“Don’t be like that, Cole. Your bed is big enough for the both of us.”
Sudden laughed.
“It’s not what you think. I do need some shuteye. And you snore.”
***
Brin Yunner had heard enough. He turned off the recording device that received the signal from one of the bugs he’s planted in Sudden’s room after watching him drive off with the Witte woman. He’d have to thank them, Soul especially, for identifying the target, no matter how unorthodox the methods. The “snake” remark was priceless. He’d make sure everyone back at Langley knew what she had done. She and Sudden might have been getting all the sex, Yunner thought, but I’ll get all the glory. It would be nice to bring Nigel Buss and his unit of hot dogs down a peg. Maybe more than a peg at that, once the word got around that they would rather deal with Mossad instead of “Yunner’s maniacs.” They’d pay dearly for that remark.
But Soul and Sudden were right about one thing, he admitted. Making a big splash when he grabbed Bokamper wasn’t in anyone’s interest. But that was what car trunks were for, he reasoned. He’d use the succinylcholine chloride on Bokamper and somehow get him to an isolated place where his own C.I.A. copter could meet them.
CHAPTER 26 - THE SNATCH
Both Sudden and Rebecca were asleep when Nigel Buss called.
“Cole, it’s Nigel,” Rebecca said as she padded out to the living area with her cell phone and shook Sudden’s shoulder. “Move over.”
She was wearing a bra and panties and looked and smelled wonderful.
“Put him on speaker,” Sudden said, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. “What’s the verdict, Nige?”
“Bring him back in one piece,” Buss said. “Penny spoke to our friend in Tel-Aviv. You can use his resources in Switzerland. He will keep our boy on ice until we can make other arrangements. Not everyone around here is nuts, thank God.”
“I hope you didn’t have to give away too much,” Rebecca said. “Our friend can cut a hard bargain.”
No one could accuse Rebecca Soul of divided loyalties, Sudden mused. He heard their boss laugh on the other end.
“Nothing we can’t live with. He likes our little unit. I believe we may be farmed out occasionally to reach people he can’t.”
“And you can live with that, Nige?” Sudden asked.
He was surprised. The B.U.R.Y unit was unique in the C.I.A. and Nigel protected his turf like a female grizzly with cubs.
“I must be getting soft. But, hell, it will still be God’s work and I know he won’t abuse the privilege. He won’t ask us to do a job that goes against our interests or involves people who, let’s say, are up for a Mother Teresa award. When can you make your move?”
“Just as soon as I make a few calls,” Rebecca said.
“Well, good luck. Don’t take any chances. And for Pete’s sake, try not to piss off our European friends any more than is necessary. I don’t have to remind you that if this goes south no one will believe anything you say.”
Rebecca ended the call.
“In other words,” Sudden said. “We’ll be hung out to dry.”
“I’ll make the final arrangements while you get dressed, Cole. Then we should pack up and clear out of here.”
***
It was dusk when they reached Bokamper’s apartment complex.
“It’s a three-hour drive from Zurich to Geneva,” Rebecca said. “The ambulance should be here by now.”
She opened her cell phone and punched in some numbers as Sudden drove into the garage. Rebecca spoke a few words in French and then listened.
Très bon,” she said. “Donnez-nous une demi-heure.”
She hung up and turned to Sudden.
“He’s parked in a rest area a few miles away, on the road we came in. I told him we’d be there in 30 minutes. Pull over there by that Peugeot. It’s a fairly secluded spot and not far from the elevator. I’ll call Klaus. He’s on the second floor. It won’t take him long to get here.”
Two minutes later she said, “He’s not answering.”
“Maybe he’s in the shower, getting ready for his hot date.”
Rebecca glared at Sudden.
“Wait here. I’ll bring him down.”
