Lady Death by Brian Drake (good e books to read .TXT) 📕

“No, it was Ahmad’s grandfather. Tamal lost two members of his family, I forget who, but after it happened, those roving gangs vanished.”

“And your father changed his approach?”

“He kept having Tanya, Francesca, and their boyfriends over for dinner. He kept telling the men that they needed to strike back. They needed an organization and manpower and money. He offered to supply what they needed.”

“How did they react?” Raven said.

“They were angry. And my father can be very persuasive. It took a few meetings, but they agreed.”

“And your sister and Francesca Sloan went along?”

“Especially Tanya. She wanted to help Ahmad avenge his grandfather.”

“Did Tanya know your father had the grandfather killed?”

“Absolutely not. She and my father were always talking about the old days of the Red Army Faction. With Ahmad she saw her chance to further the cause, or some crap like that. I tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t listen.”

“You have proof?”

Hannah shook her head. “I think I know where to get proof. All I had at the time was suspicions. It clicked for me when two men were arrested for beating a Muslim in the street. One of them was a man I’d seen at my father’s office.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You sound like you don’t believe me.”

“No, unfortunately, I do. It’s a lot to take in. The CIA figured it was Ahmad and Tamal’s idea to form the Islamic Union. We suspected your father might be funding them, but the idea of him manipulating the group into existence never occurred to us.”

“He calls the Islamic Union his proxy army. Can you believe that?”

“He gets to finish what Meinhof started and, more or less, keep his hands clean.”

“So he thinks,” she said.

“Tanya took over when Ahmad and Tamal died, right?”

“She faced resistance, but my father threatened to cut off the money if she wasn’t installed. She’s his eyes and ears. She reports regularly.”

“Where is she now?” Raven said.

“I don’t know. But now Tanya has become this monster my father can’t stop. And he doesn’t want to! He thinks it’s some sort of achievement.” Her face softened. “But poor Fran. Tanya worked hard to convince her to go. Fran wanted to stay behind and find other ways to help, but she also didn’t want to leave Tamal.”

“Where is this proof you mentioned?”

“My father’s safe. At least there will be something there for you to work with. There’s an investor party tomorrow.”

“Can you get me inside?”

“As press officer I have to be there to talk to the media, and nobody will look twice if I’m giving a reporter a tour.”

“Good idea.”

Her eyes dropped to her wine. She still hadn’t touched it. Finally, she took a long drink.

Raven could only imagine the stress she felt working with a man she knew was a monster. He admired her fortitude. It took a strong spirit to put up with the surveillance and the knowledge in her head. Never mind the suspicions. She didn’t need to dwell on suspicions when she had hard facts of her father’s wrongdoing.

Raven said, “Who else has your father financed? I’m assuming his venture capital firm is a front for funding more than the Islamic Union.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. You’d have to grill either Sebastian Speidel or Phillip Dassler.”

“I’ve met Speidel,” Raven said. “Who is Dassler?”

“He handles the computers. If my father is keeping any records hidden, Dassler would be the one to hide them among the company servers. There’s talk around the office that somebody is trying to hack the servers, and Dassler is working overtime to keep it from happening.”

Raven nodded. “My friends in the US,” he said. He smiled. “Sounds like they’re keeping him busy.”

“Tomorrow at the party,” she said, “I can get you into my father’s office.”

“I don’t want to put you in danger, Hannah.”

“I’ve been in danger since this started!” she said. “I won’t be out of danger until my father is arrested.”

“Hannah,” he said, “we aren’t interested in arresting anybody.”

She swallowed more wine. She emptied the glass. “Well,” she said, “I suppose he deserves whatever he gets.”

Raven bit off his response to her comment. He shook his head instead. The damage Hugo Schrader had inflicted was too deep to repair. The man had two beautiful daughters, the world at his fingertips. He let it all go because of leftover dreams of “the revolution”. He had no idea how lucky he was simply to have his daughters beside him. Raven knew a lot of guys who didn’t know how lucky they were yet lived with the fact that he wouldn’t be counted among them.

Because of people like Hugo Schrader.

“I’ll take you up on your offer,” Raven said, “but then I need to get you out of here. You won’t be able to stay.”

“I don’t care if I never see Berlin again after this.”

“You might,” he said. “We’ll take it a step at a time.”

They discussed the party and how to contact each other during the festivities. She saw Raven out and he walked down the hall with a heavy weight on his shoulders.

He lived by two rules. The first was no gun fights in public where innocent people might be hurt. He wasn’t in the business of creating more victims. His arrangement with Hannah set the stage for at least one innocent person being harmed. He wasn’t sure he could keep her shielded from the worst. Her father was a fanatic who had killed people to manipulate others into carrying out his personal agenda. Raven had come across more evil characters in his time than he cared to admit, but Hugo Schrader took the cake.

Back in the rented Audi, Raven returned to his hotel. He had a long report to make to Clark Wilson.

If the CIA supplied some backup, Raven decided, it might help their odds.

He needed all the help he could get on this mission.

9

Hannah remained on the couch with a blank stare.

Her mind was a jumble of thoughts and emotions. She felt numb. There was no way to recapture