The Tombs fa-4

by Clive Cussler

  Sam and Remi walked along the mall together. Then, when they reached the entrance to the Adlon Kempinski Hotel, Remi kissed Sam’s cheek and went through the doors into the lobby. Sam walked alone for a few steps, then looked back to be sure the blond girl went in after her. He also saw the tall man with the shaved head stop suddenly and pretend to look back at someone in the other direction. Sam moved on.

  He moved quickly past the Brandenburg Gate and entered the Tiergarten, the big urban park. He headed along the pathway under the trees toward the Hauptbahnhof, the big, shiny metallic building that was Europe’s largest two-level railway station. He entered with the tall man with the shaved head still a distance behind, slipped into the crowd of travelers and commuters milling about, and bought a ticket for an S-Bahn train across the city. He hurried to the proper platform to arrive just as the doors opened up, stepped in, looked to see if his follower walked into another car, waited until the doors were about to close, and stepped off. He ran from the platform and disappeared down the escalator to the long-distance trains that ran east–west. He stood by the underside of the escalator for a few minutes, watching for the tall man with the shaved head.

  When he was sure the man was not coming, Sam took the escalator up to the ground level, walked out of the Hauptbahnhof, found a comfortable bench in the shade, and watched the station exit.

  It took twenty minutes before his tail emerged, looking glum. He’d stopped looking for Sam and kept his eyes on the ground a few feet ahead, his hands in the pockets of his thin raincoat. After he had a good head start, Sam stood and followed.

  The man walked north onto Alt-Moabit, kept going until he reached the Tiergarten Hotel, and went inside. Sam slipped into a small bar across the street, sat at a table by the front window, and watched the hotel. It was a four-story building with no more than sixty rooms. A waitress came to the table, he smiled and pointed at the glass of beer the man at the next table had, so she brought him one.

  He saw the young woman with the blond hair return to the hotel about ten minutes later. He kept watching. He saw the woman appear in a window on the fourth floor, open it, then draw the curtains. As he was finishing his beer, the front door of the hotel opened again, and, one at a time, the other four members of the Louisiana team emerged. There were three men and a woman with short dark hair. They paired themselves, two and two, and began to walk.

  As Sam followed them through the Tiergarten, he decided they looked like a group of young accountants who had just come off work and were on their way to have a drink together. He was not surprised when he saw that they were heading toward the Adlon Hotel. After they arrived, two of the men split off and went into a nearby restaurant. The other two, now looking like a couple, walked into the lobby of the hotel.

  Standing in the middle of the lobby, they looked a little uncertain. They stopped and turned, their eyes directed upward toward the curved ceiling with its crisscrossing of beams. Sam passed behind them and stepped into the elevator without looking back and took it to the floor above the Fargos’ floor before walking back down the stairs to their room.

  He knocked, and Remi opened the door, wearing an emerald green Donna Karan dress that he had admired when he’d seen it on a hanger. On Remi, it was hypnotic, making her skin glow and her eyes seem a brighter green than usual.

  “Wow,” he said. “I just had a dream that I was married to a woman who looked exactly like you. I hope I don’t wake up.”

  “Flattery will get you everywhere. And you may recall I just spent two hours getting pampered. So what’s the result of your sneaking around like a Cold War spy?”

  “I completed the mission, but the news is not good,” he said. “The whole bunch are here, all six. Two are watching the lobby now, and two are having dinner down the street. They’re probably going to be the late shift. I don’t think we’ll see baldy and blondy again until morning.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll take a turn worrying while you get showered and dressed. Your suit and white shirt are hanging over there in the closet. Albrecht will be here in a half hour.”

  “Right. While you’re worrying, maybe you should call Henry again and see if he knows any great lawyers in Germany or Hungary.”

  “I already did and he doesn’t. He’s going to e-mail me a recommendation from a friend of his while we’re at dinner. That reminds me. I’m starving, are you? I’ve been dreaming of smoked goose and champagne and marzipan cake since I heard someone talking about it in the salon.”

