by Mark O'Neill
Meyer looked appalled, and Unterwald turned slowly and looked furiously at Decker. Decker knew she would suffer for it later, but right now she could only see honesty as the way to survive one of Meyer’s legendary explosive bouts of temper. She would deal with Unterwald later.
There was suddenly an extended silence in the room as Meyer looked at Decker, as if assessing her. "Hans, could you leave me alone with Captain Decker please? I’ll call you when I need you".
Unterwald looked startled and then miffed at the sudden dismissal. "Yes Ma’am" and he promptly turned around and marched out of the room, with as much dignity as he could muster. But he still managed one more cruel glare at Decker.
"I think you hurt his feelings" observed Decker.
"Tough" said Meyer, bluntly. "Sit down Captain. I can’t abide it when people stand in front of me".
As Decker sat, Meyer poured two generous measures of whisky. She handed one glass to Decker.
“You look like a Scotch kind of girl” said Meyer, “and as your boss, I give you permission to drink on duty”.
“Thank you Ma’am” said Decker. “I think I will need the liquid courage for when I go back out to face Unterwald’s wrath”.
“Don’t worry about him. I’ll tell him to back off and leave you alone”.
Meyer and Decker sat for a moment, savouring the alcohol. Decker indulged her, knowing Meyer would speak when she was ready.
"Captain" she said finally, "give it to me straight, because I know Unterwald won’t. He does have my best interests at heart, but only up to a point. He would never admit it, but part of him is a chauvinistic dinosaur who thinks women shouldn’t be in politics”.
“Alright. Straight then. What do you want to know?”
Meyer finished off the rest of her drink. “I have to put on the tough act, because politics is still a man’s world, deep down. To get to the Chancellery, I’ve had to put up with an unbelievable amount of derision and condescension. Why am I not married, why don’t I have children, am I gay? You know, the usual stuff”.
“I can imagine” said Decker.
“No offence Captain, but I’m not sure you can. Anyway, that’s besides the point. The point is that the tough woman act is precisely that. An act. Deep down, this whole Scorpion crap is scaring the hell out of me, and it is affecting my sleep. The thought that I wasn’t even safe with my own bodyguards made me feel a lot worse. The fact the mole is now dead makes me feel better, but the Scorpion is still out there”.
“What’s your question?” asked Decker, swirling the last of her whisky around in her glass.
“Just how much danger am I in? Can you stop this dangerous lunatic?”
Decker thought for a moment. “Well, he is certainly someone not to be underestimated. He murdered your bodyguard in cold blood. He has dozens of kills to his name. He has a reputation for being relentless and professional. He certainly isn’t a beginner at this”.
"Can you stop him?" said Meyer.
"I’m reasonably confident I can".
"Reasonably confident? That doesn’t exactly make me feel better".
"I would be doing you a disservice if I said I was 100% sure. You said you wanted total honesty. I will do my best to protect you. I think my service record speaks for itself".
"What would you need?"
“Are you offering me a job?”
“Until the Scorpion is caught, I need someone I can trust. If Unterwald trusts you, that is good enough for me. So what would you need?”
Decker took a deep breath. "Get Unterwald off my back. He is probably sharpening his claws, waiting for me to leave your office. I need to have full access to you 24 hours a day around the clock. There is to be no move to fire Schmitz for the Krause incident. Your protection detail needs to suck it up and accept me as their temporary boss, plus you need to provide me with full authority and full legal immunity to do whatever is needed to protect you. If that means blowing up a bus full of registered voters, then so be it. I don’t want or need any hand-wringing about the legal niceties. If any politician, police, or intelligence agency objects, I need you or Unterwald to shut it down".
“You don’t exactly ask for much, do you?”
“You asked what I needed. That’s what I need”.
“If you are going to, as you call it, blow up a bus full of registered voters, it needs to be discreet and deniable. I can’t have this coming back on me” said Meyer. “Do you understand the meaning of the words ‘discreet’ and ‘deniable’?”
