The Reluctant Samaritan

by Brian Peters

  “It’s OK sir, we’ve got both men down here. It’s safe to come down now.”

  Frumholz, Currie, Lambert and the handcuffed Seifert descended the stairs and joined the others. “So, Seifert, where are Kohler and the other two?”

  “What makes you think that I have them, Captain?”

  “Because Kohler left a note before he was abducted by your man Hansch, that’s why.” Seifert didn’t reply, he just smiled at Frumholz. “I’m sorry I can’t help you, Captain.”

  “Right, let’s get this lot down to the station and see what Hansch and this Neumann character have to say.” One officer was left to guard the premises and the rest drove away.

  Kohler and Asil were exhausted. Their efforts to raise attention had failed and there were no more sounds from outside. Kohler said: “We better conserve what little air there is left in here. Try to rest Asil.” She nodded and cuddled up to Luke who had fallen into a deep sleep as soon as the other two had stopped shouting and banging. Both Asil and Kohler realised that if the gunshots had been from Frumholz, their chances of escape now looked pretty thin. For the first time Asil realised that the chances of rescue were almost nil. At least she would be with Luke when the end came. She tried to stifle her sobs from the two men.

  It was four in the morning before a driver turned up in his car at Seifert Logistics. The bored police officer stopped him and asked him who he was and what he intended to do. Explaining that he had a container to deliver, the officer decided to contact the station and ask for instructions. The duty officer who answered the call told him that he would have to wait until Frumholz returned; he had been interrogating three suspects until late in the evening and hadn’t long left to get some sleep.

  The driver wasn’t pleased. “Look mate, I’ve got a ferry to catch in Hamburg. I’ve got to get to the port by eleven or I’ll miss it. At least let me get the truck out ready for when you get the go-ahead. I’ve got to shift two trucks to get to mine.”

  The officer thought about it and decided that it could do no harm. The main gates were closed and locked, so he couldn’t drive away.

  “OK, go on then, anything for a quiet life.” The driver walked into the warehouse and climbed up into a cab of one of the trucks and moved it outside into the yard. He did the same with the second truck and then climbed into the cab of the lorry he was going to take to Hamburg. He switched on the ignition and put the radio on full blast, the local radio station playing rock music. It also gave out traffic news every thirty or so minutes. He picked up his delivery schedule and studied it, then started the engine and drove the truck out into the yard; he then drove the other two trucks back inside and parked them up neatly. He left his own truck running to warm it up while he moved them; it was still chilly in the early morning. It had taken several minutes before he was able to walk back to the gates and chat to the officer.

  “So what are you carrying then?” he asked. “No idea mate, I just deliver the container to the docks and pick up another one to deliver somewhere else. It’s all on the manifest if you want to look at it. Anyway, what are you doing here? Didn’t know we had extra security on the payroll.”

  “Your boss has been taken in for questioning, and before you ask, I don’t know what about. Can’t say any more than that at the moment. Sorry you can’t leave. My boss hasn’t given permission; I’ve no idea why. Can’t see the point, really.”

  “Look. There might be perishable goods in there, mate. If I miss that ferry the next one might not be for another week. I could get the sack over this you know.”

  The officer thought for a moment. “OK, I can’t see any harm in letting you be on your way. I’ll unlock the gates for you.”

  The occupants of the container felt the truck move again. They had all been asleep, exhausted after the mental strain of the events of the last few hours. Kohler thought about trying to attract the driver’s attention, but then decided against it. It might provoke further violence if the driver was Hansch or Boris.

  The driver pulled the truck out through the gates and headed for the autobahn and Hamburg. The officer shut and locked the gates and went back into the warehouse where it was warmer. The trio inside daren’t speculate as to their destination.

  ****

  It was just gone seven that morning when Frumholz got back to the station and contacted the officer, Bendtner, at Seifert Logistics.

  “How are things there, Bendtner?”

  “No change sir. By the way, I let that truck go after all. The driver said he might have perishable goods in the container and if he were to miss the ferry it might be a week before…”

  “What! You let it go? You were told to hold it until I said so, Bendtner!”

  “Sorry sir. Didn’t think it could do any harm as you’d apprehended the boss and his two men.”

  Frumholz banged the phone down and made a note to severely reprimand Bendtner when he next had the opportunity.

  Hansch and Neumann were being held in separate cells. Frumholz asked for Boris Neumann to be brought to the interview room and invited Currie and Lambert to join him and one of his officers, but they declined, not being able to understand the language. Frumholz and the officer, Crix, joined Boris while Currie and Lambert viewed the proceedings through the one-way glass window.

  “So Neumann, have you had time to reflect on your situation?”

  Boris sat with his head lowered and said nothing. Frumholz opened a packet of cigarettes and offered one to Boris who took it gratefully. He was pale and still in considerable pain from the wound in his thigh. The police doctor had dressed it the night before but he had been denied any painkillers.

  “Boris, you do realise that if those three people you helped abduct have been harmed, or worse killed, that you will be on a murder charge? That’s a life sentence for you. Are you willing to risk that for your boss, Seifert?”

