The Blood Flag (25 page)

Bloch looked a little concerned and quite peeved, and said, “Let me see.” He left the conference room and left us alone with the flag.

Eidhalt said, “I don't think you trust me.”

I responded, “You are correct.”

“We're on the same team. We are trying to get things together for our meeting. We are supposed to be working together.”

“You're the one putting the meeting together. You haven't even told me where it's going to be or what will happen. This is all about you. Not about the movement. You're trying to put yourself at the top of the movement. I get that. But don't expect me to trust you because of it.”

Two men and a woman came into the conference room where the flag was spread out on the table. It was too large for the table, and was bunched at the two ends; but the black and white striping and the red color made clear what kind of flag it was. They tried not to look startled. They bent and examined the flag with a magnifying glass. We all stood around wondering whether there would be any problem.

Bloch said, “We will begin. I have informed Franz, our lead laboratory technician. He understands what we're doing.” He asked Franz, “Do you have your locations selected?”

Franz answered, “Yes. We will take numerous samples because of the number of people.”

One of his colleagues handed him a small case, which he opened. It contained glass test tubes with screw-top lids. When he unscrewed one of the lids, it came out with a Q-tip-like swab attached to the lid. He dipped it in some liquid that was in a small container also in the kit, and leaned down to examine the first place in the flag he wanted to lift a blood sample from. He rolled over the same spot with the moistened swab in an area about one inch by two inches several times, like he was painting the spot with an invisible liquid. I expected the swab to turn pink with blood remains, but it didn't. It remained pure white and moist. After fifteen or twenty seconds, he was satisfied and put that swab back into the tube and screwed the top on. He spoke in German to his colleague who wrote on the tube. He took out another test tube with the swab cap and began working on another spot. His two colleagues did likewise. Before long, they had twenty or thirty different swabs that had extracted whatever they could from the flag and they had placed them back into the tubes with markings showing the location of the sample on the flag. Why the location would matter, I didn't understand. But, I also didn't care. Franz was done. He placed the last vial into the box. He closed it and locked it, and nodded to the head of the laboratory. He said, “We have all the samples we need.”

I asked, “Do you think you got enough?”

“It's impossible to say at this point, but the flag is in such good condition that I am hopeful. I have pulled DNA from much rougher pieces of cloth that were much older.”

I turned to Bloch. “How long before you'll have the results?” The clear implication of my question was that his answer the last time we asked was inadequate.

Everyone in the room looked at him in expectation. He pondered.

“We have to take the skull samples . . . we must have the DNA replicate itself, we have to put it in a machine overnight. I would say by this time tomorrow, we should have an answer.”

I nodded and took the corner of the flag into my hands. “I'll give you my phone number.” As I began folding up the flag, I said to him, “You do understand how important it is that this be kept confidential. Right?”

He nodded. “All our work is confidential.”

“Not all your work involves something of this magnitude. The bigger the magnitude, the bigger the public interest might be, the more important it is to keep it confidential. You understand?”

He frowned. “I thought this was a simple family issue.” He paused. “But of course, nothing will be said to anyone. I will make sure.”

I took the folded flag and handed it to Jedediah who put it back into the leather suitcase and closed it. I said to everyone in the room, “Then we will be going.” I looked at Eidhalt. “Call me if you hear first so I can meet you here to get the results.”

He looked enthusiastic. “Of course. I look forward to it.”

I nodded, and Jedediah and I walked out of the room quickly.

Jedediah put the leather suitcase into the trunk of our rental car. He climbed into the passenger seat and I drove off. He asked, “Where are you headed?”

“Into the country.” I glanced at the car's GPS for directions to the road that I'd chosen the previous night while studying a map. I wanted a road that was lightly traveled, where I could pick out someone who might be following us.

We drove through the city and onto a road that led out of town. I looked in my rearview mirror for cars that were following us but didn't see anything. This was our point of greatest vulnerability. They had to suspect that we could switch the flag with a fake once out of their sight. But they knew we had the real one in the car as we left the lab. I drove below the speed of the traffic so everyone passed us. After we'd driven ten miles to where there was only an occasional intersection or country house, I noticed a black seven series BMW a half-mile behind us. I continued on another ten miles and all the other cars passed. But the BMW stayed back.

“They're on us,” I said. Jedediah turned and looked back.

“The Beemer?”

“Yeah.”

My cell phone rang and I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the number. “Yeah?”

It was Alex. “You know you're being followed, right?”

“Yeah. Black BMW.”

“There's a second car about a mile behind him. You want me to get our German friends to intervene?”

“Where are you?”

“In a helicopter a couple of miles behind you, with Florian.”

“If you guys jump in they'll know we aren't what we appear to be. Let me take care of this.”

Florian who was also on the line responded, “I don't know if that's so smart.”

“Hold on,” I said as I looked in my rearview mirror and saw that the BMW had accelerated. “Shit.” He was closing in on us at over a hundred miles per hour. I put the phone on the seat, still connected to Alex and Florian. I said to Jedediah, “Here they come.”

He glanced back. “What are you going to do?”