“Nope”.
“Yes” sighed Meyer, “that’s what worries me. But right now, my options are narrowing by the hour. I will have to trust you. You have a deal, but nothing in writing. If you think I am putting my signature to any legal immunity deal, you have another thing coming. Just as I will have to trust you, you will have to trust me too to protect you”.
“Alright” said Decker cautiously.
“Don’t worry Captain” said Meyer. “Just kill that son-of-a-bitch. Leave the legal niceties to me".
As Decker rose to leave, Meyer said “as you leave, send in Herr Unterwald. And please don’t say anything to provoke him - if you can manage that”.
Meyer left the office to find Unterwald fuming and pacing the outer room where Meyer’s secretary sat. The secretary looked terrified at Unterwald’s increasingly volatile mood.
“She wants you” said Decker, pointing to her door.
“You and I are not finished” said Unterwald, jabbing a finger at her. “not by a long shot”.
Decker stood and looked at him for a moment. Unterwald’s face was burning and the veins in his neck were more pronounced.
“You’d better go in” said Decker calmly. “You shouldn’t keep her waiting”.
“Why thank you Captain for your concern over my welfare”.
“Hans” said a voice behind Decker. It was Meyer. “Lower your voice and come into the office please. Decker, you have your orders. You can go now”.
“Yes Ma’am”. Then she walked out of the office.
All in all, she was quite proud of her self-restraint.
Chapter Nine
After escaping the Unter den Linden, the Scorpion had made his way to another boring bland business hotel. One of many that populated the centre of Berlin to cater to the numerous business people who flocked to the German capital.
It was one of his abiding principles, which had never let him down. When hiding, always hide in plain sight.
As he checked into his room, he threw the leather bag with the two million Euros in it into the corner of the room. Having second thoughts, he opened the wardrobe and pushed it under the spare blankets on the top shelf. He put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door, and sat down on the bed, looking at the blood-splattered manilla envelope given to him by Krause.
He hoped to God that there was actually something in this envelope, after everything he had been through that morning. He actually felt bad killing Krause. After everything the two men had been through together, the Scorpion really thought Krause was strong and reliable. But it was plain to see that Krause was already falling apart under the strain of what was to come. Disposing of him was the only possible solution.
At least that’s what the Scorpion kept telling himself. He wasn’t sure why he was having to justify himself. He had certainly never done it before.
He had a bad feeling that there was probably blank paper in the envelope with Krause trying to run some kind of a scam on him. As he idly turned the envelope around in his hand, he picked up the remote control and turned on the television. Suddenly he saw a face he recognised, and the envelope was totally forgotten about.
"Police are confirming today that the Berlin crime boss, Gabriel Schäfer, has been arrested. Police raided one of his clubs last night to arrest him on outstanding vice charges, when he discharged a weapon, in an effort to escape. He was quickly overpowered and taken into custody. However sources inside the Berlin police tell us that Schäfer has been t
ransferred to another department for further questioning..."
Scorpion looked at the television, furiously trying to think. The vice charges were quite obviously a load of crap, and that was proven by his transfer to "another department for further questioning". That reeked of military intelligence, and the timing was very off. Why would military intelligence want to talk to him, if it wasn’t about him?
The Scorpion knew it was Schäfer who had hired him. When he had left the room after the meeting, he handed one of the pimps his Bitcoin details. It was then that he noticed on the bar, beermats with the name of the club. When the pimp hadn’t been looking, he had palmed one of the mats, and later did some checking to see who had owned the place. A minute on Google was enough to know the name of the owner and what he looked like. Schäfer’s criminal exploits had graced the German newspapers for years.
Amateurs, letting their guard down like that. But their money was as good as anyone else’s.
Having to shoot those men after the meeting was bad enough, but this….it was only a matter of time before Schäfer did a deal and talked. They always talked in the end, no matter how tough they thought they were. Everyone has their breaking point, even a so-called tough guy like Schäfer.
