Greg Iles - The Spandau Phoenix

The older man-Hauer-apparently has a great deal of influence in Berlin.

We have a man waiting at their last known destination-a cabin near

Wolfsburg-but he hasn't reported in."

Horn toyed with a poker in the stand. "These policemen are proving to

be a credit to their race, Pieter. After you've drawn them here, we

must see what our young friend has dug from the rubble of Spandau."

"It will be done."

"Tell me, how will you convince the young husband that you have his wife

if you haven't reached him by the time she's airborne?"

Smuts suppressed a smile. Horn's attention to the smallest details of

an operation constantly surprised him. "A simple matter really, sir,"

he explained. "Audio recordings on two separate tape machines.

Prerecorded affirmatives and negatives to be used as needed, with a

short statement to open the exchange. With adequate noise reduction the

results are quite convincing."

"Excellent, Pieter. I'm pleased."

Smuts's boot heels cracked like a muffled pistol shot.

Horn unconsciously picked at the stippled scar tissue around his glass

eye. "I've been thinking, Pieter. I want you to shut down all our drug

and weapons trading for the time being. I want no roads leading from

the outside world to here."

Smuts nodded. "Very good, sir. We do have that shipment of gold coming

from Colombia, though, payment for our ether. Two million dollars in

bullion. It's coming by ship, and the ship is almost here."

Horn considered this. "We'll let her land, then. But everything else

shuts down."

"Yes, sir."

"When the policeman's wife arrives, bring her directly to me.

It's so seldom I get a chance to meet young Germans anymore. I should

like very much to speak with her."

"Meet her? But, sir, the risks-"

"Nonsense, Pieter. If you are present, what are the risks?"

Smuts nodded. "As you command."

Horn eyed Smuts appraisingly. "Anything else?"

"Beg your pardon, sir?"

Horn frowned. "The radiation leak. You failed to update me on your

progress."

Smuts colored. "I'm sorry, sir. I've been meeting with the engineers

about the runway extension." He raised his fore arm and read the time

from the inside of his wrist. "The leak was contained as of two hours

ago. Minimal exposure to personnel, the basement lab is clean."

"Any word on our cobalt case?"

"No, sir. I'm sorry."

"All right, Pieter. Dismissed."

"Sir!" Again the boots fired, and Smuts disappeared.

In spite of his frustration, Horn smiled wistfully. A jungfrau, he

thought, a true daughter of the Fatherland My God, how long has it been

since I spoke with a German woman who wasn't raised in this savage

country?

"Pieter!" he called suddenly.

Smuts raced back into the room, a Beretta pistol in his hand.

"I'm sorry," Horn apologized, "I spoke too loudly. More wood for the

fire, that's all. My joints are driving me mad."

Smuts holstered his weapon. "Yes, sir."

Without hesitation, a man who had commanded troops with distinction

across half the African continent marched to a woodpile less than a yard

from his employer's chair, added a fresh log to the fire, and stoked the

flames beneath it.

"How's that, sir?"

"Fine, Pieter. Fine." Horn slumped back into his padded wheelchair and

there, motionless until dawn, slept the sleep of the saved.

1.50 AW. Togel Airfield, West Berlin

"Wing tanks full," the pump jockey said, screwing down the tank cap. He

scurried down the hydraulic ladder and onto the tarmac of the fueling

area. "On account?" he asked.

Handsomely dressed in a tailored gray suit, Lieutenant Jijrgen Luhr

nodded curtly, then marched up the ramp that fed into the belly of the

sleek Lear turbojet. On the plush carpeted floor of the passenger

cabin, trussed from head to toe with industrial tape, Ilse Apfel

struggled desperately to breathe.

"Try to relax, Frau Apfel," Luhr said. "The trip will be much more

comfortable for us both."

With great difficulty Ilse inclined her head toward the blond policeman

and glared. She hoped defiance would mask the abject terror squirming

in her stomach. One hour ago she had been forced to watch this insane

lieutenant drag a knife across the throat of Sergeant Josef Steuben.

Ilse had never met Steuben, but she had vomited from sheer horror.

And beneath the horror, she cursed herself for her stupidity.

How could she have walked right into the arms of these ruthless animals?

"It's useless to struggle," Luhr advised. "I would have preferred more

subtle measures myself, but I'm told that our host is opposed to the use

of drugs. Quite ironic, considering the source of some of his income."

Luhr tapped a small syringe against his armrest. "I'm sure this has all

been a shock to you," he said, "but it's only the result of your

husband's stupidity. However, in spite of that-and for reasons quite

beyond my understanding-you, as well as 1, are to be granted a great

opportunity. Tomorrow we're going to meet the man who owns this jet. It

is a great honor." Luhr chuckled to himself. "Or so I've been led to

believe."

The walls of the Lear thrummed as the engines spooled up for the taxi

run.

"Still," he said, "I don't think we need all that constricting tape."

Ilse struggled harder. Luhr grinned.."You're sure you wouldn't like a

little sedative? We have a long flight ahead." He stood carefully,

holding his head sideways beneath the low cabin ceiling. He towered

over Ilse on the floor. "Although," he said heavily, "I think we might

arrange some interesting inflight diversions."

As if about to relieve himself, Luhr unzipped his trousers and withdrew

a large, uncircumcised penis. While Ilse stared in disgust, he tugged

himself eagerly, watching her reaction.

She wasn't frightened by the sight of his organ-most Berlin girls have

seen their share of male anatomy-it was his eyes.

In a single instant all humanity had gone out of them. As the grunting

lieutenant r)ulled at himself, his blue eyes burned not with lust, but

@with blind, furious hatred. Jiirgen Luhr wanted to do more than rape

Ilse-he @anted to kill her-to rape her to death if he could.

She shut her eyes tight and forced her mind away from this place, back

to a time just after she and Hans were married. They had gone to Munich

to visit Hans's mother, at a small Pfahlbauten on the long silver lake

outside the city.

Frau Jaspers, n6e Apfel, had @een bitchy, but Hans and Ilse had spent

hours together on the water, paddling a small boat and "You think you

can handle this?" Luhr rasped, brandishing his organ. "You're going to

get it ways you never even dreamed about-" Suddenly the plane lurched,

forward. Luhr lost his balance and fell back into his seat, laughing

wildly. Ilse struggled in vain against the tape, trapped like a living

mummy. Putting himself back into his trousers, Luhr leaned back in his

seat and sighed deeply. "Plenty of time for that," he muttered.

The madness had faded from his eyes. He leisurely raised a gleaming

boot and prodded Ilse's bottom, then laughed again.

The Learjet reached its assigned runway and paused, engines shuddering,

pointed east like a porcelain arrow. The legend on its tail read

LASERTEK, but this company was merely a tiny division in the

labyrinthine network of subsidiaries owned by Horn Intercomm, a holding

company on the outer edges of a vast but nebulous corporate entity known