Emerald (30 page)

When Dr. Yang took Tam’s personal effects out of the safe at University Hospital, he was shocked to learn the silver box had disappeared. He called a meeting of his staff but no one knew about a silver box. He checked with the Geneva police to find out if a silver box was found at the scene of the crash, but they too knew nothing about any silver box.

“Damn White Paper Fan! Why, the hell, didn’t he tell me that Tam was the one sent from Hong Kong to get the emerald? He raged and swore never to deal with anyone in Hong Kong again. Now he had lost seven and a half million dollars. He knew the money could never be recovered because Tam had used phony papers, and Yang was not about to reveal his connection with the Triad. Not that the money mattered so much, but for that kind of money, he damned well expected better service. This certainly bollixed all his plans. Who the hell had the emerald now?

Three weeks later, Dr. Yang was still upset. Nurse Lin Moon became alarmed at how short tempered and curt he was with everyone. He was usually so calm, even in the most crucial surgical situations. He had changed radically. Maybe she could do something. She was closer to him than any other staff member.

She asked Yang if there was anything she could do to help him with any problem he was having. She was surprised when he spoke about the hospital safe and whether or not it was really secure. The safe? What did that have to do with anything? Yang finally took her into his confidence and said something had been taken from the safe. Could she discreetly inquire around with other nurses, especially in the intake department?

Eventually the intake head nurse told her about a package that was left in the office one exceptionally busy night and not put in the safe. There had been no theft but they couldn’t determine which patient it belonged to. There had been a Christies of Geneva label on the package and the head nurse ordered the box returned to Christie’s; she had a receipt if anyone asked.
So, it was a silver box that was missing! Why would Dr. Yang be so interested in that box
, Nurse Moon wondered. She reported the incident to Dr. Yang, but only after he promised not to reprimand the head nurse. When she told him what she had learned, she thought he would be relieved to know there had been no theft, but the news did not relax the doctor as she had hoped. He said curtly he had to make a phone call and left her standing there at the nurse’s station.

When Dr. Yang learned by calling Christie’s that the emerald was in the Bank du Mont Blanc until they searched for any relatives of Mr. Tam. Yang knew he could outbid anyone who wanted to get their hands on the emerald and that fact alone kept him going on with his research and planning of the therapy that he would use whenever the emerald finally became his. The whole future of his Yang Life Institute would rest on the possession of the gigantic, fiery green, stone. But on second thought, Dr. Yang realized the timing of the next auction might just be right. There was still much to do before he could open the institute. He had been working undercover because he didn’t want any competitors to learn about his plans. As far as anyone knew, The Yang Life Institute was just a school for health education in the development.

T
wo days later, the newspaper reported the assassination. It came from a long-range rifle shot, as Henzel had walked from the synagogue to his car. As Chief Beinschmidt read the report he found on his desk, he felt he could finally relax. Now both Jews within his department were gone, and he could easily hire Neuschondorf from the GRS to replace Henzel. At the morning patrol assembly, he gave his beat officers hell, followed by a pep talk exhorting them to get out there and find that maniac who was killing his best men. After he dismissed the briefing, he returned to his office, closed the door, and called Servette. After the usual pleasantries, their discussion turned to matters of the emerald.

“Did you figure out what the emerald had to do with “The Dagger”, Chief?”

“No. I was going to ask you.”

Servette continued, “We think he was after the emerald when he killed the man in your University hospital. That murdered man, a Mr. Tam Stratton, had just made the winning bid for the emerald at a Christies auction in Geneva a couple of days before. Actually, it seems, someone tried to kill him by running his car off a cliff shortly after the auction. I do not know if it was the same person, striking twice of if it is a group of some kind that was after him. Then, and this is quite strange, someone made arrangements to have him transferred from Geneva to your University hospital.”

“So you think this killer is after the stone as well. I wonder why? Maybe we, here in Munich, can track them both down. What else, Piet?”

“Nothing more, I guess?

“Well let me know if you hear anything. Keep in touch, Chief.”

After their conversation, Bruno quickly dialed a number and said to the silence, “The emerald is the clue. Locate it. Then we can keep a better eye on our man.”

He heard a metallic click in the receiver, and hung up the phone.

The next number Bruno dialed was Miriam’s. No answer. It was the fifth time he had called. What was she up to now? He drove over to her Hotel. Inquiring for her room at the desk, and was told that she had checked out several days ago. “No, Chief, I don’t know where she has gone. She left no forwarding address. Frustrated, Bruno sat down in the lobby and from his cell phone called Levi.

“I have no idea where she is Chief, that is strange. I thought you were keeping an eye on her. I know she was very distraught over David getting shot. Can you find her? She’s certainly not here. Call me back as soon as you learn anything, if you will, please.”

