E.B.E. 21- the Hunt

by Peer Lehregger

  The cell phone man had sent the "stupid cunt" to position herself at the target’s house, and to report every half hour from the time Hannes Rachmiel would show up. They didn’t think, but they told her that he would leave the house again when he came home from work, but who knew. That's what she's here for. At midnight replacement, the other morning before 0500 at the house on the observation post. Sabine saluted half-heartedly, turned around and disappeared. The cell phone from the cell phone man rang, and he picked up and left the room. Mike heard him speak outside the door, soft murmur, but that's all. If the cell phone man had spoken commonly, Mike would not have heard anything, but he had to yell into his phone so that Mike could listen to the murmur through the soundproof door.

  The cell phone man came in, and Mike looked up at him, put the file away again. The cell phone man dropped into an armchair and sighed loudly. "We're having a conversation right here in this room next week with a representative of our client. "Around 0900. Both of us and him."

  "Do you still think it was a good idea to recruit this stupid cunt?"

  "Take it easy, Mike, it's all just to keep her under control. We know where she is, what she's doing, and when she'll be home. She only has this gun for safety. Let's hope she's got a spark of brains and's not using that thing."

  Mike grunted. At that moment Mike’s bowels gurgled so loud that the cell phone man heard it and burst out laughing. "Well, digestive problems? It's not from the food, it was good. But you drank like a heretic. Don't complain."

  Mike got up. "I'm going to take a shit now." The cell phone man said to Mike, still smiling: "Mike, wait, I’ve got something fundamental!"

  Mike's collar burst. "I'm going to take a shit now! And I need silence when I shit!" The cell phone man bent over on his chair, laughing. "Okay! But come right back!"

  In that minute when Mike was hurrying across the hall as fast as he could with his ass cheeks pinched together, Sabine von Hansenwerder was sitting in a leisure outfit of a rich, bored woman who doesn't know what to do with her time in the café on Gingerbread-Street diagonally opposite the Target's house. Unfortunately, all the women in the café looked like her, but luckily, she didn't stand out there.

  On the third floor, where the target lived, the curtains were closed, the lights were out, the front door was closed. People walked past the front door, and none of the passers-by hurrying past the door took a look in this direction. Rachmiel was working (shift ending around 1500) and the package was alone up there. She noticed that she didn't have a cell phone number from the agent that was doing the surveillance at Hannes' workplace. A quick look at her own business cell phone revealed that only one number was saved. Primus stood there, and the cell phone man told her it was his number. Sabine frowned, tried to remember any promises like that she would always be in contact with her partners or co-workers, or whomever. But she couldn't remember anything concretely.

  So, she slowly drank her seventh coffee, leafed through magazines, then drank cocoa instead of coffee, leafed through magazines and almost missed the time when Hannes was walking down the street. She wrote in 1417 and watched Hannes unlock the front door and then disappear into the house. She paid what took an eternity and was also quite expensive, and suddenly found herself on the street at the entrance to the house. Sabine stared at the doorbell plate, Rachmiel stood there, on the third floor. She didn't know what to do now, she decided to send Primus a WhatsApp: Target Arrival 1417.

  Right away a text from Primus, she should please send the time in cultivated Middle High German, she wasn’t in the military. Primus also wanted to know from which direction the target had come and what he had looked like (clothing) and how he acted on her as a professional observer, exhausted, motivated, tired, etc.

  Disillusioned Sabine typed the desired information into the phone and was bumped by the target hurrying out of the house. "Watch your step!"

  An icy shock went through Sabine. She had been seen. Hannes hurried to the supermarket. Sabine wasn't sure what to do now, leaving? He had seen her, briefly, without much attention. Her heart pounded up to her neck. She admonished herself to think and act professionally again. She breathed in and out deeply. Was the target still wearing work clothes? Or had he changed? Was he washed? She didn't remember. But she thought she should decide now what she should do. She stood in the front door and waited for the target. Less than ten minutes later, Hannes came back, with a loaf of bread under his arm and a small shopping bag in his hand. Sabine von Hansenwerder broke out in a sweat. Agent ID? No way! Then it was immediately apparent to the target that they were after him, on the trail, then he would be warned.

