by Trevor Scott
Toni turned right in the direction of the autobahn, the Skoda taking its time up in front of them.
“Crap,” Kurt said.
“What?” Toni looked concerned.
“This Conrad dude. He was a Brother in the Teutonic Order. Not ordained, though.”
“How long ago?”
“Up until the German reunification,” Kurt said, scrolling down a page. “Then he started a bunch of companies, trying his best to capitalize on capitalism. His current company is called Marienburg Biotechnik, with its headquarters in Magdeburg, Germany.”
“Bioengineering?”
“Looks like it.”
That made no sense, Toni thought. What was a businessman doing hanging around a bunch of thugs like Miko, Jiri and Grago?
17
Jake had taken his time driving back from Budapest with Anna, stopping at a restaurant in a small town in Hungary off the autobahn. Then when they got back to Vienna, Jake had stopped off at a couple of places, picking up some over-the-counter 9mm rounds, some new batteries for his flashlight, and he had bought a cross country ski coat and pants—all black. He had everything else he needed. He owned winter gear, but it was years old and he had left it at his apartment in Innsbruck. Not something he could get his hands on at this time.
Now, the gear in plastic bags, Jake waited outside Anna’s apartment door as she jangled through her keys looking for the one to the door. As she turned the key and went for the lever, Jake suddenly felt something was wrong. In one fluid motion, he dropped the bags, shoved her aside with his left arm, and pulled his gun with his right hand. He went in low, his gun pointing the way through the darkness.
“Don’t shoot,” came a harsh, deep voice from the darkness.
“Give me one reason why, asshole?” Jake yelled. He had found cover behind the end of the sofa, but it wouldn’t stop a bullet.
A small lamp clicked on, revealing Vienna Kriminal Hauptkommisar Franz Martini. Jake rose up and lowered his gun, his eyes working the room. He guessed Jack Donicht would be around somewhere.
“What you doing breaking into Anna’s apartment?” Jake noticed the man’s eyes were red, the bags under his eyes dark like someone had punched him.
Anna poked her head around the door and said, “Jake, you aren’t going to shoot my cat are you? Oh. . .”
“Fraulein Schult,” Martini said. “I’m sorry for the intrusion.”
Anna shut the door and noticed the Hauptkommisar had not broken in. “My landlord must have let you in. I’ll have a talk with him about that.”
Martini reached inside his jacket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Don’t be too hard on him. I do have a warrant.”
She turned on Martini. “For what reason?” Taking the paper from him, she started reading the warrant.
“The Interpol polizei liaison was murdered this evening,” Martini said.
Jake asked, “What does that have to do with Anna?”
“Anna. . .Fraulein Schult made many calls to the man’s cell phone.”
Jake looked at her, but she was still reading the warrant. “So? I call the Chinese restaurant once a week for delivery. Doesn’t mean I killed Chairman Mao.”
“I heard you liked Chinese, Jake.” Martini had a smirk on his face. “But now I see you also like the native cuisine as well.”
“Fuck you!”
“Now, I didn’t think you played for that team,” Martini said.
Anna handed the warrant to Jake, who threw it back at Martini. “Stefan was murdered? How?” She slumped down onto the sofa.
“We don’t know for sure. We had discovered a transfer of information to various outside sources and were on our way there to. . .discuss it with him. When Donicht and I got there, he was dead. Freshly so.”
“What kind of information transfer?” Jake asked Martini. Something sure as hell wasn’t adding up here. The polizei man was far too cryptic.
“I can’t say at this time,” Martini said. He folded the warrant and put it back inside his pocket.
“But why look into Anna? Of course she would be calling the man. He was her link from other law enforcement agencies. Am I right?”
“Technically.”
Anna was quiet, her eyes glazed forward looking at nothing at all.
Martini continued, “But there was also data transferred under Fraulein Schult’s access code.”
“You’re crazy,” Anna yelled.
“Maybe. I’ve already checked over your apartment, including your computer.”
“And?” she said, her jaw tight.
He didn’t say a word, which meant he had found nothing. Jake said, “Listen, let’s cut to the chase here. This liaison worked for the state polizei, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “So you had a mole working in your organization and you want to blame it on Interpol. That’s great.”
Rising to his feet and straightening out his pants, Martini said, “We don’t want to blame anyone. We just want the truth.” The polizei man went to the living room window and pulled the Rolladens, his gaze onto the street below.
Maybe, Jake thought, but this guy wasn’t being totally honest with him. And with their history, that was bothersome. Jake went to the cop’s side and said, “Franz. We’ve known each other for years. You really think I could be mixed up in some nefarious shit.”
Martini turned to Jake and said, “I’ve known Anna longer.” He left it at that and went out the door.
When he was gone, Jake asked Anna, “What in the hell was that all about?”
She wouldn’t look at him.
He took a seat on the sofa next to her. “How do you know Martini?”
Finally, she raised her eyes to his. “He’s a cop. I’m a cop. In a city like Vienna you get to know all the players.”
That was true, but it still didn’t explain Martini’s reaction. “You don’t trust me,” he said to her.
