Legacy (38 page)

“How is the captain faring?” Sarah asked about their mission commander.

Will stopped and faced Sarah. “He’s a by-the-book stick-in-the-mud.”

“But he doesn’t crash the lander, that says something for him,” Ryan quipped.

Will smiled for the first time since Sarah met them in the hallway.

“Yeah, at least
someone
can fly the damn thing.”

“Hey, are we going to get together and watch the ESA launches tonight?” Sarah asked the men.

“If we survive the emergency training, sure,” Jason said as they turned and left. Sarah looked at her watch and decided to call the complex to get an update on Jack.

She walked to the security station and asked the airman for the phone. She was notified that her call would be monitored for security reasons and Sarah bit her tongue about what they could do with their eavesdropping, but kept silent and only smiled. She was handed a cordless phone and she watched as the air policeman turned on the recording device. She punched in the number, and then a tone sounded. She tapped in her security code. The phone rang once and Europa came on the line.

“The department you are trying to reach has experienced an emergency situation and is unable to take your call at this time.” The phone was disconnected.

Sarah handed the phone back and turned away, biting her lower lip.

Things weren’t right in any aspect of their missions, and it seemed as if the fates were working against them.

“Jack, I wish we were all just back at home.”

POLIZEIPRÄSIDIUM (POLICE HEADQUARTERS), BERLIN, GERMANY

The massive headquarters had been built in 1945 and was now the main building for the German Federal Police. Jack was caged on the fifth floor, and thus far had been questioned by the Germans, the Ecuadorians, and Interpol, and that wasn’t counting his own embassy. He sat quietly and told them that he had nothing to do with either the bombing in downtown Berlin or the murders of the couple in Ecuador. The military attaché assigned to the embassy in Berlin had been in twice, telling Jack that he shouldn’t even have said what he had said; he should have just remained quiet. The attaché told him that it would be all right. The president was working on getting him out of there, but things were a little iffy at the moment. He could tell by the way the man refused to look him in the eye that political pressure on the German government may not be going as well as the attaché was letting on.

At the moment Collins sat on a cold, hard steel bunk and looked at the large hot dog and sauerkraut they had given him for dinner. He took a deep breath and sat the tray on the bed.

He saw a passing guard and called out, “Hey, can I take this food out to the kitchen and get something else?”

The German looked at Jack, not totally understanding what he was asking.

“You, know, maybe go out and get a hamburger or something?”

The guard finally caught on that the American was joking with him. He shook his head and walked away.

“Can I at least watch the space launch?” he called out.

The guard just kept walking. Collins shook his head, feeling helpless. He figured Carl was on his way to Ecuador. The Germans had removed him about eight hours before and he hadn’t returned. He was now thinking about Golding and Ellenshaw, hoping they were on their way home with the slim pickings of a report they had pieced together. He was also hoping that the military attaché passed on his cryptic message to the State Department, and that Niles received it. That should start things rolling in the right direction, leading to the good Reverend Rawlins, especially since his Columbus investigation looked to be all but over.

Jack looked around the jail cell and knew that given time and planning he could make a break for freedom, but not without the use of deadly force. He wasn’t about to gain the fresh air again by killing policemen who were just doing their jobs.

“Colonel Collins, it is time for your washing.” The guard, whom Collins had never seen before, looked frustrated at his English. He looked away and then quickly back through the bars of the jail cell. “It is shower time,” the guard finally managed. “Will you please follow me?” he finished, waving down the block as the cell door opened.

Collins stood from his bunk and looked the guard over. The young man was larger than all the others he had seen thus far and was without a weapon of any kind, not even a nightstick like the others wore. Looking the boy over, Jack figured the kid didn’t really need one. He was also the first man to use his military title. The guard gestured for Collins to step out.

“Please, Colonel, this way.”

Jack did as he was instructed and stepped out of his cell.

“Think I can get a different color jumpsuit? Orange was never really my style.”

The kid didn’t respond to Jack’s joke. He placed a firm hand on his back and easily pushed him forward. They went to an elevator and Collins started to wonder where he was really being taken. He knew there were showers on his block’s floor, and from the way the guard acted it was as though he didn’t care that he wasn’t restrained in even the minimal sense of the word. Jack eyed the large kid again and saw that the uniform he wore was extremely tight-fitting. The cuffs of the blue jacket didn’t make it quite to the wrists and the top collar button wasn’t fastened underneath the black tie. The guard glanced over at him and Jack smiled, even though he started to get a soldier’s sense of impending danger.

As the elevator doors opened, Jack saw that two men were waiting just outside. One was wearing an orange jumpsuit like himself, obviously a guest of the state, and the other man was a guard. The two security men nodded at each other as Jack was led from the elevator. As he walked out he noticed the jail house number on the prisoner’s overalls and then Jack really started worrying—the number was the same as his own stenciled number on the left breast. He looked the prisoner over and saw that the man was dark-haired and almost exactly the same height and build as himself. Collins turned and looked at the two men as the elevator doors closed. His guard gave him a gentle shove in the back and he was moved along a long corridor.

The hackles on Jack’s neck began to rise as the guard stepped closer in behind him. He reached out and placed a large hand on his right shoulder, stopping him short of a steel door to the right side of the hallway.

“Shower room?” Jack asked watching the kid’s eyes.

“Colonel, I … was warned that you … may try something … dangerous to … us.” The man fought for the right English words.” But please, don’t … not … yet?” the guard opened the door and gestured for Jack to enter the room.

