W. Griffin - The Hostage

"How very interesting," she said. "And you speak German."

"Yes, ma'am. Most of us speak a couple of languages."

"And this is Colonel Jake Torine, of the Air Force," Castillo said.

"If you're responsible for keeping Karl-Charley-on the straight and narrow, Colonel, you have my profound sympathy," Goerner said.

"I think of him as the cross I have to bear as a righteous man," Torine said.

"Me, too," Goerner said. [FOUR] Haus im Wald Near Bad Hersfeld Kreis Hersfeld-Rotenburg Hesse, Germany 1310 27 July 2005 Frau Helena Goerner, a svelte blonde who was a Bavarian but who didn't look as if she would be comfortable in an embroidered dirndl and with her hair braided into pigtails, had lunch waiting for them when they arrived at Haus im Wald.

"Welcome home, Karl," she said in English, offering him her cheek to kiss as if he were a very distant relative entitled to the privilege. Then she did the same to Fernando.

"Dona Alicia, Maria, and your adorable children are doing well, I trust, Fernando?"

"Very well, thank you, Helena," Fernando replied. "And your rug rats? How and where are they?"

Castillo and Otto chuckled.

"Our children are here, but I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate for them to have luncheon with us."

"Helena, you have to remember that your rug rats are my godchildren," Castillo said. "Bring 'em on!"

"Absolutely," Fernando chimed in. "The more rug rats, the better."

Frau Goerner, forcing a smile, turned to a maid wearing a crisp white cap and apron.

"Ilse, will you bring the children to the dining room, please?" she said, adding to everyone else, "I'll join you there."

She walked out of the foyer.

"Do you two have to do your best to destroy my happy marriage?" Otto asked. He didn't seem to be really annoyed with them.

"The both of you should be ashamed of yourselves," Frau Gertrud said, but she didn't seem very annoyed, either.

"I somehow got the feeling our hostess does not like my godchildren referred to as her rug rats," Castillo said to Torine and Kranz. "I will introduce…"

"You sensed that, did you?" Goerner asked, sarcastically.

"… you two to her when she gets her Bavarian temperunder control." He pointed to a door. "That's the elevator. The athletically inclined can use the stairs."

"When he was about nine or ten," Otto said, "Karl used to go to the stables, collect the cats-five, six, more-and load them on the elevator. His grandfather, who wouldn't let Karlchen use the elevator, and who hated cats, would summon the elevator, and when the door opened they'd all rush out into his bedroom. You could hear the Old Man in Fulda."

"He was a wicked little boy," Frau Gertrud said, smiling fondly. "Who looked like an angel."

"Is that a 'what the hell is this?' look on your face, Jake?" Castillo asked Torine, and then went on without waiting for an answer. "I was born in this house. I lived here until I was twelve." Castillo saw the look on Kranz's face, and went on: "Long story, Seymour. I'll brief you later. Let's go up to the dining room and have a beer. In a manner of speaking, I make it myself."

"If Helena offers champagne, Karl," Goerner said firmly, "you will drink it."

"Jawohl," Castillo said, smiling. He clicked his heels, and waved everybody onto the elevator. It was a tight fit, but they all managed to get on. The dining room was an enormous room on the third floor. One wall was covered with a huge, heavy curtain. Castillo walked to it, found a switch, and tripped it. The curtains opened, revealing floor-to-ceiling plate-glass windows offering a vista of gently rolling farmlands.

"Nice view," Torine said.

"Come here," Castillo said, "and Professor Castillo will offer a lecture on fairly recent military history."

Another maid in crisp white cap and apron appeared with a tray holding champagne stems. Castillo, Torine, and Kranz were taking glasses from the tray when Helena appeared.

"Ah, our hostess," Castillo said. "You'll have to forgive my bad manners, Helena. This is Colonel Jacob Torine of the U.S. Air Force, and Mr. Kranz of AFC Electronics of Las Vegas, Nevada, who is going to demonstrate the satellite telephone I'm going to recommend to Otto that he buy for the Tages Zeitung's correspondents. Gentlemen, our hostess, Frau Helena Goerner."

Helena had her temper under control and was charming.

"You have a lovely home, Frau Goerner," Torine said. "The view is spectacular."

"Yes, it is, isn't it?"

"I was about to deliver a little lecture about the land, Helena. May I go on?"

"Of course," she said, with a hint of a smile and a visible lack of enthusiasm.

"If you will look halfway across that glorious field of corn," Castillo said, pointing, "you will see a strip perhaps seventy-five meters wide where the growth isn't nearly as luxurious as the rest."

"Yeah," Torine said, curiously, having spotted what Castillo had pointed out.

"At one time, as difficult as it might be to believe in this time of peace and love for our fellow man, that strip was sewn with mines, about half of them Bouncing Bet-ties. They were placed there by the East German authorities-"

"That was the East German-West German border?" Torine interrupted.

"Yes, it was. May I continue?"

"Of course. Excuse me."

"The mines were placed there by the East Germans to keep the West Germans from rushing over there to take advantage of the manifold benefits of communism," Castillo went on.

"Karlchen, be careful!" Frau Gertrud ordered.

"And just this side of the still-polluted soil there used to be a road on which members of the U.S. Army used to patrol… This is really marvelous champagne, Helena! Might I have another?"

"Yes, of course," Helena said, and snapped her fingers impatiently at the maid, who hurried up with her tray.

Castillo took an appreciative swallow and went on: "As I was saying, there was a road on which valiant Americans of the Eleventh and Fourteenth Armored Cavalry Regiments patrolled to keep the West Germans from escaping into East Germany.

"One of those heroic young Americans was someone you both know. Second Lieutenant Allan Naylor came here just about straight from West Point, after pausing only long enough to take a bride and the basic officer's course at Fort Knox-"

"Naylor was here?" Torine asked. "Fascinating."

"As a second john, and later as a major," Castillo confirmed. "And he learned, of course, the legend of the Haus im Wald."

"Karl!" Goerner warned. Castillo ignored him.

"Would you like to hear the legend?" Castillo asked innocently.

Torine was silent.

"I would," Kranz said.

"Well, the legend was that in this house, which was known to the stalwart troopers of the Eleventh and Fourteenth as 'the Castle,' there lived a blond fair maiden princess who was ferociously guarded by her father, the king, also known as 'the Old Man.' He didn't keep the fair maiden in chains or anything like that, but he did do his best to keep her away from the Americans, who, as any Frenchman and many Germans will happily tell you, are bent on destroying culture around the world."

"Don't you think that's enough?" Goerner asked.

"I'm almost finished, Otto," Castillo said.

"I don't think you're being funny anymore, Karl," Otto said.

"Then don't laugh," Castillo said. "Well, one day, inevitably, I suppose, the inevitable happened. An American knight in shining armor rode up. Actually he was flying in the left seat of a Dog Model Huey. He set it down right there, on the cobblestones next to the stable."

He pointed.

"He had several things going for him. He was an Army aviator, for one thing, and everybody knows they possess a certain pizzazz. Most important, he was a Texican.As Fernando will tell you, handsome young Texicans send out vibes that women simply cannot resist. And such was the case here.