“Yes, I do.”
Then it came to him in a rush. “He’s from Tirol. You’re from Tirol. You know him from there.”
She didn’t answer.
“So once he took over here, you naturally started sharing information. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Still no words came from her mouth, but she bit her lower lip.
Jake continued. “The call you made from the hotel in Budapest was to Martini, not the office. You suspected a mole.”
Anna got up and went to the liquor cabinet. “I need a drink. How ‘bout some sherry? No. Something stronger than that.” She shuffled a few bottles and came up with one that satisfied her. “Here we go. Single malt scotch.” She poured two small glasses, came back to the sofa, and handed one to Jake. “Prosit.” She sipped the scotch.
Jake did the same and waited for her to say something. When she simply sat there looking at her glass, Jake said, “You’ve been feeding the mole misinformation.”
She finally said, “It has nothing to do with this current case. The man was using the information he collected for others for monetary gain. It was sensitive information. We had to stop him.”
“But something got the guy killed.”
“That’s why I’m worried,” she said. “Why would they kill him? He was their source.”
“Who’s they?”
She took another sip of scotch.
“I think his death has everything to do with this current case,” Jake said. “He could see every bit of information you looked into on the computer. But here’s what I don’t get. Martini seemed to just find out about the mole today. You didn’t tell him. Why?”
“I was ordered not to let it out of Interpol. Franz had no reason to know.”
“When did you first suspect there was a mole?”
“Six months ago.”
Jake thought about that. “That’s when Martini took over his current job.”
She downed the last of her scotch and said, “Martini wasn’t involved. I’ve known him since I was a little girl. He and my father served together in the army. He used to c
ome and stay with us in Zell am See.”
“But still, you wondered.”
“No, I didn’t wonder.” Her disposition became much more determined as she got up and filled herself another glass of scotch and sat down again.
“So it was just a coincidence that information started leaking and your old friend shows up?”
“Yes. Franz Martini recommended me for this job. I owe him so much.”
Jake was starting to understand her relationship with Martini. An uncle, perhaps. She would protect him as best she could. And he knew Martini well enough to know he was not a bad cop. They had worked together before. No, Jake had a feeling their cryptic display moments ago was due to the fact that neither one wanted to admit they were close. It was better if the Vienna law enforcement community didn’t know that fact.
Jake finished his scotch and said, “So, what was that warrant? Martini’s grocery list?”
Anna finally smiled. “A department purchase order for office equipment.”
“Well,” Jake said, “the two of you won’t make the Burgtheater, but maybe the Volkstheater.”
Anna got up and went to her bedroom door before turning back to Jake. “I believe you promised me dinner tonight. Let me shower and put on some of my clothes.” With that she closed the door behind her.
Jake got another glass of scotch and sat down again. He had almost forgotten she was wearing no underwear and his T-shirt. He reached inside his coat and pulled out his cell phone. It was still off. He normally kept it on, but had turned it off the day before when he and Anna had been chased in Budapest. Sure as hell didn’t want it going off and giving away his position. He checked to see who had tried calling his number. Damn it. He had missed a number of calls from Kurt Lamar. And then he saw it. One from Toni Contardo. All within the past six hours. Something was up, but he didn’t want to bother with it now. He was hungry. As a compromise, he turned the phone back on.
●
Across Vienna at that moment, Hermann Conrad sat with Alexandra at the Maestro Restaurant on Lothringerstrasse, a concert hall with some of the best cuisine in Austria. They were eating early before the opera at the Staatsoper, where it was the first night for Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Alexandra got so horny after Puccini. Like she needed encouragement. Conrad poured her another glass of Chianti, finishing the bottle.
“Are you trying to get me drunk,” Alexandra asked him, her eyes sparkling. She was wearing a tight black dress with a slit up the leg. The V-neck provided everyone a view of her substantial cleavage, accented nicely with a string of pearls.
“Of course not,” Conrad said. “We just can’t waste. We have to get moving soon if we plan on making the first act.”
Conrad’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out and saw the number of the caller. Miko. “I have to take this,” he said to her. “Why don’t you make a trip to the little Fraulien room?”
Reluctantly, she got up and left, making damn sure everyone saw her strut across the restaurant, her hips swaying and mesmerizing all of the men and most of the women.
“Ja,” Conrad said. “I’m at dinner.” He looked at an older couple who seemed disturbed by the intrusion.
Miko said, “Got him.”
There was road noise in the background. “That’s great news,” Conrad said. “Surgery won’t be necessary, then.”
“What? You don’t want us to kill him, right?”
“That’s right. Bring him home.”
“To the castle?”
More road noise.
“That’s right. I’ve gotta go. Good work.” Conrad shut the phone and put it back inside his tux. Good thing he had turned it on. Damn, this was going to be a great evening. A wonderful meal with Italian wine, followed by a splendid Italian opera, followed by a great fuck or two with a Ukrainian beauty. He didn’t like Italian women. Too much hair on the pussy and they didn’t like to trim it.
