The Blood Lance (22 page)

Ethan placed Ohlendorf in a straight-back wooden chair in the centre of the room and began tying him to it by his wrists and

ankles. Kate found a coffee machine in the kitchen and made some coffee whilst Malloy turned on his cell phone and saw a message from Dale Perry.

'Did you get the lawyer?' Dale asked when Malloy called him.

'We just got back. Why, did you find something?'

'I think so,' Dale said. 'Where are you?'

'Downstairs at your place.'

'I'll be at the backdoor in a couple of minutes.'

Malloy told Kate and Ethan he might have something and then went outside. Almost five minutes passed before a Land Rover came into the courtyard parking lot. Dale parked behind the Toyota and stayed in the vehicle.

'My contact got back to me after dinner,' he told Malloy. 'I've been tracking cell phones one at a time for the past four hours or so.'

'You found Helena Chernoff?'

'Actually I didn't get anything from the phone you gave me, but when I looked at the calls from the other phones at the same location I found something interesting. It turns out that two days before the police raid on the Royal Meridien there was a call to a cell phone that was inside the hotel. That same cell phone was carried into and out of the hotel a number of times before the raid, but since the raid it's been at an apartment in the Altstadt.' He handed Malloy a slip of paper. 'That's the address.'

'What do we know about the phone?' Malloy asked him as he pocketed the address.

'That's where it gets good, T. K. The phone receives one call a day, usually at the same time, always from a pay phone that's also inside the city but always a different phone. The cell phone never leaves the apartment building.'

'You think Chernoff and Farrell are holed up and someone is running her errands until they get new passports?'

'Looks that way to me.'

'What do you have on the phone account?'
'Activated locally while Farrell was still in Barcelona. It's registered to an H. Langer, funded by a Zürich bank. Jane has put someone on the alias and the bank in case we don't get her tonight.'

'Have you checked the place out?'

'I just did a drive-by. You've got a semi-detached six storey apartment building with what looks likes two apartments per floor. The place has an entrance on the south side of the building. Only other way in or out is through one of the windows or over a balcony.'

'Can we find which apartment she's in?'

'Not with the software that tracks a cell phone location. I'm only accurate to about thirty metres and I'm no good for vertical placements. The phone could be on the first or sixth floor, and I wouldn't see the difference, but I'll swing by the house and pick up a thermal imager. That way we're not going in blind.'

'I'm going to need you to run a perimeter team, so we don't get people coming in behind us. Is that going to be a problem?'

'I can do whatever you need,' Dale answered.

'The FBI agents have volunteered to help keep an eye on things - so there shouldn't be any surprises. How much time are you going to need to get a good look at things?'

'Why don't we meet there in thirty minutes?' Dale responded.

'That's good. I'll give you a call when we're rolling.'

Malloy dialled the desk at the Royal Meridien as Dale circled his Land Rover back the way he had come. He asked for Jim Randal's room. When Randal picked up, he said, 'You need to move now.'

David Carlisle was asleep when his cell phone rang. 'Yes?' he said, struggling to come awake and sitting up in his bed.

'Somebody just kidnapped Hugo Ohlendorf.'

Carlisle looked up at the ceiling and swore. 'When?'

'Just before midnight.'

'Malloy?'

'Police are still putting the thing together. I don't have any details - except that Ohlendorf is gone and nobody has a clue where he went. The other thing is Malloy just called Randal. I have no idea what he said, but Randal called Sutter and said they had to move.'

Carlisle smiled. 'So they're coming?'

'I'll call you when I know for sure.'

Malloy signalled to Kate and Ethan to follow him to the bedroom. Closing the door he told them, 'We might have found Chernoff and Jack Farrell.' Malloy brought out the slip of paper and Ethan used his GPS navigator to find the address.

'The Altstadt,' Ethan said, showing the electronic map to Kate and Malloy. All three of them took a moment to look at the street layout. Depending on traffic, which was still fairly heavy at the moment but would begin to thin out, it was actually less than ten minutes from their location.

'So what do we do with Hugo?' Kate asked.

'We've got fifteen-to-twenty minutes. Let's find out how many people she's got working for her on this.'

'That's not a lot of time,' Ethan answered.

'We don't want to break him. We just want the basics. Now listen, if I need to get his attention, Ethan, I want you to slap the back of his head or thump his forehead with the heel of your hand. Don't hurt him. Just get him to focus on his situation. Let him understand you would love to do more, but that I'm holding you back. Malloy pointed at Kate. You're the X-factor. When you don't like something, start pacing. Be impatient. You want your chance at the guy - because you know how to get the information.'

Kate nodded.

'Let him see you. Then go behind him. Dressed like this, with the ski mask in place, he's not even going to be sure if you're a woman, so don't say anything if you don't have to. Let him worry about it. Let him wonder what your role is in this thing.

When I tell you to do something don't hesitate. Make it look like what I am asking is exactly what you wanted to do in the first place.'

In the front room Malloy sat down in a hardback chair like the one in which Hugo Ohlendorf sat. His knees were almost touching Ohlendorf's, and he used a cold towel to wipe Ohlendorf's face.

'What do you want?' Ohlendorf asked him in German. He was well tanned. His dark hair was thinning at the top and had some flakes of grey at the temple. A few years past fifty he looked to be in good shape. In any other circumstance Malloy was reasonably sure he would be charming and quite sophisticated. In his pyjamas and slippers, his eyes dilated, his hair tousled, he looked like a man who needed to be institutionalised.

'Do you want some coffee?' Malloy asked him in High German. He used a Berlin dialect with a bit of a Russian intonation behind it. He wanted Ohlendorf to imagine the worst.

'I want to know what's going on!'

'Keep your voice down,' Malloy told him calmly, though he really didn't care about the noise.

