“Sit down,” Jake said.
Caspari moved past Jake and took a seat on a plush white leather sofa.
“And don’t give me a reason to bloody the doctor’s furniture,” Jake said.
The Italian crossed his arms over his chest.
Jake’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out to read a text from Anica. Instead of typing back, Jake called her quickly. “Yeah,” Jake said in German. “Everything alright?”
“That’s what I want to know,” she said. “I heard shots.”
Glancing at the dead guy on the floor, Jake said, “A slight misunderstanding. I’m with Caspari. He’s about to tell me everything he knows.”
Caspari laughed, but tried to hold it back.
Jake turned and whispered, “Take a nap. I might be here a while.”
“Okay.” She hung up.
Putting his phone away, Jake said, “Now, we can do this the hard way, or we can do this the ludicrous way. It’s your choice. But let me explain a couple of things to you. First, I have successfully interrogated everyone from KGB spies to mafia hit men to the most zealous Islamic terrorists. You know what they all have in common?” Jake didn’t expect the man to answer, so he continued. “Everyone talks. It’s the nature of man. We have this great desire to live. And to live without pain or disfigurement. For instance, I could break every finger and toe on your body. That would be painful. I could cut out your eyes and you would never be able to enjoy the beauty of a woman again. Or, I could cut off your manhood and you would no longer have the will to live.” Jake smiled. “I know you like the ladies. Maybe that’s the way to go.”
Caspari shook his head. “But you are Polizei. You can’t do that to me.”
Jake wagged his finger at the Italian. “Not so fast. You inferred from my language that I was Polizei. A false assumption, of course. I’m not restricted by the same rules as law enforcement. That’s kind of why I left government employment so long ago. Too many rules.”
Now the Italian seemed to sink into the sofa like a baby in a feather bed.
“Shall we begin?” Jake asked.
25
Innsbruck, Austria
The two of them had sat outside the compound in Axams until the entire place went dark. Sirena was certain that Jakov Koprivica was a bad man, but now they had to prove it. This was always the hardest part of cases like this, she thought. During her career, she had been loaned out to the FBI for certain domestic cases that needed someone with her particular expertise. Those were never fun times. The process of long, drawn out police work did not appeal to her. She preferred to get in and get out.
She sat now on the small sofa in Johann’s Innsbruck apartment near the river, working on her third beer. Johann was on number four, and seemed to be well on his way to pickle status.
He was a nice young man, she thought. Which was not her initial thought when he ducked and covered and did not fire back when those shooters tried to cut them down after she and Jake first got to Innsbruck to look for Anica. He was simply inexperienced, she concluded.
“What are you thinking?” Johann asked her.
She smiled. “Never ask a woman that, Johann. She might actually tell you.”
“Is that so bad?”
“It can be. Depending on the woman.”
He hesitated just long enough to take a long draw on his bottle of beer, his eyes still concentrating on her. “What about Anica?”
“What about her?” she asked. She knew what.
He shrugged.
“Have you two at least done some exploration?”
“You mean sex.”
“Young people do have sex, right?”
“We’re not that young.”
“You’re both under thirty,” she said. “That’s young. I have guns older than you.”
They stared at each other for a long moment.
Finally, he said, “We hooked up once. But we were both quite drunk.”
“So, it wasn’t that satisfying.”
“I was able to, but I don’t think she was overly enthused by the prospect.”
“Most young guys can complete the task if they’re not in a coma. But for women, we like to at least be conscious.”
“She was awake, but she just didn’t seem that into it.”
“Maybe she likes girls.”
“No.”
“Maybe she wants something more.”
“I am above average size,” Johann said. “I could show you.”
“No. That’s not what I meant. I’m talking about a more meaningful relationship. Also, if you show me your junk, I’ll have to kick your ass. Not to mention what Jake will likely do to you.”
“Good point. He’s intense.”
“You have no idea.”
“How are they doing?” he asked.
“Nothing has changed since you heard from Anica,” she said.
“What does it mean that Jake was going to have a talk with Caspari?”
She shook her head and drank down the last of her beer. Then she said, “That means Jake is usually making somebody talk. Deep interrogation.”
“Will he get what we need?”
“When Jake talks with someone, that can mean a number of things. It could be a soft interrogation, where Jake simply asks innocuous questions and people spill their guts to him. Or, it could be something entirely different.”
“Torture?”
“Torture never really works,” she said. “It’s more like enticement. The subject must know that Jake will do anything to get the information. The Polizei can’t do that. The bad guys know that they have certain rules.”
“And Jake has no rules,” Johann concluded.
“He has rules. But, depending on the subject, those rules can be quite brutal. He won’t treat Caspari like he would a terrorist. Caspari has already seen Jake shoot both of his men, killing one. So, he knows Jake will at least go that far.”
“Isn’t that far enough?”
“There are far worse things than dying, Johann. A bullet to the head doesn’t hurt, I would suspect.”
Johann lifted his nearly empty beer and said, “I’m one up on you. Would you like another?”