Alexandra strolled back from the restroom, her walk just as entrancing as her departure. Damn she was hot. After the opera, he’d have to give her a good licking for being that steamy. Followed by the Prussian monster.
“What?” Alexandra said, sitting down across from him.
He leaned across the table and took her hand. “Just thinking about how beautiful you look tonight. Every night, actually.”
She kissed his hand. “You are too good to me.”
“I treat you like the lady you are. Let’s go do some Puccini.”
She met him at the edge of the table, nuzzled next to him and whispered into his ear, “Puccini. It just sounds like sex.”
With raised brows and a smile, he had to admit she was right.
●
It was closing in on ten in the evening and Jake and Anna had eaten at a Japanese restaurant a short distance from her apartment. Considering how things had gone during the day, Jake was more tired than normal. And he knew he needed to get some sleep before their long drive in the morning.
They sat in her living room now drinking a glass of red wine. He had thought about her all evening—his thoughts carnal in nature. What happened next, though, even he could not have imagined.
She excused herself for a moment. Probably going to the bathroom, Jake thought.
Soft classical music played in the background and Anna had lit candles around the room when they first got back from the restaurant.
When Anna showed up in the doorway of her bedroom, her completely naked body lit only by those candles, it finally hit Jake. She was seducing him.
She was beautiful from top to bottom. A true blonde. Her breasts were not large, but in proper proportion to her slim, firm body. Her nipples were hard and seemed to be begging him to come and play.
“I have no secrets from you, Jake,” she said, her words breathless.
He got up and started toward her.
“Right there,” she said, her hand up and stopping him in his tracks. “I want to see you first from there.”
He did as she said, slowly taking his clothes off and dropping them to the wooden floor. He stopped with only his underwear on, turned around, and then lowered them to the floor, his bare buttocks facing her.
Seconds later, he felt her nipples against his back as she wrapped her hands around to his hairy chest and ran her fingers across his nipples. She nibbled him on the side of the neck and then lowered her right hand to his erection.
“Oh, my,” she said, working her hand from the base up to the tip, feeling every inch. “An added bonus.”
He wanted to burst, it had been so long. Turning to face her, he took her breast in his hand and then lowered his head, taking her nipple in his mouth, his tongue making it even harder.
She gasped as she worked on him. Pulling away slowly, she led him to her bed.
A long time later, they lay together in her bed, their arms wrapped around one another. The familiar smell of lust and sex lingered in the air.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Jake said.
She kissed him on the lips and said, “I’m glad it did, though.”
“Well, me too. You’re fantastic.”
“You have some skills yourself.”
Jake laughed. “I meant not only with lovemaking.”
“Same here.”
She lowered her head to his chest and they fell asleep that way.
18
The black Skoda Fabia RS with Miko and friends, Albrecht in tow, had gotten as far as Salzburg, Austria when it pulled over to a small mom and pop hotel on the outskirts of town with the sound of the autobahn nearby.
Toni and Kurt had found a room at a chain hotel across the street, insisting on a third-floor room overlooking both parking lots. That had made it easy for them to keep an eye on the Skoda, even though Kurt had set up his computer to run all night and monitor the GPS tracking of the car. If it moved they would get an obnoxious beeping warning from the computer. Still, Toni had ordered that they take two-hour shifts watching the car with the NVGs.
Morning was comin
g, the sky getting lighter, with red and blue hues painting the eastern cloud bank like a fresco.
Toni was on the watch now in a hotel chair, leaning against the marble windowsill, her mind reeling. Maybe she should have never shut off Jake Adams like that. They had too much history to let the Chinese woman get between their friendship. Yet, she also knew that he had hurt her only after she had left him, and that had made it even more difficult to turn him away. Perhaps she was kidding herself. She wasn’t getting any younger, and the other woman was in her late 20s. She also felt guilty having looked into her background. Did she still have feelings for Jake after all? Glancing around at Kurt in the bed, she had to believe that her feelings for Jake were just as they were for Kurt. Professional. Nothing more. But she could sure use Jake’s knowledge and his skills at this moment. Kurt was fine, but she could anticipate how Jake would respond in every situation. The military had conditioned Kurt to act in a certain way—Jake had left after only a short stint, and his departure from the old CIA had been less than acrimonious. They had used Jake, and the Agency continued to use him, knowing he would have a hard time saying ‘no’ to national security. That was their ace in the hole.
“There,” she said softly to herself. One of the men, Jiri Sikora, was putting something in the trunk. A small bag.
She turned to the bed and said, “Kurt. They’re getting ready to move.”
The naval officer rolled over and grunted. “Need a shower.”
“No time,” she said, her eyes on the car again. “Besides, you took one last night before bed.” That had been an awkward moment. He had offered to save water by showering together, but she thought of Kurt as a younger brother. They could never be intimate, even though he was a fine physical specimen and she had not had sex in. . .well, she didn’t want to think how long.
She could hear Kurt getting dressed behind her as she saw the three men haul Albrecht out to the car. He didn’t have tape over his mouth now—that would have alerted the gasthaus staff.
“Let’s go,” Toni said. “We’ll have to skip check out. Call them later.”