First a porn production facility and now a brothel.Harvath had always thought that Amsterdam was Europe’s most colorful capitol, but he was beginning to change his mind.
The King George looked like any other five-story gray stone building in Berlin. With its handsome balconies and decorative fleur-de-lis ironwork covering the mullioned windows of the first three levels, it could have been the headquarters of a successful multinational, or a multifamily dwelling.
After parking their car, the trio walked up a short flight of stone steps that gave onto a large door painted a subdued green and accented with brass fixtures. Herman rang the bell and when a voice came back over the intercom, he announced himself as “Herr Toffle.”
“You take me to all the best places,” said Harvath as the door unlocked and Herman pushed it open.
“Don’t joke,” replied Toffle. “Thisis one of the best places in all of Berlin.”
The threshold of the marble foyer was covered by a long Persian runner leading right up to an enormous metal detector. Flanking the metal detector were two colossal security guards. Their shaved heads and massive builds stood in stark contrast to their dark Savile Row suits, impeccably knotted silk ties, and handmade, custom-fitted John Lobb shoes.
“Uh-oh,” said DeWolfe under his breath to Harvath.
“What? You’re just as good looking as these guys and with ten thousand extra, could be dressed just as nice,” replied Scot.
“Very funny, Harvath. I was referring to the metal detector. Something tells me this is not a business that welcomes heavy iron.”
“Are you saying you came armed?”
“Right. And you’re packing nothing more than that sparkling personality of yours.”
“Don’t worry,” smiled Harvath. “I’m sure Herman has this all taken care of.”
At that moment, Toffle limped through the metal detector, and its alarm immediately went off. Harvath and DeWolfe hung back and waited.
The two guards approached Herman and asked him to raise his arms. The big German smiled politely and began to do as they asked. As soon as they were close enough, his hands shot out in a move that seemed to defy the laws of physics itself. The two guards were left in a tangle of rumpled, yet expensive fabric, minus their sidearms, which Herman now had trained on them.
“Oh, shit,” said DeWolfe who quickly pulled his gun to back up Toffle.
Several tense seconds passed. Then, both the security guards and Herman began laughing.
His index fingers in the trigger guards, Toffle released his grip and spun the pistols so he could hand them back, butts first.
“What the hell is this?” asked DeWolfe, not sure of what he was seeing.
Harvath began to laugh. He remembered when he was a SEAL and had first met Herman in a cross-training exercise. Herman loved to sneak up on people and steal their sidearms without them knowing. What’s more, he had a particular affinity for it. Harvath, though, was the one person he could never get the better of. “You’ve still got it, Herman.”
“Of course I do. In fact I never lost it.”
“What the hell is going on?” asked DeWolfe again
“Put your gun away,” said Harvath, “before you shoot somebody.”
DeWolfe did as instructed. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“Everybody should have at least one good trick,” said Herman. “Now, gentlemen, I’d like you to meet Kiefer and Verner.” Herman didn’t offer Harvath and DeWolfe’s names, and being the professionals that they were, Kiefer and Verner didn’t ask for them.
After the men shook hands, the security guards waved Harvath and DeWolfe around the metal detector.
“You sure you’ve sworn off these places?” said Harvath to Herman as they walked down a short hallway toward a stylish reception area. “The boys at the door sure seemed to know you very well.”
“They’re ex-army. Their uncle is an old friend of mine. I got them their jobs here,” said Herman, showing his two colleagues into a beautifully appointed anteroom.
“Herr Toffle,” exclaimed an attractive blonde in her mid-twenties, who walked out from behind an ornately carved wooden desk to greet her guest. “How lovely to see you again.” She was dressed in a perfectly tailored blazer with just the right hint of hug around her perfectly shaped breasts. Her skirt, though it rode a bit above mid-thigh, was still tasteful in its cut and expertly straddled the tantalizing line between revealing and concealing all at the same time.
“Hello, Nixie,” said Herman, grasping the two hands the young woman presented to him and kissing her on both cheeks. “How are you?”
“I am well, Herr Toffle. Thank you for asking,” responded Nixie, who turned toward Harvath and DeWolfe and said, “You are going to spoil the girls by bringing such handsome colleagues with you. Maybe we should ask Kiefer and Verner to accompany you this evening for your own protection.”
