Rise of the Order (20 page)

He lay back on his bed, his hands behind his head, and wondered what would happen next. The door was securely locked. He had tried it many times. There was no escape. He would have to cooperate. That was the only way to survive.

●

The snow was coming down now in fluffy flakes as big as one Euro coins. Toni Contardo sat in her Alfa Romeo a kilometer down the road from the castle at the end of the long drive, a view of the place through the trees. Sitting in the passenger seat, his laptop computer on and typing away, was Kurt Lamar.

They knew Hermann Conrad owned the castle where they had followed the men in the Skoda—the men who had inexplicably kidnapped Herr Albrecht and hauled him down here. But Toni still wasn't sure why they had done so.

“What do you think?” Kurt asked her.

“I don't know,” she said. “The new man they just picked up at the airport doesn't look anything like Miko, Jiri or that Grago guy.”

“I accessed the flight records,” Kurt said. “The guy's name is Wilhelm Altenstein from Magdeburg, Germany. Turns out he's a professor of nanotechnology at the university there. Conrad's company has a huge contract with the university. According to both websites, they're trying to find nanotech cures for various diseases. Pretty vague, though.”

“Don't want to give that away to the competition,” Toni said. She looked through a pair of binoculars at the parking lot, where six cars currently sat. “So it makes sense the lead researcher would come and hang out with Conrad at his mansion in Austria. Did you check out the licenses of those cars?”

“Hey. . .been a little busy here.” Kurt switched to the European auto database and started running numbers he had written down.

She wondered what Jake was doing right now, wishing deep within that she had not pushed him away. He had a way of turning situations like this around, coming up with intuitive reasoning that logically put all pieces of a puzzle together. She, on the other hand, saw a problem and fixed the problem. Which didn't mean that Jake didn't make things happen. He just seemed to understand a plot much sooner than her. Maybe she was too trusting. Maybe it wasn't that at all. Perhaps her radar for nefarious crap didn't go off until the shit really hit the fan.

“Miko Krupjak we know,” Kurt said. “The Hungarian car is licensed to a guy named Viktor Kopari.” He went on naming folks from Poland, Slovenia, Austria and Germany.

“That covers most of Eastern Europe,” Toni said. “When you consider that Miko and Grago are Czech, and Jiri is Slovak.”

“Right. And who knows where the passengers in the cars are from.”

Toni thought about all of these players coming together here. Why? “Something's going down here that's bigger than we thought, Kurt.”

“I have the same idea. And I know what you're thinking?”

“What's that?”

“We could sure as hell use Jake right now.”

Her thought entirely. Jake needed to know what was going on here.

●

When the cell phone rang, Jake was adjusting the defrost controls on Anna's Audi, trying like hell to keep the ice from building up on the wiper blades. Anna had enough trouble keeping the car on the road and seeing their lane. They were now only about 10 kilometers away from Zell am See, Anna's home town. They had decided to go there first to pick up some more equipment, stay the night, and then head northwest to St. Johann in Tirol early the next morning.

“Yeah,” Jake said into the cell.

“It's Toni.”

Jake said nothing. He expected Kurt to keep on calling with updates—him relegated to messenger boy for Toni.

“What?” Jake said.

“Some weird shit's going down here in St. Johann,” she said, her voice quiet, serene.

“We're not even close to you. We're closer to St. Johann im Pongau.” In fact, they had passed through that mountain town twenty minutes ago.

“Can we get over what happened the other day in Vienna,” Toni said, her tone hopeful. “Kurt and I could really use you here. They brought Albrecht to Conrad's castle west of town. The place is a damn fortress, and so far six cars of people have shown up. With this weather, more could be on the way. And Conrad hasn't even shown up yet. Who knows if he'll have more folks with him.”

Jake thought it over, glancing at Anna to his left. Toni knew he was working with her, but he had not said why—nor did he need to explain it to her—especially the sexual nature of their relationship. Finally, Jake said, “That's why we're coming. I trust Anna with my life.” He added that last part for Anna to hear, and perhaps to give Toni some idea that there was more to the relationship than simply professional courtesy.

