'He's been expelled for a week,' Karl says. 'That is hardly 'okay.''
McGrave nods. 'What's Axel look like?'
Erich breaks into a big, proud grin, but before he can speak, Karl answers for him again. 'Erich broke the boy's arm.'
Maria gasps.
McGrave smiles, which is all the encouragement Erich needs.
'It was great,' Erich says in an excited rush, eager to share the experience. 'He swung at me and I took him completely by surprise, just like you showed me.'
Karl glowers at Maria. 'Congratulations, you've turned our son into a sociopath.'
Maria isn't any happier about this than Karl is. She turns to McGrave and crosses her arms under her chest, mostly so she won't be tempted to hit him.
'You taught Erich how to break someone's arm?'
'I showed him how to defend himself,' McGrave says, and glances at Karl. 'It's about time somebody did.'
Karl shakes his head and looks at Maria. 'What were you thinking, bringing this caveman into your bed?'
'I'm not sleeping with him,' Maria says.
'He's just wearing my clothes and teaching my son how to kill,' Karl says. 'I'm sure the judge will find your promiscuity and choice of men very interesting. I just hope it's not too late to save my son.'
'Oh, stop being so melodramatic,' Maria says.
Karl gives his son a hug and stands up. 'I will see you soon. Be strong.'
'He is now,' McGrave says. 'No thanks to you.'
'Shut up, McGrave,' Maria says.
Karl walks away. Maria turns to Erich.
'Stay here.' She pulls McGrave aside, out of Erich's earshot, and then lays into him. 'Do you realize what you've done?'
'You don't have to thank me. Just seeing the confidence and pride on Erich's face is enough.'
'You may have just cost me custody of my son,' Maria said.
'Erich was being bullied by Axel for weeks. Axel had this coming. You should be happy your son defended himself.'
'I'll tell you what's going to make me happy,' she says. 'Putting you on the next flight to Los Angeles. It leaves in two hours, and you're on it.'
'Not without Richter,' McGrave says.
'Yes, you are. I know all about you, Tidal Wave. I talked to your captain today.'
McGrave winces. 'That was the call you got in Mitte this afternoon. You needed privacy because you were speaking in English and didn't want me to hear you.'
'That's right. I know you're not a cop anymore. You're a fraud.'
'If you knew, why didn't you say anything to Duke?'
'Because I'm a fool. I was going to let you stay one more night to see Richter get caught.'
'You still can,' McGrave says.
'Not now, not after this,' she says. 'I'm taking you to the airport or I am taking you to jail. It's up to you.'
McGrave is fucked.
It's almost nightfall. Torsten and Heinrich are in the same panel van that was parked outside of Der Reizvolle. The images on the two monitors are divided into quarters so the detectives can simultaneously watch views of the street, the tunnels, and several angles on the auction house.
'It smells disgusting in here,' Torsten says.
'The surveillance went on for weeks and this is a tiny space,' Heinrich says apologetically. 'And we had a little accident with the Porta-Potty.'
'What kind of accident?'
'It might have spilled.'
'It might have or it did?'
Before Heinrich can answer, a report comes in over the radio from one of the observers.
'This is Unit Two. We've got something. The construction site on the northeast corner.'
Torsten taps Heinrich on the shoulder. 'Show me.'
Heinrich hits a button and a feed comes up full screen on one of the monitors.
What they see is an enormous pit that has been excavated and reinforced for what will be an office building's foundation and underground garage.
The construction site is closed.
A van drives up to the locked gate.
A man dressed in black, his back to the camera, gets out of the van with a pair of bolt cutters and snaps the chain securing the gate. He holds the gate open and the van drives in, parking under one of the big, blue elevated water pipes that snakes out from the site, across the street, and down to the Spree.
Four men dressed in black, wearing balaclavas over their heads and carrying large gym bags, get out of the van and make their way down into the enormous pit.
Torsten picks up the mike. 'Attention, all units. The robbery is in progress. Hold your positions.' He turns to Heinrich. 'Where are Vogt and McGrave?'
They are in Maria's Passat on a busy boulevard, headed towards Berlin-Tegel Airport. Maria is driving, resolute in her mission. McGrave sits beside her, pissed off but helpless. Erich is in the backseat, sitting in the middle so he can see them both.
'You can't make him go, Mom,' Erich says.
'Watch me,' she says.
'But I broke Axel's arm, not McGrave. Send me to America,' Erich says. 'Disney World, for instance.'
Her cell phone rings. She answers it and begins carrying on a conversation in German. McGrave's name is mentioned. He looks over his shoulder at Erich.
'What's she saying?' McGrave asks.
'She's says you can't participate in the operation. Something urgent came up.'
'What could be more urgent than catching Richter?'
Erich listens to his mother talk, then: 'She says you have food poisoning. You can't stop vomiting.'
Maria ends the call and wedges her phone into the ashtray. McGrave looks at her.
'It's happening, isn't it?' he says.
'You were right, McGrave. It's tonight. Richter has walked into a trap and he doesn't even know it. We got lucky.'
'And I'm missing it,' McGrave says.
'We'll send you a postcard.'
On a rooftop in Mitte, a cop wearing a headphone mike aims a camera at the auction house across the street. It's the kind of camera that picks up heat signatures.
Torsten's voice comes through the cop's earpiece. 'Are they inside?'
The cop looks at the tiny screen on the camera and sees an X-ray-like image of the auction house and the distinct red silhouettes of four men climbing up through the floor.
'They're in,' the cop says.
Heinrich is on his hands and knees in the van, scrubbing the floor with a rag and cleanser. Torsten is at the console, leaning into the mike.
'All units, hold your positions. No one moves until I say so.'
Maria and McGrave aren't moving, either. Their car is stuck in traffic, right beside a billboard advertising the
