“Lukas! Oh, mein Gott! Lukas!” Elsa was shocked as she recognized the face behind the gun aimed at her. She lowered her weapon and tried to stand, but the pain was too great, and she fell back into the chair. Liliya hid next to her.
“Elsa? Scheisse.” Lukas ran down the stairs and bounded forward falling onto his knees at her feet. He wrapped her in his arms, and she screamed. He backed off, looking up at her. “What is it? Are you hurt?” He ran his eyes over her body and saw the makeshift field bandage around her knee.
“Yeah. My knee. I think it’s broken.” Her green eyes welled with tears, but her expression was a weird combination of pain, happiness to see him, and anger.
Hugo arrived behind him. “Kreiss. Damn, I’m glad to see you.” He looked around the room at the instruments on the wall, then down to the body unconscious and handcuffed on the floor. Finally, he looked at the girl stuck like glue to Elsa’s side.
“And who is this?”
Elsa sniffed and said, “Hugo. This is Liliya Avilova. She was kidnapped and was being held here.” She took the girl’s hand in her own. “It’s okay now, Liliya. These are my friends, Hugo, my partner, and Lukas, my...” she looked at him.
“Her boyfriend,” he supplied.
Liliya smiled through her tears. “Hello.”
“Heinz will be happy about this,” said Hugo. “We need to get you both out of here.” He reached out to help the girl up. She stood and immediately went to Beimer’s side. He stuck out a foot and kicked the man on the ground. “What’s his story? Is he dead?”
Elsa leaned onto Lukas who simply scooped her up into his arms. “Nein. But he’s going to wish he was. That’s Gregor. He kidnapped Liliya. He also works for Ivchencko. They’re trafficking girls, stealing them from families here in Berlin.
“So that’s Koslov.” Beimer pulled out his phone and texted Heinz. He waited, but there was no answer. He tried Faust who replied right away asking if they found Elsa. He let him know they did and dialed so he could speak to the agent. It was faster than texting.
Faust answered. “Talk to me!”
“We have both Elsa and the girl. It’s Liliya Avilova.”
“What? She’s alive?” The relief in Faust’s voice could be heard through the speaker. “Okay, get them out through the back door in the east hall just off the main hall. I have four men waiting there for you. I’m still waiting to hear from Heinz, but he’s not responding to texts. Either way, we’re coming in. The warrant just came through.”
“Ja wohl.” Beimer hung up. “Faust is about to storm the castle. We have to get them out.”
Lukas looked at Elsa. “Don’t worry, I got you. Just keep your weapon at the ready. My hands are full, and we’re going to be moving quickly. I’m sorry in advance because it’s probably going to hurt you.” He gave her a quick kiss on her cheek. He looked at Hugo and Liliya who was now sticking like glue to Biemer’s side. “Put her behind you and I’ll follow. We’ll keep them both between us, but you’re going to have to take the lead. Can you handle it?”
Beimer blew out air and said, “Piece of cake, Trommler.”
“Good man. Let’s go.”
Beimer took point, pulling Liliya along behind him. Lukas brought up the tail as they went up the stairs and back out into the main hall.
Elsa whispered in Lukas’s ear. “How did you convince Heinz to let you come along? And where did you get that gun?” She glanced down at the small H&K submachine pistol hanging from a strap over his shoulder.
He winked at her. “I guess there’s a few things I hadn’t gotten around to telling you yet.”
“Yeah. Like, your artsy boyfriend is German Special Ops,” Beimer muttered under his breath.
“What? No scheisse? Well, I can’t say I’m unhappy to hear it. My hero,” she said, kissing his cheek.
They found the east hall and after making sure the coast was clear, nearly ran down to the end of it, finding the door that led out onto a side terrace.
“What happened to your knee?” Lukas turned carefully so as not to bump her leg going out.
“Ivchencko.” She couldn’t say any more. She knew questions were coming, and she wasn’t sure yet how the hell she was going to answer them.
“He hit her with a rod,” Liliya supplied.
“Motherfucker! I’ll kill him!” Lukas’s face turned dark with rage.
“No. That pleasure will be all mine,” said Elsa.