  “Don’t. You’re making me hungrier.” Sam showered and dressed. Eight o’clock passed. When Albrecht was fifteen minutes late, Sam called his cell phone but it was turned off and the call went directly to voice mail. He called the front desk to ask whether their friend had come. Then he checked with the restaurant to find out whether Albrecht had been waiting for them there.

  “Let’s hope he got distracted with his friend Friedrich and forgot the time. If he’s had colleagues here doing carbon dating, maybe he was getting other tests done and they distracted him,” Sam said with concern.

  “Let’s try home.” Remi took out her phone and dialed.

  “Hi, Remi.”

  “Hi, Selma,” she said. “We seem to have lost track of Albrecht.”

  “What do you mean ‘lost track’?”

  “He was supposed to meet us at the hotel a half hour ago, but he hasn’t shown up, hasn’t called, and isn’t answering his cell. I thought he might have left a message with you, but I guess he didn’t. Do we have any other numbers on file for him? He was staying at some professor’s office at Humboldt University.”

  “Just his home and his office at Heidelberg.”

  “Probably that’s a dead end.”

  “Anything else I can do?”

  “Yes, actually. See what you can find out about a company called Consolidated Enterprises.”

  “Are they American?”

  “I read something that said they were based in New York, but we just saw six of them here.”

  “I’ll get on it.”

  “Thanks, Selma. They seem to be following us. And if they’ve already spotted Albrecht, we might have a problem. He’s so paranoid, he may have decided to walk to France to throw them off.”

  “I’ll let you know who and what they are.”

  “Good night, Selma.” Remi put her phone back into her purse and turned to Sam. “Nothing. Any other ideas?”

  “Well, you can either stay here keeping your beauty pristine or you can put on something practical and go with me to see if we can find him.”

  She shrugged. “I guess I’ve already shown myself to the only guy I was trying to impress. Take one last look before I put on a pair of jeans and sneakers.”

  “Sorry.”

  She kicked off her high heels and opened the small refrigerator, selected a chocolate bar, and took a bite. “Here. Have some dinner while I change.” She gave him the bar, then turned around so he could unzip her dress.

  A few minutes later Sam and Remi walked briskly back along Unter den Linden toward Humboldt University. The streets were full of people—locals and tourists—enjoying the beautiful walk beneath the double row of linden trees on an early-summer night. The fourth time Sam looked over his shoulder at the walkway behind them he said, “I don’t see our stalkers.”

  Remi said, “They probably knew we had a dinner reservation at a Michelin-starred restaurant and figured we’d be accounted for over the next three hours.”

  “Are you getting worried?”

  “More and more,” she said. “Albrecht Fischer isn’t an absentminded professor. He’s used to running an academic department, teaching, writing, and putting together mental models of incredibly complex buildings with very little to go on. He doesn’t ask friends to come halfway around the world and then forget they’re here.”

  “Let’s not assume anything,” Sam said. “We’re almost there.”

  They reached the laboratory building where Albrecht had taken them a fe
w hours earlier. The outer door was still unlocked. They could see lights on in some of the labs on upper floors, but when they reached Albrecht’s lab, it was dark.

  Remi said, “Could we have passed him on the way?”

  “Probably not. I was studying everybody I could see to spot watchers. But he might have gone somewhere to change for dinner, so we don’t know which direction he’d be coming from.”

  Sam reached out tentatively to test the doorknob of Albrecht’s lab and found that it turned. He opened the door, reached in, and turned on the lights. The coffin with Friedrich’s remains was gone. The lab tables that had been lined up very precisely in two rows earlier were pushed aside at odd angles, and two had been knocked over. Two chairs looked as though they had been hurled across the room. As Remi and Sam moved farther into the room, they found several large splotches of blood in a trail leading toward the door. The scarf Albrecht had been wearing lay on the floor. Sam picked it up and put it in his coat pocket.

  Remi took out her cell phone, dialed quickly, and clapped the phone to her ear.