Ohlendorf swore at him loudly and Malloy gave Ethan a look. Ethan moved in and slapped the back of his skull. He then cocked his fist, waiting to see if Ohlendorf needed less subtle persuasion. Malloy waved him off. Ohlendorf stared at Ethan's masked figure defiantly but he said nothing more. Ohlendorf's response was instructive. He was not a man to take orders and he was not easily frightened. With a professional life spent in the criminal courts and conspiring with the likes of Xeno and Helena Chernoff, he no doubt considered himself capable of dealing with felons, and of course the first rule of that particular jungle was to show no fear.

'Do you want some coffee?' Malloy asked him again.

Ohlendorf thought about it a moment and then said, 'Yes.'

Malloy nodded at Ethan, who went to get him a cup. Whilst he waited, Ohlendorf looked round the room. A single lamp lit the room keeping most of the room in shadows, but it was easy enough to see the place was nobody's idea of home. It was too sparsely decorated. There was a couch and chair in one corner of the room with a coffee table between them. In another area was a desk with a computer. Next to it was a bookshelf with novels, books, and magazines in different languages.

'I want you to understand,' Malloy told him, 'we aren't here to hurt you, but we need information and we'll do whatever is necessary to get it.'

Ohlendorf's eyes brightened in curiosity but he resisted asking the nature of the information, resisted as well the impulse to claim he knew nothing. For the moment his experience as a trial lawyer gave him some confidence. Ethan came back with a cup of coffee and held it for Ohlendorf as he took a sip. 'More?' Malloy asked. Ohlendorf nodded and took another sip. Ethan stepped away and put the cup down. Ohlendorf looked at Kate, his curiosity registering for the first time.

'We want to know about Helena Chernoff,' Malloy said.

For just an instant Ohlendorf's eyes came into sharp focus. 'What are you talking about?' he asked.

'Don't be stupid,' Malloy told him. 'Nobody wants to see you in pain. Chernoff is our target, not you.'

'Who sent you?'

'An old friend of one of Chernoff's victims.' Malloy's allusion to the Russian mafia had its desired effect. Hugo Ohlendorf's voice changed register and his speech grew more rapid. 'I don't know this person! I don't know what you're talking about!'

'Give him some more coffee.' Malloy said.

Ohlendorf watched Ethan's approach as if he expected to be scalded. When Ethan offered the cup to him, Ohlendorf asked, 'What is in it? Why are you making me drink this?'

Malloy signalled Ethan to set the cup aside.

'We need to get past this attitude, Herr Ohlendorf. I've been given only so much time. After that. . .' he looked purposefully at Kate, '. . .we try a different method. Now tell me what you know about Helena Chernoff.'

'I only know you have got the wrong man!'

'Tell me about Jack Farrell.'

'The American?' The mention of Farrell seemed to confuse him.

'Meet me halfway,' Malloy said. 'I know you know who Jack Farrell is. All I want to know is how he got Helena Chernoff to work for him. No problem in doing that, is there?'

'How would I know anything about this man?'

'Look. . . nobody wants to read about the torture and murder of a prominent Hamburg attorney. It makes life difficult for everyone.'

'I don't know Farrell or this other person. What was the name?' When Malloy did not answer his question, he added earnestly, 'I tell you, you have me mistaken with someone else.'

Kate, who had been leaning against the wall closest to the kitchen with her arms crossed over her chest, suddenly began pacing. Ohlendorf's eyes cut to her. She frightened him with her hood and petulant silence.

'This isn't working,' Ethan said. His German was good enough not to sound like an American. 'He's lying to us!'

Malloy held his right hand up, as if to ask for patience. 'Give him another chance,' he said. Kate crossed her arms over her chest again.

'I don't know what you want from me!' Ohlendorf protested. 'I tell you, you have the wrong man!'

'Tell me how often you met with Xeno.'

A look of surprise crossed Ohlendorf's face. For the space of several seconds he said nothing. It was as if the mention of the man caused him to recalibrate things. Finally, calmly, he said, 'I don't know anyone named Xeno.'

'I asked you how often you met with him.'

Ohlendorf glanced at Kate. He was trying to decide her role in this. Was she running it or was Malloy?

'We know about the meetings in the Stadtpark,' Malloy told him.

This shook him and the blood drained from his face. 'I don't know what you're talking about!'

'We know you have been an associate of Jack Farrell's for a number of years.'

'I don't know Farrell!'

'You sit on a board of directors with the man!'

'No. I don't know him.'

'Tell me about Helena Chernoff.'

'I don't know her!'

Malloy stood up, seemingly in resignation, and looked at Kate. 'You were right,' he said. 'Go ahead. Cut his nose off.' He said this calmly, a man who has done his best. 'Wait!'

Malloy held his hand up as if to stop Kate. 'How does it work? How do I contact Chernoff if I want to employ her for a job?'

Ohlendorf didn't answer him at once. He was using the time to calculate.

'She won't know you told us. Believe me. If you help us, she will be erased from the face of the earth. And you'll be a free man again.'

This Ohlendorf did not believe.

Kate crossed behind Ohlendorf drawing her combat knife so that he could hear the blade leaving its scabbard and see the flash of light on the steel for just an instant. When she had slipped out of his line of sight, Malloy held his hand up, as if stopping her. 'Give him one more chance. He wants to tell us this.' Ohlendorf tried to look at Kate but his bindings held him. His breathing was fast now, his confidence gone. 'How do I contact her?' Malloy asked.

Kate brought the diamond edged blade of the knife under his nose and pressed blade to flesh. Blood appeared at once, trickling now over the blade and across Ohlendorf's chin.

'She
contacts
me!'

'You're lying. You arrange jobs for her!'