Four men rushed forth and tried to take Elsa, but Lukas wouldn’t let her go. “We need an ambulance here now. Where’s Faust?”
“He’s entering through the front. Our men are with him,” said the officer.
“What about Heinz and Mahler? Did they come out?” Beimer stood waiting. Liliya refused to leave his side.
“Not yet. They still haven’t responded to texts.”
Beimer looked at Lukas who glanced at Elsa. “Something’s wrong. Joseph wouldn’t just not answer,” she said.
“I agree. He should’ve been out by now.” They made their way to the guard gate where their unit had commandeered the small building, arresting the guard and placing him into the back of a police cruiser. An ambulance was called, and Lukas sat Elsa down on the grass near the road. Liliya immediately joined her, taking Elsa’s hand.
Lukas looked at Beimer. “We can go back in where we came out. We can make a sweep of the rooms. You up for it?”
“We can’t let you do that, sir,” said the officer.
“You can’t stop me, either. My training far outweighs yours in this situation, and I outrank you.”
Hugo was impressed. “I’m with you, Trommler.”
Lukas knelt by Elsa taking her hand. She looked at him closely, seeing him through new eyes. Her cocky art dealer turned out to be a kickass soldier boy. “Be careful. Ivchencko is dangerous, and quite mad.”
He smiled a half smile, and kissed her tenderly, fearing causing her any more pain. Then he stood up and began walking back to the house. He turned and looked at the officer. “Well? Are you coming or what? There’s a suspect handcuffed in the basement. Get your men in there and get him out. We’ll need to question him.”
The officer gave him a long look, then signaled his men to follow.
HEINZ TWISTED AND PULLED at the ropes binding him to the chair. “Motherfucker!” He shouted the all-too-American expletive to vent his anger and frustration, and his agonizing fear for Birgitta. Going for broke, he threw himself over sideways and heard a satisfying crack as one of the wooden arms snapped off from the chair. He wiggled his right hand free and was just beginning to untie the left when the library doors burst open. Faust, followed by Trommler, Beimer, and four men in combat police gear stormed inside and stopped when they saw Heinz on the floor.
“Joseph! Scheisse, are you all right?” Faust ran forward, reaching for the ropes. He tried to untie Heinz, but the knots were tight.
“Here. Let me.” Lukas pulled a wicked looking hunting knife out of his sleeve and sliced through the bindings.
Heinz rose quickly, frantic. “Did you get them?”
“Yes. We got Elsa and the girl out,” Beimer answered.
“No! Not them,” he shouted.
Lukas stood and looked around. “Where’s Detective Mahler?”
“He has her! Damn it. Did you get them? Didn’t you see them leave?”
Faust cursed, then turned to his men. “Radio out to the gate. No one leaves. Tell them to be prepared.” He looked at Heinz. “Which way did they go out? We didn’t see anyone.”
Heinz turned and walked to the bookshelf looking for the trigger to open the trick door. “Here. They went behind this damn thing. Help me find the lever.”
The four men rushed forward and began pulling books off the shelves, lifting boards, and yanking and pushing at the thing. When that didn’t work, Lukas stepped in and instructed them to pull the whole case off the wall. The five of them leveraged themselves and pulled. On the third try, it separated from the hinges and crashed down to the
floor.
“Beimer, Trommler, you’re taking the lead with me. Let’s go.” Heinz pulled his gun, and the three of them entered the hidden hallway.
It was dark inside, but they had just enough light to see that it began to slope down and then turned right onto a long ramp. At the bottom, it opened up to what appeared to be an underground garage. A long, dark tunnel went out the back side completely opposite the front gate. It was clear this was how Ivchencko managed to leave without being seen by the police.
Heinz threw his hands in the air, and then gripped the top of his head turning in circles, cursing, and kicking the ground. “He has Birgitta. We have to get her back.”
“We have Koslov,” said Faust, catching up to them.
Heinz turned, looking at him. “Where? I want to question that piece of shit right now.” The sheer rage on his face sent Faust back one step. He’d only seen Joseph like this once before, and it nearly destroyed him.
“Take it easy, old friend. We’ll find her.” Faust pulled out his phone.
“Who’re you calling,” Heinz asked.
