Ben laughed. “It has nothing to do with being a Turk. You find that far too often and unfortunately everywhere.”
Mo playfully bumped Ben’s chest and instantly went into the stereotypical cocky macho pose, speaking with an exaggerated accent. “What are you saying? Is it supposed to be because of me? Want stress or what?”
They both laughed, but Ben quickly became serious again. “No, honestly. I keep thinking about why he did that.”
Again, Mo held his friend by the shoulder. “Hey, man. You need to put this behind you already. You don’t owe my father or me anything. My father, our father, was a damn good man. Better than either of us dumbasses will ever be. And he always saw the good in people, even in the worst places. The fact that we both became something decent and are still working on ourselves would make him proud.”
Ben nodded and then pulled an exaggeratedly thoughtful face. “Well, I’m sure he’d be proud of me. But of you? Well.”
Mo playfully nudged Ben’s chest. “Let’s have breakfast. You totally slowed me down. No respect for a hardworking man who needs his food.”
“We’re going to my branch first before we then move on to the convention,” Mo explained. “It may not look like much, but it’s where the big deals are made. Customers prefer the ambience as opposed to the large and very impersonal-looking big buildings. Actually, you’d think that our boss in particular wouldn’t care, but he personally lobbied to keep the store. Such a small, insignificant branch. Why?”
Ben frowned and looked at Mo, who was sitting behind the wheel of his naturally immaculate-looking Mercedes. “Have you found an explanation for this by now? Did you perhaps hide the Amber Room in a safe in the basement?”
Mo’s put-on laugh showed Ben that his best friend wasn’t entirely dismissing the idea.
“I really have no idea. It’s definitely weird. And that’s why I’ve been doing research.”
Mo was silent for a moment. “I don’t know,” he continued, shaking his head. “Must be Dad’s bad influence. Must have given me that much-vaunted cop gene, though he was always glad I didn’t follow in his footsteps. Or you.”
He was silent again for a moment. “It’s such a tingle. Ever since I overheard Ahrend lobbying to keep the store open, I’ve always looked at it with different eyes. Because... why is he doing this? It’s as if there’s something hidden in it somewhere that I can’t grasp. As if there’s an invisible veil that neither I nor anyone else can penetrate, and we only see appearances.”
Ben nodded. “Then you’re guessing that your branch, of all places, is some- thing like the Vatican Bank.”
“Ha-ha, very funny. No, I don’t know what it is. But I think it’s unlikely that Ahrend has the welfare of small investors in mind. He became a banker because he loves money. And he’s a total career guy because that’s how he gets even more money.”
Ben nodded. “Sounds sympathetic.”
“Yes. One of those belongs in the big corporate offices. And yet he shows up at our place almost regularly. He’s almost sharing an office with my colleague Anna.”
Ben grinned. “Ah, the Anna.”
“Yeah, stop it. You know there’s nothing going on. But you’d think there was something going on between the two of them. With him, I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s really after anything in a skirt. But with her I can’t imagine that. And when you see the two of them... nah. You can see right away that the guy is not sympathetic to Anna. I mean, I know a few things about her that just speak against it. I’m not sure, though.”
Ben shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe it’s as simple as that. The guy has a thing for this Anna and wants to keep the opportunity to visit her as unobserved as possible. Wouldn’t be the first guy to take advantage of his position of power. And from the way you describe her, she does seem like a very respectable woman.”
Mo smiled wryly. “She really is. Under other circumstances, I’d do anything to end up with her. But we’re really just colleagues.”
“So you think there’s another box going on. Mob money. Embezzlement. Trump’s secret assets.”
Mo laughed and shook his head. “Oh, man. If anyone catches on that I told you about this, I can get myself a rope right now. Then there goes my career.”
Ben smiled slightly. “Don’t worry. I know how to keep a secret.”
