by Unknown
Dresner nodded his head. After a few more minutes he sat at his desk and stared at the telephone. He dialed the overseas operator and asked her for a number he knew now by heart. A young voice answered the phone. “Eric, this is Rolf Dresner,” he said slowly. “You need to come to Innsbruck.”
Chapter 8
Finding Answers
The airliner came to a slow halt beside the passenger terminal at the Innsbruck airport. A very tired and distressed Eric Anderson made his way along with the other passengers down the stairs and to the terminal.
The news of his family’s death had struck him a hard blow, but he hadn’t had time to fully comprehend all of it until he had gotten on the plane. The previous 48 hours had been a whirlwind of activity. The family lawyer had taken out the will and set everything in motion so that the company and heir would be taken care of. Dietz had called three times to check on Eric and had made all the arrangements in Austria. Within the 48 hours Eric had assumed control of Anderson Construction and all the family holdings and then boarded the plane to Austria.
Eric slept most of the way across. He hadn’t realized how tired he was until he had to be wakened in Frankfurt. He was the last one off the plane. He fell asleep again on the one hour flight to Innsbruck. Walking down the ramp Eric still felt exhausted. That changed when he saw who had come to pick him up.
Anna Dietz ran up to Eric and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. When she finally stood back, the pressures of the past two days seemed to lift from him. His smile grew and he pulled her in for the kiss he needed. “I have missed you so much,” he finally said to her.
“Well, we have some time now. Come on, let’s get you home,” she said, taking him by the arm. After retrieving his luggage, Anna led him to her father’s Mercedes for the drive to the home he had not yet seen. During the drive Eric was uncharacteristically quiet, although he wanted to know everything that had happened. Anna kept up the conversation, telling him about the house, the people and finally what she knew about what happened. She couldn’t tell him much, but explained that Rolf Dresner would meet them at the house. Anna slowed and stopped at the place where the car went over the side. Eric got out and looked at where the car had been. A crew had removed the Pontiac just the day before.
Eric could not believe the house, or castle, depending on who saw it. He immediately saw what his father had seen in it. Anna pulled the Mercedes into the garage. He saw the Rolls Royce inside and hoped to get the chance to drive it. Hans came out and took the luggage and escorted the couple into the house.
Helga met them at the door and Anna introduced them. Helga curtsied then wrapped Eric in a big hug. “My poor liebchen, you do not worry about a thing. We will take care of you,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“Vielen dank, Frau Hufham,” said Eric. He blushed slightly. “I am taking the time to study German. I hope you will all help me learn it properly,” he said.
Helga began to beam with pride. “We will turn you into a nice Austrian boy yet!” she said with a widening grin. “Now come, I have made lunch for you,” she said as she whisked Eric and Anna to the table.
They had barely started their meal when Hans let Rolf Dresner in the door. He added his own welcome to Eric and sat with them while they ate. When they finished, Eric asked the hard questions.
Dresner didn’t flinch. “There is no doubt they were murdered. But that’s about all I can say. We are tracking down some things. I’ll find out the answers.” He got serious, “Did your parents use sleeping pills to help them sleep?”
Eric got a puzzled look on his face. “No. Mom and Dad didn’t really like taking pills. If it wasn’t aspirin or a prescription they didn’t bother.”
“Well, the autopsy report came in and there was a concentration of a common sleeping pill in your sister and mom’s system. It doesn’t mean much right now, but it’s noted,” said Dresner.
Dresner looked at Eric. “Do you know of anyone who might have run afoul of your father in the past few weeks or months?”
Eric thought a moment then shook his head. “Not really. I don’t know of anyone losing a job or having some confrontation.”
“Well, right now it could be anything. I recently talked to your father about some stolen acid and a possible tie to the Olympic Games. It may be linked to that. In the mean time, I have people going over the grounds and the house. We’ll try and stay out of your way.”
“Do I need to identify my parents Herr Dresner?”
Dresner smiled. “No Eric. I have done that already. We don’t need the bodies anymore and Herr Dietz has already made arrangements for their preparations for burial. They should be ready for the trip home in a couple of days. In the mean time just take care of business here and relax as best you can. We’ll take care of the more difficult things,” Dresner said warmly. “Frau Huffham, Herr Kemper and Anna should take care of anything you need.”
Eric smiled a tired smile. “Don’t worry about me. I’m okay. Right now I could stand a little walk. All that time on a plane has me a little stiff.”
Dresner stood and slapped the young man on the back. “Go ahead. Get a good look at a dream your father made. What he has done here is beyond description. I will come by again later on to check on you,” he said before making his good-byes.
Eric and Anna walked outside into the bright sunshine. It was the beginning of October and the trees had shed their leaves. Already the snow was making its way down the mountain peaks. She took him by the lake and the pier leading to a gazebo on the water. Because the tunnel was now open all the time, only a slight mist remained at the base of the waterfall on the lake. The white walls and stained wooden accents made the house look like something out of a medieval story book. Only the wooden patio furniture and colorful umbrellas on top of the concrete patio looked out of place. But somehow it seemed to go together very well. Eric could tell his mother had a blast putting it all together. Anna took the time to relate all the things she and his mother had talked about when putting it together, hoping it would ease the pain she knew Eric was still suffering inside.
