Shadow Warrior

by Scott, Trevor

  Jake and Sirena sat in their rental BMW waiting to hear back from Johann and Rolf, who were still in the warehouse reviewing documents.

  “What do you think?” Sirena asked from the passenger seat.

  “I think we need to do something with the Frenchman in the trunk of our car,” Jake said.

  She laughed. “I forgot all about him. We might also need to part ways with the boys from Austria.”

  Jake watched as Anica discussed her part in the take-down of this operation with a high-ranking German Polizei officer across the parking lot.

  “She handled herself quite well,” Sirena said. “She’s a good officer.”

  “She is. But I think any cover she had has been blown.”

  “I agree.”

  “It doesn’t mean she needs to go back to Innsbruck,” Jake reasoned.

  Sirena looked at Jake critically. “You were tasked to find her. You did that.”

  “I know,” Jake said. “But they’ve already found a ton of drugs in this warehouse. Maybe we should cross over into Switzerland and see where this case leads. We could check on this Fritz Giger fellow.”

  “That makes sense. When I talked with the people smuggled into Germany, they said they were transported from Switzerland in Giger’s truck.”

  “Good thing you speak Arabic,” Jake said.

  “Anica did alright with her French.”

  “Here she comes. Let’s see what she says.”

  Jake lowered the driver’s window and Anica leaned in to talk. “They want me to write up a report on what happened.”

  “The Germans like their reports,” Jake said. “What about Rolf and Johann?”

  “They’re still going through the files,” Anica said. “But I’ll need to stay here and help them, since some of the documents are in Serbian.”

  Jake checked his watch. “Sounds like you might be a while.”

  “Perhaps,” Anica said. “But then I will head to Zurich. Thank you for your help. Both of you. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

  “This is a big win, Anica,” Jake said. “How is your boss in Innsbruck dealing with this?”

  “Sabine Bauer? I talked with her briefly and explained the situation. Rolf has agreed to take Pierre Deval to The Hague for interrogation.”

  “I didn’t realize that Europol was doing stuff like that,” Jake said.

  “Not normally,” Anica said. “But with our investigation now in France, Germany and Austria, it makes sense. Rolf will make sure to at least get copies of all documents found in the warehouse.”

  “All right,” Jake said. “We can stick with you.”

  Anica shook her head. “That’s not necessary, Uncle Jake.”

  “It wasn’t necessary for me to come here to look for you,” he said. “But some things you do because you must do so.”

  She glanced at the warehouse and then back to Jake and said, “Those people are just looking for a better life, much like I was as a young girl.”

  “It’s not the same,” he said. “You had just lost both of your parents and had no way to make a living. You were a young girl. Most of these people are working-aged men. I understand their despair and their plight. But there are legal ways to emigrate to European countries. This is not the way. People are exploiting them. You saw how they were locked in that room like animals. That’s not the right way to handle this crisis.”

  “Then we must stop them,” Anica said defiantly.

  Jake put his hand on Anica’s forearm. “You are a good person, Anica. You have a great heart.” He checked his watch again. “I don’t think the Serb had time to warn anyone of this raid. And we wrapped up all the players. Make sure the German Polizei doesn’t allow them to call anyone.”

  “I have already told them,” Anica said. “I told them we still have the big fish to catch. That should give us a couple of days.”

  “Sounds like you might be here for the night,” Jake said. “I think we’ll head over to Zurich and get eyes on Fritz Giger.”

  “That would be very helpful, since we are not a hundred percent sure that Goran Goluža didn’t call someone while we were occupied with the shooters.”

  “Well, I did knock him out,” Jake said. “But he still might have had time to call someone. It is what it is now. We’ll just have to work with it.” He pulled the keys and got out, rounding the BMW to the trunk. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drop off this French asshole out in the country somewhere?”

  Anica shrugged. “We should probably do this by the book.”

  A little too late for that, Jake thought. Then he gave Anica a big hug and whispered into her ear, “I’ll see you in Zurich.”

  She kissed Jake on the cheek. “Take care.”

  With nobody looking, Jake popped the trunk and dragged Pierre out. The Frenchman was a little wobbly on his feet. The pillowcase over his head was caked with dried blood and probably drool.

  Jake said to Pierre, “Listen you fucking dirtbag. If you mention how you got the bruises on your face, I’ll come back and cut off your balls. You understand?”

  “Yes, ja, oui,” Pierre said.

  Smiling, Jake roughly handed the man over to Anica, who took him to one of the German Polizei cars.

  Then Jake got back into the rental BMW and put the key in the ignition.

  “Everything alright?” Sirena asked.

  “Roger that. We stay in Zurich tonight.”

  “How long is that drive?”

  “About an hour.”

  Sirena sat back against the leather seats. “Sounds like nap time.”

  14

  Zurich, Switzerland

  Jake and Sirena checked into the Schwangau Hotel in downtown Zurich. It was a five-star six-hundred-year-old hotel that hugged the Limmat River, which drained from Zurichsee, the massive lake to the east of the city. Jake had once stayed at a villa on the south shore of the lake with Alexandra. He was quite familiar with this city, which is why he decided to pay so much for a hotel stay. The Schwangau was an elegant display of Swiss architecture, but it was also just across the Weinplatz from the import/export offices of Fritz Giger’s company.

