Nemesis: Innocence Sold (11 page)

“What’s so strange about that? The only coincidence is that Daniel knew Stephan and of course Mark.”

Finally Tom’s smile came back. “That would be true, if there were not also the little circumstance that Daniel had also ended up on the ground pretty quickly when he was trying to arrest Mark.”

Puzzled, Sandra was silent, and Daniel scowled. “Did you have to bring that up?”

“Mark told me about it. That undercover investigation—that was you? You thought the boss was in it with them, and later he reproached himself for not letting you in on it.
Sometimes there’s no right and no wrong
,” she said, quoting the words Mark had used to help her get over the disgrace.

Tom whistled through his teeth. “Pretty unusual for him to tell you about that. OK, people, thanks for the wine, but it’s time for me to get to bed. I have training tomorrow morning. I’ll see you, and then I’ll tell you what the story with my grandmother is. You’re competing with Sven as an interrogation expert with your spoken and unspoken questions. Good night.” With that, he disappeared before Sandra could return his good night or express her astonishment at his accurate assessment.

“Don’t be surprised. His empathy’s legendary—that’s why he’s so damned good at his job—and he’s right. Tomorrow’s certainly not going to be easier. I hate endless discussions. The bed in the guest room is freshly made; make yourself at home. Take whatever you need.”

“Where are you going to sleep?”

“If you like, with you.” He smiled. “The way you served that up, I couldn’t resist. There’s a double bed in the bedroom, the couch in the study can be turned into a bed, and I could sleep here in the living room, too. I’ve spent nights under worse conditions, although I’m still thinking about how I’m going to get Tom out of the bedroom.”

Daniel’s exaggeratedly desperate tone made Sandra laugh. “Thanks. For everything today.”

Daniel tapped his forehead casually. “Ma’am, it was my pleasure. Except for the business with the spinach.”

CHAPTER 11

Although Tom was quiet entering the study, Daniel woke immediately and buried his face in his pillow, making a growling noise. “It can’t be morning yet. Out of the question.”

“Six o’clock. Do you want to keep sleeping or . . .”

“Define
or
.”

“Swimming pool. You’ll save yourself a shower.”

“Shit. I guess I’d better. Mac’s patience is going to be at an end anyway, and he’s hardly going to accept jet lag as an excuse.” Yawning, he stood up. “There’s still an eternity before we have to be in Tannhäuser’s office—at least Sandy can catch up on her sleep.”

Although hardly a beam of light illuminated the room, he sensed Tom’s look.

“You’ve got it bad.”

“Wait and see what happens. But I like the girl.”

“She would let you have it for expressing yourself that way.”

“I know—that’s why I like her. You should have seen how she took on Mark and Jake.” But still she was vulnerable, which made him want to keep an eye on her every second. But Tom didn’t need to know that—he probably sensed it anyway.

“Let’s go, then. If we get there late, you’re going to be in more trouble. Also, I’d like to finally know what was or is up with you and Russell.”

During the drive to the swimming complex, Daniel described the encounter with Russell and his sister’s reaction to a possible move to the West Coast.

Tom listened in silence. It wasn’t until Daniel parked Dirk’s car next to Mark’s Audi that he laid a hand on Daniel’s arm. “I’m glad this is your decision. But I also know you’ve left out one point.”

Daniel avoided Tom’s gaze and indicated the swimming complex on the other side of the street. “Sure, I could imagine leading a team together with you, but since that’s not going to happen, we don’t need to think or talk about it.”

“They wouldn’t accept me into the officer training course. That’s why I’ve always rejected that possibility. Even Mark couldn’t manage that,” Tom said with unexpected seriousness.

Great. This discussion was the last thing Daniel needed. “We’ll never know if you don’t give it a try. But that doesn’t matter. Your decision stands. Period.”

“Hang on. Why aren’t you surprised?”

“You mean I ruined your confession? Lord, Tom, think. I’ve been taking care of all the human resources stuff for Jake since last year. I couldn’t avoid seeing your file, no matter how much I tried. But since you’ve never talked to me about your past, I kept my mouth shut. That’s your business. Even if I think what you’ve achieved in the last few years easily makes up for the few stupid things you did in your youth. But it really doesn’t interest me—I’m not the career type and never will be. We’ll keep on going like we have been, and that’s that. If you want a tip: you should finally take care of the business with your German family—but you know that yourself. So enough about that.”

Tom’s grin was pretty weak. “Was that an order?”

“No, a necessity, because there’s someone standing over there watching us without a lot of enthusiasm.”

Tom followed his gaze and cursed when he recognized Mark. “Have fun, Doc. It doesn’t look like he’s in a very good mood.”

