Inspector Sharpe did not reply
and Roger glanced across at him, fearing he had asked something he shouldn’t.
Inspector Sharpe grunted with disgust as he squelched through the mud then
replied, “I’ll tell you in a moment. Let’s look at where they were digging
first.”
They came out of the cool shadows
into a clearing. The open space seemed very hot in the bright sunlight. Roger
wiped sweat from his eyes. The group arrived at a muddy hole and stopped. Roger
just stood and looked at it. A feeling of intense lethargy seemed to engulf
him. Now he just wanted to lie down and sleep. He closed his eyes against the
glare and shivered.
Suddenly a hand seized his arm.
“You OK Roger?”
Graham asked.
Roger blinked and shook his head
to clear it.
“Yeah.
Just a bit tired.”
“I thought you were going to fall
over,” Graham replied.
“I think I’ll sit down for a
minute,” Roger answered, aware that he felt dizzy. He walked unsteadily over to
a log in the shade and sat on it. While the others searched he slumped there,
rubbing his eyes and yawning. The search didn’t take them long.
Inspector Sharpe pulled a wry
face. “Well! There isn’t much to see. I think we might do a detailed search
later, but only if we need to. I had enough jungle this morning at Robsons
Creek. Strewth it’s hot! What the devil are these Iron Claw types looking for?”
Roger looked up but it was
Stephen who spoke first. “Who
are
the Iron Claw Sir?
You said you’d tell us.”
“Yes I did.
Alright.
Let’s sit in the shade.”
The boys settled in a silent
group on the log while Inspector Sharpe mopped his face with a sodden
handkerchief. Then he said, “OK, what I tell you now, you must promise to keep
to yourselves, at least until all this is published. I’m telling you because
you’ve been so helpful and it was
your
handing me the
KSS badge yesterday that gave us the clue.”
‘Was it only
yesterday!
’
Roger thought. He was wide awake now.
The Inspector went on, “We had
identified Boris Krapinski and then ascertained he was a migrant from Kosaria;
was in fact still a Kosarian national. We informed various government
departments ... er like Immigration, and also the Kosarian Embassy in
Canberra.”
“After you handed me the KSS
badge I phoned them again in case they knew anything about it. I knew instantly
that I was onto something when the fellow at the other end went silent, then
gasped ‘KSS’ in a sort of strangled voice. Then he repeated it - said ‘KSS,
here!
In Australia!’
He then asked me to wait and a
couple of minutes later told me he would call me back.”
Roger listened to this
enthralled. He forgot his aches and pains and flicked a leech off without being
aware of it.
Inspector Sharpe saw he had their
attention so he continued. “The Kosarian Embassy phoned me back about half an
hour later. They told me they were very worried about KSS agents being in
Australia; and particularly in North Queensland, because their Deputy Premier
is out here on a tour. They sent me a fax on these KSS types. It’s in my
briefcase but I can give you the gist of it.”
He pulled a face. “This will be a
bit of a history lesson I’m afraid. It seems that Kosaria was part of the
Turkish Empire until sometime in the 19th Century. After their war of
Independence they suffered several revolutions and coups. Usual reason: Who is
going to be
boss.
It seems there are two families who
battled it out. The Dragovitch clan won and their man became king. In 1895
there was a revolution and General Paul Grabovith
..”
“Grabovitch!”
Graham chortled.
“Shh!” Roger nudged him.
Inspector Sharpe frowned but went
on, “The General took over and had himself crowned King Paul I. In 1904 he was
murdered in another coup and the Dragovitches came back, with King Peter the
fourth (I think). During World War I Kosaria was overrun by the Germans and
Austrians. The Grabovitches had taken their side and Paul’s son, the Archduke Paul,
came with them and was crowned as an under-King of the Austrian Kaiser.”
Inspector Sharpe paused to check
they were with him then went on: “As you know Germany and Austria lost the war.
