Games of State - Tom Clancy [70]
One of the men had separated from the crowd. He went into the Beer-Hall, strolled through the kitchen, exited by the back door, and used a trash can to climb the picket fence. He crossed through an alley and emerged on the same street as Herbert and the police officer.
They had already passed, headed toward the side sheet where Herbert had parked his car.
The young man followed them. As one of Karin Doring's personal lieutenants, he had been instructed to watch anyone who might be watching them. That was something those who were unaligned with any specific faction would not think to do.
He stayed well behind them, watching as the police officer helped Herbert into the car, as he placed the wheelchair in the back, as he stood there making sure that Herbert drove off.
The man pulled a pen and telephone from the inside pocket of his blazer. He described the license tag and the make of Herbert's rented car. When the police officer turned and walked briskly back toward his beat, the young man also turned and went back to the Beer-Hall.
A moment later, a van pulled out of a parking area located three blocks from Bob Herbert.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Thursday, 4:00 P.M.,
Hamburg, Germany
"What's the problem?" Hood asked as he reached Stoll's side.
Lang was looking pale and uncomfortable and Stoll was working the keys madly.
"Something really sick is going on," Stoll said. "I'll show you in a second-- I was running a diagnostics program, trying to figure out how it got here."
Hausen stopped next to Hood. He asked, "How what got here?"
Stoll said, "You'll see. I'm not sure I want to try and describe it."
Hood was beginning to feel a lot like Alice after she went through the looking glass. Every time he turned around, people and events became more and more curious.
Stoll said, "I was checking out your cache memory capacities and I found a file that was put in at one-twelve P.M. today."
"One-twelve?" Hood said. "That's when we were having lunch."
"Right."
Hausen said, "But no one was here, Herr Stoll, except for Reiner."
"I know," Stoll said. "And by the way-- he's gone now."
Hausen looked at Stoll strangely. "Gone?"
"Split," said Stoll. He pointed into the reception area. "Soon as I sat down here, he took his shoulder bag and Italian-cut jacket and vamoosed. Your computer's been answering the phones ever since."
Hausen's eyes went from Stoll to the computer. His voice was flat as he asked, "What have you found?"
"For one thing," Stoll said, "Reiner left you a little love letter, which I'll show you in a minute. First, though, I want you to see this."
Stoll's index fingers pecked out commands, and the seventeen-inch screen went from blue to black. White stripes slashed across the screen horizontally. They morphed into strands of barbed wire, then changed again to form the words CONCENTRATION CAMP. Finally, the letters turned red and pooled into blood which filled the screen.
Introductory screens followed. First, there was the principal gate at Auschwitz with the inscription Arbeit macht frei.
"Work liberates," Lang said from behind his hand.
Next came a succession of clear, detailed, computer-animated snippets. Crowds of men, women, and children walking through the gate. Men in striped camp uniforms facing a wall while guards whipped them with switches. Men being shorn of their hair. A wedding ring being handed to a member of the SS Death's Head Unit in exchange for shoes. Searchlights in towers piercing the early morning dark as an SS guard roared, "Arbeitskommandos austreten."
"Working parties fall out," Lang translated. His hand was trembling now.
Prisoners grabbing shovels and picks. Leaving the main gate and doffing their caps to honor the slogan. Being kicked and punched by the guards. Working on a section of road.
A large party