CHAPTER 29

“Out of my way corporal,” Hochstetter told the young grenadier who was one of the flunkies who worked as a glorified secretary for Horst. Both the Wehrmacht colonel and his staff occupied the offices that used to belong to the airport administrators. They were the nicest onces at the airfield and Horst left the colonials with little choice but to give them up. Hochstetter had to admit they were plush but, such things seldom concerned him.

Right now, what concerned him the most was the boy who was nervously blocking the way to the colonel’s office. Hochstetter’s eyes narrowed and he told the young soldier, “make your choice son.” The boy stepped out of his way and then the Major walked into the back office.

Horst was sitting behind his desk with the model of a an attack helicopter in his hand. The Wehrmacht colonel was leisurely spinning the blades and noticing the detail of the model. He did not even look up when Hochstetter slammed the door shut. All Horst did was merrily state, “come in Major. I’ve been expecting you.”

Hochstetter was angry and Horst seemed amused. It only served to anger the Major even more. Horst almost wanted to laugh as he told the Abwer agent, “I am in a good mood Major. It has been a rather productive day.”

That caught Hochstetter off guard. He snorted, “I would hardly call this day productive. You almost got us into a war. You almost sent this colony into a full scale rebellion. You’ve caused morale issues with the men. Is that what the Wehrmacht calls productive?”

Horst looked up at the man and gave a quick laugh. Then the colonel settled back into his comfortable desk chair and was still rather relaxed as he said, “of course it was not a total success. It is quite rare that anything ever is, Major. Still I would like to think of the glass as being half full.” Horst made eye contact again and then, with a pleasant demeanor he said, “I take it that I have you to thank for the destruction of my warehouse.”

Now it was Hochstetter’s turn to smile as he replied, “I have no idea what you are talking about colonel.”

Horst went right on as if the Major had never spoken, “I do not know if you fully understand my position here Hochstetter. Just to let you know, there are those on the General Staff who fully support my efforts and, in fact, I was not the one who originated that particular operation to begin with.”

“Sure,” Hochstetter replied, “you’re the just one getting rich off of it.”

Horst shrugged and replied, “is it against regulation that an officer cannot better himself and execute national policy at the same time? The two are not mutually exclusive Hochstetter.”

Hochstetter replied, “and I wonder how aware the General Staff is, of your other extra curricular activities. I am assuming that was the gist of the memo you sent me.”

“Ah yes Herr Major,” Horst said with finesse and tact. He then patted the papers on his desk, “we come to the delicate issue here. You will provide me with all of the files that you have collected, about me, and the ones concerning the realty company, PBS, are of most particular interest. The information will then be erased from your hard drives and,” Horst locked eyes with the Major, “I had best not hear of any of that information making it’s way back home.”

Hochstetter’s eyes narrowed, “and what makes you think I will do that?”

Again, Horst patted the papers on his desk, “I admit that Barton has been something of a pain in my ass but, he does have his uses.” Then Horst settled back down in his seat and sounded almost as if he were giving a lecture, “you see Hochstetter, one of my many extra curricular activities, as you have chosen to call them, is my insurance business. Recently a client of mine brought some rather interesting information to my attention.” Horst looked back down at the papers and this time Hochstetter joined him. Horst smiled and said, “interesting how this information implicates you. Missing weapons from our stores, diverted resources for operations that are not even on the books. I can go on of course but, I think you get the point.”

Hochstetter snorted, “Kohler.”

“He’s dead,” Horst stated frankly and without a hint or remorse or sympathy. Then Horst perked up when he stated, “he was your man, was he not? I think I have enough evidence here to implicate you in his most unusual activities.” As an after thought, Horst became inquisitive and asked in passing, “what is TORPEDO, exactly? It would seem that the Americans are most interested in it.”

Hochstetter stepped up to the desk and planted his fists as he leaned over and warned Horst, “you have no idea what you have just stepped in to.”

“No Major,” Horst replied, “I think I know exactly what I have. I do not believe that even your superiors in Wilhelmshaven will support you once they realize the extent to which you have exceeded your orders.”

Hochstetter backed off. He was not afraid and certainly not of anything that Horst had on his desk. Hochstetter was angry and stunned. Still, there was nothing he could do about it right now. All that Hochstetter found that he could say was about the sudden revelation of something that he thought no German officer capable. Horst had obviously proven him wrong.

Hochstetter sneered at the man and said, “my god, you killed Brunner.”

Horst simply shrugged and replied, “why Major, I have no idea what you mean by that.”