you.' Hans laughed. 'Then I found out I liked the job. What would
Freud say about that, I wonder?'
Hauer forced a smile.
'I believe what you've told me,' Hans said. 'But when I showed up in
Berlin wearing this uniform, why didn't you tell me your side of it?'
'That was ten years after Munich,' Hauer explained.
'Long before then I'd resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to live
the rest of my life without you, or any family.
When you came marching up to me outside that police station, with a
hundred-pound chip on your shoulder and reciting that stupid agreement
you'd worked out, I didn't know what to think. You'd already come that
far back to me on your own ... I wasn't going to rush anything.'
Hans nodded. 'I wanted to make it on my own. I didn't want an help
from you. And no matter how much I hated Mother then, I wasn't ready to
find out the truth about you.
Not if the truth was that you really had run out on us.'
'She never told me she was pregnant, Hans. It's an old story. I was
good enough to fall in love with, but not to marry. It's sad, really.
She hadn't grown up any better than I had, but she'd set her sights on
marrying rich. Fear of poverty, I guess. She did love me, I still
believe that. But there was no way her kid was going to be raised by a
cop. She wanted it all for you, Hans, gymnasium, university-I, 'You
don't have to tell me,' Hans cut in. 'I know it all by heart.'
'But what I can't forgive is her putting it all on me. Making me out to
be ... Christ, I don't know.'
'It's okay. It is. How could she tell me it was her fault I didn't
have a father?' Hans's eyes fell on the face of his watch. He looked
up quickly. Hauer was still pointing the Walther at him.
'I know what you're thinking,' Hauer said. 'Don't try it.
Look, if whoever was in your apartment really had Ilse, they would have
put her on the phone. They'd have made her draw you. It's you they
want@r what you found.'
'But you can't know that. What if she's hurt? What if she couldn't
speak? What if she's deaal?'
Hauer lowered the pistol a few centimeters. 'I concede those
possibilities. But we're not going to charge into a situation we know
nothing about to die like romantic fools.
First we must know if we are being hunted officially.' He picked up the
telephone with his left hand and punched in a number. 'I want you to
think of any possible places Ilse might have run to, or even gone
innocently. And Hansthink like a policeman, not a husband. That, if
anything, will save your wife.' With a last look at Hans, he stuck the
Walther into his belt.
Hans felt his fists quivering. A wild voice told him to bash Hauer's
skull and take the car keys, that quick action was Ilse's only chance.
But his police experience told him that Hauer-that his father-was right.
'Communications desk,' Hauer said curtly.
'Who's calling?'
'Telefon. There's a line problem.'
'Hold, bitte.'
Hauer put his hand over the mouthpiece. 'Pray Steuben's still on duty,'
he whispered.
'This is Sergeant Steuben,' said a deep voice. 'We have no line
problem.'
'Steuben-'
'Dieter? My God! Where are you?'
'Let's just say I'm still under my own.recognizance.'
Steuben's voice dropped to a whisper. 'You're damned lucky. Funk has
an army out looking for you and that young sergeant. They're watching
all the checkpointseverywhere.'
'I knew they'd come after us, but I didn't think they'd make such a fuss
about it. Shine too much light on us, and some inevitably shines on
them.'
'No, Dieter, listen. They're saying that you and-'
'Apfel.'
'Yes, they're saying that you and Apfel killed Erhard Weiss.
They're playing it like a simple murder. They brought Weiss's body up
from the basement and paraded a few lieutenants and pressmen through.
I'll tell you, Dieter, some of the boys were pretty upset. The story is
that you and Apfel were tied into organized crime and Weiss found out.
Most don't quite believe you did it, but everyone's damned angry.
You'd better walk softly if you come up on any old friends.'
'I understand, Josef. What about that other matter?'
'Another call went out from an empty office about 16:30 this
afternoon-same destination.'
'Pretoria?'
'Right.' Steuben's voice dropped lower. 'Dieter,' he said hesitantly,
'you didn't really kill young Weiss, did you?'
'My God, Josef, you know better than that!'
Steuben hesitated. 'What about Apfel? I don't know him.'
'He tried to save the boy! They were comrades. Think, Josef.
Weiss was Jewish-that doesn't lead you anywhere?'
Steuben's reply was almost inaudible. 'Phoenix.'
'Yes. I've got to go now. I want you to stay on duty as long as you
can, Josef. You're my last link to that place.
Someone's got to watch them. And watch yourself, too. Now that I've
shown my true colors, they'll start looking for others. They know we
were friends. I'll use the same story when I call back-Telefon.'
'Don't worry,' Steuben whispered. 'I'm here for the duration.
But ... I'm worried about my family, Dieter. My wife, my little girls.
Did you cover them?'
'Just as I promised. There are two men with them now, good friends of
mine. GSG-9 veterans. No worries there.
Funk couldn't get into your house with anything less than a full-scale
military assault.'
'Thank you, my friend.'
'Auf Wiedersehen, Josef.'
Before Hauer could set the phone in its cradle, Hans broke the
connection and punched in a new number.