“Nothing, until they get here.” I looked ahead and there was no traffic in either direction. The terrain was perfect for an ambush. Grass and trees on both sides, no houses or buildings. No witnesses. The BMW flew up toward us and grew larger and larger in the rearview mirror. By this time, I could see two faces in the two front seats, but I couldn't tell if there was anybody in the back. They closed on us fast, then pulled over into the other lane, to go around us. “Here they come.” I changed nothing, driving as I would if it were just another car passing us. “See if you can tell how many men are in that car.”

The BMW was on top of us. He swung into the oncoming lane to pass. Jedediah called out, “Four men in the car.” Just as he said that, the BMW braked hard and swerved over to hit us. I anticipated his move and slammed on my brakes and swerved to the right. The BMW kept slowing and cutting me off, which forced me over onto the shoulder. Before I knew it, I was across the shoulder and on the grass. The BMW kept coming, driving me completely off the road. The brakes pulsed as the anti-lock brakes fought our speed in the slippery grass. But it wasn't enough and it wasn't quick enough. I steered hard left to avoid one tree, but smashed into another head on. Our airbags fired out and punched us in the face as our car came to an immediate stop. As the airbag deflated, I asked Jedediah, “You okay?”

“Yeah. You?”

I reached for the door handle and my handgun. “Get your weapon and get out! You see one guy with a gun, you start firing. Go right at them! Don't let them out of their car. They won't expect it. No hesitation! Go!”

We jumped out of the car, put our guns up and ran at the BMW. They had just come to a stop as they had much more speed than we did and didn't have a tree to help. They were a good thirty yards ahead of us. We ran up from behind them as they got out of their doors. The first man I saw got out of the rear door on the right side. He was carrying a handgun in his right hand. That was enough for me. I aimed and fired and hit him in the head. He dropped straight down onto the ground. The others had now heard the gunshot and hurried to get out and turn toward us in a firing position. But we had the advantage. The man in the right passenger door jumped out in a crouch and tried to run away from the car so he could turn toward us. Jedediah saw him and fired three shots. The man went down in a heap. We ran to the left side of the BMW and the third man got out of the left rear door. He had a submachine gun and aimed it toward us to fire. Jedediah and I fired at the same time, both hitting him in the chest. He was knocked back, but not harmed. He was wearing a vest.

“Vest. Close on him! Aim for his legs!” We continued to fire, hitting him in the groin and legs. He cried out in pain as Jedediah shot him in the head from fifteen feet away. The only one left was the driver. He got out with his arms up. Jedediah shot him in the chest and the man collapsed next to the car.

I said, “Get their weapons, clear out our trunk, and put them in it.” Jedediah went to the driver, checked to see if he was alive. He was.

Jedediah shot him again. He took his weapon out of his hand, and pressed the lever to release the trunk. The trunk popped open. As he collected the weapons and checked the BMW I retrieved the flag and my cell phone from our rental. I put the suitcase in the rear seat of the BMW and looked at their weapons. “They had a lot of ammo. It's all over the trunk. They were loaded for bear.”

“Anything else in the car?”

“No, we got the keys.”

Just then, I looked over Jedediah's shoulder as a black Mercedes S class slowed and looked at us. I looked back at the car, unable to see who was in it. They could see us standing there with guns in our hands, and bodies around us. They sped away. Jedediah dragged the four dead men to our car and threw two of them into the trunk, and the other two into the back seat. My phone rang. They must have hung up and called me to make it ring.

“Yeah.”

“Shit, Kyle! What are you doing? Are you okay?” Alex sounded frantic. “Yeah. We were driving along here through the grass and noticed a car in front of us that was stopped. I quit paying attention unfortunately, and I hit a tree. When we got up there, it looks like there are four guys that have been shot by somebody. We're going to have to go, so you might want to send some people out here to clean this up.”

Florian interrupted. “You shot four of them?”

“Somebody did.”

“We'll have to talk about this. This is not how this was supposed to go.”

“Whenever you like. But we've got to get out of here. That other car may be coming back.”

I hung up my phone, and said to Jedediah, “Let's go. You drive.”

“Where to?” He said as he raced around and climbed into the driver's seat of the BMW 750i.

“The airport.”

Jedediah floored the BMW. The wheels spun as we went from the grass back to the pavement and back toward the city on the two-lane highway. There was no sign of the Mercedes, but a couple of other cars went by. Before long we were a good distance away from the scene and Jedediah slowed down to normal highway speeds. After a few minutes, Jedediah asked, “Why the airport?”

“I'm going to rent another car. I don't think I'll tell Hertz that their car is piled against a tree for a while yet. I think I'll go to Avis or whatever else is out there. Then we'll drive around to this car and transfer their weapons—now ours—to my trunk, and take the BMW key with us. It will be all nicely locked and left in long-term parking like somebody's gone on a flight. Then I'll drive you around and you can rent another car. That way we'll have two. We need to keep making random decisions so nobody knows where we are.”

Jedediah nodded. “Except the BKA knew where we were. They were following us with a helicopter.”

I looked at him driving, and thought about what had just happened. “I may need to ditch my phone . . . You handled yourself well back there. You know how to shoot.”