  Sitting at a small table in his room, Jake browsed a pamphlet from the hotel. “Interesting fact,” Jake said. “Finally, this place makes sense. Zurich was a tax collection point in the Roman Empire. Back then it was called Turicum.”

  Sirena, who had recently gotten out of the shower and put on what little make-up she used, came over to Jake and put her hands on her hips. “It’s more ironic, right?”

  “Because it’s a tax haven now?”

  “Right. And one of the largest banking cities in the world.”

  Jake got up and gave her a big hug. Then he pulled back slightly and kissed her on the lips.

  “What was that for?” she asked.

  “Just because. We haven’t had a lot of time to talk since we left The Azores. We have some time now while we wait for our sources to provide intel.”

  She hugged him and kissed him before sitting down on the bed. “This isn’t our fight.”

  He paced in front of her. Jake had a feeling she was thinking this way. It made sense. More sense than putting each of them in danger. “I know,” Jake finally said.

  “She’s a capable young woman. She reminds me of a younger me.”

  He smiled. “I was thinking that as well.” Jake pulled out a chair from the small table and sat on it backwards, his arms holding onto the back. Then he continued, “When I first heard she was missing, I wasn’t sure what to think. I didn’t know if I could handle another person in my life meeting a tragic end.”

  “I understand. We’ve also had some close calls over the years. I worry about you.”

  Jake studied her carefully. Usually, Sirena was a straight shooter. What you see is what you got. But now she seemed to be coming at their current dilemma from a more obtuse angle. “Obviously, I worry about your safety. Why do you think I wanted us to take assignments unlike that one in Morocco
?”

  “Or South America.”

  “Right. I assumed this would not be like any of those operations. It was a simple missing person case.”

  She swiveled her head side to side. “Jake, you could turn an Easter egg hunt into a Mafia bloodbath.”

  He raised his hands palm out in protest. “Hey, it might seem that way in the aggregate of events. But bad shit happens to me about four or five times a year. That’s a small percentage of my normal life.”

  “I hear you. But tell me this. Based on your life, would any reasonable insurance company give you a policy?”

  “It’s a specious argument,” Jake said. “I have enough money stashed away. I don’t need life insurance.”

  “That’s not the point, of course.”

  He knew exactly what she was getting at. Which is why he had stashed his infant daughter in Montana with his two siblings. “That’s why I’m an unfit father to Emma.”

  “No, that’s what makes you a good father. You put her there to protect her.”

  “It’s why Toni never told me about my son Karl,” Jake said.

  She stood up and seemed angry. “I don’t want to fight.”

  He rose from his chair and put his hands on her shoulders. “This isn’t a fight. This is a logical discussion. You think I’m blinded by my love for Anica. That I might go too far to protect her.”

  “I don’t think you ever go too far, Jake. You always do what’s necessary. That’s why I love you.”

  He pulled her close to his body. This was the first time she had said the L word. “I love you, too,” he said into her ear.

  They held each other now for a long moment, until Jake’s phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket. He pulled out his SAT phone and saw that it was from a friend and former colleague in the old Swiss intelligence service, which had about a decade ago morphed into the Federal Intelligence Service. The FIS was like the FBI and CIA of Switzerland.

  “Yeah,” Jake said. “What do you have on our friend?” When Jake found out he was coming to Switzerland, he had asked for help doing a background of Fritz Giger.

  “Let’s meet in the platz below,” the FIS officer said. “Ten minutes.”

  Jake hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket again.

  “Your FIS friend?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “He doesn’t want to talk on the phone.”

  “Right. I told him my phone was extremely secure and encrypted, so he must be worried about his end.”

  Sirena sat back on the bed. “You want to do this alone?”

  “I think it would be better. Hans Disler is easily distracted by pretty women. He’s never been married and has always been quite the player.”

  She smiled and said, “Are you sure you won’t be a distraction to him?”

  “Funny. Could you check with the Spaniard’s people and see what they know about Fritz Giger and his company?”

  “They said they’d get back with me.”

  “They need to work on our time, not their time.”

  “I’ll poke at them.”

  Jake checked his gun and then slung on his leather jacket before leaving her alone in their room.

  Weinplatz was not a huge public square. At night, it was lit by street lamps with multiple globes that ran alongside the pedestrian bridge over the river. There were only a few businesses here, and fewer open. So, Jake should would have no problem finding his old friend and colleague.

  Hans was an unassuming man in his late fifties. He was a chunky, short man that nobody would mistake for a prototypical spy. That’s what made him so good, Jake thought.

  Instead of standing in one place, Jake wandered slowly through the platz, turning occasionally to watch his six. The river seemed to be running stronger than normal. Considering the cold, damp evening, the area was in heavy use this evening—mostly younger couples and pensioners strolling slowly after a large dinner.