“I’m putting out an all-points to all rails and airports. He’s going to try and leave the country.” Faust issued the alert, then led the way back topside.
“Tell them to track her mobile. Here’s the number.” He read it off to Faust who relayed it to dispatch. “We may not have much time with that before they discover it and destroy the phone. Hurry!” Heinz turned to Lukas. “Is Elsa okay?”
“No. I think her knee is broken. The girl said Ivchencko hit her with a rod.” Guilt emanated from his face. He felt responsible. Heinz could see it.
“You didn’t know, Lukas. How could you have?”
The younger man looked at him, self-recrimination in his hazel eyes. “I’m trained to know people, know who’s dangerous and who isn’t. I failed, and it nearly cost Elsa her life.”
Heinz couldn’t argue with that. He felt the same. He took a deep breath. “Then don’t fail again.” He planned to take his own advice. His partner’s life depended on it.
THE MEDICAL TECH WAS gently probing Elsa’s knee when they arrived back at the guard gate. Heinz went to her side and gave her an awkward half hug. He grilled the EMT. “Well, what’s the diagnosis?”
The tech, a young man with reddish-blond hair looked up. “I’m not a physician, sir, but I think she has a fractured patella.” The knee in question was now swollen, and a dark shade of purple.
“What the hell does that mean?” Heinz lost his patience and had none to spare.
“It’s my kneecap, Joseph.” Elsa said, as she leaned back, finally feeling the effects of the pain killer they injected into her hip.
Heinz watched her fall backwards onto the gurney and close her eyes. “Elsa!” He reached out and grabbed the tech by his shirt collar. “Do something! She’s crashing.” Desperation laced his words.
“Sir. She’s okay. It’s just the sedative mixed in with the pain killer. She’s fine, really.”
Heinz relaxed, then realized he was still gripping the man’s shirt. He let go. The tech unbuttoned Elsa’s shirt halfway to apply the EKG strips to monitor her on the way to the hospital. Huge red and purple welts greeted their eyes. Hundreds of them covering her torso. Heinz sucked in a breath, shocked by the sheer number of wounds.
“What is that? What’s happened to her?” He looked like he was about to grab and shake the tech again when Liliya spoke up from the other gurney where she waited to be attended.
“Ivchecko. He whipped her. He hurt her badly.” Her voice was so small, as if she were afraid to speak.
Heinz looked at the girl, and back at Elsa, then over at Lukas who was walking toward them. He tried to say something, anything to stop the younger man from seeing the evidence of his girlfriend’s torture, but he wasn’t quick enough.
“What the...?” Lukas stopped. He slapped a hand over his mouth and stood there, staring. He’d seen men whipped before. Grown men who’d cried out because the pain was so great. They were reduced to blubbering balls of pain as they curled up on their cell floors unable to take it. Elsa had been whipped, yet she hadn’t succumbed to the intense pain. She still maintained herself trying to protect the girl. No wonder she’d cried out when he touched her.
The tech gently looked under the rest of her shirt, doing his best to preserve her dignity, but what he saw made him step back and retch.
Lukas turned away, quickly wiping a tear from his eye. When he turned back, the tech had recovered and was covering Elsa with a sheet tucking it around her body. The sooner they got her to the hospital, the better. Lukas turned to Liliya.
“And what about you? What haven’t you told us? Did he whip you, too?” He kept his voice gentle.
Liliya’s blue eyes welled with tears. “No. He never touched me.”
Heinz saw the haunted look on her face. “And what about Koslov?” He knew. He felt like a complete shit for even having to ask, but Faust and his crew would be asking the same questions soon.
Liliya looked away. She couldn’t say it. Heinz reached over and took her hand. “It’s okay now. You’re safe. You’re safe.” His crusty heart broke for this young girl, for Elsa, and it was in agony for Birgitta who was now in Ivchencko’s clutches.
He looked at Lukas. “I have to get her back, Trommler. I can’t let him do to her what he’s done to so many.”
“You won’t be alone. I’m coming with you.” He reached out and Heinz, acknowledging the help for what it was, shook his hand. The pact was made, and now they needed to make plans...fast.
