Emerald (38 page)

“No one gets near my briefcase. I always see to that.”

“What about your secretary?” Gottschlag wondered.

“Liliane has been with me since Denmark. She would never do such a thing. Someone has taken it from me. Now we’ve got another problem. Could Hans have disguised himself, slipped in, and gotten it? Why would he want it? There has to be another person involved. If it’s anyone on my staff, they are dead. Thank God it wasn’t some Compound plan we were supposed to put into action. Just the same, we can’t permit this incident to stand or go unpunished. We’re done for the evening. I am too upset. We’ll meet again next week and pick up where we left off”

Hans watched Neuschondorf and Gottschlag leaving Bruno’s house. So, they do meet in private! I wonder what’s up. Maybe I’ll be getting a call soon. I’ll know to watch them more closely from now on. Hans looked at his watch and saw it was just ten, perhaps early for the end to a meeting after dinner. Had the two men come just for dinner? He would continue watching, nevertheless.

After thoroughly going through everything in her own office, Liliane began frenziedly searching through everything in the chief’s. She had never seen him so upset. What was so important about a family tree file, she wondered.

By five, she had found nothing. When Bruno got back, she worried that he would fire her. If she left now, maybe she could side step the issue. She gathered up her things and went home for the evening, hating the thought of coming in tomorrow.

However, the next morning when she entered the office, her boss was already at work. She hesitantly opened the door to his office and peeked in. “Here’s your coffee, sir.”

“Thank you, Liliane. How are you today, my dear? I’m sorry I put you through all that yesterday. I’ve remembered where I laid the paper I lost. So just go on about your usual work.”

Liliane did not like the sound of that. She knew him too well. In ten minutes, the buzzer on her intercom went off.

“Liliane, could you put a call through to Mr. Phillipe Sanchez in Madrid? Put it directly through when he comes on the line, please. Thank you, my dear.”

Liliane hated to have to tell him the number she Mr. Sanchez had given her went to some laundry in Madrid. Her problems had just begun.

W
earing stiffly pressed khaki shorts, and an Israeli army field shirt minus any insignia, Miriam was sitting cross-legged on the conference room floor, next to Levi’s office, reading Ringo’s latest communiqué from Buenos Aires out loud to the team members gathered around her.
We have an aerial map of the twenty-acre Klement Compound gathered from a satellite fly-over. From the Buenos Aries Land Office we obtained construction, electrical and plumbing schematics of the estate. We suspect that a tunnel may go from the back of the main house under an asphalt-topped area the size of a city block to a training field surrounded by spruce trees. A six-acre farmland garden complete with chicken house, cows, pigs and a pond for ducks, surrounds the training field on 3 sides. From the street it looks like the two places- - -the houses and training grounds- - -have nothing to do with each other. In the past fifteen years, the estate has increased in size by the purchase of surrounding land. The original open ground has been enlarged and besides obvious military-like training, the children of the compound play baseball, basketball and ride their bikes there
.

The Klements purchased the two houses on either side of the main house when they came up for sale a decade ago. Mrs. Ricardo Klement, now age eighty-one, resides in the main house with servants and unknown others. Her daughter occupies one of the side houses, and her daughter’s three grown sons, all single, Adolf, Werner and Korloff, live in the other house. The whole compound is registered in Karlene Klement’s name, the daughter, age fifty-two
.

She laid the paper down, looked at the group, and said, “Ringo told Levi he can only spare us two full-time people, but their communications system is at our disposal and his Buenos Aires team can help us get transportation, housing and anything else we might need. We will have satellite hook-ups for wireless reception. It looks like everything is in place for us in Buenos Aries on Monday evening. Remember, our purpose is the electronically bug a large compound of buildings.”

“Good!” Levi commented. “David, do you want to add anything?”

“Just a reminder that we must at all times maintain our identities as couples, tourists from various places in Europe. There and there must be no recognition of each other while traveling, other that we might have met while traveling to Argentina. Miriam and I will leave on Swiss passports. Lenny and Jan will have British passports. Forbes and Marla will be carrying Spanish passports. We will be flying Alitalia Airlines from Ben Gurion and fly to Rome where we will have about a three hour layover, but we won’t have to change planes. Then it’s about a thirteen hour flight down to Argentina. Remember, no weapons with you of any kind. For our weapon needs, give Levi a “want list” by tomorrow, and he will send it to Ringo. Let’s see, what else. Oh, yes, Ringo has a safe house set up for the six of us - - - a small apartment complex just a couple of blocks from the compound, where each couple will have their own small apartment. We will be part of a tour group after we arrive - - - therefore, we don’t have to be worried about being seen together. Theo and Rolf, from the Buenos Aries unit, will be our Argentinean tour guides, even with a small tour bus for our group. They will primarily operate as drivers on an as-needed basis and will be located in an office, identified as Turismo Buenos Aires setup as a tour company between our apartment building near the Klement Compound. That one will be our observation base for the compound. It is a four story building, so we can use an upper office to observe the Compound. It also backs on an alley so we can enter from there unobserved. Any questions before we dismiss? Okay, we’ll go over all the procedures again tomorrow and then Wednesday we’ll make any final changes to our plans. Thursday we leave for this adventure. That’s about all I have on my list. Spent some time going over the photos and information Ring sent and then we’ll get together tomorrow to begin to work out our plans to bug that Nazi compound. Levi, do you have anything to add?”