She went to the elevator and Sudden went behind a pillar from which he knew he could take Bokamper unawares. The elevator door opened. It was too soon. A young couple, laughing arm in arm, exited. Sudden willed them to turn right, but they came right toward him. The man took out a key and clicked it. The car next to Sudden beeped. He cursed his luck and came out from behind the pillar, where he knew he looked conspicuous. He tried to look busy, checking the wipers on his car. The woman looked at him.
“Aller à la fête?”
Sudden smiled, but it was clear he didn’t understand what she’d said.
“Gehen zu der party?”
Obviously German, another language that gave him fits. But he thought he understood the last word.
“Party?”
They both looked at him strangely.
“The CERN anniversary party,” the man said, in passable English, “at the globe.”
Sudden realized that the man was probably talking about the Globe of Science and Innovation, a huge wooden structure that served as an information center for CERN. From the brochures he’d been given he knew it was also used for various social functions.
“Oh, yes. Of course. I forgot it was tonight. Had my head buried in work. You know how it is.”
“But everyone deserves a break,” the man said. “And everyone will be there.”
“Yes, you should go,” the woman insisted.
So that’s where Bokamper probably is, Sudden realized. Now what?
The elevator door opened and Rebecca stepped out.
“You know,” he said to the couple. “You’re right. I’m going upstairs to get cleaned up. I’ll see you there.”
They got into their car and backed out.
“Ciao,” the girl waved.
Rebecca hurried over to Sudden.
“He’s gone. I pounded on the door and then picked the lock. Place is empty. But it doesn’t look like he left in a hurry. Clothes are still there. Toiletries. Everything.”
“Condoms?”
She have him a withering look.
“Why don’t you shut the fuck up about that?” She nodded her head to the car that had just left. “Who were you talking to?”
He relayed the information he’d learned.
“It appears that your absent-minded professor forgot he had a date.”
“Damn! We may have to improvise something. I’ll call the ambulance and tell him to stay loose.”
They got into Sudden’s car.
“Him?”
“Mossad is spread pretty thin these days,” she said as they drove out of the garage. “The Zurich section is only a two-man operation. I was lucky to get a driver.”
***
The Globe of Science was easy to find. It could be seen from just about anywhere at the CERN facility. The parking lot was full of cars and Sudden and Soul could hear music wafting from the building, which from the outside resembling the world’s largest cocoon. There was a small line at the main entrance, where guests, many in formal attire, were showing tickets to guards.
“Tickets,” Sudden said.
“And we’re not dressed,” Rebecca added.
“When in doubt,” Sudden said, “act dumb.”
“That could be our motto on this assignment,” she said. “I’m sure your girlfriend, the Witte woman, is here. Just ask for her.”
“She’s traveling,” Sudden said, ignoring the jibe. “But I have another idea.”
They reached the entrance. A guard held up his hand.
“Je suis désolé. Cette fonction n'est pas ouvert au public."
“We are journalists,’ Sudden said. “Will you tell Dr. Louis LaPortre, that Cole Swift and Rebecca Soul are outside and would like to speak to him. I presume he is here.”
“
Just a moment,” the guard replied, switching to English. He picked up a communicator and spoke into it. He listened a moment and then turned back to Sudden. “Dr. LaPorte will be right out, sir. Please stand to the side.”
A few minutes later CERN’s Deputy Director came out the entrance and spotted them.
“Ms. Soul, Mr. Swift, what can I do for you?”
“We don’t have tickets,” Sudden said. “Ms. Witte was supposed to send them over to us. I know she was heading out of town. Perhaps it slipped her mind.”
“I was wondering where Katarina was,” LaPorte said. “But no matter. Of course you can come in. Don’t worry about your dress. Not everyone got the message about formal wear.” He looked at the guard. “They are with me.”
“Certainly, Doctor.”
Once inside, they saw hundreds of people milling about, drinks in hand, with waiters circulating trays of food. The atmosphere was festive, the setting, spectacular. The inner ball had a frame made up of 18 cylindrical wooden arcs. Two ramps, filled with guests, spiraled up around the cathedral-like space between the outer and inner shells. It reminded Sudden of the ramps at the Guggenheim in Manhattan.