“Sure. I have a feeling nothing will happen tomorrow until evening.”
He went to the adjoining kitchen area and brought back two beers, handing one to Sirena before sitting down. Then he asked, “Tell me about Jake Adams.”
Sirena took a drink from her new beer. Then she said, “He’s like the Alps. Nice to look at, but he can be very dangerous if you’re not careful around him. But I’m sure you’ve done a background on him.”
“That’s the problem,” Johann said. “He has an interesting status in Austria. One I’ve never seen before. Years ago, our president bestowed the highest honor given to civilians—the Great Golden Decoration with Star of Austria. He’s also an honorary Teutonic Knight.”
“I’ve seen his sword,” she said with a smile.
“He has also been given a lifetime permit to carry a concealed handgun in Austria. Not even retired Polizei officers are allowed to do that.”
She had heard Jake talk about this, but had never asked how he had achieved such high regard from those in political power in Austria.
“My guess is that more citizens in Austria wish they could keep and bear arms like their American cousins,” she said.
“This is true. We make some of the best guns in the world, and ship most of those to America.” He stopped long enough to drink more beer. “But with regards to Jake, I guess I want to know more about his psychology.”
“Aw. The world according to Jake. If you are friends with him, he will do anything for you—including put his life on the line to protect you. But if you cross him and become his enemy. . .” She shook her head. “There’s no place to hide in this world. He will find you. But he won’t kill you in cold blood. From what I know of him, he has never killed anyone without provocation.”
Johann leaned forward in his chair. “H
ow many people has he killed?”
She shrugged. “I really don’t know. I don’t think he knows.”
“Five or ten?” he asked.
“He’s killed that many in one mission,” she explained.
Johann sunk back into his chair again and drank more beer. “Wow. How does he live with that?”
“He sleeps like a baby,” she said. “Like I said, every one of the dirtbags deserved what they got. It was either kill or be killed. He’s saved my life more times than I can remember.”
“So, Anica is in good hands.”
“Generally.”
“What does that mean?”
“Jake can’t always protect those closest to him. Sometimes there’s collateral damage. It’s unavoidable.”
“I understand.”
“He’s seen a lot of loss in his life,” she said.
“Anica mentioned that he lost his girlfriend recently.”
“It’s been a while now, but that was just one. He’s lost three women close to him.”
“Yet, you are still with him.”
“I’m not afraid of dying,” she said. “I’m afraid of not living. With Jake, I feel alive every day.”
He acknowledged with a vehement nod.
She drank the last of her beer and said, “This girl needs to hit the sack.”
Johann looked confused.
“Go to bed,” she explained.
“You can have my bed,” he said. “I’ll take the sofa.”
“No. I only sleep in one man’s bed.”
“I meant nothing by that.”
“I know. I’ll be more comfortable out here. Besides, Jake might call.”
They went through the normal ritual of pre-bed. Finally, Sirena was alone on the sofa in the darkness of Johann’s living room, a few slivers of light seeping through the cracks of the Rolladen shutters. She couldn’t help wondering what Jake was doing at this hour. Was he getting what he needed from the Italian? She would find out soon enough, she guessed.
26
Interlaken, Switzerland
A few miles east of Interlaken, on the south shore of Lake Brienz, Jake pulled the Alfa Romeo into a rest area. Here the mountains swept down to the shore, requiring several tunnels, and this rest area was between two of those tunnels. The sun was trying its best to cut through the swirling clouds as it poked over the mountains to the east on this early Saturday morning.
Anica slept in the passenger seat, but she woke as soon as the car came to a halt. She wiped her face and glanced at Jake. “Was I snoring?”
“No. Quiet as a mouse.”
“I’ve heard some noisy mice.”
Jake pulled out his phone and saw that his contact had sent him a text during his drive down the mountain from Grindelwald. He checked his watch and realized he was right on time, but his contact was running a little late. Jake would allow it, since his contact had gotten up early and driven from the capital of Bern.
“Who are we meeting?” she asked, and then yawned.
“An old friend.”
“In law enforcement?”
“Not exactly.”
“Ah. Another spy.”
Jake smiled and thought about his old friend Hans Disler with the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service or FIS. They had worked together as far back as the Cold War era. But like most of the shadow warriors Jake had known over the years, they were either close to retired, retired, or dead. Now, Jake will have met Hans for the second time in just a few days—first in Zurich and now in the Swiss Alps.
He saw in his rearview mirror a Mercedes exit the highway. Since Jake had given Hans the description of his rental car, the FIS officer pulled in next to Jake and lifted his chin with a slight smile. Like the other night, Hans had a vape stick hanging out the side of his mouth.
Hans was code named The Snow Leopard, mostly because of his blond hair and a subdued birthmark on his right cheek in the shape of a cat’s head. The blond hair had given way to silver now, and much of that had thinned out into a comb over.
“Is that him?” Anica asked.
“Yeah.” Jake went to open the door, but hesitated. “You should probably stay out of this. Hang loose here.”
