'You don't want to come over to see them? Maybe bring me a king-size cup of coffee?'
Quinn smiled to himself. The cold Berlin winter seemed to be thawing Orlando out. 'Just e-mail them. Nate'll bring you a cup. '
'I hate you, ' she said.
'So you've told me before. '
Chapter 18
Duke arrived in front of the Dorint Hotel ten minutes late in a Mercedes C320 sedan. 'Quinn, so good to see you, ' Duke said as Quinn climbed in.
'You haven't changed at all, ' Quinn said, smiling. That was the truth, too. Duke had not lost a pound since the last time Quinn had worked with him.
Duke just laughed, then put the car into gear and pulled away from the curb. 'Any troubles?' he asked.
'No, ' Quinn said.
'Did you have to travel far?'
'How can you live in this kind of weather?' Quinn asked, ignoring the question. Once again Duke's laughter filled the car. Tuesday's meeting was apparently going to take
place in an old, unused waterworks building in the Neukolln district of Berlin. The building was on a cobbled street only a block long named Schandauer Strasse. The water plant was on the east side, in the middle of the block. Duke parked his Mercedes at the end of the street, then handed Quinn a pair
of compact binoculars so he could take a better look at the structure. 'Are there any guards?' Quinn asked before looking through the binoculars.
Duke smiled. 'One in front and one in back, ' he said. His accent seemed thicker than it had been two years before, sounding Czech or something similar. They were speaking in English. Quinn suspected it was actually Duke's native tongue. 'The one in front, he is usually sitting in car on street near gate. '
Quinn raised the binoculars to his eyes and took a look. Sure enough, there was a man sitting in a beat-up Volvo near the entrance to the water plant. It looked like he was reading a newspaper.
'No one inside?' Quinn asked. 'Not as far as I have been able to determine, ' Duke replied, then shrugged. 'But who knows?'
The property was surrounded by a six-foot-high wrought-iron fence. Duke told him the driveway gate was latched in the middle and swung inward rather than out. The building itself was four stories high, excluding an attic, and was taller than it was wide. The facade was a mix of dark red bricks and concrete. Spaced approximately every three feet were tall, narrow sets of windows that ran vertically up the side of the building. The windows were framed in blue-painted metal.
Duke told him when he got close enough he'd be able to see gouges in the exterior where bullets and shrapnel had struck the building in the last days before Berlin fell at the end of the Second World War.
'Don't let bricks fool you, ' Duke said. 'Underneath, concrete reinforced walls. Half a meter thick. '
'What's the layout?' Quinn asked. He'd studied the blueprints, but he was hoping Duke could give him a few more details.
Duke pointed across the street to the southwest corner of the building. 'There, ' he said. 'The entrance is just around that side. Inside, the front two thirds is open space that stops just below attic. Four stories high, approximately twenty meters long by twenty meters wide. '
'That's a lot of room. '
'Used to hold machinery, but it's all gone now, ' Duke told him. 'In back there is stairway along south side. On each floor are two rooms. A small room, six meters by eight meters. And a large room, ten meters by twenty. '
'Are they all in use?'
'I do not think so. Maybe just ones on first and second floors. ' Duke paused. 'Excuse me, I forget you are American. Second and third floors. '
In Europe, the ground floor was the ground floor and the first floor was one flight up. But Quinn had already made the adjustment. 'Is that it?' Quinn asked.
'Attic, ' Duke said. 'A large space. Goes over entire building. But my guess is it is empty, not being used. I would not advise going up there. I was inside building one time many years ago. But even then the floor of attic was quite unstable. If you fall through, it is long way down. '
'And the basement?' Quinn asked.
Duke shook his head. 'I never went down there, ' he said.
The blueprints had shown only a large open area in the basement. Nothing more. 'When can I get inside?'
'Tonight would be best, if you are ready. The closer we get to time of meet, the more difficult, I think. Yes?'
'Good, ' Quinn said. 'That's what I was thinking. How do I get in?'
Duke smiled, then reached into his pocket, a process that took a lot of effort. When he pulled his hand back out, he was holding a shiny silver key.
'For front door, ' Duke said. 'Lucky Berlin is my home now. I know everyone. ' Duke chuckled. 'Is your team in place?'
