Emerald (34 page)

Slightly out of breath, he entered Levi’s office. David was looking forward to the assignment whatever it might be, but when his eyes fell on Miriam, sitting on Levi’s couch facing away from him, he almost stopped breathing. He stared speechless, then walked past her quickly over to the window and stared out, seeing nothing. If this was some kind of joke that Levi was playing on him… He tried to calm himself, his back to both Levi and Miriam, but instead felt his apprehension and blood pressure rising. The atmosphere in the office was like a courtroom just before the jury returned with its verdict.

Levi noted that Miriam did not look at David until he walked to the window. “Come on you two! Say
hello
!
It’s been a quite a while since you saw each other, so whatever happened, this is a new day, and I need you both for an important mission in back in Munich. You get to go in disguise! Now say
hello
. Let’s get this awkward moment over with.”

“Hello, David,” Miriam said with no feeling what so ever. Just saying the words she realized she could handle the situation, that she was over him. “How have you been?”

David knew anything more than a casual reply would reveal his feelings. She was being pretty calm about this, so why couldn’t he be that way also? “The body is fine, Miriam, thank you. How are you?”

“Couldn’t be better.” Now all she had to do was stick with the party line and everything would be fine.

“How was retirement? You get bored and decide to come back? Were you living in your brother’s kibbutz, that one you tried to get me into?”

“Retirement?” She started laughing, “Levi, you old goat, did you say I was retired?” They both looked at Levi.

“David, I didn’t want you knowing about Miriam’s assignment, and Miriam, I didn’t want you knowing what David was doing either. So
there
! I can be devious, too. You can tell each other anything you want now. I’m going to step out and get us all some coffee. I’ll be right back.” He left, hoping that while he was gone they would find a way to communicate again.

After a long silence David asked, “So where were you?” Just being able to speak to her again seemed to calm him down a bit.

“Rome. I worked at the Rome station. I really liked the work, had a great crew, but there wasn’t any field action. I missed that. Now, I hope Levi has something for us. You don’t have to worry about me, David. I’m not the same person I was.

David focused on the job she did in Rome and asked more questions. By the time Levi finally returned with the coffee, they had relaxed a little more. Levi took the floor.

“Are things a little better now?” Levi inquired, looking between the two of them. Then he realized that wasn’t what he should have said. “Look, I have a very important assignment in Munich and only you two can pull it off. You both know the city, you both know Chief Beinschmidt and I damned well know you can work together like no other team I’ve had before.”

David was angry that Levi would simply assume he could work again with Miriam. How could he show so little respect for his feelings? He glanced over at Miriam sitting there looking like she owned the world. There was a tranquility about her that he’d never seen before. Yes, she had changed, and, maybe it
was
time for him to change, too. Reluctantly he began to focus on what Levi was saying.

“On this trip to Munich you are going to see if you can get the goods on Chief Beinschmidt.”

“Good old Bruno?” asked Miriam, shocked. “What’s he done?”

Levi and David filled her in, including details about the SS-slashing deaths of the couple who owned the safe house where she and David had stayed. Miriam said it had been her fault then because Bruno had followed her home from the hospital, and thus he knew the address, but they reassured her that he could have found that out easily from the phone number and that was some time ago, when they still trusted him. Levi told her that Inspector Servette sent Max to Munich over a year ago and once when he was in the Chief’s office questioning him he noticed Hans’ file half hidden on the Chief’s desk, even though Bruno had made no mention either to Piet or me he even knew anything about Hans when he spoke to us. Then the chief suddenly dropped all talk about Hans, making all of us suspicious. No suspects for the SS slasher killings had ever been picked up for questioning as far as we know.

“Beinschmidt has some files, including Hans’, and I want to get my hands on that. I want a copy of that file, and I need anything on the two officers who replaced Marvin and Herzog, you know, anything that would show us that there was a connection between Hans and their deaths It’s beginning to look like there might be a connection between Hans and Beinschmidt.” When David and Miriam started to break in Levi held up his hands. “I know…I felt the same way when I first heard. Bruno is more closed off than ever before, and we’re determined to get to the root of it before we share any more information with him. It will be tough to break into the Munich police station, but that’s exactly what I need you two to do. David, Malcolm tells me that you are a wiz at copying documents with that new miniature camera you’ve been working with.”