If Schäfer talked, he could identify the Scorpion. Describe his face in minute detail. Then his anonymity would be shot to hell. He would have to get plastic surgery or run like hell.
The game had suddenly got a lot more harder.
He opened the envelope.
Gabriel Schäfer was in a tremendous amount of pain.
He was still under the impression that he was in police custody, so he wasn’t bothered about his legal situation. It had been chaotic in the club, with all the customers screaming, smoke from the stun grenades, and the shock from the sudden police assault. So he could claim that shooting the gun was an rash impulsive act, and plead for mercy. He could even fake a bit of legal insanity.
He just needed to see his lawyer, so the waters could be muddied a bit, witnesses could be paid off, and the prosecutor to be sufficiently worried about the strength of his case.
He had been transported to the interrogation room hours ago, and he was starting to get really angry. He had long given up shouting for his lawyer, and instead he sat there smouldering.
His hands and feet were shackled to the table. But the chair rocked back and forth, and the light above his head flickered on and off. It was also extremely hot, the heat having been turned up on Decker’s orders. The sweat rolled off Schäfer’s face like a waterfall. Even more so, because they had covered him in blankets to make the heat even worse, then used ropes to make sure he couldn’t shake the blankets off.
He laughed to himself. He probably looked like a badly wrapped Christmas present. These really were crude psychological techniques. But he had been in and out of rooms like this one more times than he cared to count. A rocking chair, a flickering light, and a bit of heat would not be enough to make him spill his guts out.
But his shoulder. That hurt like living hell. He had demanded pain killers and was ignored. The same way he demanded water and was smirked at. The police had a nerve treating him like this. He would sue them for all the money they had.
The door opened and Decker walked in, followed by Schmitz. Finally, thought Schäfer. And a woman to boot. This is going to be too easy.
"I want my lawyer" he growled, “and get these bloody ropes and blankets off me”.
Decker and Schmitz said nothing. Schmitz moved to the back corner of the room, just behind Schäfer. Decker slowly removed her leather jacket, revealing a tight t-shirt, well-toned muscles, and a dark tattoo of some description. Schäfer looked at her lasciviously. Decker realised she was being studied but really couldn’t care less. It just rolled off her. Schmitz wasn’t the first one to visually undress her and he sure wouldn’t be the last.
"Did you hear me?" said Schäfer. "Lawyer. Now!".
Decker and Schmitz still didn’t respond. Schmitz started examining his nails, and Decker sat and studied Schäfer.
"How’s the shoulder and the nose?” she asked, finally.
Schäfer laughed. "Like you care. Withholding essential medical treatment? I’m going to sue you for that when I get out of here".
"You’re assuming you’re getting out of here" said Schmitz, speaking for the first time.
Schäfer laughed again, albeit this time more nervously, "you can’t make all that stuff that happened at the club stick. It was chaotic. An accident".
Schmitz moved forward, grabbed Schäfer by the shoulder wound, and squeezed as hard as he could. The screaming from Schäfer was ear-splitting, as Schmitz pushed down on Schäfer’s shoulder with all his strength.
“I’m sorry?” said Schmitz, “you were saying? Oh yes, you were telling us all about your unique defence whereby you claim everything was an accident. If you’re planning to go with that bullshit, I think you’ll find my colleagues will ensure you’ll be the one having an unfortunate accident".
"Don’t give me all that crap” snarled Schäfer, as Schmitz started slapping Schäfer’s shoulder over and over, "you police have rules. You’re breaking every single one! I want my lawyer now!"
"Ah but there’s the thing Herr Schäfer" said Decker, "we’re not the police. This is not a police station, in our world there are no rules, no judges, no lawyers, no due process. In short, we can do whatever we want to you. Tell me, have you ever been tortured?".
Schäfer laughed with a roar. "Everytime I listen to a woman complaining. Stop wasting my time little girl".