  “Police?” asked Sam.

  “Uh-huh. In Germany they’re 1-1-0.” She heard something in German and said, “Hello. Can I speak to you in English? Good. I think a friend of ours has been kidnapped. Abducted. My husband and I were going to meet him at our hotel at eight o’clock. He didn’t come, and so we’re here at his laboratory at Humboldt University. There’s blood on the floor, the furniture is knocked over, and things are missing.” She listened. “My name is Remi Fargo. Thank you. We’ll wait for them at the front door of this building.”

  Remi and Sam turned off the lights, left the laboratory, and walked down the hallway to the entrance. The on-off wail that European sirens make grew louder. When they opened the door, they saw the police car emerge from Friedrichstrasse and head toward them. The car stopped in front of the building, and two police officers got out.

  Sam said, “Hello, Officers. Do you speak English?”

  “I have a little English,” said one of the policemen. “Are you Herr Fargo?”

  “Yes. And this is my wife, Remi. Please come and see what we’ve found.”

  He and Remi led the two policemen into the laboratory and turned on the lights. As soon as they saw the condition of the room, the policemen looked more comfortable. They were on firm ground again: there had been a crime and so they were in charge. As they looked closely at the various physical signs of violence, the officers asked questions and took notes. “What is your friend’s name? Is he a professor at Humboldt? If he’s a professor at Heidelberg, why does he have a laboratory here? What is the nature of his work? Does he have a rival who would do something like this?”

  Sam sighed. “Professor Fischer felt he had been watched while he was in Hungary. There were four men who followed him around in a car. He had no idea who they were.”

  “Anyone else?”

  “We arrived today from an archaeological dive in the Gulf of Mexico off the state of Louisiana in the United States. There were six people there who work for a company called Consolidated Enterprises. They followed our boat to various dive sites and then sabotaged our equipment. As we were leaving here for our hotel this afternoon, we saw that two of the same people were in Berlin, following us.”

  “How would we find them?”

  “They’re staying at the Tiergarten Hotel,” Sam said. “Fourth floor.”

  The two policemen conferred for a few seconds, and then the English speaker spoke into a hand radio briefly. Then he said, “We would like you to come with us.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “The Tiergarten Hotel.”

  When they arrived at the Tiergarten Hotel, there were already six police cars parked in front and a high-ranking officer was waiting. The two policemen with Remi and Sam called him Hauptmann. He turned to them and said, “Mr. and Mrs. Fargo? I’m Captain Klein. I’ve got men upstairs speaking with these Americans who might have abducted your friend.”

  Sam said, “I’m a bit uncomfortable about the idea that these people could be the kidnappers. They’re not ethical, but they don’t seem to be violent.”

  Captain Klein shrugged. “You said they sabotaged diving equipment, perhaps endangering you. They’ve followed you from one continent to another. Sometimes criminals thrive because they don’t seem to be the type. We’ll know soon.”

  Klein’s radio gave a blast of static. He said into it, “Ja?” There was a recitation by a male voice on the other end, and Klein replied briefly. He said to Sam and Remi, “Your friend is not in either of their rooms. We have some men searching other areas—the basement, storerooms, linen closets, offices, and so on.”

  “What about the specimens?” Remi asked. “There would be no legitimate reason for them to have any ancient artifacts or remains. They’ve been in Europe for only a few hours.”

  “Could you identify these objects if you saw them?”

  “Some of them,” she said. “Professor Fischer showed us the skeleton of an ancient warrior. There was a rusty partial sword or dagger, part of a leather wrapping or strap. And he had a map divided into a grid that showed the place where these had been found.”

  “Where did he find them?”

  “Somewhere in Hungary,” Sam said. “Captain, I would appreciate it if the description of the find and the location could be kept out of any public report. Professor Fischer has been keeping these things secret. If the word got out, the excavation of the site would be threatened. I personally assure you that the finds will all be reported to the government there and all permits obtained.”

