CIA Fall Guy (12 page)

“What is this place?” Beth asked.

David turned around to look at her. “It was an intimate getaway for a Nazi general and his mistress. After the war the American army used it as part of the recreational hotel accommodations for army personnel. We recently took it over.”

Beth nodded. “As long as the shower works I'll be happy.”

Without replying David walked towards the bathroom.

The moment he was out of sight Beth picked up the backpack David had acquired at CIA headquarters in Munich. This was the first time she had been alone with it and she wanted to make good use of this time.

After unzipping the main section, Beth stuck her right hand inside. The first thing she felt appeared to be a flashlight, so she dug deeper. Her hands closed around foil packages. What could these be?

She pulled them out of the bag — individually packaged condoms! — just as David walked back into the room.

She spun around to face him. “Condoms? You have condoms in your backpack?”

David flung himself onto the sofa. “Do you have a problem with that? I like to be prepared.”

Beth thrust them back into the backpack and, unzipped, flung it at David.

“Prepared? You think you can drop in anywhere and get lucky — or do you have a girlfriend — everywhere?”

David smiled. “Depends on the time of year.”

How infuriating! “It amazes me how all men are the same. Their minds get stuck below their belts.”

David motioned her to sit down on the sofa next to him. “Give up your martyrdom. Live a little.”

Beth remained standing. “You're probably planning your next conquest right now. What's her name?”

David's eyes bored into her. “If I said you, what would you say?”

Beth flopped down on the armchair furthest from the sofa. “I'll never sleep with you.”

David didn't answer at first — he appeared to be concentrating on something else.

“You may have to eat your words sooner than you think,” he said.

“What are you talking about?”

David stood up, strode over to her and jerked her up.

“Hear that car noise outside? We have visitors.”

“Isn't it Rodney?”

David shook his head. “He's supposed to signal first with his headlights. So this means we have uninvited guests.”

Beth grabbed her own backpack as David glanced around the room, then reached into his backpack.

“We need to create a little illusion — romantic illusion. I'll just open these condoms — leave the empty packages on the floor. Our uninvited guests will think we're taking a walk — afterwards.”

“What a terrible plan!” she said.

“Have a better one?”

David dropped the condom packages in front of the fireplace, then slung his backpack on and with one hand propelled Beth towards a large wooden armoire — what the Germans called a
schrank
she knew.

David yanked open the double doors and pushed Beth into the
schrank
, shining his flashlight towards the back of the
schrank
.

“Can you feel rungs of a ladder there?” he asked.

Beth nodded — her voice had vanished.

“Climb down.”

As she put one step below the other, she felt David crushed behind her as he closed the
schrank
doors.

She climbed down as quickly as she could with David right behind her. At the foot of the ladder he shined his flashlight down what appeared to be a tunnel and motioned for her to now follow him.

“What is this?” Beth whispered, thankful her voice had at least somewhat returned.

David leaned closer to her. “The system of tunnels connecting Hitler's underground bunkers. Berchtesgaden was his favorite retreat.”

Beth knew about Eagle's Nest high above Berchtesgaden, a gift from one of Hitler's top henchmen. She and Stephen had visited Eagle's Nest when they were stationed in Munich. Perhaps she had even known about the tunnels, although she couldn't remember now.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“To one of those bunkers.”

Beth stumbled over something and David pulled up on her arm to keep her from falling.

When she had recovered her balance she asked, “Don't the bad guys know the same places?”

“Maybe, maybe not. We left a misleading trail, remember?”

Beth clamped down on her lips to keep from shouting. When she had control of her voice level she said, “If this wasn't so ridiculous, I'd be laughing.”

Moments later she followed David into what was presumably a bunker. His flashlight showed bare walls and a dirt floor.

He landed her the flashlight and told her to shine it on his backpack, from which he took a miniature portable lantern and set it up on the floor of the bunker. He took back the flashlight and turned it off.

“We'll have to spend the night here. In the morning I should be able to find our way out.”

