauffeur and bodyguard until the whole mission is successfully completed.

"We've been stuck here for ten minutes, do you have any other suggestions?" Verbay lifted his wrist and looked at his watch.

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't expect this to happen." The driver shrugged his shoulders in an American manner.

"Now that you have time, you can tell me a little bit more about the situation there." Verbet pulled out his flicked cigarette lighter and lit the cigarette in his mouth.

"What you want to know is—" the driver looked back.

"Chinatown." Verbe spat out a lump of smoke.

PS: Recovering status, thank you all for your support.