Harvath had to admit, the woman was flawless-both in her outward appearance and how she handled her customers. She reminded him of the VIP concierges he had seen in Las Vegas who were charged with looking after a hotel’s high rollers. This was very much the same situation. Though they treated you with respect and a healthy dose of attention and flattery, the bottom line was the same. They wanted you to spend as much money as possible and enjoy spending it so you would come back again. Though it was a brothel, Harvath had to admit that by what he had seen of it so far, it was a class act.
“Unfortunately,” said Herman. “We’re not here for pleasure this evening. This is more of a business call.”
For a moment, Nixie appeared crestfallen. But in an instant, her professional demeanor returned, with just a hint of a childish pout lingering on her extremely full red lips.
Yup, thought Harvath,this woman was a pro all right. If the rest of the women at King George’s were like Nixie, he couldn’t help wondering how any man ever walked out of there with any money left in his pockets at all.
“Well, when it is settled, maybe you’ll agree to stay?” asked Nixie, the consummate saleswoman.
“Maybe next time,” said Herman with a smile. “We need to speak with Gerda. Is she in, please?”
It shouldn’t have surprised Harvath that Herman knew the madam by her first name, but it did nevertheless. He looked over at DeWolfe, who was standing in front of a flat panel monitor in a gilded frame showing what looked like runway footage from the Victoria’s Secret fashion show, but what Harvath assumed was a promotional piece highlighting the staff of the King George.
“Boy are Carlson and Avigliano going to be sorry that they missed this,” said DeWolfe, whose eyes were glued to the screen. “I think I just fell in love. Yup. Oh, wow! It just happened again. These women are incredible.”
“Easy, Trigger,” said Harvath. “As well-funded as you boys are, there’s no way tricky Ricky would let you expense something like this. And you could save up a week’s per diem and not be able to pay for what you’re looking at there. So do yourself a favor and step away from the monitor. That’s it, stepaway from the monitor.”
DeWolfe did as Harvath suggested and rejoined his colleagues at Nixie’s desk.
Hanging up the phone, the attractive blond said, “I’m sorry, Herr Toffle, but it appears Frau Putzkammer was called away a short time ago and has not yet returned.”
“Do you have a cell phone number we could reach her at?”
“I tried her handy already, but there was no answer. I hope it is nothing serious.”
Herman looked at Harvath. “How much time do we have?”
“Less than forty-five minutes,” replied Harvath checking his Kobold.
“Actually, Nixie,” replied Herman. “This is very serious and we don’t have much time.”
“Herr Toffle, if there is a way I can be of assistance to you, please say so.”
Herman looked again at Harvath, torn as to how much he should share with Nixie. When Harvath raised his watch ever so slightly and tapped it, Herman decided they only had time for the direct approach. “Years ago, Gerda, Frau Putzkammer, worked closely with a group of American military men, and now one of them has been very badly injured here in Berlin. We believe he was a friend of Frau Putzkammer’s and that if she knew about his situation, she would want to help him.”
“Of course,” said Nixie. “She has often spoken of the American military men who were some of her best customers.”
“I am sure and that is very kind of her, but these men were very serious, elite soldiers. We’re not talking about ordinary American GIs. This group, Frau Putzkammer would definitely remember.”
Nixie’s façade seemed to soften. “When would these men have been in Berlin?”
“Before the wall came down. They were a small group charged with-”
“Für die Sicherheit?” asked Nixie, cutting off Herman’s sentence.
“Yes,” answered Harvath. “But how could you know that?”
“Let me get someone to take over for me, and we can talk,” said Nixie as she pressed one of the many buttons on her phone and spoke in rapid fire German. Moments later a stunning redhead emerged from a discreet side door to relieve Nixie, who then showed her guests out of the reception area and into a small elevator.
They rode to the fifth floor where the elevator opened up onto a gorgeous, antique filled penthouse apartment.
This was a part of the King George even Herman had apparently never seen before. “Frau Putzkammer’s abode?” he asked.
“Actually, it isour home,” replied Nixie.
“You meanyou and Gerdaare?”
“Mother and daughter,” said Nixie, cutting Herman off before he could say what he really thought their relationship was. “My full name is Viveka Nicollet Putzkammer.”
“I had no idea,” offered Herman, stunned.
“Not many people do. That’s the way mother has always wanted it. After private boarding schools in both France and Switzerland, I received my bachelor’s degree at the University of Southern California and my MBA at Kellogg in Chicago, then I returned home to Berlin to help run the family business.”
