“I am.”
“And just who the hell are you? Don’t lie. I’ve already checked every law enforcement agency, and the only warrant for this residence is for local police. Nowhere in it is there authorization for a military operation so how about explaining why you’re here and interfering in police business.” He shook a copy of the bench warrant at the man.
“You’re out of your element, Captain. This is none of your concern.”
Levitz was taken aback. He’d yet to identify himself. “I see you already know who I am,” he countered. “Now be so kind as to enlighten me as to who the hell you are.” The captain’s voice dropped deceptively low.
“Come with me.” The man led Captain Levitz off to the side. The two spoke quietly amongst themselves leaving the rest to stand in awkward silence.
Mahler stared at the masked man before her. He kept his head turned away as she studied him. He was dressed head to toe in black combat gear. The mask covered his head and face leaving only holes for the eyes and nose. It was something about his eyes that grabbed her attention. While she continued watching him, movement at the top of the stairs caught her eye. She glanced up and saw a red-haired, older woman step out, being led down by yet another masked man. She recognized her as Ekaterine, the old prostitute Oppel had visited the first time she’d stepped foot inside this house. She was also the woman Salome said Lukas favored, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure why. The woman was nearly old enough to be his mother and had seen better days. She knew it was an unkind thought, but accurate.
As she reached the bottom of the stairs, Ekaterine turned a smug smile on the masked man still standing in front of Mahler. He offered an almost imperceptible nod to the woman, and then it all clicked into place.
“Lukas!” Mahler hissed out his name.
The masked man turned halfway in her direction, and then stopped himself. He glanced sideways, eyes narrowed, and began walking away.
Mahler reached out, grabbing his arm and leaning in. “I know it’s you! Don’t you dare walk away! You have a lot of explaining to do.”
“Be quiet!” he whispered harshly. “Now is not the time.” He pulled away and walked off leaving her standing there fuming.
Birgitta looked around. Her people and their people faced each other, neither giving way as Levitz and their leader argued quietly in the corner. Her captain’s face was red, a sure sign he’d surpassed his usual calm command of a situation. Finally, they broke apart.
Levitz approached Mahler, nostrils flaring. “Come.” He raised his hand indicating his team should follow. “I’ll explain outside,” he told her.
On the lawn, Levitz turned, opened his mouth, and then stopped, closing it again. He seemed to be forcing himself to breathe steadily and gathering his thoughts at the same time. When he spoke, it was with the measured cadence of a man frustrated by circumstances beyond his control.
“We seem to have bumbled into an Intelligence operation. Honestly, I don’t even know which branch because apparently, it’s above my goddamn pay grade!”
Mahler stiffened. “Intelligence? Which part of this has anything to do with State Intelligence? Wiedner was a legal prostitute as far as we’re aware.”
Levitz rubbed his chin. “Perhaps, and perhaps not. The only thing that Captain Kelner said was that they are investigating an illegal sex trafficking ring.”
“Dieter? That was Dieter?” Mahler pointed back at the house. Of course it was. Wherever Lukas was, Dieter followed, and vice versa.
“I take it you know him,” he stated, not asking for confirmation.
“I do. He was involved with us in the Ivchencko affair.”
“I see. Yes, I think I recall reading his name in the report. Well, now at least I have a clue as to how deep this runs. The point is, we have to hang back. This is their fucking mess now.”
“What? No! Forgive me, Captain, but we’re balls-deep into this rabbit hole. We have a responsibility to the public to find the shooter, and the person who murdered Marilyn.”
“Our responsibility is to the chain of command, Mahler. We’re outranked and outmaneuvered at the moment.”
“But we have information that they don’t. We have Oppel.” She pointed out their advantage.
Levitz stood with hands on hips, mulling over what she said. His training said follow orders, but his gut screamed solve the case. “What are you suggesting?”
“That we make a deal with Captain Kelner. Offer our intelligence in return for being included in the investigation. Tit for tat.”
