CHAPTER 8

Norm was more agitated than usual after he finished talking with Blake Tippet, the Fire Chief. Jake was too far away to hear what they were saying but, just by Norm’s body language it was pretty clear. As Jake sifted his foot through the debris he also noted the fire trucks. They were packing up and doing a pretty sloppy job of it. If there was one thing that Jake had noticed about the fire fighters in the arch, those guys never ran scared. Why should they? This had to be the only place in human space where the firemen were more heavily armed than the cops. Besides the axes, which in these parts was the universal symbol that you didn’t want mess with these guys, most of them carried side arms and a few even had shotguns that they prominently displayed. If those guys were running then only one thing was on the way. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who that was.

Despite the sense of urgency, Jake kept up his task. Now it was more critical than ever since it was unlikely that he was going to get another chance. Jake only stopped, and ended his phone call, when Norm came stomping back over in an exaggerated walk that spelled out exactly how fast he wanted to leave.

“We out of time Jake,” Norm told him as he kept eyeing his car.

Jake ignored him for a second and examined the small crater in the pavement again. He brushed off the warped plate of metal that was half buried. He found a charred bolt, that was not far away, and he held it over the plate. He let go of the bolt and instead of falling straight down it did a curve in mid air and stuck to the twisted plate. Then he told Norm, “that’s why the bomb went off here. I just got off the phone with Betsy. What she described to me, about that track system, confirms it. It was magnetic.”

“Jake,” Norm was very insistent, “can we talk about this somewhere else? The German’s are going to be here any second.”

Jake stood up but he remained causal as they walked back to Norm’s car. As they got in, Norm told him, “Barbara is on her way back to the station. She said Horst is counting heads. When he figures out…”

As Jake slid in to the passenger seat he said, “doesn’t matter. He already knows. He’s just counting heads to cover his ass.”

Norm started up his car and wasted no time driving off the lot, “that’s what Barbara said. I know how she’s know, how do you?”

Jake was in his own world, “the only way that transmission could have landed on our four by four was if the explosion came from underneath it. Most of the heavy part of the building survived the blast just fine, yet that bomb made a descent sized crater. It wasn’t too big but, it shouldn’t have been that big.”

The fire truck in front of them was going too slow for Norm’s tastes so he blew his horn at it, screamed a few choice words, and then said to Jake, “I assume you’re leading up to a point?”

“Betsy said,” Jake told him, “her boss had just come in when she went to follow Garcia and Nguyen. He must have hit the button for the next car.”

“”How’s she doing anyway,” Norm asked.

“Betsy?” Jake snuck a peek at Norm and how nervous he was. So Jake told him, “she’s going to die from the looks of it.”

Norm’s eyes grew large, “what! I thought you said she just got some cuts and scrapes!”

“She did,” Jake told him calmly, “she’s not going to die from that. It’s the German’s that are going to kill her when they turn this rock into a sheet of glass.”

Norm was not amused, “fuck you Jake.”

“Now get your head in the game Norm,” Jake told him, “and maybe she won’t have too, along with the rest of us, I might add.”

“Jake,” Norm was near furious now. So at least he was returning to normal, “there is no way in hell we are ever going to find out who set that bomb off. Not in the time that Crass is giving us. Sure as hell not in the time Horst is. You were in the army. How long you figure we got before he finishes that roll call thing?”

“What?” Jake rolled his eyes, “Norm they already have. They could roll call that entire battalion in fifteen minutes. They already got troops moving so that means it’s over.”

“In case you don’t realize Jake,” Norm told him, “that means we are too.”

“Would you relax,” Jake told him, “I already told you who set the bomb off. That’s what I was trying to explain. Betsy’s boss did it when he started up that belt. It interfered with the bombs base plate, making it think somebody was trying to disarm it, then it dropped off the car, went off, and sent that fly wheel into the hood of our car.”

“So that’s what we give Horst?” Norm was not convinced, “the assistant manager of Sit and Suds Car Cleaners? I don‘t think that‘ll go over too well Jake.”

“You’re right,” Jake replied as he pulled the piece of burned cloth from his pocket. It was definitely a piece of a German uniform but, there was something else odd that had melted to it. Jake had been wondering about that but, he now thought he had the answer.