  Boris thought hard about what might be his fate. He thought of the girl in particular, gradually suffocating or perhaps freezing to death on the long sea journey to China. He knew that he was going to prison anyway for being in an armed skirmish with the police.

  “They’re in one of the containers. The lorry was due to travel to Hamburg this morning at four o’clock. It’s going to be shipped to China this evening.”

  Frumholz looked at his watch. Half past seven. He rushed out of the interview room leaving Crix to look after Boris. He picked up the phone and rang Bendtner.

  “Bendtner, that truck you let go had Kohler and the Lomax couple inside. What time did it leave?”

  Bendtner put his hand to his forehead, shocked and apprehensive.

  “Oh my God! It …it left at about 5.30 sir.”

  “Did you get the registration number Bendtner?”

  “Hang on, sir, yes, er..”

  He fished out his notebook.

  “ Mann tractor unit, white, registration number MK 169905.”

  “Bendtner, you might just have saved yourself the sack.”

  Frumholz ordered one of his staff to put out a call to intercept the truck. He guessed that it was about 400 kilometres to Hamburg from the warehouse. That’s about four and a half hours for the container lorry thought Frumholz. He looked at his watch. Eight forty five, so the truck should be about 80 or a 100 kilometres from Hamburg already. He took Currie, Lambert and the helicopter pilot out to the landing pad and they were in the air within fifteen minutes.

  The truck was located by the Bremen police force, travelling on the A1/E22 towards Hamburg. They managed to intercept it and take it off the autobahn at junction 44 and onto Neue Oldendorf Strasse.

  Frumholz was still thirty minutes away when the radio informed him that the truck had been stopped. Frumholz ordered them to open the container and call an ambulance.

  The officer from Bremen and his driver had to help Luke out. Both Kohler and Asil were unsteady on their feet and close to collapse, having had no food or drink for several hours. Luke was unconscious
and was left undisturbed inside the container waiting for the ambulance to arrive. One of the policemen gave Luke a bottle of mineral water when he came to. Whilst waiting, the officer called Frumholz and told him of his discovery. Frumholz asked to speak to Kohler and asked after the well being of Luke and Asil.

  “It’s not looking good for Luke. He’s just about conscious and needs urgent attention. The ambulance is on its way though.”

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes. We haven’t got enough room in the helicopter for you two unfortunately. I’ll arrange a car to get you back to Lüdenscheid.”

  When Frumholz arrived at the scene the ambulance had arrived and the paramedics were attending to Luke. Asil and Kohler were examined after Luke was settled in the ambulance and they were both given drinks and a little food that quickly restored them. Luke recovered enough to talk while Asil and Kohler were being treated. Frumholz was anxious to establish Luke’s condition. He badly wanted him back in Lüdenscheid for both Asil’s and Luke’s state of mind. The paramedic was able to say that he was suffering from dehydration and the effects of the pain from his rib injuries. As soon as the painkillers got to work and fluid and sustenance had been absorbed, he should be fit enough to travel. Frumholz contacted the chief of police in Bremen and asked permission for the officer attending to the capture of the truck to ferry Luke, Asil and Kohler to Lüdenscheid, emphasising that they were key witnesses in the case against Franz Seifert. Permission was granted to the great relief of Frumholz, and to Asil’s joy. She didn’t want to be parted from Luke until he had fully recovered. The lorry driver was to accompany them to Lüdenscheid police station.

  The journey back to Lüdenscheid was tediously long. A bad road accident caused a long delay, a stau, the queue of vehicles stretching for a mile and a half.

  It was the middle of the afternoon when the car eventually arrived at the hospital in Lüdenscheid and dropped Luke and Asil off. Frumholz had contacted the hospital so that they were aware that Luke was an important witness in a case and must be treated with the utmost urgency.

  Back at the station, the lorry driver was put into a cell and held for questioning, loudly protesting his innocence.

  Frumholz wanted to know from Kohler exactly what had happened after they left his sisters bungalow. Kohler went through the whole story, the plea to Seifert to release the Lomax’s, the incarceration in the container with the obvious intent that they should all die within it, and how the three of them had tried to keep their spirits up despite the seemingly hopeless situation that they were in. He praised Asil’s fortitude under extreme pressure and expressed his utter contempt for Seifert and his henchmen.

  “Good Kohler, we can now charge Seifert and the other two on your evidence. I appreciate that you may need rest now, but your presence here is imperative. Can you be available if we need you again? I’ll send a car for you. Currie and Lambert will go to the hospital and look after the Lomax’s.”

  “I’ll go with him, those two need all the support they can get. One thing puzzles me, Frumholz. How did Seifert know of my agents movements?”

  “Yes, I was afraid that you’d ask me that. The computer expert you used to implant that false information on to our database? He told his girlfriend. She is a distant cousin of one of our officers, Karl Liebwitz, and she told him. He immediately did some research and identified Seifert as the one being targeted. He contacted Seifert and earned himself a considerable amount of money for the information. Seifert kept him on the payroll and Liebwitz kept him aware of our every move.”

  Kohler shook his head and smiled.

  “Just shows you that you can trust no-one, eh Frumholz?”