Eyes narrowed, and jaw grinding, Levitz considered the detective’s idea. “He won’t go for it. He all but shut me out. What makes you think he’ll listen to you?”
Birgitta’s lips spread into a thin, mirthless smile. “Leave that to me.”
She turned, marching back inside the house. Locating Lukas in a sea of black masks was challenging, but he gave himself away when he turned an angry glare in her direction.
“Just the man I was looking for.” She cornered him. “I have an offer for you Lukas, and you’d better think it over carefully because your future happiness depends upon your answer.”
“What are you talking about?” He demanded.
“Ekaterine. Are you listening?”
Kelner joined them, standing next to Lukas. “What about her?”
Mahler glanced at the man. “Hello, Dieter. I’m referring to this cheating bastard.” He froze, surprised she knew his identity, as she focused again on Lukas. “We both want to find Marilyn’s killer.”
“So?” Dieter answered.
“And I am tasked to discover who has been sending death threats to the minister. They’re connected.”
“Did you just call me a cheater?” Lukas asked.
Mahler looked him straight in the eye. “I did.”
“With who?” he asked, voice rising.
“That old whore, Ekaterine. Don’t lie now. I saw you leaving here with my own eyes four nights ago, and my own source tells me you’ve been visiting her often beginning recently. Honestly, Lukas, how could you do that to Elsa? What kind of man are you?” Anger sizzled in her voice, growing more heated with each word she spoke.
Dieter began to laugh. His chuckles shaking his shoulders. “Lukas? Cheating with that woman?”
Mahler pulled herself up to her full height of five foot four inches and raised her chin. “Apparently you do not have all the facts, Captain,” she fumed.
Lukas squared his shoulders, staring down at her. “No. Apparently, it is you who do not have all the facts, Detective!” His voice dropped low. “Ekaterine is working for us. She’s my source in this investigation. That’s why I was here, and the only reason you saw me. The only reason! And just what in the hell were you doing here?”
Birgitta paused. Her mind flashed back over what she knew, or thought she knew. But another thought hit her. “Does Elsa know you’re still in?” she asked.
Dieter answered for him. “She doesn’t, and we want to keep it that way. Maintaining the outward appearance of a civilian status is what makes Lukas so valuable. So, Detective, I need to know right now that you will not out him.”
She locked eyes with Dieter. Mahler knew she’d erred, and badly. It wasn’t like her to make such mistakes as she was usually both methodical and cautious in her assessments of any and all situations. She relented. “I will say nothing. You have my word.”
The Captain relaxed his stance as well. “You were saying that Wiedner’s death and the minister’s death threats are connected. Tell me what you know.”
She stiffened her resolve once again. “Guarantee to include me in your investigation and I will.”
“Birgitta, we don’t have time for this—" Lukas began.
“Then stop wasting it. Yes or no?”
The two men stared at each other, silently communicating. Finally, Dieter extended his hand. “Yes, but only you. No other police agencies, and you cannot relay any information back to your captain until
we solve our case.”
Mahler nodded, and clasped hands with him. “Agreed.”
“So what have you got?” Lukas asked.
She pulled out her cell phone and showed them the information she’d received on Rudi Oppel, explaining what she knew.
“Tell Levitz that as soon as he’s brought in, we need to know. No one is allowed to question Oppel except myself or Lukas. No one. Understood?” Dieter commanded.
“I’ll let him know. Oh, there’s one more thing.”
“Yes?”
She turned to Lukas. “Salome.”
He nodded. “What about her?”
“I promised to help her. She’s been held here against her will. Her passport was confiscated as soon as she arrived in Germany. She said that’s the case for many here.”
“Ekaterine said something similar,” he replied.
“She wants to go home. Can you help me to help her? Surely her passport is among the many files and boxes you’ve carted out of here.”
Dieter sighed. “As soon as we’ve gone through everything, I’ll see to it. All passports will be returned.”
“Thank you. Now, I’ve shared my information. Quid pro quo. Tell me about this trafficking ring you’re investigating.”
