by Gabriel Kron
I tried to keep my head down and not move any faster than the rest of the crowd; I just hoped Clive stayed with me.
The terminal doors were only a few yards away. I had to check that Clive was with me. I looked back. Clive was still directly behind me and looking bemused, but beyond Clive, I saw the two men from upstairs, the ones who wanted me dead, rush out of a side door. When the taller of the two saw who they had detained he gestured angrily, turning to look around him, searching the crowd. He looked straight towards me. Did he just catch my eye? It didn’t appear so.
I continued out of the main doors, feeling sure I’d be grabbed at any second. In front of us was a taxi rank. I opened the rear door on the lead taxi.
“Get in quick,” I said as I almost shoved Clive into the back of the taxi using his suitcase and climbed in after.
“Stuttgart Central, bitte,” I said to the driver.
As the taxi pulled away from the curb, I turned and looked out the back. The two men had just run out of the doors and were looking up and down the concourse. I spun back around and sank into the seat staying out of sight of the driver’s rear view mirror.
“Are you alright? What’s going on, what just happened?” Clive asked.
I put a finger to my mouth, “Shhh, I’ll explain everything in a minute,” I whispered and gestured towards the driver.
The taxi dropped us outside the train station. Clive paid and I tried to be invisible by donning the glasses and baseball cap and immediately walking away from the car.
“Daniel. What is going on?” Clive asked again. I could hear his concern, but also some anger.
“They’re trying to kill me,” I said quietly, even though there wasn’t anyone else around.
“What? Who?” Clive said. “And why?”
We couldn’t talk standing on the street, so we walked a short distance south of the station to Schlossgarten, the Palace Gardens. On a Monday morning they were mostly empty. We found a bench and sat down opposite a large pond with a single fountain. I couldn’t help but check around us. We were mostly alone, a mum pushing a pram was on the other side of the pond and that was it. The Opera House behind us was closed and the sound of the fountain would be a good thing, hopefully stopping anyone from listening in.
I explained to Clive what had happened, starting with finding Anitiquitäten Locke Emporium, meeting Johann and Sophia Locke, actually seeing and studying the Lockridge device, taking Sophia to dinner, the notebooks and then the bad stuff. Everything that I could remember anyway. Clive just sat there and listened, he didn’t interrupt or comment.
“I’m in deep shit Clive,” I said, feeling as though I was understating the situation.
“Couldn’t be much deeper by the sound of it,” Clive said as he stood up and put his hands on his head to think. “I was sure I’d find something you had missed that would reveal the Lockridge’s real power source. Now... Now it’s all sounding like one of the conspiracy theories we so often dismiss.”
The mythical Lockridge device was much discussed in the free energy Internet community and people’s points of view about the suppression of free energy technology ranged from utterly naïve to completely paranoid. Men in Black (MiB’s) or The Powers that Be (PTB’s), illuminati, oil cartel heavies, CIA, FBI, MI5/6 and even the Freemasons were blamed for paying malicious visits to various inventors, researchers and even on-line fringe scientists making threats and destroying or confiscating their research and inventions. I had always taken these stories with a pinch of paranoia salts. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe it had happened in the past, it was just that I didn’t think it happened any more — until yesterday.
“I need to talk to Dominik,” I said to Clive who was now pacing up and down. “He helped me, actually saved my life. He might have found out more or be able to—”
Clive was nodding. It was such a relief that Clive believed me. He didn’t have to, but he did.
“...and he’s my only alibi.”
We continued to walk through the park discussing the situation. Clive was gently pushing me for more details about the Lockridge device. We stopped at the Nil Café am See that was just opening and had public pay phones outside. Clive ordered coffees whilst I called Dominik at the hotel.
Stuttgart Airport, Monday 11:00am Day 4.
Mueller stood behind one of the uniformed security guards operating the CCTV suite.
Once they knew they’d arrested the wrong man, Mueller instructed everyone to stand down, other than Wolf. They started reviewing the CCTV to find out what had gone wrong, watching the tapes of the arrest several times.
“Stop. There,” Mueller said and pointed to a man several yards in front of the man they had arrested. The wrong man.
“What about him?” Wolf asked.
“It’s him, Bateman. He took his cap off.”
“How do you know?”
“He’s the only one not looking at what is going down around him. He’s trying to get out of there.”
They replayed the video again, and then switched to a different point of view from another camera. Again Mueller pointed to the screen as they watched Bateman cross the arrivals lounge and pause to talk to one of the arriving passengers.
“Who did he just talk to? We need to know who that is and where they went. Bring up the outside concourse, let’s see what they did.”
Palace Gardens, Stuttgart. Monday 11:20am Day 4.
Dominik sounded genuinely pleased and yet surprised to be hearing from me. He told me that the hotel wasn’t a good place to meet as there were still police and reporters about. I told him where we were and he promised to come and get us.'
Twenty minutes later, I was introducing Clive to Dominik, sitting at one of the outside tables overlooking one of the park’s lakes. Ducks were our only company other than the café staff.
I let Dominik tell Clive what had happened.