“I wasn't in the army for nothing.”

“There are a lot of army guys who don't know how to shoot.”

“Not in the Rangers.”

“You were in the Rangers? I didn't know that.”

“Whatever file you have on me is incomplete. I guarantee it. There's a lot about me you don't know.”

“Like what?”

“Don't worry about it.”

I thought to myself that I needed to go through his file again. I didn't like not knowing things. I thought again about the men in the forest. “You didn't have to shoot that guy in the head.”

Jedediah glanced at me. “The one who just tried to kill us?”

“Yeah. That one. The one who was wounded. The one who had no chance of doing us any further harm.”

“Really? No chance? Like making a phone call or living through that and telling someone about us?”

“Telling who what? That we took the BMW? That was pretty damned obvious. That what? We had the flag? They already knew that. He was no threat to us.”

“He's one of them. He's bad.”

“We're not executioners.”

Jedediah grunted. “If you came face to face with Satan himself, wouldn't you shoot him in the freaking head, even if he was unarmed?”

“Never thought about it.”

“Some people are just like that. They
are
Satan. They need to be destroyed. And if
you
can't do it, don't worry about it. I can.”

I looked up and saw the large Lufthansa hangar at the Munich Airport. “You see the sign for the rental cars?”

“Yeah.”

“Drop me off, then go to long-term parking. I'll come pick you up and we'll transfer the guns. Then I'll take you back to the rental counter.”

Jedediah nodded and pulled up to the rental agency site. I climbed out and he headed for the long-term parking. “Give me your cell.” He did. I broke his and mine open, took out the SIM cards, and smashed the various pieces and dropped them down the storm drain. “Follow me at all costs. Do
not
lose me. We're going to drive a long way. Nothing close. Just somewhere where they won't think to look at all. We're going to go rent an apartment. I got a feeling that they know all the hotels around here. We've got to find something a lot less predictable.”

“What're you thinking?”

“Austria.”

With Jedediah right behind me in his rental car I drove through Salzburg for forty minutes. It was a beautiful city surrounded by mountains. The idyllic setting conflicted with my heightened state of alertness that caused my hands to sweat on the steering wheel. When I thought about the four men intent on stealing the flag and taking us out with it, I started wondering what the hell I was doing. Michelle wouldn't need to learn about that little event.

I had started this whole thing with a burning anger toward neo-Nazism, any strain of the virus out there. And now I was starting to come face to face with it. But this fight was bigger than me. I couldn't take on all of international Nazism by myself, but that was the corner I'd backed myself into. Even though I had help within the Bundeskriminalamt, I was starting to wonder if I could trust them. They had been started by Nazis. And Alex was with them, which made me reluctant to rely on her. I couldn't tell her everything I was thinking because she wouldn't know not to tell them about it.

As we pulled away for the third time from the center of Salzburg I noticed an apartment building about four stories tall that had a sign in the window on the ground floor. It was in German; I assumed it said there were apartments available. We stopped at the next block and parked our cars. I told Jedediah to wait at a local café and watch the cars and me while I walked back to the apartment building. I walked into the ground floor and into a narrow hallway to a door that had a sign on it. I knocked on the door and walked in. It was a cramped and cluttered office with a man in his sixties sitting behind the desk. He greeted me in German and I responded, “Do you speak English?”

He nodded and said, “A little.”

“Do you have any apartments, any flats, for rent?”

“For how long?”

“I don't know maybe a month?”

He frowned and threw up his hands. “A month? Why a month? Why not six months? We like one-year leases. Do a one-year lease.”

“I don't need to. I'm just here for a month.”

“You're American. Why are you here?”

“I'm writing a book about the Sound—”

“Ach. The world has too many books about it. Go do something else.”

“No. I have a whole different angle on it.”

He looked at me in disgust. “One month. How much can you pay?”

“How much is the rent?”

“Fifteen hundred euros.”

I looked shocked. “That's ridiculous. I will give you a thousand.”

“Twelve hundred.”

“Eleven hundred.”

“Paid in advance, cash.”

“Two bedrooms?”

“No. Three.”

“Good enough.” I reached into my pocket, took out my wallet, and handed him eleven hundred euros.

He looked at me with suspicion. “Most people don't have that kind of cash. And you're a writer? Writers don't have money. Why do you have so much cash?”

“Because I expected to rent a place for a month, and I thought they'd give me a discount if I paid in cash in advance. This is my rent money. I've been carrying it with me until I found the right place.”

“You've been to other places?”

“A few.”

He took the money. “Here's the key.” He tossed me two keys on a ring. “Third floor. No elevator. 315.”

I nodded, took the keys and walked out of the office. I walked up the stairs to apartment 315 and opened it up. It was actually quite nice and fairly large. The building was built in the sixties and suffered from the ignominy of 1960s architecture, but was airy with clean windows and had three bedrooms and a small kitchen. I forgot to ask if it was furnished; it wasn't. He hadn't seen Jedediah, so if anybody came asking for two men, one of whom was built like a weight lifter, he wouldn't have seen him. Nor did he have our names. Just cash, which was all he was interested in.