Beth opened her mouth, closed her mouth, then finally said, “Sleep here?”

David opened two packets he had removed from his backpack. As he removed the contents she could tell at least they weren't more condoms.

“These emergency blankets are nifty. But we only have two. We can each curl up in one. Or we can place on the ground and share the other one as a blanket. It will be more comfortable the second way.”

Beth nodded her okay to the second choice, but a suspicion crossed her mind.

“Did you really hear a noise?”

David didn't answer he; he simply spread the first blanket on the ground. “After you,” he said.

Beth was at least thankful she had used the toilet facilities right before playing this hide-and-seek game. She stretched out on the blanket but kept her shoes on.

David stretched out next to her and spread the other blanket on top of them. He bunched up her backpack and put it under her head. Then he did the same with his backpack under his head.

“Wait a minute,” Beth said. “You don't have dinner in your survival kit?”

“Sorry,” he said. “Only room for the most essential equipment.”

Beth rolled onto her side facing away from David. She hoped her stomach wouldn't growl.

The lantern flickered off.

For a moment she felt something brush her check. Was it a bug? Or had David brushed his hand against her?

Beth closed her eyes but she didn't expect to drop off to sleep. Regardless of what she thought of David Ward, this was the first time she'd been in bed with a man since …

Yes, she realized she wasn't really in bed with someone. It was simply that … simply that she was in Germany. And Germany was the last place she had ever …

“Are you cold?” he asked.

“What?” It took a second for Beth to realize who was speaking. She had been thinking … thinking about something that could never again be.

“Are you cold?” David repeated.

For answer Beth sat up and turned the lantern back on.

“Tell me a story,” she said. “About one of your operations. The unclassified bits.”

She thought he wouldn't say anything. But after a moment, in which she noticed he didn't look at her, he sat up and began:

“I had a Joe in Prague. He was to meet a Russian contact. A successful meet would have netted important missile strength numbers. I was to meet the Joe afterwards at midnight. He didn't show.”

Now he looked at her. What was it he wasn't saying?

“Not such a big deal. Happened before. I went to the fallback at 1 o'clock. Again no show. I went on to the fallback at 2.”

Beth's stomach flipped — she knew what was coming.

“The Joe was there. Dead. His throat cut. Who could have known our fallback?”

Without meaning to Beth reached out and took David's hands in hers. She felt responsible for asking him to relive this. He didn't appear to notice what she had done.

“I looked around — an old people's home was across the road. I dashed to it.”

He paused, then continued. “I ran up the stairs and along the corridor. There was no one around. The door to one room was open.”

Beth lightly squeezed his hands, encouraging him to go on.

“Inside an old man lay on a filthy sheet, groaning. I went in, sat down next to him. He reached out his hands, his eyes sightless. He said in Czech, ‘Milo, my son, is it you?’ In that instant I became Milo. I answered in Czech, ‘Yes, my father, I am here.’ I sat with that old man, told him I loved him, until he took his last breath. Then I fled.”

David's eyes were on their hands. Suddenly Beth was suspicious. She pulled her hands away.

“Is this a true story? Or are you playing another part? Tender-hearted citizen of the world.”

David didn't answer; he simply turned away from her, and lay his head down on his backpack.

But instead of turning the lantern off, he said, “Now it's your turn to tell me a story.”

Beth shook her head. “Nothing to interest you.”

“Tell me about how you met your husband.”

How she met Stephen? What a strange request. “Why do you want to know?”

“Tell me the story,” he said.

Why not?

“My family moved to a different neighborhood in Philadelphia. Stephen and I were in the same 4th grade class. We were the best spellers. Each week we would compete to see who got the most right on the Friday spelling test. It was a big deal in our classroom — boy vs. girl. Often we tied.”

Beth paused. How silly it seemed now. But she went on, “We kept our tests in a bound spiral notebook. One week by mistake Stephen tore his test out of his notebook. The teacher gave him a zero. He was devastated.”