As they cleared the rest of the fire trucks, Norm looked for the fastest way to get North of the L-5. He would feel safer once they were on the other side of the freeway.

Jake remained unconcerned as he said, “although I wish he would. Not like he can do anything to the guy now, since he’s already dead. Course that’s the point, he’s dead. He might have set the bomb off but he didn’t mean too. He’s not responsible.”

Norm exploded, “come on Jake. Wake up man. Do you really think Horst even cares?”

Jake mumbled, “he cares about something here. Trust me Norm, I’ve fought the Germans. If they wanted to attack they’d already be doing it and we’d never see it coming.”

Norm huffed and grabbed on to some hope, “you think this is a bluff, like last time?”

“No,” Jake said as he kept staring at the piece of uniform, “he’s going to have to do something this time. I would if I were in his shoes.”

“Not very comforting Jake,” Norm groaned.

“I know what this is,” Jake said as he put the cloth away. He also stated, “I think I know how Horst knows too. The guy didn’t have a uniform on. That’s plastic melted to that cloth. He didn’t have it on, he had it in a bag.”

“Tank,” Norm blurted out and then pointed down a side street where several armored vehicles were racing by in the other direction.

Jake had caught sight of them out of the corner of his eye and was largely unconcerned. He had not seen any signs that the German’s were stopping traffic and, after all, Norm’s car was an older model piece of shit. Nobody was going to pay it much attention. So Jake corrected him like he had to do with Barbara once, “those aren’t tanks. They’re light armored personnel carriers.”

“Whatever,” Norm was not convinced, “they got armor and guns. Around here, that’s what we call tanks.” Jake looked down at his phone to check a text from Leslie. As he read it, Norm slowed the car and asked, “so what exactly would you call a Tank?”

Jake was only half paying attention as he answered, “uh, it’s got tracks and not wheels, low silhouette with sloped heavy armor, a big turret and a an even bigger gun. The three twenty-first doesn’t have any internal panzers assets. They’re strictly a mechanized interface battalion.”

Norm let the car roll to a complete stop and then he asked Jake, “big turret, big gun right? You mean kind of like the big mutherfucker in front of us?”

Jake looked up in confusion and then saw the one hundred and fifty millimeter bore of a Mark Seven Panzer that was pointed right at them. The Panzer had two APC’s parked to either side and Jake noticed they were not the light urban grade vehicles used by the Three Twenty-First. These were the heavy duty infantry carriers that were equipped with the thirty five milimeter auto cannons and each carried a squad of infantry.

Troops began rushing their car and Norm had to ask, “any suggestions?”

“Yeah,” Jake told him, “put your hands on your head and hope to god they don’t shoot at us.” As they got closer, Jake noticed the subtle differences in the uniforms and realized something, “that’s not the Wehrmacht. That’s the Kriegsmarine. Where did they come from?”

“What are they saying Jake,” Norm asked as he eyed the Germans around the car. They had their weapons ready to fire and were yelling something in German.

Jake slowly reached for the car door and opened it up as he told Norm, “they’re saying..” he nodded to his open door, “I think you get the point.” Once out of the car, the Germans searched and removed every weapon that Jake had on him. They checked his papers and phone, and then Jake found himself being pushed away from the car. He had expected that much. What surprised him was that the Germans left Norm alone. They searched him but, after that, just kept him covered by the car.

Things got even stranger when two heavily armed sailors escorted Jake into a nearby hotel, up the elevator, and finally too the roof. They left him there with another German who was standing on the seaward side and looking at the ocean. Jake finally put his hands down and not a minute too soon. They were really starting to hurt. He then straightened out his shirt and walked over to the German, “Major Hochstetter, firing squads not good enough for you? You into throwing people off roofs now?”

Finally the man looked away from the sea and at Jake, “we can have a little privacy here Major Barton.” He then gestured to the ocean, “you like the view?”

“Long as I don’t become a part of it,” Jake told him. The guy actually laughed so Jake asked the guy, “exactly when did German Officers get a sense of humor. I must have missed that memo.”

Hochstetter even found that amusing, “interesting fact here. Do you know what my first name is?”

Jake took a stab at it, “Major?” He then was a bit more irate when he mentioned, “I’m glad you want to get acquainted and stuff, you know, in the name of international relations and all. It’s just, well, I really don’t have the time right now.”