Mo’s expression became much friendlier again. “I know that, brother. I know that all too well. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll show you what I’ve got sometime. I haven’t shown anyone yet, because I don’t really know what kind of spirit I’m chasing. I don’t care. I’m still missing something. I’ll get it and then I’ll show you everything.”
“All right, Mister Bond.” Mo laughed out.
“More like Ethan Hunt from Mission: Impossible.”
Ben got out and first looked around with a smile. “Nothing has really changed much here.”
Mo nodded and looked around as well. “The sign is new. Was just put up two years ago.”
Ben nodded. “Then you can’t close the branch either, otherwise it wouldn’t have been worth the investment in the first place.”
With that, he looked around again. He had been here years ago the last time and had seen directly that he could certainly have felt at home here. But this was Mo’s home, his workplace. He and Mo were close, very close in fact, had truly grown up like brothers since their early youth. Mo was his family, the only one he still had. But by the same token, Ben knew the urge inside himself to want to be alone. As much as he liked having Mo and meeting up with him, he was also happy to be alone most of the time.
The branch stood in the outskirts of the city, in a place that was rather village-like, even if there weren’t as many farms here as there once were. The streets were clean, as were the houses, but everything was just as obviously old. There were smaller stores here and there, even still a travel agency, and Ben wondered how it managed to keep going here. The bank branch itself consisted of the ground and basement floors of a three-story building. The other floors were occupied by apartments and a doctor’s office.
Ben noticed how his subconscious automatically scanned the surroundings. Instinctively, his eyes involuntarily searched the roofs, windows and entrances, analyzing all the information in the blink of an eye and classifying people according to their potential danger. He took a breath and closed his eyes. Then he smiled. Old habits that had become part of one’s body and blood were hard to shake off. For that reason alone, he should stay away from Mo. The latter certainly understood, but he shouldn’t be constantly confronted with Ben’s spleens, as he called them. It was bad enough that he had to.
Even though the facade made it seem otherwise, the interior of the store was up to date and looked like everything had been renovated just recently. The color scheme was bright with sunny colors. Everything looked inviting and might have been a better fit for the travel agency across the street. The fact that difficult financial decisions were often made here and that incredible sums of money were handled, especially in the glassed-in individual offices, was not apparent from the rooms. This was not surprising, because since the financial crisis, people have been very suspicious of banks, suspecting them to be the lair of rapacious evil.
There wasn’t really anything going on in the store. The employees present were sitting behind the counter at their respective desks, going about their work. When Ben and Mo entered the large room, they just looked up, smiled and raised their hands in greeting.
Whether anyone was working in the individual glazed offices could only be guessed at, since the panes were opaque up to a height of about 6 feet and thus not really transparent. Nevertheless, one seemed to have a good view into the main room, because the door to one office opened and a young woman stepped out, who was insignificantly younger.
Ben had to look twice. The very attractive slim woman with the dream measurements of 36-24-36, complete with blood-red hair tied in a simple braid, came up to them smiling. She wore a dark blue skirt that was
knee-length, a white blouse and a jacket that matched the skirt. Her high heels topped it off and made her legs seem infinite despite her height of about 5 foot 3.
“Oh,” Ben just let out softly.
“Yep,” Mo confirmed and smiled.
When Mo’s colleague stood in front of them, she extended her hand to Ben,
who accepted it.
“May I introduce my esteemed colleague and also the boss here, Anna Kerkov,” Mo explained. “And this young man is Ben Becker. One of our many hard- working employees doing service for the little guy on the prairies around the country.”
Anna nodded. “Ben Becker. Yes, I’ve heard a lot about you. Mo here really wants you to join us. He’s been communicating that since he started here. I thought at first he was going to use the flower to sort of declare he was gay and get his partner here.”
Ben grinned and this intensified when he saw Mo’s horrified face.
“Gay? Me? You can’t seriously say something like that to a Turk.”
Anna remained unimpressed and did not avert her gaze from Ben. “Mo, you were born here and know Turkey mainly from your two-week childhood vacations. Even your father was a kid when he came here and barely spoke Turkish all his life, as you always point out.”