  Show the police ID? People screening, please show me your ID. Not a good idea either. He wouldn't have it with him then, she would have to do it to complete the show, if he said he had it upstairs in his apartment, she could come with him, then he would get it, follow him and upstairs he would do something ... yes, what? Do something with her. Shoot her in the apartment? Or she'd be forced to draw her own gun up there, and then? She remembered scenes from her dream, then the weapon would fail, a tired "poof," then he would grab her and drag her into the apartment, then her fate would be sealed.

  In the seconds until Hannes stood in the house entrance and searched for his key, these thoughts went through her head as short flashes. When Hannes stood next to her and fished the key out of his trouser pocket, she stood there, her hands in the coat pockets and pretended to freeze terribly and wait for someone at the same time. Hannes hardly paid any attention to her but noticed that the young woman in her strange, actually funny outfit, which didn't fit her at all, froze terribly.

  "Do you want in?" he asked. Sabine shook her head. "No thanks, I'll wait here for someone. We had an appointment." She talked for a moment, even more, Hannes had already turned his attention away from her long before; actually, everything would have gone well, but Sabine von Hansenwerder sniffed. She sniffed out his smell. She wanted to know how he smelled.

  Since Sabine von Hansenwerder looked in another direction, she did not see how Hannes tightened herself for a split second. The door fell into the lock.

  Contact

  Hannes hurried up the stairs and entered the apartment. "Ibby", he shouted, "Where are you?" Something in Hannes's voice must have alarmed her because she came out of the bedroom lightning-fast, Hannes looked at questioningly. "Ibby, they got us," he shouted. "There's someone downstairs who's been snooping!" Ibby crooked her head. Hannes waved back, she didn't understand anyway, wanted to bring the groceries into the kitchen, but Ibby grabbed him with a firm grip on his arm. Hannes pointed to the kitchen, which meant to come with him. She let go and followed him.

  How was he supposed to make her understand what just had happened? Hannes put the things on the sideboard, tried to calm down. Ibby stood in front of the kitchen table, as always only one pair of underpants, but with her upper body free. This circumstance gradually got on Hannes' nerves. But no matter. He pointed to the chair, and Ibby sat down, laid his hands on the table, and folded them, looked at him attentively. He could read some of her moods from her facial expressions and extremely frugal facial expressions and the degree of sparkle in her eyes after almost three weeks of living together, so he saw that she was attentive. She realized something had happened.

  "Watch, Ibby," he said. When "you," he pointed at her, "were trapped," he turned his back to her, laid his hands crossed on his back, "and still drove," he indicated steering movements, "I drove too." Hannes pointed to herself, steering again.

  "I had to stop because of an accident." Hannes took a chair, sat on it, and pretended that he was driving. He pointed two fingers at his eyes, "I see you!" then forward. He raised his fists in the air and pushed them together. Then Hannes acted like he had to brake really hard.

  Ibby nodded.

  Hannes pretended to have to roll down the car window. Did she know that? Then he leaned out of the non-existent window.

  He jumped up, stood next to Ibby, then he pr
etended to have to pull a servant's cap up, so beautifully diagonal and bold half into his forehead. He threw himself into the chest and strutted towards the chair, leaning towards the invisible window.

  He took one look at Ibby nodding. Her eyes sparkled.

  Hannes turned around again, narrowed the eyes exaggeratedly to slits, sniffed unmistakably. Hannes sat down on the chair, smelled his armpits, and acted as if the stench was stunning him. Ibby nodded.

  Hannes played the policeman again, and Ibby got up and put his hand on his shoulder. She also made the gesture of seeing me, pointed to the window. Hannes knew immediately what she wanted.

  They went to the kitchen window. Hannes pulled the curtain a little to the side and looked on the gingerbread street. Passers-by rattled through the street in great haste, wearing thick coats and jackets. It dawned slightly, but the streetlights were still off. He let his gaze wander across the street but did not discover the woman anymore.