With regret, Daniel watched Tom disappear into one of the changing rooms after having uttered a brief greeting in Mark’s direction. Now, of all times, none of the cleaning staff, who were otherwise always around, were present; thus nothing stood in the way of a conversation with his superior. The impenetrable expression wasn’t helping. Finally, he asked, “What have I done wrong, other than not getting in touch?”

“I’d say that’s enough, isn’t it?”

The tone caused Daniel to stand up straight. Cursing, he threw his duffel bag on the floor. “Should I come to attention, sir? You did say I should take as much time as I needed. My decision not to leave the team had already been made before my conversation with Hector because my sister had told me in no uncertain terms how crazy that would have been. I really just wanted to find out from Hector why he had changed his mind. The conversation took a pretty surprising turn, but I guess you knew long before then why he wanted to get me to leave the SEALs, right?”

“Hector?” Mark said with mild derision. But this time it was Daniel who looked at Mark until he relented. “I’m not a psychic, Daniel—I just had a vague suspicion. Too many things didn’t add up, and then your new friend addressed me the last time I was in Coronado. He was familiar with details of the mission on which Tom almost got killed, things he shouldn’t have known about. Since he didn’t have the information from me, I did a little investigating and found out that he and my father knew each other better than I’d known. Then it was clear who had provided him with details of our missions. Did you think I would have done that?”

“No. I mean yes, but only for a few seconds, before I realized you wouldn’t have kept that a secret from me.” Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter from his father. “Here, read it yourself.”

Mark read the few lines in silence, gave him back the letter, and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Jake has told me what you’re planning now. Stephan and I have taken care of everything. But save your vacation days for something else. Fly to California with your new girlfriend later or do something else.” Mark took a folded piece of paper and an identification card from the inside pocket of his leather jacket.

Daniel glanced over the form—more a declaration—which transferred him to the LKA within the framework of legal and administrative cooperation. He paid more attention to the identification card with the passport photograph that otherwise decorated his military identification. “Special investigator? Sounds good. How did you get that taken care of so quickly? And she’s not actually my girlfriend. Well, not yet.”

Mark smiled. “Thank Stephan. It only took a few phone calls, because Tannhäuser was enthusiastic about the cooperation, and a courier brought the things this morning. We took care of part of the conference in advance. Three weeks, Daniel—then the matter has to be resolved. You’ll work closely with Sven and Dirk, but they’ll mostly be active in the background. Keep me posted, and decide for yourself when you pull us in. All we have planned is training; if you need us, we’ll be there.”

Daniel hadn’t counted on this. Complete freedom and full support from the team was more than he had hoped for. “Thanks, boss” was his reply, and his team leader hadn’t expected anything more.

“You’ve earned it. Do you want to keep standing around here or get in the water?”

“The latter, sir. To the extent the LKA leaves me time, I’ll come to training.”

“Good decision, although it would be a pleasure for me to kick you in the rear for a change instead of Pat.”

Smiling at the reference to the Irishman, who had a tendency to slacken the reins so much that he had to go through extra units on the sports field, Daniel took his bag and walked toward the changing rooms, whistling.

Karl-Heinz Friedrichs shifted his weight uncomfortably from one leg to the other. At six thirty in the morning he was usually still in bed. Shivering, he rubbed his palms together. It just wasn’t his time of day, but the boss paid well, and annoying him was the last thing Kalle wanted to do. The regular assignments brought him good money and spared him all the crappy little jobs with which he had kept himself afloat before. He stepped closer to one of the parked trucks to protect himself from the biting wind. For a moment, he considered whether it was unusual that none of the vehicles were on the road or being loaded at this time of day. But that wasn’t his problem; the boss wanted to meet with him on the remote compound of a Lübeck trucking company, and now here he stood, waiting and freezing.

The sound of a motor could be heard in the distance. Reluctantly, Kalle again exposed himself to the wind and walked toward the black station wagon. He formulated another excuse for the problem with the last order to make it clear that it hadn’t been his fault.

The driver of the car didn’t get out; he rolled down the window and waved Kalle over. Kalle rolled his eyes; he thought his partner might as well know what he thought of this behavior.
It’s important to operate from a position of strength
, his father had told him again and again. It had taken him a long time to understand what he had meant by “operate,” and later he had realized his old man had been right about that. Although he had drunk most of the sense out of his head, he had uttered a useful sentiment. It was really too bad the old dodderer hadn’t lived long enough to see that today his son was driving a new E-Class Mercedes and maintaining a sixteen-year-old bedwarmer. Tatjana knew tricks that still would have turned on the old man.

“Good morning. What’s so urgent? I told you on the phone already that we were working on a replacement delivery.”

“By that you presumably meant this photographer. Don’t you think you need alternative sources of supply?”