“You have a little more than you think Major Barton,” Hochstetter told him. Then he said one word, “Skellan.”

That confused Jake until he realized, “that’s your first name? Norwegian isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Hochstetter told him, “I was born there. I was raised there.” He then turned a bit sour, “until my family was deported. We had been Norwegians for generations.”

Jake put his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels as he said, “let me guess, since about nineteen forty?”

“Forty Three is what I was told,” Hochstetter replied. “Didn’t matter, I never thought of myself as a German. I had a German name though, that was all that mattered when the Prussians came to power. We were cast out of every nation in Europe, international pariah’s.”

Jake acted amused, “some might call that poetic justice, a little late but, better than never I suppose.”

“That was the attitude we faced,” it was clear that Hochstetter was not amused by this. “How fair can you possibly think that is?”

“So,” Jake told him, “you decided if you can’t beat them join them. That’s great Hochstetter, only I don’t see what that has to do with anything now. I’m not really interested in a heart to heart, in case you didn’t notice.”

“It has everything to do with now,” Hochstetter told him. “Horst is not like me. He is a Prussian. He is corrupt. He is narrow minded and, most importantly, he is an ass hole. He is also a man in an impossible position. Do you know what that makes him Major?”

“Dangerous,” Jake said very seriously.

“Yes,” Hochstetter replied, “to put it bluntly.”

“Like I couldn’t have figured this out all on my own Hoch,” Jake said. “If you brought me up here to tell me something then just do it.”

“You have no doubt figured out one or two other things,” Hochstetter said in a questioning tone that let Jake wonder if the guy was being rhetorical. Hochstetter proved he was by mentioning, “you know the bombing was no coincidence.”

Jake took at a stab at it, “Horst was following my people. You guys had him tagged so you knew the second he cashed in.”

“The man that was killed,” Hochstetter replied, “he was Hauptman Karl Brunner. He wasn’t Horst’s man, he was mine. Horst’s only concern in this matter is that Brunner was German, that is all. He won’t be able to hide the man’s death. Sooner or later, Horst will be called to the table for his actions and he knows it. In this particular case, even more so.”

“Let me take a guess,” Jake replied, “that’s because you’re here investigating him. One of your guys gets popped and the Abwer are going to want to have a few words with the Werhmacht. That about size it up? Well I got some news for you Hochstetter, I’m not so sure Horst wasn’t the guy that killed him.”

That genuinely seemed to interest the German. It was clear by his reaction that he had not expected to hear that. Jake told him, “the bomb was your ordinance. It used a magnetic contact plate from the sub munitions of a Henschel Two Thirty-Nine missile. You know, the kind your boys loved to fire at our starships? The shrapnel cluster looked like a standard Krupp pack. So far, the only thing that doesn’t point to you guys is the shitty execution of the plan.”

The look on the German’s face told Jake a lot of things. He really didn’t know any of that and, more important, it surprised him. Jake used it, “sounds to me like you guys got yourselves an internal problem. What was Brunner working on besides us?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Hochstetter said adamantly, “and you know it. You’re lucky I’m even telling you this much. Believe me, I wouldn’t if certain facts about you had not come to my attention.”

Jake snorted a short laugh and in an easy manner he said, “yeah, well it sounds like you got you a serious problem here, Hochstetter. Only problem is, you can’t do a thing about it without tipping your hand. You’re talking to me right now cause you need me to do that for you. I can’t do that without information.”

“On that you are wrong Major Barton,” Hochstetter replied. “It is not only I, who has the problem. Horst is going to make sure that it is your problem too. Right now I am delaying him but, I can’t do it forever. I’ve only managed it, so far, because he wants to be delayed. God help us all when that idiot decides on a course of action. If we’re lucky it’ll only be the people on this planet who die.”

Jake became adamant, “then tell me what you can Hochstetter. Don’t bring me up here just so you can tell me what I already know.”

“Very well,” Hochstetter replied. He was definitely a man with a serious problem and, Jake suspected, that problem went a lot deeper than the impending doom of an entire colony. What the hell could that possibly be? It made Jake shutter just thinking about it. What was worse, it did the same thing to a seasoned German spook. Hochstetter was even sweating when he said, “I’ll tell you what I can. After that, you are on your own.”