He got in his car to wait for a call from them, waving at Tom as he reversed out of his driveway. Tom motioned that he wanted to talk, but Hans, disguised as Mike, pretended not to see. He stopped at the top of the hill, and removed his Mike disguise then put on a very elderly-looking facial apparatus that had the shaggiest wrinkles of any he had worn. No one bothers an old man, Hans thought.
Out of habit, he drove by the Munich Police Department. Nothing going on there. Last time he had caught a glimpse of the Chief with some Spanish-looking woman in the parking lot. She was showing him pictures of something and Bruno must have liked her because he was laughing. He saw him put his hand at the small of her back as he guided her inside the station. It wasn’t his wife. Maybe he was having an affair. He’d stay closer and follow him home in the evenings for a while to find out more. If Bruno left to go out after the evening meal he would follow him then, too.
At the next meeting of the GRS, Bruno brought up the Whittelsbach Emerald mystery to Gottschlag and Neuschondorf, and reached into his briefcase for his Huber Family Tree file. He looked up at the men quizzically and resumed searching again, angrily pulling every paper from the case, and piling them on the table. Suddenly, with fire in his eyes he screamed, “Somebody has been in my briefcase! The file on the Hubers was here. It’s where I’ve kept it since I got it from Brunner.”
“Who could have taken it?” Neuschondorf asked.
“No one gets near my briefcase. I always see to that.”
“What about your secretary?” Gottschlag wondered.
“Liliane has been with me since Denmark. She would never do such a thing. Someone has taken it from me. Now we’ve got another problem. Could Hans have disguised himself, slipped in, and gotten it? Why would he want it? There has to be another person involved. If it’s anyone on my staff, they are dead. Thank God it wasn’t some Compound plan we were supposed to put into action. Just the same, we can’t permit this incident to stand or go unpunished. We’re done for the evening. I am too upset. We’ll meet again next week and pick up where we left off”
Hans watched Neuschondorf and Gottschlag leaving Bruno’s house. So, they do meet in private! I wonder what’s up. Maybe I’ll be getting a call soon. I’ll know to watch them more closely from now on. Hans looked at his watch and saw it was just ten, perhaps early for the end to a meeting after dinner. Had the two men come just for dinner? He would continue watching, nevertheless.
After thoroughly going through everything in her own office, Liliane began frenziedly searching through everything in the chief’s. She had never seen him so upset. What was so important about a family tree file, she wondered.
By five, she had found nothing. When Bruno got back, she worried that he would fire her. If she left now, maybe she could side step the issue. She gathered up her things and went home for the evening, hating the thought of coming in tomorrow.
However, the next morning when she entered the office, her boss was already at work. She hesitantly opened the door to his office and peeked in. “Here’s your coffee, sir.”
“Thank you, Liliane. How are you today, my dear? I’m sorry I put you through all that yesterday. I’ve remembered where I laid the paper I lost. So just go on about your usual work.”
Liliane did not like the sound of that. She knew him too well. In ten minutes, the buzzer on her intercom went off.
“Liliane, could you put a call through to Mr. Phillipe Sanchez in Madrid? Put it directly through when he comes on the line, please. Thank you, my dear.”
Liliane hated to have to tell him the number she Mr. Sanchez had given her went to some laundry in Madrid. Her problems had just begun.
CHAPTER 29
Tel Aviv - - - Munich - - - Buenos Aires
Wearing stiffly pressed khaki shorts, and an Israeli army field shirt minus any insignia, Miriam was sitting cross-legged on the conference room floor, next to Levi’s office, reading Ringo’s latest communiqué from Buenos Aires out loud to the team members gathered around her. We have an aerial map of the twenty-acre Klement Compound gathered from a satellite fly-over. From the Buenos Aries Land Office we obtained construction, electrical and plumbing schematics of the estate. We suspect that a tunnel may go from the back of the main house under an asphalt-topped area the size of a city block to a training field surrounded by spruce trees. A six-acre farmland garden complete with chicken house, cows, pigs and a pond for ducks, surrounds the training field on 3 sides. From the street it looks like the two places- - -the houses and training grounds- - -have nothing to do with each other. In the past fifteen years, the estate has increased in size by the purchase of surrounding land. The original open ground has been enlarged and besides obvious military-like training, the children of the compound play baseball, basketball and ride their bikes there.