Anna smiled and said, “We turn right toward Zell am See just ahead.”

“How can you tell?” The damn snow was so thick and mesmerizing falling down, he couldn't see more than twenty meters in front of the car.

“I grew up here, remember?”

On the phone, Toni said, “Did she say Zell am See?”

“Yeah, why?”

“No reason. It's just a pretty place.”

“Not today. Can't even see the damn road.” Where in the hell was Toni going with this?

The car turned right onto a northbound road, and Jake finally saw a sign that said the town was a few kilometers ahead.

“Jake, there's something you need to know,” Toni said, and then her phone crackled.

“Yeah? You still there?”

Nothing.

“Damn it.” Jake slapped his phone shut and said to Anna, “Weather must be messing with the signal.”

“Could be,” Anna said. “Cell service is tough in Zell am See anyway. It's quite the bowl.”

What was Toni trying to tell Jake? He'd only be able to wonder now. . .at least until he could get cell service again or find her at a hard line.

Moments later they got to town and Anna parked in front of a restaurant.

“I could use a beer after that drive,” she said.

Jake ran his hand along her face. “Your eyes are red. Too much stimulation.”

She leaned her face to his hand. “We can use our mountain chalet tonight. We'll have to start a fire, though. But first a beer.”

“Sounds good to me.”

They got out and went into the restaurant.

Later that night, Jake and Anna arrived at her family chalet a few kilometers out of Zell am See. The snow had not let up, so Jake's bearings were way off. He had no idea how Anna even knew where she was going, and wondered if the Audi's Quattro traction would plow through that much accumulation.

Anna had told him that the chalet was a small wooden structure with a loft and a balcony off of that. It was dark now, but as they drove up to the house the headlights allowed Jake to see more than a foot of fresh snow on the roof, the porch and the deck.

Now Jake held a flashlight for Anna as she opened the thick wooden door.

She flicked on a light and glanced about the place. There was one main room, a kitchen at the back wall, a fireplace to the right, and a wooden staircase that led to the loft. The floors were wood, the walls wood with a few stag antlers, and the place was sparsely decorated. A sofa covered with a wool army blanket sat in front of the fireplace, and a table with four chairs divided the kitchen from the living room area. Three sets of cross country skis sat prominently on a rack on the wall across from the fireplace, boots lined up at attention on the floor below them.

“How about I start a fire and you get the gear from the car.” She handed him a shovel. “Might want to make a path.” Then she turned on a porch light that would make that much easier for him.

It took Jake a half hour to shovel off the deck, the steps, and then haul in their bags. When he came through the door with the last load, the room was already getting warm. Anna's fire in the stone fireplace was roaring, and she was standing in front of it, her hands extended out to the warmth.

“So this place was your grandfather's?” Jake asked her, taking a place to her right.

“Yeah. He built it before the Second World War. He was called to service in the German Army. He had served as an officer in the Austrian Army.”

“He didn't have much of a choice, I'd guess.”

She set her head against his shoulder. “Not really. My grandmother came here with my father, who was sixteen at the time, to. . .hide. They would have taken him too. I think my grandfather made a deal. Take me, but leave my son alone.”

“Did he. . .”

“He was killed in Russia.”

Jake put his left arm around her.

“We should have enough wood for a couple of days,” she said. “But then we should be leaving tomorrow anyway.” Her disposition had changed to near dispassion.

“What's the matter?”

Raising her eyes to his, she said, “I don't know. Is it always like this?”

“You mean knowing you'll be in danger the next day?”

Her head nodded slightly.

“It's okay to be afraid,” he said. “I'd be really worried if you weren't apprehensive. That leads to recklessness.”

“What about you,” she whispered.

He let out a deep breath. “I've been in the game a long time. But I'm not afraid to die. I'm afraid I might do something stupid and get someone else hurt, though.”