  He turned to Ibby. "I can't see her anymore!" He thought for a moment, looked into emptiness. "It was a woman." He hinted at female forms, also shaped the breasts. "She was a little taller than me." He moved his hand a little above his head. "She had a braid." He reached for Ibby, who flinched back. Hannes made a soothing gesture. "Wait, I'll show you." He stood behind Ibby and started braiding her hair. When Ibby nodded, he stopped. He went back to the window. His eyes fell on his old television newspaper, which lay on the windowsill. He took it and leafed through it until he had found the advertisement for the expensive clothes, looking for a blonde woman. He showed Ibby the blonde hair. Then he pointed to blue eyes. "She had that, too." Ibby put his hand on his arm, then plucked his clothes.

  Hannes raised his eyebrows. "That didn't suit her. Expensive stuff, fashionable but kind of weird. Looked like a clown." He was thinking. Then he pulled on his clothes, raised his hand to his temple, let his finger circle, and made a funny grimace. Ibby put his hand in front of his mouth and cooed. But she nodded, she understood.

  Hannes wanted to pull the curtain a bit to the side so Ibby could look out at the street, but it held him back, staring through the curtain. Then she meant Hannes to pull back the curtain. Ibby stared at the street and the people. Hannes pulled the curtain back. The two of them waited. Suddenly Ibby opened the curtain so that it was covered, but Hannes stood there like Dumbo. Ibby waited a moment, then waved her hand to close the curtain again, looked out for a moment, and stepped back from the window. Ibby nodded, looked at Hannes. Then again, the ‚I-see-You‘ gesture. Ibby stood in front of Hannes, stretched out her hands. Hannes took it. Ibby pressed his hands lightly, lowered his head, straightened up again, and looked Hannes in the eyes. Trust me on this. "Okay," Hannes said with a questioning undertone and let go of her hands again. Ibby hurried to the coffee machine, prepared a cup, put it on the kitchen table. Next to the coffee machine she placed two more pads, then set the ashtray on the kitchen table. Then she pointed to Hannes and the chair. Hannes had no idea what she was up to, but it would take a while, three coffees, and a few cigarettes.

  Hannes sat down, and Ibby disappeared, not without closing the kitchen door.

  In the café Sabine von Hansenwerder had seen that a curtain was moving on the third floor and a figure in the dark of the apartment looked carefully at the street, she saw Hannes's head, but he had not discovered it, because his head was moving back and forth searching. She had a keen sense of whether someone was looking at her or not. He didn't see her sitting in the cafe. Relaxed, she leaned back, had the feeling again to have the situation under control.

  She ordered another cocoa and then held her police identification card under the nose of the amazed waitress, but the girl immediately understood and told her that Sabine was no longer to be disturbed. Sabine looked back at the window on the third floor. Suddenly the curtain was pulled far back, and its target stood amazed at the window, then turned his head to the side, but not as if he had spotted someone in the street, but it looked as if he was looking at someone standing right next to him. Sabine immediately sat down straight and stared upwards. That seemed to be really interesting! Then the curtain was closed again. Sabine fiddled her mobile phone out of her trouser pocket and sent a quick question via WhatsApp if there was still someone in the apartment. The answer came immediately. „There is someone else in the apartment besides Target One, namely the package, Target Two.“

  Sabine stared at the display. Your suspicion that something was going awfully wrong here intensified. She realized that she urgently needed to go to the toilet, squeezed her bladder, and she wondered if she could take the risk of giving up her observation post for a moment. Sighing, she gave in to her need and was annoyed that this was going to be a more extended session. Back at her seat, she wanted to drink a sip of the now cold cocoa, looked out of the window, scared to death, outside, right in front of her, Target One and Target Two were standing.

  Hannes had dressed his good parka, grinned at her friendly, and at his side stood a woman. Thickly wrapped in a ski jacket, she had pulled a wool cap over her head, in her face a large pair of sunglasses with almost black lenses covering her entire eye area. She also smiled with her lips closed. Although Sabine was shocked to the core, she unconsciously realized that the jeans she was wearing were at least one size too big. The shoes didn't really fit either, they were summer shoes.

