Black Ops (Presidential Agent 5)

"You just said the magic words, Billy," Davidson said. "MP-43 and .45."

"Jack, you can't go anywhere near the church--you can't go anywhere--with a Schmeisser," Castillo said.

"I can, Karlchen," Muller said. "I am licensed to have a machine pistol."

"Which means," Davidson said, "we can have a couple of spares for Herr Muller on the floorboard of the car he's in."

"That's if Siggie is willing to involve himself in this," Castillo said.

"Ach, Karlchen!" Muller snorted, suggesting the question was stupid.

"See if you can find a P-38 for me in there, Billy," Delchamps said.

"And a couple of .45s for me and Sparkman," Torine said. "And for Charley, too. Charley is a real .45 fan."

"Not today, Jake," Castillo said, in the process of slipping the Luger into the small of his back as he approached the ladder.

[FIVE]

"The Castle Walk"

Philipps University

Marburg an der Lahn

Hesse, Germany

1040 27 December 2005

The castle of the Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel--now the signature building of Philipps Universitat--had been built at the peak of a steep hill. What had probably been a path hacked out of the granite had been broadened over the years--most likely centuries--into a two-lane cobblestone road against the castle wall. Sometime later, an area perhaps two hundred meters long and thirty-five meters wide had been somehow added to the steep sides of the hill. A neat little wall kept people and cars from going over the edge into the city below.

Castillo, the collar of his trench coat up and buttoned around his neck against the cold, sat with his feet dangling over the wall, clenching an unlit cigar between his teeth. Max, his natural coat clearly making him immune to the cold, lay contentedly by the wall. Siggie Muller, the drape of his Loden cloth cape revealing the outline of what had indeed turned out to be a Heckler & Koch MP7A1 submachine gun, leaned against the hood of Otto Gorner's Jaguar.

Castillo was trying to follow his own advice--and for once being successful--which was that as soon as you have decided what to do, and put the decision into action, stop thinking about it and think of something else. That way, your mind will be clearer if you have to revisit your decisions when something goes wrong.

What he had decided to do was send Jack Davidson to have a look at the church. Davidson was a recognized expert in being able to spot places where a sniper--or something else dangerous, such as an improvised explosive device, or IED--might be concealed.

That decision had been implemented without even discussion. Edgar Delchamps suggested that it might be a good idea if he, too, went to the church and looked around. So both Jack and Edgar were at the church.

It had been Castillo's intention to send Inspector Doherty and Two-Gun Yung to das Haus im Wald. Both had made it clear that anyone refusing the services of two FBI agents--one of them very senior and the other a distinguished veteran of the Battle of Shangri-La--in these circumstances was not playing with a full deck.

Doherty and Yung, now equipped with P-38s from the grenade cases in the attic, were melding themselves into the crowds of mourners and curious--mostly the latter, according to a telephoned report from Inspector Doherty--at Saint Elisabeth's.

So were Colonel Jacob Torine and Captain Richard Sparkman of the United States Air Force, both of whom had shot down Castillo's theory that it might be a good idea if they went to Flughafen Frankfurt am Main and readied the Gulfstream for flight, in case they had to go somewhere in a hurry.

"We'll

be ready to go wheels-up thirty minutes after we get to the airport," Colonel Torine had said. "That's presuming you can tell us where we're going. And while you're making up your mind about that, Captain Sparkman and I will pass the time in church."

Eric Kocian and Otto Gorner and his wife and children, surrounded by twice their number of security guards, had gone to Wetzlar so they could be part of the funeral procession. Castillo was more than a little uncomfortable that Willi and Hermann were involved, but that decision, too, had been taken from him. Otto had decided there was no way the boys could be left at home without telling Helena why, and he wasn't up to facing that.

Otto said Helena would decide that if there was a threat to her and the boys, then there also was a threat to her husband, and he would just have to miss the Friedler funeral, something he had no intention of doing.

What Castillo was thinking of, to divert his attention from those things now out of his control, was "the castle walk" itself.

He had been here more times than he could count, from the time he was a small boy. He thought it was about the nicest place in Marburg. But when he had "suggested" to Otto that he have the security people bring Yung and Doherty here from the Europaischer Hof, he couldn't think of its name. It hadn't been a problem. Otto, an alt Marburger, had of course known where and what Castillo meant by "the castle walk." But Castillo hadn't heard him when Otto talked to the security people, so he hadn't heard what name Otto had told them.

It had to have a name--Universitatstrasse, or Philippsweg, or even Universitatplatz--and not remembering--maybe not knowing--what it was annoyed Castillo. So as he drove Otto's Jaguar up the hill, and then onto it, he started looking for signs. He had found none by the time he'd brought the car to a stop and he and Siggie had gotten out.