LaPorte offered to introduce them to various CERN dignitaries.
“If you don’t mind, doctor,” Rebecca said. “We’d like to circulate on our own. But perhaps you could tell us where Dr. Bokamper is. I have a few questions for him.”
LaPorte looked relieved at the prospect he wouldn’t have to babysit them.
“Of course, of course. But I haven’t seen Klaus.” He looked around. “There’s one of his assistants. Perhaps she can help you locate him.”
They all walked over to a rather squat woman with steel-rimmed glasses who Sudden immediately recognized. She wore her grayish-brown hair in a bun and was wearing a yellow pants suit and too much makeup, which made the mole on her nose stand out in bas relief.
“Irma,” LaPorte said, “perhaps you can help these nice people.”
“Irma, how nice to see again,” Sudden said. “I didn’t catch your last name at the lab. It wouldn’t be Bunt, would it?”
Rebecca kicked him in the ankle. That was happening a lot lately, Sudden reflected.
“Nein. It is Dr. Spengler. Now, what is it that you want?”
“We’re looking for Dr. Bokamper,” Soul said.
Irma Spengler gave Rebecca the kind of sneering look Sudden assumed was reserved for any female who was better-looking than she was. That, he thought uncharitably, included most primates.
“Well, if you will excuse me,” LaPorte said quickly, “I must attend to my social duties.”
After he left, the woman just stood there.
“Dr. Bokamper?” Sudden prompted.
“He’s not here.”
“Do you know when he will arrive?”
“No.”
“He is coming, isn’t he?”
“I do not know. He had a lot of work to do. Now, if you will excuse me, I would like to find my date.”
She waddled off.
“I’m half tempted to see what her date looks like,” Sudden said. “I thought Quasimodo was dead.”
“I don’t like it,” Rebecca said. “Something is not right.”
“Yeah. I’m getting a bad feeling about the whole thing, too. Let’s get out of here. And let’s get to the Collider.”
“I’ll call my friend with the ambulance. Tell him to meet us there.”
“Will he have trouble getting into the area?”
“No,” she said simply.
***
They parked in the small lot adjacent to the building above the lab where they hoped Bokamper was still at work. After 15 minutes an ambulance pulled up behind their car and they got out. No one else was about. A thin, sandy-haired man dressed as an emergency worker got out of the other vehicle and walked over to them. No introductions were made.
“Do you speak English?” Sudden said.
The man nodded.
“Good. That will make it easier for all of us. We don’t know if the target is even here. If he is, we’ll try to get him to come out on his own. If no one is around, we’ll immobilize him and put him in your ambulance. If someone sees us, we’ll pretend he’s ill or something. The important thing is to get him out of the country as soon as possible. What arrangements have you made?”
“The French border is only a few miles away. My instructions are to meet a copter outside La Rixouse.”
“The elevator,” Rebecca said. “We don’t have the code for the keypad.” She looked at the ambulance driver. “I don’t suppose you have a Rosetta Stone?”
The man smiled.
“Never leave home without it.”
He walked back to his ambulance.
“Rosetta Stone?” Sudden asked.
“It’s what Mossad calls their little B&E gizmo,” Rebecca explained. “It’s modeled after what the agency uses, or vice versa.”
The man came back and handed her a small black box that looked like a cigarette case.
“You wait here,” Sudden said to the man. “We shouldn’t be long. If we come up with him, we’ll call you.”
“Understood,” the man said.
He reached in his pocket and brought out another small box, this one silver.
“What now?” Sudden said.
The Mossad agent opened the case took out a cigarette. He offered one to Sudden, who laughed and shook his head. They left him leaning against his ambulance, smoking.
***
When they got to the elevator, Rebecca placed the Rosetta Stone against the keypad and flicked a small switch. An small LED panel on the device lit up and started illuminating a series of numbers. After only a few seconds it stopped on four digits.