Lukas answered. “It’s more like a vast, complicated network. Our own government has been complicit. Seems the Minister’s office has been clearing undeclared cargo coming in from Saint. Petersburg. It’s arriving on commercial carriers but marked as military munitions. We conducted a raid a month ago on one of the ships and found two-tons of uncut heroin along with human cargo.”
Dieter cut in. “The heroin is produced in Russia, but the poppies it’s created from are grown in Turkey. The two countries had a deal to profit from the drug trade until Turkey decided to renege by demanding higher payment for their product. President Arslan got greedy. Payback began with the death of a Turkish ambassador. Then Turkey shot down A Russian SU-24 on the Turkish-Syrian border. Following that incident, Mishin and his criminal network set out to bypass Turkey altogether by making a deal with a crime syndicate in Laos, but that fell apart when the Laotian syndicate clashed with the Bratva. Some prison yard drama we believe was orchestrated behind the scenes by Arslan at the same time he put his coup for power into motion. They are still retaliating against each other with Turkey picking off Russian diplomats, but in the meantime, they’ve struck up a tenuous cease-fire on the opioid deal. The drugs are still coming in, although we’re now tracking each shipment to see where it all ultimately lands, but there is also this trafficking ring. When these same ships leave the port in Hamburg, we know they contain human cargo, just like the situation with the Vledelets and Ivchencko. Only now, it’s far more sophisticated. These ships are escaping inspection. Oh, the paperwork says they are all inspected, but it’s fraud, and the fraud is coming down from the minister’s office. Port trade is their purview.”
Mahler nodded, taking it all in. “You’ve been tracking Obermeyer’s movements.”
“We have. They led us here. I sent Lukas in to cultivate a contact. That’s why he has been seeing Ekaterine. The old whore has been trapped here longer than Salome. She’s a German national, born and raised until she was eight outside of Potsdam. She was kidnapped and taken to Saint Petersburg where she was groomed for the sex trade. When she was no longer a child, they sent her back to work in one of the houses here.” Dieter stated.
“Good lord!” Mahler was appalled.
Lukas placed his hand on her shoulder. “And Birgitta, that’s not the worst of it. She told me that the man responsible for turning her out is none other than the Butcher. She said she lived for six years in his house passed over first to his henchmen, and then to some of Russia’s top government and military men.”
Her hand rose to cover her mouth, an involuntary reaction to the horrors he described. “The Bratva and the Kremlin are in bed together?”
Dieter nodded. “As far as we can tell, there is very little difference between the Russian government and organized crime. As long as they can profit, there are no moral barriers. And with Russia being on the receiving end of harsh sanctions from the United States and the European Union, they will take money wherever they can get it. This is how Mishin is building up his military.”
“This is beyond complicated, Dieter. Just exactly what is your goal here?” What he’d described extended so far beyond what Mahler expected, what she dealt with daily. It was damn near incomprehensible in scope, a global web of corruption.
“Our goal is simple. We find the person responsible within the ministry for allowing these ships into port and arrest him. We shut down the Russian’s drug and trafficking ring in our country. Then, we share our intelligence with our allies so they can protect their own. If we can cut off all financial avenues that the Russian Federation has developed, we cripple their power base and protect future kidnapping victims. It’s the best we can hope for. Starve the beasts, both their government and their criminals. One and the same, of course.”
Mahler felt overwhelmed. She took a moment to think. Turning to Lukas, she reached out, touching his arm. “I’m sorry I accused you of cheating. I should have known better.”
He nodded. “Thank you. And yes, you should have.” He blew out a breath, half laughing. “I thought it was pretty obvious how I feel about Elsa, but maybe I need to step up my game.”
Birgitta smiled. “It couldn’t hurt.”
“You’re just saying that because you have wedding fever. How is Heinz, by the way?”
“I wish I knew. I haven’t heard from him in days. I’m about to hop a plane to Sweden and kick him in his arse.”
“Sweden?” Lukas asked, surprised.