King Peter came back with his army and Paul fled with the Austrians. He went
into exile, first in Switzerland and then in Spain where he died in the 1920s.
His son, also called Paul, continued to claim the throne. Is this all getting
too confusing?”
“A bit Sir,” Graham said.
“Oh please go on,” Stephen cried.
“Yes, well. This Prince Paul made
friends with people like Benito
Mussolini,
he was
dictator in Italy, and Adolf Hitler.
When the Nazi Party
gained control of Germany, some time in the 1930’s.”
“1933,” Stephen put in.
Inspector Sharpe nodded. “Then
Prince Paul moved to Germany where he gathered Kosarian supporters. He set up a
political organisation modelled on the Nazis. The German SS, the guys in black
uniforms with the ‘Death's Head’ badge, provided money, training and guns. Paul
set up the Kosarian Schutzstaffel - the KSS - the Shooting Squadrons I think is
the rough translation.”
Stephen nodded. “Yes. When Hitler
set up the National Socialist arty at first he had an armed group called the
Sturm Schutzen- Assault Riflemen. That was to try to get some of the prestige
from the storm troops of 1918. But later he set up the mob with the black
uniforms, the Schutz Staffeln,” he explained.
Roger looked at him, surprised.
‘I didn’t know Steve knew all that stuff,’ he thought.
The Inspector nodded. “That sounds
right. Anyway the KSS went to work to secretly undermine King Peter’s
government, using all the usual Nazi dirty tricks - murder, blackmail, bribery,
sabotage and so on. They extended their secret organisation into Kosaria.”
“In April 1941 the KSS staged a
coup, aided by German paratroops. It coincided with the German invasion of
Yugoslavia and Greece. The German Army took over. King Peter fled with his
loyal bodyguard. We know who one of them was; he was Captain Boris Krapinski.”
“Boris - a
captain!”
Roger gasped. He tried to imagine the sodden corpse as a fit, young soldier
half a century before.
“Yes.
Captain.
And a hero I gather. He helped the Royal Family escape, so the Kosarian Embassy
said,” Inspector Sharpe added.
“So he fought against the KSS?”
Peter asked.
“Yes.”
“That’s why they murdered him
then,” Stephen blurted out.
“Come off it Steve,” Roger
snorted. “Why wait sixty five years to do it?”
“Why then?”
Inspector Sharpe cut in. “Good
question. Am I boring you or will I go on?”
Roger nodded. “Oh please go on
Sir.”
“Right.
The Germans made Prince Paul
their ‘Reichsschutzer’ - some sort of puppet governor- they wouldn’t let him
crown himself king. Then resistance to the Germans, and the KSS, developed in
Kosaria - Partisans or guerrillas, led by the Communists.”
The boys nodded so Inspector
Sharpe continued. “In 1944 the Russian Army, Communists then, defeated the
Germans and drove them out of the Balkans. As the German forces retreated
Prince Paul and his cronies went with them and vanished. Most were never caught
and it was rumoured that many escaped to live in South America, in Brazil,
Paraguay and Argentina. It was believed that the KSS had ceased to exist as an
organisation - until yesterday.”
There was silence for a moment.
Then Stephen spoke in a hushed voice. “Real live Nazis. Here!
On the Atherton Tablelands!”
Peter spoke up.
“That old guy.
I’ll bet he’s one of the originals.”
“Possibly is,” Inspector Sharpe
agreed.
Roger itched to know more. “Is
that all we know Sir?”
“No. It isn’t. The paper they
sent me included details of how the KSS used to be organised, their ranks and
badges, and so on. I didn’t memorise them. They are all in German anyway.”
“German?
Those blokes weren’t speaking
German,” Stephen queried.
“No. Apparently most Kosarians
speak Serbo-Croat; a few speak Greek or Turkish but most educated Kosarians
speak German,” Inspector Sharpe explained.
“Do you think there are more of
them sir?” Graham asked.
