Sudbahnhof Police Station
Wiedner Gurtel
Vienna
Three Days Later
Lang stood in Rauch's office with his hands clasped behind him, gazing out of a window as he waited for the inspector.
Somewhere out there, somewhere in Vienna, Jacob was showing Alicia the city. Or at least that part of it the three had not seen yesterday. They had started with a brief train ride to the Hapsburg summer palace, Schonbrunn. Here the last real Austro-Hungarian emperor, Franz Joseph, had put aside one day a week when his subjects might meet their ruler and personally express whatever grievance, real or fancied, they might have against the imperial government. The man had lived to see his armies shift from horsepower to airpower, finally dying in 1916.
Then they had visited the Kunsthistorisches Museum to view an incredible collection of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century masters. Afterward, they lunched on local dishes at Do amp; Co overlooking the Stephansdom.
If appetite were any indication, Alicia seemed to have forgotten-or at least not been overly traumatized by- her experience at the kibbutz. She did, however, admit to leaving the light in the hotel room on at night. Lang had enjoyed her company but sensed he was a long way from being invited back into her bedroom. He took that as a clear indication that she held him responsible for her ordeal. How long would it be before they resumed-
The sound of a door closing behind him scattered a potentially erotic memory.
Inspector Rauch motioned Lang into a chair in front of the desk as he sat behind it. The two men looked at each other across a sea of paper before the Austrian nodded briefly. "Good morning, Mr. Reilly."
"Am Morgen, Herr Inspector" Lang replied in what little German he remembered from his days at the Agency's Frankfurt station. "Wie gehts?"
"Very well, thank you," Rauch countered, wondering how long the bilingual conversation would continue. "I hope you our city yesterday enjoyed."
Lang smiled. A less than subtle team of plainclothes cops had followed him all day. Clearly the inspector viewed him as a flight risk. "Very much, thanks. By the way, thanks also for allowing me to be outside of your custody."
Rauch nodded an acknowledgment. The decision to let Reilly roam free pending a conclusion of the investigation had not been his. It had come from Number 3 Minoritenplatz in the Hofburg, the chancellor's office itself. The Israeli government's hand in this was obvious. Before they were allowed departure from Tel Aviv, Reilly and the Jew Annueliwitz had spent an entire day behind closed doors with Gruber and a number of people Rauch gathered were Israeli intelligence. Years of police work left the inspector with the definite impression the American knew something the Jews did not want disseminated.
Then, most unusual, Rauch had received not permission but orders to return with Reilly in the suspect's private jet. It was like asking a prisoner to drive both himself and police officer to jail. Once aboard, who knew where they might end up?
Once again, Rauch saw Jewish interference with Austrian affairs. That and the Vienna police's desire to save airfare.
"You've completed your investigation?" Lang asked hopefully.
Rauch nodded wearily. Actually, there had been little investigation at all, other than what had taken place the day after the shootings in the Stephansplatz and Michaelerkirche. A few ballistics tests had confirmed the same sort of weapon, the huge MI Desert Eagle, had fired the shots that hit the policemen and killed Dr. Shaffer, but the specific weapon that had fired each had not been located. True, that sect of Jews… What did they call themselves? Essenes, that was it. The Essenes had had a rather large collection of the weapons in their arsenal, but that proved little. No, there was more, a lot more, to this whole affair-a lot that the higher levels of government had decided to relegate to the trash heap of obscurity rather than make public.
Somehow politics had become involved. When that happened, Rauch's superiors-and theirs in the Hofburg- called the shots, not a mere inspector. Shaffer's killers as well as those who had shot two police officers would be permanently designated "unknown" and the case hurriedly closed.
Not good police work, perhaps; but, then, politics seldom were.
Rauch stood and reached across the desk. "You are free to go, Mr. Reilly."
Lang stood to take the proffered hand. "Thanks, Inspector."
After a cursory shake, he turned toward the door.
"Oh, Mr. Reilly? A favor, if you please?"
Lang stopped, his hand on the doorknob. "If I can, sure."
"Enjoy your stay in Vienna."
Lang smiled. "That's hardly a favor."
Rauch nodded. "True. But I wish you to enjoy it enough not to return for three years." Lang's smile widened. "Just three years?"
"I shall be by then retired."