Spandau Phoenix (75 page)

Borodin ( traveled First Class, and he had spent the entire flight in the second-story lounge of the 747. He laughed as detective Schneider lumbered through the Customs comparing his own spare frame to the German's, he saw a mental image of a sleek Jaguar following a double decker bus. It did not occur to him what was likely to happen if the Jaguar hit the bus head-on.

9.14 A. M. Bronberrick Motel. South of Pretoria

Hauer closed the door to the dank-smelling motel leaned against a battered veneer desk. After much searchinglast night, he and Hans had finally taken this ratho the N-1 motorway, ten miles south of the capital.

Hans sat sullenly on a twin bed, fanninl, himself with ,he'd found in the mildewed -bathroom. His knife jammed into his belt; his Walther lay a few inches from his right hand.

"I found another car," said Hauer, his face slick with sweat. "A Ford.

From a small firm, just what we wanted.

I dumped the Toyota in an underground garage."

"Good," Hans replied without looking up.

"I really think it would be safer if you came along Hauer pressed.

"You don't need me to help you calibrate the scope. And I'm not taking any chances on missing the rendezvous."

"But you're not going to the rendezvous," Hauer said, pocketing the keys. "Didn't you realize that? This rendezvous is where I use our leverage to turn the tables on the kidnappers. If you show up, Phoenix will assume you have the papers with you. They'll simply kidnap you, then kill you. I'm going to the Voortrekker alone. You'll keep the papers safe here."

Hans nodded slowly. "I see. But I'm still not going with you now.

Anything could happen out there. You could kill us just by forgetting to drive on the left side of the road.

Where would we be then?"

Hauer nodded pensively. "All right. But don't leave this room for anything, understand? I'll be back in three or four hours After I zero-in the scope, I'm going to scout for an exchange location. I saw a stadium on the map that looks good. I'll be back long before six."

Hans forced a smile. "I'll be waiting."

"Fasten the chain behind me."

Hans stood to see him out.

"And for God's sake get some sleep, would you?" Hauer said. "Ilse wouldn't even recognize you like this."

As soon as he heard Hauer's car pull away, Hans picked up the telephone.

"This is room sixteen," he told the desk clerk, his voice edgy. "Call me a taxi. Bitte? Of course I can pay for it!"

He slammed down the phone and trudged over to the lav The mirror was cracked in a starburst pattern, causing reflection to stare back at him like jumbled pieces of a . Hauer was right. He looked as bad as he felt. bllodshot eyes, sallow cheeks, dirty blond hair sticking out in all directions. If he didn't sleep soon, he would collapse where he stood. All night he had lain awake in the stifling heat, listening to Hauer's steady snoring, fighting the solitary hours of his imagination.

From the moment he had learned the spandau diary was incomplete, his fears had been working in him, tapping in the back of his brain like a dull pick hammer.

Hans turned the cold tap, wet a washrag, and brought it to his stubbled face. The water felt good, but it didn't improve his appearance.

He stuck his head under the tap and soaked his hair, then smoothed it as best he could. He hadn't planned to lie to Hauer about the rendezvous time. But when he heard the cold voice on the telephone The driver rolled his eyes and jerked his thumb toward the @ backseat. Hans climbed in and the cab screeched away.

phone last night in the Burgerspark suite, some deep part him had simply overridden his conscious will. He believem-The Voortrekker Monument sits atop a hill @ miles in Hauer's abilities. If anyone could save Ilse by using lo his father could. But what if no one could? Hans had seen miraculous rescues during his short tenure with the police department. But he had seen other cases, too. And the harder he tried to shut those cases out, the clearer they becam in his mind.

Throughout the night vaigue images had turned to sean nightmares.

The dead blond girl from the Havel, fished out of the muck by a grappling hook two days after the safe" police rescue operation.