They stood under the gazebo looking at everything when Eric suddenly turned and took her in his arms. “Anna, Mom told me how much she grew to like you all this time. Dad did too. She told me all the things you did to help out. You’ll never know how much I appreciate what you have done. I also know you put a lot of yourself into this place. Well, now it’s ours – yours and mine. You know how my feelings for you have grown over this time. I hope your feelings have grown for me as well,” he said softly.
Anna smiled and put her arms around him, placing her head on his shoulder. “You know the answer, Eric. I’m just waiting for you to ask me,” she said quietly.
He kissed her gently, almost as if she were made of fragile porcelain. “I know I was ready before. But all this made me realize I really can’t do this by myself. I need you Anna. I need you with me. I want you to come back with me for the funeral. Then we can make our plans,” he said. “But while I’m here, I need to talk to your father.”
“You know what he will say.”
“I know. But out of respect, I think I need to. Then I can make it formal,” he said with a grin.
The kiss lasted a long time. Like making up for all the time apart, their passion flowed as they embraced each other. Anna was all Eric wanted in the world, and now he had a world to give to her – a world his mother and father built – and one both would approve of. For over an hour they stood together. Eventually they resumed their walk across the small pier and along the banks of the lake.
Dresner watched the two leave the gazebo and begin their lakeside walk. He and his people were looking all over for something to explain what had happened. At least Eric had someone he could rely on, he thought to himself as he watched them walk hand in hand.
Dresner turned and walked along the drive. Something had happened between the house and the tunnel. Leaving the house were deep tire tracks where the car had sped o
ff. There were no marks in the tunnel, yet the car had obviously been pushed off the ledge. The gravel drive didn’t tell him much. It would absorb almost anything. Dresner stopped and looked at some grass along one side. It was cut shorter than the rest. In a few places it looked like something had burrowed into the dirt. He walked along a line perpendicular to the road and saw a few more of the holes. Getting on his hands and knees he took out his knife and dug down a little deeper. About six inches into the ground was a piece of metal. He examined it in his hand. It was jagged and rough, but painted red on one side.
Dresner stood and returned to the road. There were a few more marks in the dirt on the other side. Looking around one of them, he saw the outline of a heel from a shoe. Returning to the road, Dresner walked to the middle and began kicking away the top level of gravel. After just a few kicks he found many of the stones covered in something dark. There was a faint smell of oil.
Dresner called out to one of the team. “Get your people over here and go through this area. Pull up every piece of metal you can find, then search on a perpendicular line as far as you can. Then have someone check what is under this gravel,” he demanded. The man straightened and began calling in his team.
“Herr Dresner!” came a cry from Eric beside the lake. Dresner watched as Eric bent down and picked up what looked like a metal tube with a trigger on one side.
“He is being followed, Herr Colonel,” Strasser said with concern. “At first we could not tell, they are very professional about it. Their leader, a man named Dresner, is very good at what he does and is very thorough. There is now a team in a flat across the street and another in a car one block away. We were able to follow their movements once we figured out what they were doing. They change chasers about every mile. We have a very serious situation.”
Müller threw his pen down on the desk in disgust. Mantz had been a faithful and diligent member of the organization, but now that time had come to an end. The time for action was too close now and they could not afford any slips. “Is there any alternative?” he asked.
Strasser shook his head. “He knows too much. He is one of the few we have brought to the bunker. If they ever got to him, our cause would be lost.”
Müller agreed. Any other time Mantz could simply be moved. But those times were gone. “I want it to look like an accident. What do you have in mind?”
“Automobile accident. A small explosive in the right place. Not to blow the car up, but disable it while he’s going at high speed. I will use Stadt and his truck to get close and set it off by radio. On our roads, he will probably go over a cliff and that will be that,” said Strasser.
“Approved. Make it as soon as possible. We need to cut any leads to us as quickly as we can. Do you need more men?” asked Müller.
“No, the fewer the better.”
“Tell Stadt no one is to know what happened. It will simply be an accident. And keep an eye on Dresner. We can’t afford him messing up our plans at this stage.”
“Jawohl, Herr Colonel,” Strasser said as he left. They would place the charges and do it tonight, then have someone keep an eye on Dresner beginning tomorrow. Now he had to get hold of Stadt.
“A Panzerfaust!” exclaimed Sergeant Betz in amazement. He turned the tube over in his hands several times. “Where in the hell did this come from?” he exclaimed again. The Panzerfaust was a hand held German anti-tank weapon from the war. Over a million had been destroyed after the surrender.
“I don’t know,” said Dresner as he poked through all the metal they had found, including a large piece of the engine from the Pontiac. The men had assembled the pieces in a lab located in the police basement. “Someone was very clever in the way they did this,” he said. “Young Eric found the Panzerfaust tube just as I discovered where the explosion had been. We were right that something had to have happened before the tunnel. Someone had packed down the places where the metal pieces had burrowed in and had re-covered the road to hide the oil from the engine. Then they cut the grass short to hide the scorched vegetation. It was all planned Betz. But more to the point, there had to be more than one person.”