“I’m going to ask Nigel why we don’t have those,” Sudden asked.
“We may be the only field unit that doesn’t,” Rebecca said. “You know how they treat us. Nigel is always complaining.”
She removed the device and punched the numbers on the keypad. A few moments later they heard the elevator whoosh to a stop and the doors opened. After another stomach-churning descent, the doors opened again and they stared out into the empty corridor that lead to the control room. As they walked down the corridor Sudden held up his hand.
“Hold it.”
“What’s wrong.”
“Do you hear that?”
There was a muffled sound coming from a room they’d just passed. Sudden walked back and opened the door. The room was small and was filled with file cabinets. The cabinets didn’t interest him. But the man in a security guard uniform who lay blindfolded, bound and gagged on the floor did. Sudden went to him, Rebecca at his side. They looked at each other. Sudden started to untie the blindfold. Rebecca grabbed his arm.
“No. Just take off his gag.”
It was duct tape and the guard yelped when Sudden peeled it away, along with some hairs from the man’s small mustache.
“Sorry,” Sudden said. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” the man said. “I was making my rounds and saw that Dr. Bokamper was in the control room. I went in to remind him about the anniversary party. He’s always working but I knew he couldn’t miss that. But when he saw me he just took something out of his pocket and aimed it at me. ‘Forgive me Jules,’ he said, and that’s all I remember. Next thing I know, I’m tied up in here. What’s going on? Has he gone mad? Who are you?”
“We’d better get to the control room,” Sudden said.
“What about him?”
“Please, untie me. And take off this blindfold. I have to call this in.”
Sudden picked up the tape and placed it across the guard’s mouth again.
“Sorry about this,” he said, and then made sure the man’s bindings were still tight.
He closed the door behind them.
“He’s not going to have much of a mustache left,” Sudden said as they walked to the control room.
“It looked silly, anyway,” Rebecca sa
id.
CHAPTER 27 - JUST IN TIME
“I don’t know what Bokamper used on that guard,” Sudden said. “We’d better be careful. But remember, Nigel wants him alive.”
They drew their weapons and took positions on each side of the control room doors. Sudden peered in through the glass.
“I can’t see anyone.”
They entered the room cautiously and fanned out. The room was quiet but for a steady and, in the circumstances, ominous background hum. They met at the large observation window. Bokamper was in the tunnel. He was wearing a tuxedo and appeared to be placing some sort of cube in a compartment within the collider tubing. He closed the access port in the receptacle and began to walk toward the door leading back to the control room. When he came through the door the first thing he saw was Sudden pointing a gun at him.
“Hold it right there, doc. And keep your hands where I can see them.”
Bokamper looked stunned, but recovered quickly.
“Mr. Swift, I don’t understand.” Then he saw Soul. “Rebecca, what’s the meaning of this?”
“She does this to everyone who stands her up,” Sudden said.
“Ignore him, Klaus,” Rebecca said. “We’ll explain everything in a moment. Right now, we have to leave. Please come quietly. We don’t want to hurt you.”
“I can’t leave. The collider is set on automatic.” He paused. “My experiment. I must be here. You don’t understand.”
“I admire your work ethic, Bokamper,” Sudden said. “But we’re leaving. If we have to, we’ll carry you out.”
“I don’t know what you are doing, or who you are, but you have no idea what’s at stake!”
Before Sudden could reply, he noticed Bokamper look past him.
“Drop your guns,” a voice from behind Sudden said calmly. “Try not to do anything stupid. I know you two are supposed to be the best in the C.I.A. but I’m a damn good shot myself.”
Sudden and Soul did as they were told. Their guns clattered to the floor at their feet.
“Hands on your heads. Now turn around slowly. Kick those guns over to me”
Brin Yunner smiled, his automatic pistol pointed between them. He held a small black attaché case in his other hand.
TWO SUDDEN!: A Pair of Cole Sudden C.I.A. Thrillers Page 32