“And from the looks of everything,” replied Herman, “you’ve been doing a very good job.”
“But how did you know aboutFür die Sicherheit?” interjected Harvath.
Nixie motioned for her guests to take a seat in the sunken living room, as she crossed a series of beautiful oriental carpets and retrieved a large beer stein from atop one of the many bookshelves lining the far wall. Returning with the mug, she smiled as she handed it to Harvath and said, “One of my mother’s most prized possessions.”
He didn’t need to read the inscription on it to know what it was. Seeing the piece of barbed wire wrapped around the bottom was enough.
“Where’d she get this?” asked Harvath.
“It was a gift,” replied Nixie.
Harvath recalled the stein that Hellfried Leydicke had above his bar and half-assumed that Gerda Putzkammer had been another helpful outside supporter of Gary’s team. But when he flipped the stein upside down and saw the serial number, he was stunned. 10/12.Ten of twelve.A real team mug. A quiet, subconscious ping echoed in Harvath’s mind as if his mental radar had bounced back off of something he had been looking for.
“The man who gave that stein to her was named John Parker,” said Nixie. “My mother loved him very much. Enough to let him go back home to America when he was recalled after the wall fell.”
“Did he know that your mother was pregnant?” asked Herman, taking a guess.
“No. In fact, my mother didn’t even know until he had already gone.”
“She never tried to make contact?”
“You have to know my mother. She is a very proud woman. The last thing she would want is for people to think that she needed a man to take care of her.”
“How about you?” asked DeWolfe. “Don’t you want to have a relationship with your father?”
“I do have one. Although not the kind you’re thinking of,” replied Nixie. “My mother told me that my father had died shortly after I was born, and for many years I believed her. Then, one day, I found the room where she hid her diaries and other personal effects. I spent weeks sneaking into that room. I read everything that I could get my hands on and eventually discovered who my father was. That’s why I decided to do my undergrad work at USC.
“I nannied for their family in Thousand Oaks for four wonderful years. He had married his old sweetheart shortly after returning to the States from Berlin. Though I would have preferred he had married my mother, his wife was a wonderful woman and he is a wonderful man. I like to think that had he known my mother had gotten pregnant, he would have done the right thing by her. But it was Mother’s decision to keep things quiet and knowing her the way I do, I can respect that. Though my father didn’t really know who I was while I was working for him, he nonetheless treated me as if I was one of his very own daughters. We still keep in touch via email.”
Harvath hated to do it, but he took a deep breath and said, “Nixie, I’m sorry to tell you this. John Parker is dead.”
“No,” said Nixie, blanching. “That can’t be true.”
“I’m afraid it is,” replied Scot. “They killed almost all of the people on his Berlin team.”
“Who killed him? And what do you meanalmost all of the people on his Berlin team?”
“At this point, I’m not at liberty to tell you who killed your father, but I can tell you this. Two people on the team are still alive. One of those people was your father’s commanding officer. That man has been like a second father to me and the same people who shot and killed your father have shot and tortured him. Right now he is being operated on in a Berlin hospital and no one can say for sure if he is going to make it.”
Nixie was doing the best she could to control her emotions. “Who is the other man?” she asked.
“The other man,” said Harvath,” is another of your father’s teammates. The King George was a covert contact point for them a long time ago.”
“That comes as no surprise. This entire building is riddled with secret doors and passageways that helped certain people sneak in and out during the Cold War. My mother was very proud of her involvement in foiling the Russians and their East German counterparts.”
“And so she should be,” said Harvath. “But what we need now isyour help. We have a chance to stop the men who killed your father, before they can kill anyone else. What do you say?”
Nixie was silent. She strode across the sunken living room to a cocktail cart where she dumped a scoopful of crushed ice into a stainless steel cocktail shaker and filled the balance with vodka. Placing a lid atop, she shook the canister while she retrieved a Martini glass from one of the lower shelves and sprayed the rim with a vermouth atomizer.
Filling the glass, she inhaled the martini’s deep aroma for a moment as if she were savoring a fine wine, and then took a long drink, draining the glass. Finally, she turned to Harvath and said, “Yes, I will help you, but on one condition.”
“What is it?” replied Scot.
“When you find the man that killed my father, I want you to kill him. No trial, no jail time. I want you to promise me that he will die.”
Harvath was up against it, and he knew that there was only one answer he could give. After a long silence, he answered, “I promise.”