Betz picked up a piston in his hand and turned it over. “It blew the engine into 100 pieces. No wonder it wasn’t with the car. They couldn’t find all the pieces in the dark. One thing is for certain, your friend and his family didn’t suffer. That weapon is designed to penetrate over 6 inches of armor. It probably stopped the car immediately,” he said sadly.
“Not for little Kate. Someone chose to finish the job instead of saving the child.” Dresner turned and looked angrily at Betz. “We are dealing with something cold and heartless. Something cunning, with some sort of plan in mind. I am now convinced that this is related to the acid theft. Al was the only man I discussed it with besides members of our team. I think we need to bring in our thief.”
“Shall I alert the men?”
“No. We shall do this ourselves,” Dresner said. Betz watched as his friend gathered his coat and started out the door. Betz knew his superior was angry, but angry because someone was getting ready to hurt a lot of people. He was professional enough not to let his feelings for his friend interfere with his work, but the thought of someone hurting the innocent had always disturbed his boss. When that happened, Dresner was a very dangerous man, indeed.
Joaquin Mantz left his house and got in his car. The meeting would be starting in about an hour, so he had plenty of time. Besides, he liked to get there early to talk to other members. The old Mercedes started easily and he backed it into the street and drove into the traffic at the next corner. The alert went out from the men watching the house and the chase car moved into traffic so that it was just two cars behind Mantz. Hearing the call on the radio, Dresner and Betz worked their way through traffic, eventually pulling behind the trailing car. They decided to take their time and follow a bit. It might lead to the acid. A short while later, the first car pulled away and a second pulled in from a side street. Because of Dresner’s training, the Innsbruck police were very efficient in their methods and trailing a suspect was something they were very good at.
Mantz entered the main highway heading southeast of the city. It was a four lane highway that turned back and forth up and down the mountain passes. Dresner and Betz were beginning to wonder where he might be going. There wasn’t much else except a pass to Italy on the other side of the mountains. The road was now etched along the side of a mountain making its way to the next valley. The men were 200 meters behind the tail car but could still see Mantz’s car farther ahead. Suddenly a large tanker truck, with only one working headlight and belching diesel smoke surged past their car as it flew down the highway. Dresner suppressed the urge of putting out his blue light and stopping the driver for reckless driving. Then the truck passed the leading police vehicle and came up close behind Mantz’s car before it swerved around passing Mantz and skimmed around the side of the mountain.
“Idiot,” Betz said as he watched the truck disappear around the curve. Then without warning Mantz’s car drove across the center line, through the guardrail and straight over the side of the mountain. The men watched in horror as a gout of flame reflected off the trees and roadside as the car struck the rocks below.
Both cars quickly pulled over to the siding and turned on their police lights. Dresner and Betz rushed over to the side. The car lay fifty feet from the side of the mountain. Flames had engulfed the car which had accordioned into a mass of twisted, burning metal. Dresner got on the radio to call in the emergency team, but knew there would be no rescues that evening.
“This just proves what I said Sergeant. Something else is behind all this. Get our team on it. I want to know what caused that crash. I don’t care if we have to reassemble the car to do it. I want to know what made Mantz crash, and I want it within 48 hours,” he ordered. Betz remembered the decisiveness of his commander from the war. Now he was seeing it again.
“Jawohl, Herr Major.”
Chapter 9
; Decisions
Eric Anderson sat down with Fritz Dietz in Herr Dietz’s home office. It was a nice cozy little room with a small fireplace and desk. There were only two chairs. Herr Dietz had closed the door behind them. Eric had asked for the chance to talk to Herr Dietz and it had quickly evolved into an invitation to dinner. Now Anna and her mother were clearing the dishes away and the two men had time to talk.
“Now Eric, what did you want to talk to me about?” Dietz asked.
Eric was nervous. Although he liked Mr. Dietz, he was unsure of how to put what he wanted to ask. It was also something very important and he didn’t want to screw it up. His hands were sweaty and without thinking he rubbed them on his slacks. Eric felt like he was sweating like a pig. Figuring he had little to lose, he threw caution to the wind and simply asked.
“Herr Dietz, I am not sure of Austrian customs or the propriety of what I want to ask. In America sometimes the father is asked and sometimes not. Out of respect, I wanted to come and ask if I may marry your daughter,” he said with an ever more frightened and tense voice.
Fritz Dietz had already figured what Eric was going to ask but was enjoying seeing him squirm a little. Eric was a bright and very capable young man who was as decisive as his father. He could see a lot of Al Anderson in his son – not just physically, but in his thinking as well. Eric would always take care of Anna, there was not doubt. The question was whether he could handle his daughter.
Dietz smiled and placed his hand on Eric’s shoulder. “That was very considerate of you. Yes, our custom is to talk to the father before, even though, like in America, this sometimes does not happen. My wife and I have been anticipating this, as did your father and mother. You both have our blessings. Personally, I would be proud to have you in the family,” he said warmly.