“Works for me.”
Jake got out and met his old friend around the back of the cars. They shook hands and turned that into a brief hug.
“You’ve gotten old, my friend,” Hans said.
“You should talk,” Jake said. “Now that I see you in the light of day, I’m wondering why your government hasn’t put you out to pasture yet.”
Hans shrugged and smirked. “If I wait one more year I get a higher pension.” Then he turned and looked out at the lake. “The other night I mentioned buying a retirement home on a lake. I’m thinking of buying on the north side of this lake.”
“How do you like working in Bern?”
“The FIS is not like working for the Strategic Intelligence Service in the old days. But Bern is much better than most of the places I’ve been assigned. We have more enemies at our gates.”
Jake slapped his hand against the trunk of the Alfa. “I can attest to that.”
“Nice car,” Hans said.
“Rental. I wish it was mine. Tell me that Mercedes is a company car.”
“It is. I drive an Audi SUV. We get a lot of snow here, and I have grandkids now.”
Jake raised his hands. “And all this time I thought you were a bachelor. You actually found a woman to marry you. Mail order?” He shifted his glance toward the trunk of the Alfa. “You want to know what I’ve got for you?”
“You’re a funny bastard. But mostly just a bastard.” He hesitated long enough to suck on his vape stick and let out a long stream of steam. “Your message was cryptic at best,” Hans finally said.
Giving the man the short version of what the Italian, Caspari, had told him that night, Jake said he would give him more once he confirmed a few details.
“And they’re operating in Switzerland?” Hans asked.
“Austria, Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy,” Jake said. “But more than likely every country.”
“But you don’t want to give me the name of those at the top. Then why should I help?”
“Because these people have compartmentalized their structure,” Jake said. “Caspari only knows one rung above him.” This was a lie, of course, but Jake guessed that Hans would also suspect this was the case.
Hans considered his options. “What do you want me to do with this Caspari fellow?”
“The Swiss Polizei and INTERPOL both want him for the murder of an INTERPOL agent last night in Interlaken.”
“I heard about that. Are you sure this man killed her?”
“Positive. I was at the hotel last night.” He left out the part about shooting one of Caspari’s men at the hotel and having to kill the other one at the Grindelwald chalet. That would come out later, Jake thought.
“Let’s take a look,” Hans said.
Jake opened the trunk and they stared at Caspari, who was still sleeping. Sedated actually, thanks to the doctor at the chalet.
“Is he dead?”
“He’s just a little tired,” Jake said.
“Very few bruises. Clean work.”
Jake shrugged. “I had to slap him around a little bit. But the guy seemed to understand early on that I wasn’t going to listen to a bunch of crap.”
“You have that impact on people, Jake.”
“Hey, I’m a people person.”
The two of them hauled the Italian out of the trunk and put him in the trunk of the Mercedes. Jake had gagged the Italian and taped his hands behind his back securely.
Hans pulled out his keys and stopped. “How much time do you need?”
That was a hard question to answer. “At least a few days.”
“That I can do,” Hans said. “I can put him in a safe house for a few days and then start my own interrogation.”
“INTERPOL will eventually want him, but they’re secondary
to the big picture. If we play this right, we can reach the top. Caspari is a middle man at best.”
“But murder is murder,” Hans said. “Our Polizei will want to take him eventually.”
“You guys can pass him around like a cheap whore for all I care. A week would be better.”
Hans smiled. “As you know, Jake, the bureaucracy moves like a slug across broken glass.”
They shook hands again and Jake watched as the Swiss FIS officer pulled out of the wayside rest area. Then he got back behind the wheel of the Alfa Romeo.
“I could have brought him in,” Anica said.
“I know. You’ll eventually get credit for his arrest.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“I know. But you deserve credit. If you brought Caspari in now, he would probably spill his guts like a kid at his first confession.”
“What about the wounded security guard at the doctor’s house in Grindelwald?” she asked.
Jake smiled. “You slept through that. I called the local Polizei and gave them up, saying he and the doctor were linked to Maria’s murder.”
“Aren’t you afraid the guard will say what he knows?”
“He doesn’t know enough about the organization for us to worry. Caspari kept his people in the blind.”
“He can identify you.”
“No. He was unconscious the whole time. And the doctor isn’t about to say anything. Not if he wants to keep his license.”
She nodded approvingly. “I’m learning a lot from you.”
“Try not to remember the bad habits,” he said, and then started the engine.
“Where are we going now?”
“Caspari verified that he worked for Jack-off.”
“You mean Jakov Koprivica.”
“Whatever.” He pulled out of the parking lot and quickly got up to speed on the highway. “I’ll drive until we get breakfast. But then you’ll need to let this old man get some shuteye.”
She combed his hair with her fingers. “You are getting pretty gray. But it’s nice. Distinguished.”
“More like haggard,” he said, and paddled through the gears until he hit the eighth speed.
They went through a few more tunnels until the road opened up on the way toward Lucerne.
Shadow Warrior Page 15