Anonymous Berliners had died by gunfire, by stab wounds, other ways. Et, Weiss's gouged and bloody chest. He thought of the from the Havel. The police had used the ransom as bait they always did. A half-million Deutschemarks in @ash._B the kidnappers had managed to withhold the girl just long enough to escape. For Hans the lesson was clear. No plan was fail-safe. And no matter how deeply he believed Hauer's commitment, he could not risk seeing Ilse pulled from that river, or one like it. Who could predict how d kidnappers would react when Hauer tried to turn their operation back against them?

Rational men would probab make a deal. But rational men did not tattoo eyes on the scalps or gouge religious symbols into the chests of Jews.

At the veneer desk, Hans scribbled a note to Hauer on the back of a promotional flyer. Then he picked from the bed and laid it on top of the note.

The ring of the telephone startled him.

growled the desk clerk.

Hans took a long last look at his pistol, but could not take it where he was going. He rea the mildewed mattress and withdre@ the Sp, which he had stolen while Hauer showered. He into his shirt (beside the knife he had taped to he stepped out into the glaring sun. A blue M idling in the parking lot. He walked over to the dow.

"You know the Voortrekker Monument?" he English.

south of central Pretoria. Visible from most parts of the city, this dun-colored building is the spiritual symbol of the Afrikaner nation.

Its domed Hall of Heroes holds a huge frieze 'commemorating the Great Trek of the Boer pioneers, who fled northward from British colonial rule in 1838. Hans caught a glimpse of the massive dome as his driver exited the N-1 freeway, then swung back under and headed west.

imb . ing the monument hill, he realized he would be ten minutes early for his rendezvous.

min He paid off the cab, then moved as instructed to a spot dimctly beneath the frieze in the Hall of Heroes and studied it like a Muslim who has finally reached Mecca. The tourists shuffling around him were mostly Afrikaners. With his classic German looks, Hans thought he probably looked as Afrikaner as the rest. He was wrong.

Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he whirled to see a Bantu man of medium height-a Zulu, actually, but Hans knew nothing of such distinctions-with a large camera bag slung over his shoulder. Hans failed to notice the irony of a black'man visiting the monument that memorialized the conquest of his native country. The Zulu never once glanced up at the frieze. He hurried out of the building and down the slope, Hans scrambling after him. A shining blue Range Rover waited at the base of the hill. The Zulu indicated that Hans should get into the rear seat.

Hans climbed in.

"You have the papers?" asked-the Zulu in broken German.

Hans nodded. "Are you taking me to my wife?"

Without a word the Zulu started the engine and drove down the hill, then swung the Range Rover onto R-28 and beaded into central Pretoria. He drove until they intersected the N-1 freeway, then climbed into the northbound traffic.

Hans looked blankly out the window as the suburbs gave way to gaudy storefronts, liquor stores, and finally the government matchboxes of black settlements outside the city.

Hans fingered the knife beneath his shirt. The thought of what the kidnappers might do if they realized the diary was incomplete made his bowels squirm, but what choice did he have? At least by acceding to their demands he had gained a chance to try to explain the missing pages. In the middle of some football stadium, with a dozen guns sighted on Ilse and himself, anything could happen.

Suddenly Hans felt his throat tighten. Though he had been @ng straight at the back of the Zulu's head, his conscious @d had only now registered what his eyes were seeing.

Behind the Zulu's right ear-in plain sight-was the ominous design sketched in the Spandau papers: the eye-the mark of Phoenix! Yet unlike Funk's men, this tribesman wore no tattoo. The eye had been branded onto his scalp with a red-hot iron! The ugly, whitish-pink keloid scar chilled Hans's blood. He @tared, hypnotized by the mark.

What did it really symbolize? Follow the Eye, the Spandau papers had charged. Yet it seemed to Hans that the eye was following him!

"How ... how far do we have to go?" he stammered, trying to keep his anxiety in check.

The Zulu said nothing.