“Yes, didn’t Elsa tell you? He’s attending seminars required for promotion. Of all the times, too, to do this to me right before our wedding.” She pushed a stray hair back behind her ear.
He shook his head. “No, she didn’t, but then, she’s been busy with her own promotion. She’s off training for a few days. Faust sent her.”
“Yes, I heard. He’s with her, apparently. I called his office today, and Lora said they were both out until further notice.”
“That’s unusual,” Lukas replied.
“I thought so too, but who knows? Between preparing for the wedding, and this case with Obermeyer, I’ve been a little busy.”
“So Heinz is out of country, Elsa is away at training, and Faust is gone too?” Lukas stood, hands on hips, staring down at her.
Mahler noted his stance. “Yes, that’s what I just said.” Her eyebrow rose a fraction, questioning him.
“And this doesn’t strike you as strange?”
“I just said it did. What are you saying?” The two stood staring at each other.
Dieter spoke up. “He’s saying they’re up to something, something they didn’t want anyone else to notice, of course.” He shook his head and walked away, leaving Mahler and Lukas to figure it out.
Chapter Twenty-Five
THE TRIP TO THE DOCK took nearly an hour as snowfall caused traffic delays. Elsa held Nikola on her lap, bundled in a pink fuzzy coat and wrapped in a blanket for warmth. The child fell asleep ten minutes out with her thumb in her mouth. Heinz sat next to her, and Faust and Brezhnev shared the seat across from them in the back of his limousine.
The sun set providing the cover of darkness.
“As soon as we arrive at the warehouse, Petrovich will lead you down to the ship.” Brezhnev briefed them as they sped down the highway.
Heinz eyed the man, still simmering in anger. Guilt swamped him. He knew that Lana’s troubles were only just beginning, and the fact that she’d been sucked into this mess along with her son because of him caused no end to his anguish. “What will become of Frau Karakova?”
The Butcher turned cold blue eyes in his direction. “It is Gospojah here, Kommissar, and Gospojah Karakova is in for a very unpleasant time. The FSB are only removed from their former counterpart, the KGB, by a change o
f name. Public relations, you understand. She has aided a foreign spy. They do not look kindly upon such betrayal. I imagine they will first interrogate her until they’re satisfied she has confessed all and has nothing more to offer.”
“And then what?” Heinz counted to ten in his head.
“And then her usefulness will end.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Faust caught Heinz’s eyes, mentally urging him to calm down.
Brezhnev smiled, just a thin spread of his lips. “I think you know, Kommissar Heinz.”
“What of her son? He is innocent in all of this? Will the Federation murder a child?” Heinz’s voice held a sharp edge. He leaned forward. “I know that the sanctity of life means precious little to your sort, but even you must condemn killing an innocent child. Are you so far gone, Brezhnev?”
The Butcher sat forward, meeting Heinz in the space between seats, elbows resting on his knees. His eyes narrowed as his nostrils flared. “I do not concern myself with matters beyond my control. If you’re asking if I disagree with killing a child, the answer would shock you. I learned long ago very few people care if another lives or dies. It’s all about self-preservation and survival. Even those who claim to care, try to protect others, have their limits. When those limits are tested, they invariably choose their own safety over that of others. It’s human instinct. Would I prefer my government be more lenient where children are concerned? Perhaps. I’ve seen many lost in sacrifice to Mother Russia’s ambitions, but that really isn’t the question. What you’re asking is will I do anything to stop them. The answer is no. Be happy that I am helping you all now, that I’ve granted the magnanimous favor of allowing you to take Nikola.” He sat back. “I am a man of my word, if nothing else, and I am following through on my own promise to Officer Kreiss despite the very real threat to myself, and my business, by doing so.”
Faust and Elsa watched the exchange, both on pins and needles as the tension inside the limo grew. The vehicle slowed, turning onto the side road that led to port. Heinz was about to reply when the silence was interrupted by the ringing of Brezhnev’s mobile. He pulled it from his pocket. As he read the caller ID, his brow creased.
The Checkpoint, Berlin Detective Series Box Set Page 66