The Klements purchased the two houses on either side of the main house when they came up for sale a decade ago. Mrs. Ricardo Klement, now age eighty-one, resides in the main house with servants and unknown others. Her daughter occupies one of the side houses, and her daughter’s three grown sons, all single, Adolf, Werner and Korloff, live in the other house. The whole compound is registered in Karlene Klement’s name, the daughter, age fifty-two.
She laid the paper down, looked at the group, and said, “Ringo told Levi he can only spare us two full-time people, but their communications system is at our disposal and his Buenos Aires team can help us get transportation, housing and anything else we might need. We will have satellite hook-ups for wireless reception. It looks like everything is in place for us in Buenos Aries on Monday evening. Remember, our purpose is the electronically bug a large compound of buildings.”
“Good!” Levi commented. “David, do you want to add anything?”
“Just a reminder that we must at all times maintain our identities as couples, tourists from various places in Europe. There and there must be no recognition of each other while traveling, other that we might have met while traveling to Argentina. Miriam and I will leave on Swiss passports. Lenny and Jan will have British passports. Forbes and Marla will be carrying Spanish passports. We will be flying Alitalia Airlines from Ben Gurion and fly to Rome where we will have about a three hour layover, but we won’t have to change planes. Then it’s about a thirteen hour flight down to Argentina. Remember, no weapons with you of any kind. For our weapon needs, give Levi a “want list” by tomorrow, and he will send it to Ringo. Let’s see, what else. Oh, yes, Ringo has a safe house set up for the six of us - - - a small apartment complex just a couple of blocks from the compound, where each couple will have their own small apartment. We will be part of a tour group after we arrive - - - therefore, we don’t have to be worried about being seen together. Theo and Rolf, from the Buenos Aries unit, will be our Argentinean tour guides, even with a small tour bus for our group. They will primarily operate as drivers on an as-needed basis and will be located in an office, identified as Turismo Buenos Aires setup as a tour company between our apartment building near the Klement Compound. That one will be our observation base for the compound. It is a four story building, so we can use an upper office to observe the Compound. It also backs on an alley so we can enter from there unobserved. Any questions before we dismiss? Okay, we’ll go over all the procedures again tomorrow and then Wednesday we’ll make any final changes to our plans. Thursday we leave for this adventure. That’s about all I have on my list. Spent some time going over the photos and information Ring sent and then we’ll get together tomorrow to begin to work out our plans to bug that Nazi compound. Levi, do you have anything to add?”
“No, I think you have covered it very well. I’ll meet with you tomorrow to answer anything questions I can, but I think Ringo’s material will get you started. Most of the details will just have to be worked out after you are on site. I guess that’s all. I’ll see you back here in the conference room tomorrow at nine sharp”
David was wired after the session. As he rose from his chair he stretched his muscular arms over his
head and arched his back. He asked if anyone wanted to join him at Frankie’s for a nightcap and Forbes, Levi and Miriam responded, saying they’d meet him there.
At the bar, Levi wrapped his big paws around the tall Cutty and soda, took a swallow and said he wished he was going with them. David pulled on his Goldstar dark Larger and glanced at Miriam as she took her first sip of a salt encrusted Margarita- - -a drink that reminded her of Hank. It was her new favorite as it allowed her to keep her psychological distance when around David. The four of them chatted about the political situation in Israel and the latest Palestinian protest in Ramallah. It was always understood that no agency business would be discussed at Frankie’s, even though their next assignment crowded their brains. When the waitress came by their table again they all agreed to another round.
“I’ve been wondering, does travel really broaden the mind,” Forbes asked of no one in particular after the new round arrived.
“I’ve often wondered that myself,” volunteered Levi.
“Of course, it does,” Miriam replied. “Travel makes it real rather than imaginary. What do you think, David?”