Hans touched the haft of the knife in his shirt. Obviously the black man didn't intend to reveal anything about the upcoming rendezvous. Hans forced his eyes away from the scar and concentrated on the road. The shimmering highway stretched in a seemingly endless line across the veld, toward a destination Hans could only pray would reunite him with ]Ilse. If the kidnappers were as hard as the land they now passed over, he thought, their chances of getting out alive were small. He caught himself wondering if he should have told Hauer the truth about the rendezvous after all. Maybe Hauer could have pulled off the exchange.

Maybe ...

"Too late now," he muttered.

"Bine?" the Zulu said sharply.

"]Vichts!" Hans snapped. He tried not to stare at the branded eye as the Range Rover droned on.

10:45 A.m. Horn House. The Northern Transvaal

Linah had set out a fine brunch in the enclosed garden near the southwest turret of the estate. Subtropical fruit trees splashed blossoms of color against the high stone walls.

Alfred Horn and his security chief sat together drinking coffee and speaking quietly.

"And what of Captain Hauer?" the old man asked.

Smuts shrugged. "I had four men at the Voortrekker to kill him, but he never showed up."

"Could he be following Sergeant Apfel?"

Smuts shook his head. "He might try, but my driver will know if he does. We'll have no problems from Hauer."

Horn nodded.

"How long do you expect it will be before we hear something from the Arabs? Three days? A week?"

"I've already heard," Horn said casually, and took a sip of his coffee.

"Qaddafl himself called me an hour ago. He has accepted our terms. What did I tell you, Pieter? If you want a job done quickly, hire a hungry man. Prime Minister Jalloud will return tomorrow night with men to transport the weapon."

"Tomorrow night!" Smuts exclaimed. "I had no idea it would be that soon. Two hours ago I sent half my men back to then-tine."

Horn smiled. "That was a little premature, Pieter. But I shouldn't worry. There will be no problems with the Libyans. And if there were, I am confident that you-could protect us from that. You have had years to prepare year defenses."

Smuts looked uncertain. "Did Qaddafl mention Major K?" Smuts nodded suspiciously. "Karami is planning some kind of double-cross. I'm certain of it. I'd better make additional security arrangements."

Horn smiled cagily. "You might want to make some arrangements before tonight, Pieter. I have the feeling we may need a few extra men."

Smuts squinted curiously At his master. But before he could ask for clarification, Lieutenant Jiirgen Lahr opened a sliding glass door and marched toward the table. Horn eyed the tall German suspiciously, but Smuts waved a greeting.

"Guten Morgen, Herr Oberleutiiant." "Guten Morgen! " Luhr replied, clicking his heels together smartly. He inclined his head first to Horn, then Smuts.

"Sit," Smuts commanded.

"Just a moment," Horn interjected. "Show me your mark, Herr Oberleutnant."

Instantly Luhr moved to the old man's wheelchair and leaned down so that Horn could inspect the tiny tattoo behind his ear. Horn actually licked his finger and rubbed the mark to make sure it was indelible. When he was satisfied, he gave Luhr permission to sit down.

"Danke, " said Luhr, taking a chair and sitting ramrod straight.

Horn stared at Luhr some time before speaking. His one flickering eye lingered on the blond hair, the hard blue eyes, the trim figure and classical features. He nodded slowly. The young policeman had sparked something in his memory.

"Has your stay in our cell taught you some respect for orders?"

Luhr had prepared for this. "Sir, I drugged Frau Apfel only for her welfare, I assure you. She struggled so hard against her bonds that I feared she might injure herself."

Horn's single eye glazed like a chip of ice. "There is no excuse for insubordination! A man who disobeys orders is a threat to everyone around him!"

Luhr wiped a sheen of perspiration from his forehead.

"But," Horn went on in a softer tone, "my security chief seems to think I should give you a second chance. He speaks highly of your work in Berlin."

Luhr raised his chin proudly.

"Frau Apfel will be joining us soon, Herr Oberleutnant.

When she arrives at table, you will issue an immediate apology.

Then the matter will be closed.. Clear?"

"Absolutely," Luhr said solemnly. He had never balked at licking the proper pair of boots.

While Linah poured coffee for Luhr, the sound of someone talking softly drifted around the corner of the house.