Levi had their attention now. “We’ll do a broad daylight maneuver. You will come to Munich as Mr. and Mrs. Phillipe Sanchez from Madrid. Miriam, you name is Maria. I believe you both can pass as Spaniards with no problem, and I know you can speak the language pretty well.”

David looked at Miriam. Of all the roles Levi could have cast them in, being a married couple was the worst and they both knew it. Could this be some game Levi was playing? They became suspicious. Was he serious? They began to protest.

Levi was expecting this response and had it covered. There was no choice in the matter he said. This was business, very serious business, their futures were on the line, and if they pulled this off, he had an even more critical assignment in Buenos Aries for them. They had once proven to be the best team in the Mossad. It was about time they proved they still were. Too much time had been spent lately in front of computers and too little out in the field. If there was a problem he wanted to know, but only if it was one that could affect the success of the assignment. He hadn’t the time or the patience to deal with any petty personal matters now.

David and Miriam fell silent as he continued to fill them in, then Levi gave them airline tickets for next Monday.

Mirtha brought in lunch on a tray, and they spent the rest of the day being briefed. They were told to report back at five the next morning. Levi wasn’t going to allow them time to talk amongst themselves and mess up this assignment. Before they left back to Munich on Monday, he had every hour filled.

B
ack in Munich, as the bellhop opened the door to the suite for the Spanish couple at the Hotel Haverling, David realized there was only one queen size bed. The entry room was furnished with a large couch and a table with two matching chairs. At least they could sit and be comfortable and have a place for Miriam to put her laptop. However, the sleeping arrangements…what was Levi thinking? After the bellhop left them, Miriam stood staring at the bed. She had a funny look on her face.

“There must be some mistake,” David said before she could respond. “Levi would never get us a room like this. I’ll be right back.” David went down to the front desk to inquire.

“We didn’t have a room with twin beds, Mr. Sanchez, so we upgraded you to a suite, at no extra charge. I hope everything is fine.”

“I have a snoring problem and must have my own bed. Is there a chance the room next door is unoccupied?”

The clerk looked through his records and smiled, “Yes, as a matter of fact it is, but that room is also a suite with living room and queen size bed, identical to the one you have, sir.”

“Let me have it then.”

“Do you want two suites, sir?”

“Yes. Is there a connecting door we might use?”

“Of course, but the price will be doubled, sir.”

“That’s all right; give me the two suites then.”

When he returned and told Miriam of the change, she said the Office was paying for their trip anyway, so do not worry about it. Why was she being so reasonable? Maybe she really was over him completely. Was he the only one with a problem? He had to make sure. Since they had the rest of the evening free, why couldn’t they have a nice dinner and enjoy being friends again, she suggested. David figured that he would look like a fool if he declined, so he agreed. During dinner, in the hotel dining room, they filled each other in on all that had transpired since their separation. David told her he had become proficient at the graphics program, spent too much time on the shooting range and working out to get back in shape and generally vegetating hoping for another assignment. Now he knew who had taken that mysterious photo, the one that only had “Hans” written on the back, which had been mailed from Rome. She had taken the shot the night they were at the Zebra Club, the night he was shot. He told her they could not make out enough details in the picture even though they had tried for quite a while, probably because of the strobe lightning in the club. Servette had later sent a photo he thought might be Hans taken at the Swiss border around the time they had been visiting with Servette and Max in Geneva. That would explain why there had been no more killings in Geneva after that. At the crossing, Hans had auburn hair and freckles and claimed to be a college student. David had worked that picture over, with Malcolm’s help, changing the hair, nose, and mouth to see how he might appear sans disguise. They needed a basic picture that they could depend so they could apply any disguise. That was the reason he had insisted on Miriam putting that picture file into her laptop. They might run into Hans, even though their assignment was only about the Chief and getting his files.