“Maria and I were watching the late night local news on EinsPlus when the first news flashes came in of a large fire just north of Stuttgart. A farmhouse shop was ablaze and local police and fire services were already there.
“The second news flash came within minutes and said that there had been a murder there and that they already had a suspect. They named Daniel and showed his passport picture, and then said he was already wanted for murder in the UK—”
“Murder in Britain?” I interrupted, this was news to me. “What murder and when?”
“They didn’t say. We knew Daniel was in his room and had been since about eleven-thirty. That’s when I called Daniel to warn him.”
He explained how soon after telling me about the news, a BKA detective, Detective Mueller, had started asking questions and was subsequently on his way to my room.
“When I got there I listened at the door and heard the Taser, and then movement. I grabbed a fire extinguisher from the corridor and followed. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He had put a gun into your hand and it looked like he was going to shoot you with it. So I hit him and got you out of there,” Dominik said.
“So you’re Daniel’s alibi. Why haven’t you come forward?” Clive asked.
“We have, they have taken our statements. It was Maria who first said you had been mistaken for someone else or you were being framed. When I saw what was happening in Daniel’s room I knew it wasn’t normal. I mean, who employs tactics like getting a suspect to shoot themselves!
“After leaving Daniel in the carpark, I had intended on driving him to the British Embassy in Munich — it’s only a couple of hours away — but the BKA detective was already back in reception. He didn’t recognise me, but he did hold us for questioning. I’m so pleased you got away.” Dominik turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders. “This is about that device you found isn’t it?”
“It must be. What else could it be?” I said.
“Which means that anyone connected to it could be in danger,” Clive said. “We need to get you to that embassy Dan. I’ll go and call the embassy emergency
help line, assuming they have one, and see what can be done.”
As Clive walked off towards the pay-phone, the gravity of what he’d just said hit me — anyone connected to it could be in danger — and the imminent danger right now was death.
“Oh no. If they, whoever 'they' are, killed the Lockes and are trying to kill me as well, then you guys are in danger and, and...Oh shit...Jack and Becs,” I started to stand up, feeling panicked, the pit of my stomach free falling.
“I need to call Becs, warn her that Jack’s in danger and possibly herself.”
Dominik grabbed my arm. “Wait. Let's get you to safety first, then you can worry about others later. They’ll be safe in England for now.”
“Will they?” I sat back down. “I should be safe here, but clearly I’m not.”
Stuttgart, Monday. 11:30am Day 4.
Detective Mueller was feeling something he had not felt in a long time. Frustration. This should have been such a simple sanction, nice and short and easily closed with no cleaning to be done. Instead, Bateman had managed to escape by the skin of his teeth three times now and Mueller had been dreading having to call the General with further delays. Had been dreading, because he’d just received good news. A lead, and a good one.
A little over ten minutes ago a waiter working at the Nil Café am See in the Palace gardens had reported seeing Bateman and knew where he was.
He had received the call just after telling Wolf to go back to the hotel and take a break. So now Mueller was on his own, which he needed to be anyway.
As he gunned the Audi back towards Stuttgart, he thought about calling the General, but decided to wait. He may yet be able to report good news.
Palace Gardens, Stuttgart. Monday 11:35am Day 4.
“Right, we’ve got help on the way,” Clive said when he returned from phoning the embassy.
“What’d they say?” I asked.
“After a few minutes of faffing around, the switchboard managed to locate a Special Adviser who said that they would send a diplomatic car to pick us up.”
“How soon will that be?”
“Could be up to two hours, it’s got to come from Munich. He advised we stay here if we can.”
“And do they believe I’m innocent?”
“I don’t think so, not yet, but he did say that you’re better off coming into the embassy rather than handing yourself in anywhere else. I think when they hear what Dominik has to say they should believe you,” Clive said, but he didn’t sound entirely convinced to me.
We sat for a few minutes in uncomfortable silence before Clive broke it. “Daniel, I know you’ve been through a lot, but you mentioned some notebooks you were given. Do you have them still?” Clive said.
“I hid them after I copied them. Hopefully they’ll still be there. I guess I’ve lost my camera and laptop, they’re still in the room,” I said.
“Everything is still taped off as a crime scene, but no-one has been in there as far as I know. There are still officers interviewing some guests in the lobby,” said Dominik.
“Can you get back in there?” I asked.
Dominik thought about it for a second and then replied, “Yes, I should be able to, but I probably shouldn’t take or touch anything else in there.”
I described where I had hidden the note-books, neatly bundled in a pillow case behind the mini-bar fridge. It couldn’t be simpler and was only supposed to be overnight until I gave them back to Sophia.
“Okay listen, the embassy car won’t be here for a couple of hours. It’ll only take me an hour to go and get them,” Dominik said before heading back to the hotel.
After Dominik left I asked Clive about how he thought this had all gone so wrong.
“I’m pretty sure no-one on the group has leaked any information. Is there anyone else you’ve told?” Clive asked.
“No,” I replied. “I’ve only spoken to you and Dominik.”
“Okay, we can check things out when you’re safe. It will probably be a good thing to not have anyone talking about this on the group. I’ll pull the pictures and the video you uploaded, even though they don’t show anything of significance, it’s probably best,” Clive said.
