Shrouded In Silence

19





The days of early October had begun to leave an unusual bite in the air. Cold weather hadn't turned to snow, but Munich felt like the white stuff wasn't far away. An early winter might be coming. Walking across the Marketplatz, Klaus realized he had overstayed his welcome. A week ago he had expected to be gone by the end of that week. Saturday and Sunday slipped by, and he had stayed in his old room. The civility of his parents had begun to wear thin by the next Monday. Now four more days had passed, and he was still sleeping in that cozy old room he'd grown up in as a boy.

Before long his mother and father would start their own investigation into why he had suddenly turned up. Although the Baer name was considered a problem by some of the rightwingers, there were many who still remembered that his family had been in authority many years ago during the terrible war. SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Richard Baer had been so tightly linked with the government that strands of his influence still existed sixty-four years later. By running down one of those connections to the current government, his parents could begin to put some kind of story together that might be uncomfortably close to the truth. He couldn't have them turning up what had occurred in Rome. They'd boot him down the stairs for sure and send him flying out the door. The issues were simply too tense.

The wind picked up and blew across the Marketplatz, sending bits of paper and debris swirling through the air. Klaus turned up the collar on his coat and slowed his pace. Even with the wind whistling, he didn't have anywhere to go and was walking aimlessly. He had to think about what he should do next. That was the pressing issue that had to be solved quickly.

A tall man in a brown overcoat with a small black hat pulled down over his eyes passed him. Out of the corner of his eye, Klaus saw the man slow. Klaus picked up his pace. The man could be with the police and had possibly picked up information on his return to Munich. Not a good sign. At the curb, he stopped and whirled around, expecting to catch the brown overcoat trailing him. Nothing. Klaus looked again. No one in sight. He hurried across the street and down a narrow alley. No one showed up.

Feeling reassured, he started walking again. After two blocks, he spotted a small café, which would serve hot rolls and coffee. Perhaps, a little internal warmth would help clear his thinking. Picking up the pace, he walked in and stopped at the counter. Choosing a nice warm cinnamon roll and a paper cup of coffee, he sat to the back of the restaurant.

He immediately noticed a newspaper had been left on the table. Possibly the paper would give him some important information about what was happening across the country that might have some bearing on where he should go. Quickly scanning the headlines, he found the stories mainly described murder and mayhem happening around Munich. A brief story from Augsburg reported a car wreck on the autobahn, but the change of governments in Berlin didn't interest him and he certainly didn't want to read about the Trade Fair in Mannheim. He started to fold the paper when a man sat down in the chair immediately across the table.

Klaus stared. The brown overcoat and hat-covered face had been following him all the time!

"Hallo," the man said. "Greetings from Albert Stein."

Klaus gasped. "W-w-hat's going on?"

"You left rather abruptly without expressing any appreciation for what Dr. Stein had done for you. His recompense and care were inadequate?"

"Oh, n-no. N-not at all. I had an emergency that took me away."

"Really?" The man removed his hat and set it on the table. Dark-set eyes and a thin face with a narrow moustache left a foreboding appearance. "I wonder what that emergency might be." He leaned across the table and pointed his long, narrow finger as if he was about to reach out and stab Klaus in the throat. "Family problems? Care to share with me?"

"Who are you?" Klaus had caught his breath as his shock had turned to alarm. The man obviously had been sent by Stein, and that could mean anything. Probably, he had a death assignment. "Don't jack me around."

"Oh, the tough-guy routine. Stein said you might try that with me. Let me warn you that I am an expert in the martial arts, and I doubt that you want to end up on the floor before I drag you out of here by the legs." He suddenly smiled. "I don't think you want to wrestle with me."

Klaus bit his lip. The man was positioned to block him if he bolted for the front door. He might be bluffing, but then again, he probably wasn't. Stein had the ability to use who-knows-what means to get anything he wanted. There was little point in resisting. He might as well go with the flow.

"It wasn't hard finding you," the man began. "I figured you'd run for home. Your age and background pointed in the direction of Munich."

"Look," Klaus said more softly. "Level with me. Who are you?"

"Let's just call me a detective with excellent connections. In fact, I had access to the fact that you crossed the border by train into Switzerland. When you came into Germany with an Italian passport under the name Burchel, it wasn't difficult to pick up the trail."

Klaus studied the hardness in the man's eyes and smelled the scent of a killer. Probably, he had come to finish him off. A cold chill rippled through Klaus's body. No matter what he did, this guy could drop him and be gone out of the café before the employees even knew what had happened. He was cornered.

"Y-you've come to kill me?" Klaus ask.

"You are a lucky man," the detective said. "If I were going to finish you off, I'd have done it back there in the Marketplatz. No, the gods of eternity, have smiled on you, Klaus Baer. Today is not the time for your funeral if you play your cards right." His voice dropped into a threatening growl.

"Stein wants his money back?"

"No, Klaus. He wants you back."

Klaus felt his jaw drop slightly. "Your kidding."

"Dr. Stein knows all about what you've done. Your problem is not that little deed you performed out behind the church in the middle of the night. It's the fact that you ran and did not come back to him. That's the big problem to be considered."

"I-I d-didn't want to expose him to the danger," Klaus said in a pleading voice.

"Well, that's for Dr. Stein to decide," the man said. "I'll leave it with him. In the meantime, you are going to return to Rome to finish the work you began."

"To Rome!" Klaus exclaimed.

"Your friend Stein has been doing your job. Even now, he is having to do the task that you should have completed. However, leaving immediately may set better with him."

"Immediately?" Klaus's voice raised slightly.

"You are not to go back to your parent's home. We are going to the airport, and I will fly with you to the Rome International Airport. I have your ticket in my pocket even as I speak. You will simply disappear just as unexpectedly as you came here. Perhaps, a nice thank-you letter to your parents will explain your leaving suddenly. However, when we walk out of this hole-in-the-wall you will ride with me to the airport, and we will leave.

"Don't I have any choice in the matter?" Klaus said defensively.

"Oh, yes," the man said. "You can decide to stay here. You do so by declining to leave with me. In that case, you will be dead within the hour." He slipped his hand under his coat as if to reach into a shoulder holster. "You have a choice. You have thirty seconds to make it."

Klaus kept watching his eyes. Total indifference settled across his face. This dude would just as well kill him as fly him back to Rome. Life or death hung in the balance and the issue rested on his shoulders. The matter was simply that simple.

"I understand," Klaus said. "Let's go to Rome."