The conversation turned to what they were to achieve while here in Munich. According to Levi, evidently, the police had netted scores of people from the local nightclubs, and one might be Hans. According to one of Max’s sources, close to the Munich police department, that dragnet was to try to capture the killer known as “The Dagger.” Now they were charged with finding out if those suspects had been photographed, and if so, Levi wanted the pictures, names, and addresses of any who could possibly be Hans. The Chief had not shared his information freely, with either Levi or Inspector Servette, thus it would be imperative to get to his files and see what he really knew.

David and Miriam reviewed the strategy they would take with the Chief. As Phillipe and Maria Sanchez, they were searching for their stepson, Julio, the son of Maria’s deceased former husband whom she had raised since age ten. They had not heard from Julio for ten years and decided it was time to see if they could locate him. He had left home after throwing a temper tantrum when he was eighteen. For almost four years, they had tried to find him, but they had not been able to locate him no matter how much they looked. Finally, one of Julio’s friends told them that he might be in Munich. Could the Chief please help them? They wanted to look at mug shots Bruno had on file to see if Julio had ever been picked up.

Phillipe and Maria Sanchez were in their fifties. They were dressed in Spain’s style of the day. Phillipe, in his high-collared embroidered shirt, was getting a little gray. His coat and pants were two sizes too big, making him look weaker and less muscled. Maria’s hair was still jet-black, held in place with colorful combs. She had a mole on her left cheek and thick eyebrows with green thin-rimmed glasses on a chain around her neck, which she would put on or take off depending on how close she was to whomever she was talking with. She wore heavy pancake and had reddened her cheeks, applied green eye shadow, and fake eyelashes. She also sported long scarlet fingernails, big earrings and several gaudy bracelets that she jangled frequently. She had a habit of sighing heavily to flaunt and emphasize her generous padded bosom. Phillipe had a scar on his cheek in front of his left ear going down to his chin. He wore dark glasses because of the detached retina surgery he had just had and he would bore the hell out of anyone who he could get to listen to all the details. He also had a limp from a car accident. Ever since his appendectomy, he had become a health nut, in case anyone wanted to hear about that. Thank God, his sweet Maria was so solicitous and understood him better than other people did. She knew when he was tired or upset and needed to rest a bit so he would not get his high blood pressure up and he would surely need to rest while in the Chief’s office when Maria persuaded him to go out to the car to see her pussycat, Brutus was all right and had enough water. Oh, how he hated to travel with Brutus, but his dear sweet Maria wouldn’t have it any other way. By the way, wasn’t that an interesting coincidence that her pussy’s name was almost the same as the Chief’s? Moreover, with Maria talking incessantly about her kitty, the Chief wouldn’t stand a chance. Then also, strong men really attracted her since her husband was so frail.

As they reviewed the roles they would assume with Chief Beinschmidt, David and Miriam burst into soft laughter. All during dinner, they planned how they would get to his files. Miriam would get the Chief to take her on a tour of the station since, as Maria, she was so fascinated with police work and wanted to learn everything about what he did to stop crime and find missing persons. Then “poor Phillipe” would have one of his attacks and have to go to Bruno’s office to lie down. Since Phillipe’s vision was so poor he could never read anything that happened to be lying around, so he was harmless and he would prove that by demonstrating the great difficulty he had discerning the images in the books of mug shots. He would be very slow going through them anyway, so that maybe he could look at them again while he rested. It was quieter in the chief’s office than out in the visitor’s room where people usually looked through the albums. The Chief’s wonderful, understanding, secretary, Liliane, would stay to help. It should be easy to get her to give him the privacy to nap a bit, also. Moreover, they felt Bruno would probably prefer to spend time with Maria anyway. She would play on his ego bu telling him he must be so brave and charming to get to be the Terrorist Chief and personally direct his men on their dangerous missions. She would tell him must be very intelligent and strong, too. Could she feel his muscles? How would this big hulk of German manhood be able to resist?