She smiled. “I can handle myself.”

“I know. But when the bullets start flying, shit happens. It's almost easier if you don't know it's coming and you just react.”

“Like in Budapest?”

“Right.”

Suddenly, the door burst open with a gust of wind and snow. Jake had his CZ-75 out and pointed at the entrance in a second. Standing there, his eyes wide and his mouth open, was a man of perhaps twenty-five. Jake's height and size. He looked like he was going to piss his pants.

“Holgar,” Anna said, grabbing Jake's arm. “It's my brother.”

Jake slowly returned his gun to its holster under his left arm. “Sorry,” Jake said to no one in particular.

Anna rushed to her brother and embraced him. “How are you?”

“What's with the gun?” The brother asked Anna in German. “And who is this guy? One of your Interpol friends?”

She introduced Jake to her brother, they shook hands, and then they took seats at the table.

Holgar was unsure of Jake, that was obvious. “Anna didn't mention a brother,” Jake said.

“She didn't mention you either,” he said.

Anna got up and said, “I sure hope dad left some schnapps up here.” She found a bottle in a kitchen cabinet, half full, and three shot glasses, which she wiped out. Sitting back down, she poured the three glasses.

“How'd you know we were here?” Anna asked him and then picked up her glass and sipped the schnapps.

Holgar sucked down his glass of schnapps. When he recovered, he said, “Saw the lights.”

“He lives out by the road,” Anna said to Jake.

Jake nodded and then downed his schnapps. She followed him and then coughed once.

“I didn't know you were coming home,” Holgar said.

“I'm just here for the night. Would it be all right if Jake borrowed a pair of your cross country skis?”

“No problem.”

“Good.” Her eyes shot toward Jake as she refilled the glasses, and then settled on her brother. “We're tracking a low-level drug smuggler. Heard he was going to be skiing in Kitzbuhel tomorrow. Also heard he can barely stand up on skis. We'll use that to our advantage.”

Holgar nodded and then finished his second glass of schnapps.

“How are the parents?” she asked her brother.

“In Innsbruck for a few days.”

“Jake's from Innsbruck.”

The brother looked skeptically at Jake. “I thought he was American?”

“He is, but he runs a security consulting firm there.” She hesitated. “Interpol has asked for his help on this case.”

Jake jumped in. “It's an honor to work for them.”

Looking deep into his empty glass, Holgar said, “I better get back. Julia might be worried.” He got up and extended his hand to Jake. They shook and he left without further acknowledgment of Anna, the brother sliding out with a gust of wind.

“Tell me what just happened,” Jake said. “You two don't get along?”

Anna wiped a tear from her eye. “It's a long story.”

He waited for her, placing his hand on hers across the table.

She finally said, “Holgar was on the Austrian national hockey team before he was injured.”

“The limp?”

“Yeah. He crashed into the boards during a game leading up to the Olympics. Paralyzed him for a while. He eventually recovered, but he was left with the limp and shattered dreams. Even the army wouldn't take him.”

“He resents you for going to two Olympics?”

“Something like that.”

“What's he do now?”

“Teaches cross country skiing in the winter and mountain biking in the summer. Also works as a waiter in Kaprun. His wife is a school teacher. Can we change the subject?” Anna got up and added another log to the fire.

“We should check out our gear,” Jake said. “On the drive you mentioned you kept your competition rifles here.”

She nodded her head to follow, and the two of them went up into the loft. There was a feather bed there, a dresser with a mirror, and a door leading out to a deck. The bathroom was in one corner. Anna went to one wall, moved a small table to the side and hit her hand against the wooden boards. A hidden door opened part way and she pulled it the rest of the way.

“Still have that little flashlight?” she asked him.

He handed her his mini-mag light and she turned it on. She pulled out three padded gun cases and then a plastic box with a front clasp. Moments later she had the first gun out, her hands moving along the stock, and then she put it into shooting position. She was a natural, Jake could tell.

They sat on a wool rug in the center of the loft.