  Sabine noticed how her grip around the cup loosened, and she ran the risk of pouring the contents of the cup onto her trousers. The woman stood motionless beside Rachmiel, she grinned, too, but not cheekily, but amused. Her eyes nailed Sabine through the sunglasses. A cold fist pressed Sabine's stomach together if she hadn't been to the toilet, she would have lost control of her digestive system. The woman at Rachmiel's side looked at him, then grabbed his arm with gloved hands and pulled it further. Sabine could breathe again and needed a moment to regain her composure. She tried to get some air and felt like she was running a marathon. She looked after both but then saw with horror that the woman Hannes withdrew again, and the two of them headed for the entrance of the café.

  That didn't seem quite right to Rachmiel, because he resisted something. With horror, Sabine saw that the old couple had stood up at the table next to hers and wanted to leave. Their impulse was to tell the two old people that they had to sit down again to block the square. Sabine von Hansenwerder was petrified, could hardly move, just turned her head between the targets who had just entered the café and the two old men, who laboriously put on their coats and then walked towards the exit. Target One had discovered that the table next to Sabine was free. Sabine saw this with eerie clarity, she saw Target One and Target Two prodding and pointing towards the table. The two came closer, and Sabine was afraid. She was scared of losing control that she would pull the gun even though she could not move and did not know where it was at the moment. She was afraid that she would run screaming out of the café, even if only one of them had to sneeze, she was scared.

  They took off their coat and jacket, she took her cap off her head and then shook her hair straight. Sabine forced herself with all her strength to put the cup down and looked at the woman. Magnificent, long, thick hair that framed the woman's face and gave her a kind of classic beauty. As she took off the jacket, Sabine admired the perfect figure, the plump butt, the full breasts, she saw that the woman was not wearing a bra either, saw her proportions, her figure.

  Speechless, she had to watch Target Two sit down with her back to her. Target One sat opposite and sat so Sabine could see him. T-Shirt, jeans, boots. A breath of aftershave went through the air and reached Sabine's nose, she wanted to get upset, expensive stuff, can you even afford it? But this feeling shot through Sabine without encountering resistance, she was paralyzed with fear and also with shame that she had been discovered and exposed.

  It was as clear as day to her how she had been discovered: Her swift movements when the curtain was pulled back, Target Two had probably identified her then. But, Sabine wondered, what was that about? Why are th
ey risking this? Why are they going public? She thought that perhaps a reporter from a newspaper or a television team would come and interview them about the incidents. Sabine said to herself, with my agent's badge, she would know how to prevent that. But if the TV team were already here?

  Target One ordered a cup of coffee as the waitress stood at the table, looking at Target Two questioningly, she shook her head. Target One began to talk about his work and his colleagues in a quiet, cultivated voice. She then gesticulated something, and Target One then responded to her obvious question or remark.

  Sabine forced herself to release the stiffness and fumbled her mobile phone out of her trouser pocket. A WhatsApp at Primus "Target 1 and Target 2 sit next to me in the Café / Gingerbread-Street". The answer came immediately. "What are they doing?" Sabine turned her eyes upwards. Trivialities.

  "They're talking."

  "Topic?"

  "One talks about work, two listens, questions as gestures, can't speak."

  "No action. Observe."

  Sabine put her cell phone away. No help from this side.

  Target One had finished drinking the coffee, paid and was about to put on the parka. Target Two turned around on her chair, and looked at Sabine, nailed her tight with her gaze. Sabine felt like she was going to faint. This woman's presence was incredible. Incredibly powerful. Paralyzing. Sabine was paralyzed. She felt like a rabbit in front of a snake.

  Target Two stood up and came to her table. Sabine's heart stopped. She began to lose consciousness. The woman slowly leaned forward and kissed Sabine on the mouth. Sabine felt the wonderful, firm lips clinging to her, Sabine noticed that all the woman's energy, all her power, was shooting into Sabine's abdomen and setting it on fire without mercy with the violence of a conflagration.