David looked up from his beer and said without missing a beat, “If you have a well-developed intellect, you can imagine your own journeys, Miriam. But we like to fool ourselves; and it keeps us entertained. A person who allows events to push him hither and yon has no control of his or her mind.”
“What does that mean? What does that have to do with travel?” Forbes asked, wondering if the others were on a trip he had just missed. Levi, David and Miriam laughed and asked if he wanted another drink, but he replied he had better get home, he needed to explain to his wife about going to Argentina with another woman as his wife. They all laughed and responded, good luck. He left, throwing some bills on the table and bid them goodnight.
Levi announced he had to leave too, “Forget the bill. I’ll put it on the company tab. Stay and enjoy yourselves, you two. See you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Levi,” David said turning to Miriam, “You going to have another drink, Miriam? I think I will.”
“Why not? Order me a vodka and tonic this time.” Miriam felt a small movement inside her breast, a little seismic shift, as she relaxed. “I’m waxing philosophical, and vodka keeps my head clearer,” she explained, a smile spreading on her full lips, her hazel eyes twinkling.
“So what’s your philosophy tonight, Miriam? To do or not?”
“I’m leaning toward to do. How about you?”
“That’s where I’ve always been, Miriam.”
“Wait a minute! Remember our pledge!”
“Who the hell made a pledge? I sure didn’t.”
“Our agreement, David, you know what I mean. Let’s talk. There’s something I want to ask you.”
“I don’t want to talk. What’s wrong with you tonight, Miriam?”
“What’s wrong with me? It’s time to leave. Be careful on the drive home.”
“Go on without me, Miriam. I still have some things to work through. Waitress!”
“See you tomorrow then.” Miriam got up and left David staring at his drink. She waited outside in her car until she saw him walk out, and peer around the parking lot. She rolled down her window, “Come on, David, let’s talk some more.
Dr. Yang was horrified when an unidentified body was found on his property. The publicity would be very damaging. He refused to discuss it with anyone at the hospital but that did not stop the talk, despite his warnings to his staff. They remembered clearly that patient who had been slashed in the same way. So the killer was still on the loose. They couldn’t ignore it.
The police came and questioned several hospital employees, looking for a connection they might have missed to the Stratton murder. The headlines blared, Dagger Strikes Again! Dr. Yang could not avoid the officers, but he gave them only terse answers, insisting he had patients that needed looking after. He did admit he knew the killer’s first name: “Hans, somebody.” The officers wanted to know how he knew that. Had he had reported it before? Dr. Yang told them he had, they could just look at their own records. “Actually, I said it was ‘that fucker Hans’,” he said and excused himself.
At the end of the day, Chief Beinschmidt decided that Hans must have the missing papers. Somehow he needed to force Hans to give back the papers, perhaps by threatening to arrest him. At their next GRS get-together, Gottschlag and Neuschondorf agreed.
Hans received a call the next morning ordering him to drop the papers in the mail, but he denied having them. Bruno threatened he would have him arrested by noon and Hans replied that he wouldn’t be around at noon and hung up. Enraged, Bruno ordered Gottschlag and Neuschondorf to handle Hans. But they didn’t have the faintest idea where he might be. His cell phone number didn’t give them a clue. They left frustrated promising results as soon as possible.
At lunch, Gottschlag complained to Neuschondorf that the Chief was getting too paranoid and bossy. Who really cared about Hans’ family tree anyway. He’d always done the job. Now if Bruno started pressuring him, they might lose him. How could they get Bruno to lay off?
Neuschondorf said he’d try talking to the Chief to see if he could bring him down a notch. But if he kept rocking the boat, they would need to do something about him. The three stingers coming from Argentina next month to implement their GRS plans in Germany, wouldn’t be happy if the Chief screwed things up. They needed Hans more than ever now.
Late Thursday evening the team from Israel landed in Buenos Aries.
After the couples passed through security and picked up their bags they took various cabs to the apartment building that Ringo had arranged, and settled in as a tour group, excited to explore Argentina.
Servette learned about the new Dagger murder by reading the small article in the newspaper. Chief Beinschmidt had not called in an update on the killing, so Piet called Levi to see if he had heard anything.