Mo folded his arms. “There you see it, brother, why Turkish men only flirt with women, give them orders or boss them around. Because when a Turk really talks to a woman, tells her about himself, family and stuff, it just leads to trouble. Because a woman will always use it against you. Always.”
Ben laughed and Anna joined in. “Yes, emancipation is already hard to digest for a macho Turkish man. And you’re something like his half-brother?”
“No, my real brother,” Mo improved.
“Yes,” Anna confirmed. “I never really understood your connection that way.”
Ben smiled vaguely. “Mo’s family was kind enough to take me in when I was a teenager. They always made me feel that I was one of them.”
Anna nodded in understanding. “Difficult childhood.”
It was more of a statement than a question and Ben nodded.
“You could say that.”
“Mo doesn’t talk much about it, more like nothing.”
“Which I’m also very grateful for.”
Anna smiled in understanding and then clapped her hands. “But now you’re
here in our little outpost. You’ve been here before?”
Ben nodded. “Yes, when Mo started here. But they weren’t here then. Besides, I remember the store from before.”
Anna laughed. “Yes, I have been here. But I have a lot of outside appointments. Honestly, it’s not really mine. I prefer to be in my office and rule the world from there. So I’m glad that Mo takes these appointments off my hands – he seems to mind such things far less. And they say it’s one of your favorite things to do. We could really use someone like that. And right now, the chances of promotion are not bad.”
Mo smiled and put an arm around Ben’s shoulders. “Unfortunately, our Ben here is just the opposite of a career guy and perfectly content where he is. I guess I’ll have to work him a little more to make something of it.”
Anna nodded. “Do that. I’d definitely be open to it, because if this is all maintained, which I assume it will be, we can use people like you.”
“Who can we use?” a loud voice suddenly rang out.
Before Ben turned around, he saw Anna’s facial expression change. All at once, her entire friendly aura had disappeared and a flash appeared in her eyes that Ben didn’t know how to interpret.
Then he saw the man who had entered the store who looked as if he owned the place. The man, about mid-fifties, was as tall as Ben and Mo, but he looked like he was twice as heavy. His tailored gray suit was taut, but the good cut concealed everything. The moustache was conspicuous, as was the half-bald head, shining with sweat, as if he had walked all the way here, which Ben doubted.
Mo didn’t have to say anything, because Ben knew who it was: Guenther Ahrend, the immediate boss of Mo and Anna.
“Hello, everyone. I thought I would stop by before the big meeting. After all, I know how precarious the parking situation is with us, so I wanted to offer you, Ms. Kerkov, a ride with me. I have a company parking lot there and we could take the opportunity to talk about some things I wanted to clarify with you.”
Everyone acted as if such a thing was perfectly normal, smiled and nodded. Ben could feel Anna’s tension, and noticed that her smile did not transfer to her eyes.
“With pleasure, Mr. Ahrend. I’ll just get my bag. By the way, may I introduce you to Mr. Ben Becker. He works in one of our field offices and we’re hoping to get him to join us here.”
Mr. Ahrend smiled as if he saw in Ben a famous South American soccer star he could sign, not a lowly employee he could direct to change jobs here with just one conversation with Ben’s supervisor.
“Very nice, young man. We can always use capable people here. I’m sure you’ll be at the meeting, too, so you’ll hear all about what we’re planning around here. I hope you will like it, I certainly will. Mrs. Kerkov, can we go then?”
Anna gave another forced smile and then went into her office. Ahrend looked after her unabashedly, his gaze being directed primarily at her buttocks and legs. When Anna came back and now had a much better grip on her mirthless smile, he also didn’t miss the opportunity to put his hand on her back, placing it too low for Ben’s liking.
When Ahrend’s swanky Mercedes was gone, Ben looked into Mo’s enraged face.
“Do you know what I mean now?”