  “Thank you both for your candor. I’ll do my best to keep this information confidential.” There was another blast of static, and he listened to his radio. “Danke.” To Remi and Sam he said, “They’re ready for us upstairs.”

  Sam, Remi, and Hauptmann Klein took the narrow elevator to the fourth floor and walked to an open doorway, where a police officer waited. He stepped aside, and they entered. The six Americans Sam and Remi had first seen in the boat off Louisiana were seated in the room, three on the couch and three at the small table by the window. Now that they were close and in a well-lighted room, Sam could see they showed red spots from mosquito bites, severe sunburns, and a number of scratches from struggling through thick foliage.

  “Do you recognize these people?” asked Klein.

  “I do,” said Remi.

  “So do I,” Sam said.

  “Yes,” said Captain Klein. “As you predicted, they’re carrying identification from Consolidated Enterprises in New York, and I’m sorry to say all six are here. I had hoped one or two of them would be with your missing friend.”

  The young blond woman at the table stood up, angry. “What are these people doing here?”

  “Mr. and Mrs. Fargo reported a professor missing. Do you know them?”

  “Yes,” she said. “They stole our boat and stranded us in a Louisiana swamp. We could easily have died out there.”

  “And now they’ve gotten you detained in a foreign country for a very serious crime. If I were you, I would stay far away from them.”

  “Falsely detained!” said the tall man with the shaved head. “I demand to have our lawyer present.”

  “Falsely or truly detained, still detained,” said Klein. “We are simply attempting to eliminate one possible set of suspects. Trust me, if you are eliminated now, you will have good cause to thank us. Kidnapping a world-renowned German scholar is not something you want to be tried for in Berlin.”

  Klein stepped away from them and beckoned to the Fargos. They went out into the hallway and closed the door. He said, “My men thoroughly searched their rooms. They found no bones, no rusty objects, and no notes or maps.”

  Sam said, “I don’t think these people abducted Albrecht Fischer. We saw two of them following us on Unter den Linden to our hotel. Then we saw the other four walk to our hotel and split up. They didn’t seem to be moving against Albrecht, but they could have taken him soo
n after we left the laboratory.”

  “They could easily be a surveillance team for a much larger conspiracy,” said Klein. “They’ve still offered no good explanation as to why they’re following you and spying on you. They’re clearly rivals looking for a discovery to steal, and Albrecht Fischer had a discovery. I’m going to take them to the station and spend some time finding out what they’re up to.”

  “We certainly have no objection,” said Remi.

  “We’ll also have officials watching the borders for the professor. If his kidnappers have had him for a couple of hours, though, he could be gone already.” Klein looked at them shrewdly. “But you’ve figured that out. You’re leaving Berlin too, aren’t you?”

  Sam said, “Someone kidnapped Albrecht Fischer and stole his notes, specimens, and photographs. I don’t know if it was friends of these people or someone else entirely. But I do know where they’re taking him.”

  “Then I wish you the best of luck. If it were my friend, that’s where I would go. Good night.”

  SZEGED, HUNGARY

  SAM AND REMI CHECKED OUT OF THE ADLON KEMPINSKI Hotel late that night and took a cab to the Hauptbahnhof, where Sam had lost his follower that afternoon. They got on the southbound Stadtbahn, but rode it only to Schönefeld Airport, where they caught a plane to Budapest. It was just an hour and a half to Ferihegy. They took a train from the airport to Nyugati Station in Budapest and then got on the next train that would take them the one hundred seventy kilometers to the city of Szeged near the southern border.

  They walked out of the station in the morning to see lined-up cabs waiting for travelers. Sam left the suitcases with Remi and walked up the line saying to each driver, “Do you speak English?” When he saw a driver shake his head or look puzzled, he went to the next one. At the fourth cab, there was a dark, thin middle-aged man with sad-looking brown eyes and a mustache that looked like a brush. He was leaning against his cab, and there were three other drivers with him, listening to a story he was telling and laughing. When he heard Sam’s question, he raised his hand. “Are you just curious or do you speak English?”