As he stepped through the doorway, Jack saw a man with his back to him dressed in all-black clothing. He was eating from a plate. Then his eyes roamed to the back of the room and that was when he saw Pete Golding and Charlie Ellenshaw sitting quietly.

“Colonel,” Charlie said, as he stood up along with Pete.

Jack was surprised to see the two scientists, but also worried that they had not been released as he was told they had been. Charlie stopped short of a handshake as the man eating the plate of food turned. Jack smiled finally when he saw Sebastian Krell. The commando put the plate down and stood. He adjusted the automatic weapon slung around his shoulder and looked from Collins to the man who escorted him to the office.

“Thank you. Sergeant. You’d better return that uniform before you bust out of it.” The large commando looked at his watch. “We leave here in three minutes.” Sebastian turned to face Jack and held out his hand. “Jonathan Dillinger I presume?”

Collins shook his friend’s hand and then looked him over. “It’s just John, and I hope my situation turns out better than Dillinger’s did.”

“That’s yet to be determined, my friend.” The two shook hands.

“What took you so long?” Jack asked, shaking hands with Ellenshaw and Golding.

“We had to wait for the president and the chancellor to come up with this plan. The major here finalized everything but we have very little time before our little ruse is discovered, because you are due to be arraigned in just eight hours. That’s when the clock starts running,” Pete said as Charlie handed Jack a new set of clothes.

“Your plane has been repaired and is awaiting our team,” Sebastian said as he waited for Jack to change.

“Team?”

“It seems my ten men and I have been assigned to you by the chancellor. He doesn’t need you caught again inside Germany. He and the president think we may be of service to you in something called Operation Columbus. The chancellor is in the same situation as your president. You see, all the astronauts for the ESA missions were trained in Cologne, and there are eight German scientists aboard the two Ariane rockets to be launched tonight. The fanatics here are charbroiling the chancellor over this. Thus you have us to assist you, even though our space programs are at odds.”

Jack buttoned his new shirt and thought about what their next move would be. As he slipped on a windbreaker he looked to the German commando.

“Well, I think there may be more to the chancellor’s and the president’s motives than meets the eye, but I can’t prove anything. Strange bedfellows for strange times, my friend,” Jack said, looking at Sebastian. “Our mission is to make all these trips to the Moon a moot point. We need to uncover artifacts found by your government in the thirties and forties. These artifacts and even the mineral can be found right here on Earth. That, I suspect, is why your chancellor and my president have become close friends.”

“Okay, I expect you will tell me everything. Where do we start this quest?” Sebastian asked.

“We’ll start with, How do you feel about committing another jail break?”

“Well,” Sebastian said, smiling, “it beats the hell out of training. Besides, I think I have an affinity for the criminal side of things.”

“You know, I’ve come to the same conclusion about myself and my men,” Jack said, slapping the German on the back. “Now, the ESA has men and women ready to die in a hurried mission to the Moon. Your government’s listening to mine and now has second thoughts, but can’t pull its astronauts without endangering the lives of their fellows. So your government is hedging its bet and going for the answer that is closer to home as well as the one on the Moon. The rest of the ESA is not, because they are not privy to this Operation Columbus intelligence. And where we start is right where Captain Everett has been taken—Ecuador.”

Sebastian nodded and then leaned in so only Jack could hear his next words. “Tell me something if you can, old man. Who are those two strange ducks? Just who the hell do you work for?”

Collins smiled as the sudden change of subject threw him for the briefest second, and then he looked the German commando in the eye.

“Number one, those two guys are among the most brilliant men in the scientific world. And in answer to your second question, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” He looked at Golding and Ellenshaw once again. “But you’re right. They’re two
very
strange ducks.”

Jack and Sebastian walked from the room.

“May I ask where we are off to?” Pete inquired, following Sebastian and Collins through the door.

“Ecuador—Mr. Everett isn’t in for a warm welcome there; I thought we may as well kill two birds with one stone. Get my man out of jail and then find out why someone is willing to kill so many people over a bunch of rocks and an old set of bones. That answer lies beneath the ground. And that, dear Professor Golding, is where we are going.”

Ellenshaw hesitated a moment and grabbed Pete by the arm as Jack and Sebastian left the small office.

“It only gets better, Pete. You’ll never want to stay at the complex again after this.”

Golding watched Crazy Charlie leave. He shook his head and then followed.

“I find it is having the opposite effect on me. It makes me never want to get out of bed again.”

*   *   *

It took only thirty minutes to get from police headquarters to Tempelhof Airport. While riding in the back of a two-and-a-half-ton Mercedes truck, the ten commandos, plus Jack, Pete, Ellenshaw, and the black ops team of Germans, checked their equipment. The chancellor wasn’t going to send them out into the field lacking in firepower.

“I see you plan on running into trouble,” Ellenshaw told Sebastian as the leader of the group placed two heavy caliber long-range sniper rifles back into their cases. The German looked up and held Charlie with his gaze for a moment without saying anything. Then he relaxed and sat back against the wooden bench as his other men finished the inventory of their own equipment.

“Dr. Ellenshaw, isn’t it?” he finally asked.

Charlie just nodded his head, sending his white hair over his wire-rimmed glasses.

“Over a hundred German citizens were just murdered in the streets of Berlin. My chancellor is in a mood that dictates that we respond in kind to the people responsible. We didn’t look for this trouble, but neither shall we run from it.” Sebastian looked over at his old friend Collins. “Those days are over. No longer are we to sit out of world policies because of our past. We just saw what happens when we are perceived to be weak.”

Jack nodded, not really caring for the ominous tone coming from a man he respected, especially since his words seemed to be directed at the man who assisted in his commando training.