“There could be. Their basic
squad size was nine.”
“Nine! We’ve only got four!”
Roger cried.
“Do you think they are
dangerous?” Stephen asked.
Inspector Sharpe gave a short
laugh. “Yes, very! They murdered Krapinski, or at least I think they did. They
carry guns - and they use them! Ask Roger.”
Roger remembered his shameful
terror and could only nod.
Stephen then asked. “But they are
the KSS. Who
are
the ‘Iron Claw’?”
The Inspector stroked his chin
thoughtfully for a moment before replying. “The KSS were modelled on the German
SS. It had different branches or departments. One was the ‘Waffen SS’, who were
soldiers; of a particularly repulsive and brutal kind, but still soldiers. The
KSS was organised in a similar way. The whole organisation in World War 2 had
about 3000 men.
About 1500 of these formed an army regiment.
Their duties included Palace Guards, guarding key installations and helping the
police.”
“Another branch was their Secret
Service group. Because of their badge they were called the ‘Iron Claw’,
although their correct title was a long German name with the acronym KGSD. The
Iron Claw
were
an elite group of a few hundred. All of
its members were veterans, of the rank of corporal or higher.”
“So the Iron Claw
were
something like the GESTAPO and worked closely with
them. They provided secret police, spies and Special Action Teams. The Special
Action Teams carried out espionage, sabotage, assassination, kidnapping,
torture and interrogation.
Real murderous thugs.”
“They recruited all sorts of
strange and repulsive personalities. Many were sadistic bullies and brutes.
Quite a number were convicted murderers. Allegedly many were sexual deviates,
you know, homosexuals and so on.”
“Nice types,” Peter said.
“Yes,” Inspector Sharpe went on, “Their
Special Action Unit consisted of a HQ and nine Special Action Teams, each of
nine members. Each S.A.T. was commanded by an officer and included specialists
such as signallers, Intelligence and Interrogation specialists, demolition
experts,
snipers
and so on. They were all skilled in
the use of weapons and trained at things like parachuting.”
Graham spoke up, “And you think
that is what we have here Sir, a Special Action Team of the Iron Claw?”
The Inspector nodded soberly.
“It’s a distinct possibility.”
“But what are they doing here?”
Stephen asked.
“Looking for something that
Krapinski hid,” Roger replied
“Correct.
But
what?”
Inspector Sharpe replied. “Come on, let’s go back and see what
these gentlemen in black have to say.”
Inspector Sharpe led the way back
along the track. Back at the vehicle Det. Sgt. Crowe was busy searching the 4WD.
Detective West stood guarding the three men. They were handcuffed and sat along
the side of the track.
“Find anything?” Inspector Sharpe
asked.
“Yes Sir,” Det. West replied. He
bent down and lifted up the collar of the old man. Pinned underneath was another
‘Iron Claw’ badge. The old man looked up and glared at them.
“That fellow over there has one
as well, and both of them had KSS badges in their shirt pockets,” Det. Sgt.
Crowe said, holding up two of the badges. “This man had nothing on him.” He
pointed to Bruno.
“Any
identification on them?”
“Not on him Sir, but on the other
two, yes.”
Sgt Crowe pointed. “The bloke
with the glasses is Otto Dorkoffsky,” he said. “He has a Queensland Driver’s
Licence. The old man is Nitro Klotovitch and he has a Paraguayan Passport.”
“Paraguay. That fits,” Inspector
Sharpe nodded, taking the plastic bag holding the documents which the old man
had tried to hide. He began to spread them on the bonnet of the 4WD. There were
some credit cards, a notebook and several strips of light blue cardboard with
numbers on them.
He held up a credit card. “Boris
Krapinski,” he said grimly. “I think we have our murderers alright.”
That earned more hostile glares
from the prisoners. Inspector Sharpe put down the cards and picked up one of
the strips of blue cardboard. “What are these I wonder?” he asked.