“It’s not that simple. These special requests are kicking up too much dust. I know that you’re keeping the Lübeck cops off our backs. But your influence doesn’t seem to extend to Hamburg.” Because of the hat pulled down over his eyes, Kalle couldn’t make out his boss’s expression. But he didn’t seem to be enthused. “I haven’t heard what happened yet. The business with the explosion didn’t work out, but the girl should have had enough.”

“We’ll take care of the policewoman. Don’t worry about that. Who knows about you besides the photographer and the three idiots you hired yesterday?”

This didn’t sound good at all, but he was too important for his boss to just get rid of him. Nevertheless, it was a relief that he now had his boss’s license plate number and could use it to find out the man’s name. “No one. You don’t need to worry. I’ll take care of everything. In person. Then it will all work out fine.”

“I agree with you on that point. If one wants to make sure the ship stays on course, one shouldn’t hesitate to take the wheel.”

“I like that. My father . . .” The word stuck in Kalle’s throat when he suddenly saw shimmering black steel in front of him.

“I can’t accept three failures. The two boys and the policewoman.”

Kalle’s thoughts became hectic. He wanted to run, to throw himself to the side, but his body wouldn’t obey. Paralyzed by fear, he did not notice that a strand of spittle hung from his half-open mouth. He couldn’t produce a coherent sentence.

An intense white flash ended his panic. Uncomprehending, he stared at the sky above. No pain, but warm liquid ran over his face and trickled down the corner of his mouth.
Maybe everything will still turn out all right,
he thought while his vision blurred and blackness descended around him.

It was only after a delay that a voice, accompanied by a hammering melody, penetrated the sleepiness that held Sandra in a firm grip. She blinked and looked for her alarm clock, then realized it wasn’t there. The bedclothes were soft but smelled of an unfamiliar detergent. Then she remembered Daniel’s guest room when the nerve-racking voice and music returned. She had thought it a funny idea to connect calls from her police station with Wolfgang Petry’s “Hölle” refrain; it would have been better to have put that number on the blocked list. It wasn’t even eight o’clock, and it was much too early to have an objective, calm conversation with her boss. Wait. Stephan was her boss now. After a yawn, she accepted the call.

“Meinke.”

“And when exactly is the lady planning to appear today? I have two people out sick, and your shift started an hour ago. So get your charming little ass over here, sweetie pie.”

“I’ve asked you countless times to watch what you say to me. I have an appointment with Tannhäuser and have no idea how long that will take. After that I’ll come by to get my things. And before you issue your standard threat: you can write your evaluation, roll it up, set it on fire, and stick it up your ass. My new boss knows what he has in me, and your threat regarding the next evaluation—which once again would consist of lies—is worth nothing to anyone. It has
not
been a pleasure, Mr. Station Leader. Please do not call me again; I will not call you either. I promise.”

Satisfied, she listened to his loud gasps—the message had no doubt been received.

She yawned and hung up. It was very tempting to snuggle back into bed and go on sleeping. But curiosity made her get up. The wine on top of the whiskey had been too much; she felt as if she had been up for two straight nights. Maybe all the excitement was to blame, or better yet the horrible chloroform. The last thought appealed to her the most. She fished around for her jeans, which were on the floor next to the bed. But she could have saved herself the effort; the house was empty. Still yawning, she found a note on the kitchen table next to the Sig Sauer Daniel had lent her. “Be careful with the coffee machine.
Extra strong
really means extra strong. Take what you like. We’re swimming—badlantic. Pick me up, or wait for me, but don’t go too close to your apartment. See you. D.”

Not exactly a declaration of love, but what had she expected? Full of anticipation, she looked at the expensive coffee machine, a luxury she had often ogled but had never treated herself to. She could already imagine the grinder pulverizing the beans, but first she would take advantage of the peace and quiet and give the shower with the wall jets a proper test—and check the Web to see how much a Navy officer actually earned. The duplex half was practically new and damned big for one person, and the furnishings were first class. The television alone would have eaten two months of her former salary.

With a cup of coffee that delivered what the expensive machine promised, she stepped onto the balcony and enjoyed the view of her green surroundings. She took a few minutes to think in peace about the very different men she had encountered within the space of a few hours. Tom was obviously the most attractive of them and could have been a fashion model alongside Stephan. The thought made her snicker. Mark and Jake were only cold and abrasive at first; they could be very different. In the case of Dirk, the exact opposite was true. If up to now she had thought of him as good-humored and friendly and somehow harmless, she had to adjust her opinion. Evidently he could compete with the other men when it came to hardness. Lars’s comment was still in the back of her mind, and she had seen how intimidated her captors had been. And Daniel was . . . She liked his long hair, which was in urgent need of a good cut, the boyish grin, and the way he made her laugh. He wasn’t as good-looking as Tom but still looked sweet and at first glance very young, and he had a tendency to be authoritarian—she would have to break him of this. But nevertheless she trusted him and missed him already. It would be interesting to see where things went with them.