Chapter Thirteen
THE HELICOPTER LANDED on the deck of Vledelets, Ivchencko’s first commercial ship in his empire. The name translated to Dominus - Latin for ‘master’ or ‘owner’. His ego embraced both, and so being the first in the line, was aptly named. Deckhands ran up ready to assist their corporate overlord.
“Take her below deck to my suite. Make sure she’s secured.” Ivchencko gave the order to Dutch who directed two of the hands to carry Birgitta Mahler out of the helicopter. She was awake now, had been halfway through the two-hour flight. Dutch taped her mouth at his boss’s command. He was in no mood to spend the last hour of the flight listening to a woman’s hysterics. Little did he know, Birgitta Mahler was not the hysterical type. She was the calm, cool, and collected type who observed her surroundings and made mental notes. One of those notes was that, as far as she was aware, neither of these two had, as of yet, dispensed with her cell phone. If she was right, as she had been unconscious for a while, then the police had a way of tracking her. She didn’t want to ruin that by bringing attention to herself, so she remained quiet.
Another point she observed was that the deckhands didn’t seem to find it unusual that their boss had shown up with a bound and gagged woman. Now why was that? She rode the shoulder of a large man with a shaved head. She noticed his hands when he grabbed and hoisted her over. He had a five-pointed star tattooed on each. One point meant a year in prison. Two five-pointed stars added up to ten years. This man had been in prison, a Russian prison. So, Ivchencko employed criminals. She might’ve given the man the benefit of the doubt, he’d done his time, and was earning a living in an honest trade. But here she was being hauled like a sack of grain below deck, and the man hadn’t questioned who she was or why. That certainly ruled out any honesty on his part.
Her ride was uncomfortable, and it was all she could do to keep her breath as each bounce down the steep metal stairs sent his shoulder into her abdomen. She concentrated on her surroundings looking for anything to identify the ship and counting how many decks down they went. If she managed to get loose, she’d need to have some kind of working knowledge of the layout, at least, how to get back topside. Still, she’d need help. She thought of Joseph, and prayed he was okay. The last thing she remembered was seeing him tied to a chair and struck by the barrel-shaped butler. It was clear now that Dutch wasn’t a mere servant. She’d bet her chips he also spent time incarcerated. It was beco
ming evident that there may be a tie-in to Russian mafia, and most definitely, sex trafficking. Just where did Yuri Ivchencko fit into it?
Three flights down they came to a short, narrow corridor that led to a stateroom on the left. Inside, the man who was her mule, tossed her onto the large Captain’s bed. He stood over her expecting a fight. When she simply sat up and looked at him, he grunted and backed up a step, looking over at Dutch and the other man. Birgitta finally got a good look at the second deckhand. He was shorter, wiry, and rather swarthy looking. His age appeared to be around forty, and his dark hair was liberally streaked with gray. He had crowns tattooed on his fingers. Further up his arm, bared by the rolled-up sleeves, was a skull. The smaller man was higher in rank, and the tattoos indicated he was a murderer. This wasn’t looking good.
Dutch pulled up a heavy chair. “Set her here, Ivan.” The larger man looked at Birgitta and crooked his finger at her.
“Come!” He said in a guttural accent.
Mahler sat there wondering just how he expected her to move with her hands tied behind her. She could’ve, but she chose not to comply. Instead, she gave him her best ‘fuck you’ eyes.
Ivan laughed, and reached out grabbing her ankles yanking her until she was on the edge of the bed. Then he lifted her up like a rag doll with one arm and tossed her unceremoniously into the chair.
Dutch handed a length of rope to the shorter man. “Tie her feet, Vitaly, but be careful. She kicks like a fucking mule.” The butler rubbed his nose, and Vitaly, noting the swelling and bloodstains, raised an eyebrow and grinned.
Dutch began untying the rope that bound her hands. Momentarily free, Mahler punched Dutch in the nose, making the man howl, and kicked Vitaly in the groin before he could secure her legs. She jumped up and was immediately stopped by Ivan who picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder again and began spanking her hard on her bottom. It hurt. She pummeled his back and clawed like a cat.
The Checkpoint, Berlin Detective Series Box Set Page 37