Ben just nodded.
Mo took that nod. “Something is going on. Something very strange. And I have a very, very bad feeling about it. But I need proof first. And I’ll get it.”
“If there are any...” Ben indicated.
Mo nodded and looked inside the store. “Don’t worry. If there are, I’ll find them.”
When they sat together in the evening to watch a movie together, Ben quickly noticed that his friend wasn’t paying attention. Mo was staring at the tv screen, not taking in what was happening, and didn’t seem to be there at all.
“We don’t have to look at anything,” Ben finally said.
“What?” Mo replied, as if he had just woken up from a trance and needed to get his bearings. He looked at Ben as if he had to figure out who he was first. Finally, he smiled apologetically and rubbed his hands over his face. “I’m really sorry, bro. I guess I’m just not really with it. This whole thing is really getting under my skin. I’ve known Anna for a while and worked with her a lot, including overtime. That’s when you get to chatting, and that’s when she told me a lot of things. She may not seem like it, but she’s really been through a lot of shit. With all that dirt, she’s truly to be admired for being where she is now. And then some asshole like Ahrend comes along and shamelessly takes advantage of his position. But why she goes along with it is beyond me. Ever since he started showing up regularly, she’s been totally closed off to me, too.”
Ben nodded. “And you’re afraid Ahrend has something on her? Or involved in something?”
Mo took a breath. “In fact, I’m afraid it’s worse than that. That he’s been taking advantage of her for a long time. Abusing her.” He shook his head. “I have to stop this.” With that, he stood up.
“Where are you going?” asked Ben, surprised.
“Don’t be mad at me, but I just have to go around the block again. I’ve been doing that a lot lately. Jogging. To work out. Through the woods. Clear my head.”
Ben laughed. “Through the woods – alone?”
Mo laughed as well. “Hey, I’m a big Turk and I can take care of myself.”
Ben nodded. “Promise me you won’t go looking for trouble. Just to release your frustration.”
Mo acted overly innocent. “Moi? I wouldn’t do something like that. Sounds totally out of character for me. But what am I supposed to do when trouble comes looking for me? You know yourself
that some truly go for it, and then it’s hard to ignore.”
Ben took a breath. “Yes. Even in a village like this.”
“Well, when I see something like that, I don’t stay still. Have you heard about the four Nazi assholes? They’ve been ambushing, beating up and severely abusing, even raping, poor immigrants and people whose skin color was different, over and over again for months. Well, this went on until recently, when they met someone who really roughed them up. They’ll probably never be able to ambush anyone again. They got really badly ripped apart. And in the end, each of them had a swastika cut into their forehead.”
Ben remained silent and held Mo’s gaze. Mo looked deeply into his eyes. “Have you heard about this?”
Ben nodded. “It’s been all over the papers and the tv, after all.”
“Yes, there was no getting around the news. Especially because there were similar incidents elsewhere. A local politician who belongs to the extreme right- wing scene was attacked in his home. He had made some really nasty statements and held some particularly perfidious views. Now he will have trouble getting out a sentence at all without spit running out of his mouth all the time. His jaw is all smashed up from someone hitting him with a hammer. Not to mention his right arm, which he will never be able to raise again for the leader salute, let alone use for anything else. Happened not too far from here. So I guess I’m not one of the ones to worry about, am I?”
Ben remained serious at first, then smiled. “Who knows? Ultraconservative Muslims aren’t exactly known for their affability and unconditional charity, after all.”
Mo smiled mirthlessly. “Unfortunately true. There are those, too. But the one who did it seems to be very specialized. He can’t stand right-wing trash.”
“Who can?”
“Too many, unfortunately,” Mo agreed. “Too many. I blame it all on Trump.” Then his smile became friendlier again. “Anyway, I’m going to take a quick shower and then I’ll be gone for a while. Don’t worry about me.”
Ultimate Rage - Ragnarok (Thriller) Page 3