"Herr Schäfer, we work for the government" said Decker, "and I have had a particularly bad morning so far, so I am going to do you an enormous favour and cut to the chase. Where’s the Scorpion?"
Schäfer’s heart thudded in his chest and he swallowed saliva that had suddenly collected in his throat.
"The Scorpion? Who’s that?". His smile and his act were not very convincing.
"The man you hired to kill Chancellor Meyer of course. Have you already forgotten doing that? I didn’t think that was something you would forget doing? Unless you take out hits on world leaders every day?”
How the hell did they know, thought Schäfer silently. Was the Scorpion such an amateur that he left a trail of breadcrumbs for them to follow?
"Ah, I can hear your brain working" said Schmitz, "how do we know? Well for a start, we had someone working inside your club who reported the meeting to us. He was a bouncer and a pimp who took Scorpion’s Bitcoin details. ten million up-front with another ten million afterwards? And what, fifty grand in expenses? That’s a lot of money".
"Oh and the agent is dead by the way" said Decker, "was that you? Because we would love to pin that one on you too". She knew it was the Scorpion that did it, but Schäfer didn’t know that.
"I didn’t kill anybody!". Schäfer was suddenly panicking.
“I highly doubt that, given your line of work” said Schmitz, cynically.
"We also have the Scorpion killing a Chancellery bodyguard this morning, a bodyguard who was wired for sound" continued Decker. "We got the whole conversation on tape, the whole assassination conspiracy. It’s over, Schäfer".
Schäfer looked at them for a long moment. "Lawyer".
Decker sighed. "They never learn do they, Lieutenant?". She dialled a number on her mobile. "Come in".
Several other operatives came in moments later. Big muscular men. Schäfer was no idiot. He knew what these men did for a living. He employed many like them himself. Mainly for breaking bones.
"Your last chance pretty boy”, whispered Schmitz into Schäfer’s ear.
Schäfer couldn’t move. He was suddenly frozen with fear. Unfortunately, that was misinterpreted by Decker as defiance, and she nodded to the other agents to get started. As two held onto Schäfer and squeezed the shoulder wound, the one in front started punching Schäfer hard across the jaw.
He did not last long. Despite being a cruel bully, he did not like being on the rec
eiving end.
"All right!" shouted Schäfer. "I can’t tell you anything. He said no more meetings after that one, so I have no way of contacting him. We wired him his first half of the money, put the second half into an escrow account, warned him what would happen if he ran without doing the job, and that was it".
Decker gave him a long hard stare for a moment.
"Let’s see if that’s really all you know. Boys, get to work on him".
"Yes Ma’am" said one of the men.
“That’s all I know!” shouted Schäfer, “come on!”
Decker and Schmitz left the room, as Schäfer shouted louder and louder. As they closed the door to the room, the punching could be heard starting again.
A hour later, as Decker and Schmitz waited in the corridor, the lead interrogator came out of the room. He had blood on his hands, and his knuckles were raw.
"He says he will describe the Scorpion’s appearance to you, if you get the gun charges taken away. Other than that, he is sticking to his story"
"Alright, thank you Corporal. Clean him up and get him ready for transport".
"Yes Ma’am".
"Transport?" said Schmitz.
Decker held up a finger and dialled a number on her phone.
"Fischer? We’re finished with Schäfer. Do you want him back for those gun charges? He seems to think he is going to beat it. I’m sure you’d like to disabuse him of the idea...his appearance? Well he accidentally hit a door several times, but apart from that....good, we’ll send him your way".
"We’re handing him back to the civilians?" said Schmitz, when Decker had hung up.
"You heard the corporal. Once we get the description of the Scorpion, Schäfer knows nothing more. So he’s no good to us. We can either shoot him or hand him back to the Berlin police for trial. I would prefer to earn some brownie points with the police".
"He won’t give us that description without a deal in place".
"So we’ll make him think he has a deal" said Decker, shrugging. "When we have the description, he’ll realise he has nothing. But by then, it’ll be too late. You overthink things Lieutenant".