“No, I think you have covered it very well. I’ll meet with you tomorrow to answer anything questions I can, but I think Ringo’s material will get you started. Most of the details will just have to be worked out after you are on site. I guess that’s all. I’ll see you back here in the conference room tomorrow at nine sharp”

David was wired after the session. As he rose from his chair he stretched his muscular arms over his head and arched his back. He asked if anyone wanted to join him at Frankie’s for a nightcap and Forbes, Levi and Miriam responded, saying they’d meet him there.

At the bar, Levi wrapped his big paws around the tall Cutty and soda, took a swallow and said he wished he was going with them. David pulled on his Goldstar dark Larger and glanced at Miriam as she took her first sip of a salt encrusted Margarita- - -a drink that reminded her of Hank. It was her new favorite as it allowed her to keep her psychological distance when around David. The four of them chatted about the political situation in Israel and the latest Palestinian protest in Ramallah. It was always understood that no agency business would be discussed at Frankie’s, even though their next assignment crowded their brains. When the waitress came by their table again they all agreed to another round.

“I’ve been wondering, does travel really broaden the mind,” Forbes asked of no one in particular after the new round arrived.

“I’ve often wondered that myself,” volunteered Levi.

“Of course, it does,” Miriam replied. “Travel makes it real rather than imaginary. What do you think, David?”

David looked up from his beer and said without missing a beat, “If you have a well-developed intellect, you can imagine your own journeys, Miriam. But we like to fool ourselves; and it keeps us entertained. A person who allows events to push him hither and yon has no control of his or her mind.”

“What does that mean? What does that have to do with travel?” Forbes asked, wondering if the others were on a trip he had just missed. Levi, David and Miriam laughed and asked if he wanted another drink, but he replied he had better get home, he needed to explain to his wife about going to Argentina with another woman as his wife. They all laughed and responded, good luck. He left, throwing some bills on the table and bid them goodnight.

Levi announced he had to leave too, “Forget the bill. I’ll put it on the company tab. Stay and enjoy yourselves, you two. See you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, Levi,” David said turning to Miriam, “You going to have another drink, Miriam? I think I will.”

“Why not? Order me a vodka and tonic this time.” Miriam felt a small movement inside her breast, a little seismic shift, as she relaxed. “I’m waxing philosophical, and vodka keeps my head clearer,” she explained, a smile spreading on her full lips, her hazel eyes twinkling.

“So what’s your philosophy tonight, Miriam? To do or not?”

“I’m leaning toward to do. How about you?”

“That’s where I’ve always been, Miriam.”

“Wait a minute! Remember our pledge!”

“Who the hell made a pledge? I sure didn’t.”

“Our agreement, David, you know what I mean. Let’s talk. There’s something I want to ask you.”

“I don’t want to talk. What’s wrong with you tonight, Miriam?”

“What’s wrong with me? It’s time to leave. Be careful on the drive home.”

“Go on without me, Miriam. I still have some things to work through. Waitress!”

“See you tomorrow then.” Miriam got up and left David staring at his drink. She waited outside in her car until she saw him walk out, and peer around the parking lot. She rolled down her window, “Come on, David, let’s talk some more.

Dr. Yang was horrified when an unidentified body was found on his property. The publicity would be very damaging. He refused to discuss it with anyone at the hospital but that did not stop the talk, despite his warnings to his staff. They remembered clearly that patient who had been slashed in the same way. So the killer was still on the loose. They couldn’t ignore it.

The police came and questioned several hospital employees, looking for a connection they might have missed to the Stratton murder. The headlines blared,
Dagger Strikes Again!
Dr. Yang could not avoid the officers, but he gave them only terse answers, insisting he had patients that needed looking after. He did admit he knew the killer’s first name: “Hans, somebody.” The officers wanted to know how he knew that. Had he had reported it before? Dr. Yang told them he had, they could just look at their own records. “Actually, I said it was ‘that fucker Hans’,” he said and excused himself.