  “Dead right! Look after your own health, Kohler, you are not as young as the other two you know!”

  “A good meal and some strong coffee will see me back to normal, Frumholz. I look forward to meeting Seifert face to face in court. I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

  “Good man! See you soon then. Tschüss!”

  CHAPTER 14

  The phone by her bed woke Sabine at just after eight. She squealed with delight at the news that Klaus had been found safe and well along with Luke and Asil. She rushed into Elsa’s bedroom, shook her awake and gave her the good news. They hugged each other and both shed a tear of relief. Sabine said: “Klaus has to go to the station to write a statement apparently, so we won’t see him for a few hours yet. Shall we go and see Asil and Luke at the hospital? They might appreciate seeing two friendly faces in a foreign country!”

  At the hospital, Luke was thoroughly examined and apart from his existing injuries, was still suffering from dehydration and pain. He was told that he would to be fit for travel if he agreed to spend the next day in care. After a good meal and plenty of liquid Asil was feeling fine again, the relief at their rescue having rejuvenated her.

  Currie and Lambert had departed after assuring them both that no charges would be brought against them but that they would have to provide statements when they got back to England. That was also a great relief. To Luke more than it was to Asil. She had long since known that they had no need to worry about Kohler giving evidence for them over the purchase of the car.

  Asil stayed at the hospital and was allowed to spend her time in a private ward with Luke. They were both delighted when Elsa and Sabine arrived. Asil related everything that had happened to them since they left Elsa’s bungalow.

  “But where did you two disappear to?” Asil asked.

  Elsa said: “There is a cellar hidden under the conservatory. It was made as an air raid shelter during the war, and then covered over when the conservatory was built. Klaus and I used to use it when we were kids. I always kept the entrance accessible but invisible, for sentimental reasons I suppose. We hid in there. But we daren’t come out until we knew it was dark. We went separate ways in case we got caught. We had no idea that Drexler was an impostor until we got to the police station in Lüdenscheid.”

  It was late that evening when Kohler arrived at the hospital. Asil hugged him and became very tearful, the shock of shared experiences at last coming to the surface. He thanked them both for bearing the whole episode so bravely.

  Klaus and Sabine drove them to the airport the next day.

  They exchanged tearful goodbyes, and within a few short hours Belynda was meeting them at Stansted airport and an hour later Marjorie Wade was welcoming them back home in Monks Eleigh, anxious to hear all about their adventure.

  ****

  After making a full recovery, Luke had to go to Ipswich police station to make a statement as to how he had become the owner of the car in which the dead body had been found. Klaus Kohler flew over from Germany to verify Luke’s statement.

  The trial of Eric Sandling commenced a few weeks later. All charges against Luke were dropped. Sandling was convicted of murder and was sentenced to twenty-five years in jail. Arland Kennet’s body, or the remains of his charred corpse, was washed up a couple of weeks after Seifert was arrested. Seifert never admitted to causing his plane to crash and the wreckage, or that small part of it that was eventually recovered, didn’t prove anything one way or the other.

  Seifert was found guilty of unlawfully imprisoning Kohler and the Lomax couple with intent to cause physical harm. There was not enough evidence found to convict him of drug smuggling and he was given a four-year prison sentence. Karl Liebwitz, an officer in the Lüdenscheid police force was convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice by destroying evidence gathered connected to Seifert.

  Klaus Kohler and Sabine Szabo bought a house in a charming village, Schalksmúhle, just outside the town, and settled down together in the hope that his divorce would be quickly resolved.

  ****

  A year passed. The postman delivered a large envelope from Germany to the house in Monks Eleigh. Asil opened it and extracted an invitation card and a letter from Klaus Kohler. She rushed into the workshop where Luke was busy repairing an immaculate Triumph TR
6.

  “Luke, look, an invitation to a wedding! Klaus and Sabine are getting married next month! Isn’t that great news? We must go Luke. His divorce must have finally come through.”

  Luke was as thrilled as Asil. Except that he began to dread having to accompany Asil shopping for a wedding present! He knew she would make him help her choose and he was hopeless at that sort of thing.

  The wedding was quite a grand affair. Klaus and Sabine were delighted that the two of them had made the journey over from England. Their arrival a couple of days before the wedding was a celebration in itself and both Klaus and Sabine thanked them profusely for coming. Klaus was particularly fond of Asil as she was of him. He came and sat next her.

  “So much has happened since we first met. Do remember when you made Luke into a reluctant Samaritan? He didn’t want to take me to the ferry, did he!” Asil laughed and pressed his hand between hers.

  Klaus wanted to hear all about the last year since they had parted after Seifert’s arrest.

  Asil brought him up to date and then said: “Well, I have some news for you. Now Klaus, you have been so good to us. But I have a big favour to ask of you. Later this year I want you and Sabine to come over to England and be Godparents to our first child.”

  Klaus opened his eyes wide with surprise, gave one of his biggest smiles and embraced her so hard that she could hardly breathe.

  “That will give me enormous pleasure my darling girl. Sabbi will be thrilled with the news! We must go and tell her straight away!”

  Asil gripped Klaus’ hand and smiled at him through her tears.