Munroe’s Coffee Bar, London. 11:45am Day 4.
Colin Mundy knew that if Mark Stacey suggested meeting up for coffee, that something must be wrong. As much as he wanted to, he didn’t press Mark for any details. As with most corporate organisations, phone calls were recorded and Colin was far too experienced to make mistakes. His double life didn’t allow for mistakes, which was more an indication of his personality than his training.
Mark had suggested meeting for ‘coffee and a bite to eat’. The mention of a ‘bite to eat’ told Colin it was urgent.
Twenty minutes later, they were sitting at the back of a local independent café.
Mark explained what had happened with one of his internet legends.
“...I’d been getting multiple hits on a particular device that was on the permanent watch list, so I activated one of my legends and started poking around the groups when suddenly all my fire walls were being hacked,” Mark said.
“Okay, I guess that’s fairly normal, unless they succeeded of course?” Colin asked.
“No, not fully,” Mark answered. “Well, not that I’m aware of. They’re good, that’s the trouble, and they got straight through the first level. I’ve had to change every network card and router just to stop them. If I hadn’t been there, they would have succeeded.”
“So there hasn’t been a serious breach as far as you know. What’s the problem then?”
“I decided to try and track them back to see who they are and have come up with this.” Mark handed Colin a single sheet of paper.
Colin quickly read what was on it. “I see the problem now.”
“Can you do something to get them off my back? I don’t want the fucking Chinese, African, US, German or bleeding Russian spy computers targeting me.”
“Maybe GCHQ can help. Leave it with me. I’ll see what I can do. We usually have an unwritten agreement between the agencies, but you’re so under the radar they wouldn’t know who you were,” Colin told Mark as he was leaving. He already knew who to call.
Mark waited five minutes before leaving the café and returning to work. He felt troubled though. Something was niggling him and he didn’t like it.
Palace Gardens. Monday 11:55am Day 4.
Mueller knew where the Nil Café am See was, he’d been there several times with his own family, enjoying pastries and hot chocolate whilst watching the ducks feed.
From a distance he saw Bateman sitting with an older man at one of the tables on the decking that overhung the lake. They were trapped now, nowhere to go other than back towards the café. Mueller watched for just a minute. From what he could see, other than the café staff, they were alone.
He entered the café where he was greeted by the waiter. Mueller showed him his ID and addressed the young man, “Bist du derjenige, der gemeldet hat unseren Verdächtigen gesehen zu haben?” Are you the one who reported seeing our suspect?
“Ja,” the waiter said nodding his head and pointing towards Bateman.
Mueller kept his back to Bateman and moved in front of the waiter to stop him drawing attention. He then put both hands on the waiter’s shoulders and stared him straight in the eyes and spoke quickly but firmly.
“Vielen Dank, Sie haben uns sehr geholfen. Aber diese Männer sind gefährlich. Sie, wie alle anderen Mitarbeiter, müssen durch die Hintertür verschwinden. Und zwar jetzt. Sofort!” Thank you, you have been very helpful. Please, these men are dangerous. You and any other staff need to go out the back. Do that now. Quick.
To impress the situation even more onto the waiter that he should hurry and get the hell out of the café, Mueller withdrew a Glock 21 handgun.
Mueller cocked the Glock and screwed on a suppressor. A plan was rapidly forming that would unfortunately be messy, but could tie this all up quickly.
He went to ope
n the front door and start his approach to the unsuspecting pair. He would shoot Bateman first, from inside the café. Mueller was an excellent marksman and knew he could get a head shot easily from twenty five yards. He went to raise the gun but stopped when another man walked from the opposite side and went and sat with Bateman and his colleague. He handed Bateman a small package. Who was this? Dealing with three was even more complicated. The third man stood up and walked back towards the café building.
Mueller stepped back into the shop and observed the third man as he used the public pay phone. There was something familiar about this man. He was only a few yards away and finally he recognised him. He worked at the hotel Wartburg, but why was he here with Bateman?
The man at the pay phone looked straight at Mueller and the look of recognition and shock told Mueller more than any interrogation would.
“You! You helped him escape from the hotel. It was you in the room,” Mueller said gritting his teeth and raising his gun.
“Daniel!” the man shouted, “Run!”
Mueller put two slugs centre mass, the suppressed gun spitting the .45 lead not so quietly, despite the suppressor. The man was cut off. He was dead before his knees hit the floor and his body slumped.
Palace Gardens. Monday 11:57am Day 4.
I looked up as soon as I heard Dominik shout. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There in the doorway of the café was the BKA detective who had already tried to kill me and probably had something to do with the killing of the Lockes.
I grabbed Clive’s coat and yanked him up. “It’s him, run!”
Clive stumbled slightly as I heard two muffled shots ring out.
Looking towards the noise I saw Dominik slump to the ground.
“No! No!” I stopped just long enough to see Mueller start to raise his gun again. Clive was already back on his feet and running towards the far exit. I started to follow.
Splinters of wood exploded from the table next to me. I felt them sting my face. Another round hit the parasol.