  Jake got to the bridge and finally saw his contact approaching from the shadows near the Rathaus. Hans had his waddle on, and his normally ubiquitous cigarette had been replaced with a vape stick.

  Hans came up to Jake like the old friend he was and shook hands. “Nice to see an old friend,” Hans said.

  Smiling, Jake said, “You’re older.”

  “Not by much, I would guess.” Hans sucked on his vape stick and let out a stream of steam.

  “Gave up on cigarettes for something a little healthier,” Jake said.

  “Doctor’s orders. Now, instead of being addicted to tobacco, I’m addicted to this damn e-cigarette. Nicotine is the guilty culprit in this whole thing. Do you think the makers of these could do so without an addicting agent?”

  “I’m sure they could,” Jake agreed. “But this way they don’t kill you as fast and can keep you as a customer longer. At least until you die by natural causes.”

  Hans raised his bushy brows and smiled behind his vape stick. “You’re a cynical bastard.”

  “Some things never change, my friend. What do you have for me?”

  “No foreplay,” Hans said. “Just stick it in and ram it home.”

  “I’m not working on the government’s dime anymore,” Jake said.

  “I’m done in two months.”

  “Are they putting you out to pasture?”

  “Quite literally,” the Swiss man said. “I’ve considered buying a country home overlooking a lake. I might keep a few sheep and cattle. Maybe some chickens to give me eggs.”

  “Sounds nice. Are you sure you don’t want me to put a bullet in your head now?”

  Hans laughed. “When that time comes, you will be my first call.”

  Jake waited now for the soon to be former spy to divulge what he knew about Fritz Giger.

  Finally, Hans said, “This Giger fellow has been under investigation by our agency and the Swiss Federal Polizei for a number of years for a number of problems.”

  “So, he’s not just exporting coocoo clocks and cheese.”

  “No. But we have not been able to make anything stick with him.”

  “Follow the money. Maybe he’s being protected by the Polizei.”

  “How did Fritz Giger come across your radar?” Hans asked.

  Jake explained the bust that just went down in Germany, and how they had tracked the truck to Giger’s company.

  “So, German Polizei knows about this?” Hans asked.

  “Not yet. We left out some of that to give us time. If the Germans decide to coordinate with your government, Giger’s operation could be alerted. I’m guessing a guy like that would have a contingency plan to close up shop.”

  “What makes you think he hasn’t found out about what happened in Konstanz?”

  “I didn’t mention Konstanz,” Jake said. “How did you find out?”

  Hans delayed by shoving his vape stick in his mouth and puffing on it like a high school kid attacking a joint for the first time. His eyes shifted around and Jake realized this guy would make a terrible poker player. Finally, Hans said, “I can’t say.”

  He just did, Jake reasoned. They had someone in Giger’s company undercover. “Then Fritz Giger knows about what happened in Konstanz.”

  Hans shook his head. “We don’t think so.”

  “Then your man was undercover in Konstanz,” Jake concluded. “Did this man shoot at me?”

  “Of course not,” Hans said, and then must have realized he had given away more than he intended. “You do this to me every time. You’re a bastard.”

  “I’ve been told this.” Then Jake glanced about the small square and turned back to his old friend. “The man and woman on the far end are with you. They’re pretending to be a couple, but clearly the man is gay and is repulsed by the woman. Behind me on the bridge is an older man sitting alone, but struggling not to look this way. Am I that dangerous that you need this kind of backup?”

  “Do you need to even ask that question?”

  “But we’re friends, Hans.”

  “That�
��s what I told my boss. But he insisted I bring a few friends.”

  Jake could understand that sentiment. “How many people do you have watching Giger?”

  Hans shrugged. “Maybe a couple.”

  Now Jake had an idea which way to go. The Swiss had their hands tied. “You mentioned that Giger might be protected by your Polizei.”

  “I didn’t implicate the Polizei,” Hans corrected. “It could be a prominent politician or businessman. Perhaps a banker.”

  “I’m not constrained like you and the FIS,” Jake said.

  “True.”

  Jake smiled, knowing that his old friend had banked on this fact. “So, you let me talk with the man and I’ll make sure to give you everything I find out.”

  Hans made a struggled attempt to delay, sucking in more vapor. Then he said, “That sounds fair. As long as you promise not to kill him.”

  “Giger has to think I will.”

  “I understand.”

  “Deal. Now, you need to tell me everything you currently have on the man, even if it is only speculation and can’t be proven at this time.”

  Hans agreed. Then he went through everything the FIS had discovered so far. Jake was sure the Swiss man was telling him the truth. He knew not to lie to Jake.

  “All right,” Jake said. “You don’t have a last name on this Jakov fellow?”

  “Afraid not. We don’t have a location for the man, either. But we think he might be the man at the top.”

  Drugs, human trafficking, bribery of politicians, etc. This criminal organization was making a big move across Europe.

  “We can’t be involved with anything you do,” Hans said.

  “That’s fine with me. All I ask is you and your people stay the hell out of my way.”

  “You have my word,” Hans said. Then he pulled out his phone and typed in something.

  A few seconds later Jake’s phone buzzed in his pocket.