“No, Piet. I didn’t know anything about it. I wonder why Beinschmidt didn’t tell you about it? I appreciate you telling me because now it definitely looks like there may be a connection between the Munich police and the Dagger. It seems very suspicious to me.”
“Do you think we should mention any of this to Interpol?”
“Let’s wait until my team gathers more concrete proof, then we’ll have more to give them. In the meantime, keep your eyes and ears open. I think the Chief is getting a little paranoid as well as being almost dangerously careless. We don’t want him to suspect anything now. Who knows what he might do?”
When Marla, wearing a red wig, pushed the baby carriage down the sidewalk alongside the seven-foot fence circling the Klement Compound, only the taped crying of a baby could be heard while she spoke into the microphone attached to her collar while the crew in David and Miriam’s apartment listened and took notes. She reported there were two additional houses on either side of the large main house, a large, low building with a number of doors and one two-storied building set back from the others, just like the satellite photo. The sentries guarding the main gate were sitting on a bench outside a shack, just inside the gate, smoking and talking. Marla saw four others outside the main house, but could not determine if they were guards or simply men standing around outdoors. The fence itself had iron spikes six inches apart on top, but no other deterrents, and could be scaled with car. All the buildings were set back about a hundred feet from the fence.
Later that evening at the apartment, the six agents reviewed the details. Since Marla had seen no dogs, they could easily silence the guards and slip in. On the training-ground there were 3 barracks-like buildings that could probably house twenty people each. At night there had been no indication of a regular time for lights-out, so they decided that the people who lived there weren’t being kept under very strict discipline. Marla reported regular physical training and military exercises by groups of twenty or more that went on throughout the day, but there was no other evidence of a military presence. What looked like a large gymnasium co
uld possibly be a warehouse and hold almost anything. The whole compound was surrounded by wrought iron fencing, Rolf told them. Marla couldn’t determine whether or not the fence was electrified. New Aerial photos had been taken to get further layout of all the buildings, barricades and electrical lines on the property, and Ringo would bring them later in the afternoon..
According to Ringo, no problems requiring police intervention had ever been reported during the thirty years the Nazis had occupied the place. People came and went from the compound in no regular pattern or schedule.
It would take some unusual circumstance to get a disguised group of workers on the grounds. David’s crew had pondered this numerous times, but still came up with nothing. Now after a visual survey determining what type of entry could be pulled off became the week’s main assignment for the Tel Aviv crew - - - to be urgently thought about twenty-four hours a day by each member, for creating a successful ploy superseded all else. After a week, if they could come up with nothing, they would have to enter the grounds by stealth. Learning all they could as passersby’s would help augment their information. Photos were taken by agents strolling the grounds, in simple disguises so their efforts would not be noticed by the Nazis. Rolf picked up the film every night at nine and returned prints at six the next morning after they had been scanned into the computer at the agency.
The agents scanned the perimeter for infrared security devices. None were found, but later they decided that there could be some along the gardens and farmland bordering the training ground. To find out, Forbes, Lenny and David would scale the fence tomorrow night and check, each one taking a different side. Each woman would stand watch for her man, keeping in contact via walkie-talkies that looked like hearing aids. They also were to remove and later replace the leather sheaths that had been laid over the spiked-top fence where the men had scaled. The men memorized the path they’d take. With darkened faces and camouflage clothes, on a moonless night, they entered the grounds. David shimmied on his belly between the rows of vegetables to not disturb the plants. He managed to crawl much of the way, speeding the process. He paused to get the lay of the land and saw that the spruce trees lay just twenty feet ahead. He saw no fence or wires, so he edged closer. Latin music drifted across the field from one of the barracks off to his left where he could see several men hanging around smoking and talking under a circle of light that shined on the group. As he neared the tree-line he stood up within their shadows and surveyed the grounds. This stand of mature spruce was fairly thick, from four to ten feet deep. He whispered the details of the scene, specifying the location and size of every building to Miriam on the walkie-talkie attached to his collar. He told her he had detected no infrared sensors or security trip-wires yet.
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