Fourth grade. A zero meant so much then. “I felt so badly for him that I tore mine out too — so we would be even again. From then on we were best friends.”

“You started dating your husband at age 10?”

Beth smiled. “That came later. Much later.”

David turned off the lantern. She couldn't see his face. What had he thought of her story? What had he …

“Come on, Beth. It's time to get up.”

Beth sat up. The dark was as pervasive as it had been when they first got here. “What time is it?” she asked.

“5 a.m.” David turned the lantern on.

“I must have finally slept. How did you sleep?”

“I didn't. Someone had to stand guard.”

“I should have taken my turn,” Beth said.

David folded the two emergency blankets into little squares and stuffed them in his backpack before answering. “No, you shouldn't have. You're the civilian.”

“The civilian. Right.”

Beth swung her backpack on her back and took the flashlight from David while he put the lantern in his backpack.

“Do you know how to get out?”

David's only reply was to smile.

She followed him down a tunnel until suddenly there was a noise up ahead. David flicked off the flashlight and pushed her behind him before taking out his gun.

From down the tunnel came
“Ist dieser platz frei?”

David answered,
“Ja, dieser platz ist frei.”
Then he snapped the flashlight back on.

“Rodney,” David said to her. “He has the worse German accent of anyone I know.”

Beth laughed. “You haven't heard mine.”

Then Rodney and Kathleen entered the arc of David's flashlight.

“Kathleen! What? How?”

DAY 5

Beth sat in the back of Rodney's BMW with Kathleen while David sat up front with Rodney.

Kathleen had promised to answer Beth's questions once they were on the road.

“I don't like getting left holding an empty bag,” she said. “After I went on a wild goose chase to Cape Cod, I returned to Langley and used my connections and my computer.”

Rodney spoke over his shoulder as he drove. “She contacted me for information and she detected my hesitation when she asked if I knew your location.”

Kathleen laughed. “After that it was easy to get what I wanted to know. I just threatened …”

Rodney cut in. “She promised not to reveal to George or Charles what I told her.”

“I agreed because I know they're not keeping me in the loop.”

Beth watched Rodney glance at David. “Saw the company you had last night.”

“Could you tell who they were?”

“Only that there were two of them driving the usual BMW.”

Beth laughed. “You should talk.”

“I'll send someone back for your car later,” Rodney said to David. “Someone who will check the car for any surprise gifts.”

“You couldn't have shown up last night?” Beth asked.

“Sorry you had to spend the night in the bunker. But we had to stick to our fallback plan.”

Beth tapped David on the shoulder. “No wonder you weren't worried about finding a way out. You knew the rescue dog would find us.”

An hour later Rodney pulled off the road and alongside a small airstrip. Beth followed Kathleen out of the car.

“I understand that you don't trust me,” Kathleen said.

“Trust you? First I was told this ridiculous story of identifying someone. Then the driver of that unidentified person is shot. I thought I was being set up to be the fall guy.”

“And what do you think now?”

Beth hesitated. What did she think? She said, “Maybe the answer will be in Berlin.”

Kathleen nodded, then motioned Beth into the back seat of a small plane.

“I'm an amateur pilot — it can come in handy,” Rodney said.

David smiled at Kathleen. “Good for seeing your girlfriend on quick trips across the Atlantic.”

Rodney laughed. “Never mix business with pleasure, or almost never.”

Beth put her hand on Kathleen's arm to stop her from following Rodney to the cockpit. “Thanks, Kathleen, for letting me see this through.”

“What goes around comes around,” Kathleen replied.

Beth tightened her seatbelt as David said, “Sorry no food service again.”

Beth looked out the window as the plane took off. Then she looked back at David.

“How did the bombers know you were going to be at the Frankfurt Officers Club that day? Why target you there?”

David hesitated, his hands drumming on the seat's armrests. “There was a scheduled luncheon called by the commanding general of the Frankfurt
kaserne
— post. He wanted to discuss procedures for discovering infiltrators on his
kaserne
.”