Later that evening, Bruno met with Neuschondorf and Gottschlag, his two replacements in the department for Henzel and Wiezer, and several others at his home. The meeting served as the executive council meeting of the organization they led - - -the Gestapo Revival Society, or GRS. If anyone asked, they would always be told GRS stood for Government Retirement System. After all, the three joked, aren’t we into the “retirement” business? We can retire whomever we please, whenever we please. They all laughed. The plan they finally decided on was to eliminate the couple in the house in which Miriam had stayed before she went into the hotel, because they were either Mossad or Mossad protectors but they would wait a couple of months until things cooled down, and wouldn’t Hans be the perfect man for the job? They also agreed that they needed to keep a tight control over Hans, as he sometimes went out of control and did his own thing killing Jews he met on the streets.

When Dr. Yang took Tam’s personal effects out of the safe at University Hospital, he was shocked to learn the silver box had disappeared. He called a meeting of his staff but no one knew about a silver box. He checked with the Geneva police to find out if a silver box was found at the scene of the crash, but they too knew nothing about any silver box.

“Damn White Paper Fan! Why, the hell, didn’t he tell me that Tam was the one sent from Hong Kong to get the emerald? He raged and swore never to deal with anyone in Hong Kong again. Now he had lost seven and a half million dollars. He knew the money could never be recovered because Tam had used phony papers, and Yang was not about to reveal his connection with the Triad. Not that the money mattered so much, but for that kind of money, he damned well expected better service. This certainly bollixed all his plans. Who the hell had the emerald now?

Three weeks later, Dr. Yang was still upset. Nurse Lin Moon became alarmed at how short tempered and curt he was with everyone. He was usually so calm, even in the most crucial surgical situations. He had changed radically. Maybe she could do something. She was closer to him than any other staff member.

She asked Yang if there was anything she could do to help him with any problem he was having. She was surprised when he spoke about the hospital safe and whether or not it was really secure. The safe? What did that have to do with anything? Yang finally took her into his confidence and said something had been taken from the safe. Could she discreetly inquire around with other nurses, especially in the intake department?

Eventually the intake head nurse told her about a package that was left in the office one exceptionally busy night and not put in the safe. There had been no theft but they couldn’t determine which patient it belonged to. There had been a Christies of Geneva label on the package and the head nurse ordered the box returned to Christie’s; she had a receipt if anyone asked.
So, it was a silver box that was missing! Why would Dr. Yang be so interested in that box
, Nurse Moon wondered. She reported the incident to Dr. Yang, but only after he promised not to reprimand the head nurse. When she told him what she had learned, she thought he would be relieved to know there had been no theft, but the news did not relax the doctor as she had hoped. He said curtly he had to make a phone call and left her standing there at the nurse’s station.

When Dr. Yang learned by calling Christie’s that the emerald was in the Bank du Mont Blanc until they searched for any relatives of Mr. Tam. Yang knew he could outbid anyone who wanted to get their hands on the emerald and that fact alone kept him going on with his research and planning of the therapy that he would use whenever the emerald finally became his. The whole future of his Yang Life Institute would rest on the possession of the gigantic, fiery green, stone. But on second thought, Dr. Yang realized the timing of the next auction might just be right. There was still much to do before he could open the institute. He had been working undercover because he didn’t want any competitors to learn about his plans. As far as anyone knew, The Yang Life Institute was just a school for health education in the development.

L
evi decided to not to tell anyone that Miriam had taken the assignment in Italy. He knew David might eventually have reason to communicate with her via coded messages, in the general transmission of messages between Tel Aviv and Rome; however, with Miriam’s new code name,
“Middle of Nowhere,”
he would not know even whether the Mossad agent in Rome was man or woman. Levi was not going to let their personal problems interfere with job assignments. One of these days, David would tell him the real story, and then he would find out that she was in Rome.

Now that they suspected Chief Beinschmidt of being less than honest about the situation in Munich, Levi would never reveal anything to him that was not already public knowledge. He came up with the idea to set the Chief up with phony information and he called Servette to get his advice on his plan.

“That might work, Levi,” responded Servette. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’ll say we spotted Hans in Nice, based on our photo composites and we’ll see if he sends someone there to check it out. I’ll send a team from Paris to watch for Munich police at the Nice airport. We have complete files on every member of the Munich police department that I’ll share with you, if it would help. By the way, about the two new cops he hired to replace our agents who were murdered. I find that whole incident very suspicious. He never speaks of any of that now. I know damned well I’d be quite upset if I had that kind of loss. Wouldn’t you?”

“Most definitely. Something doesn’t gel there. I can send Josef to Nice to see what he can find out. Do you have agents there, Levi?”

“Not yet, but they can be there in a couple of hours. I need at least a couple of your men to help us cover the airport adequately”

“Okay. I’ll let you know, Levi.”

“Just send someone who can work with Josef, even though from what you’ve told me, Josef really doesn’t need any backup. We’ll just need to maintain surveillance. It will be worth it to know for sure. Talk to you later.”

Levi was still thinking about the details for setting up Beinschmidt when he called David to get his input. David liked the idea. He pointed out that he could create anything that Levi might need for photos of Hans- - -with Malcolm’s help, that is. David had become very interested in this area of work and had asked to spend more time in the lab with Malcolm perfecting his computer photographic enhancement skills.