Paradox Part 14

Chapter 13
April 25, 2012 – Berchtesgaden - Bergwerkstrasse.

“That was Daria,” Monday stated. “She’s in trouble.” He grabbed his coat and started to run from the room, all thoughts of the others quickly leaving his mind.
“Woah pardner!” Chester grabbed him by the arm. “We’re a team remember? Tell us what Daria said?” He could see signs of panic in Monday’s eyes.
“She said she needed the documents. I asked her if she was OK and she said no. She sounded scared. We’ve got to get to her as soon as we can.”
“An obvious trap,” Henri stated. “Someone wants you to rush blindly to her aid. They may want the documents but they may also want to get rid of two unwanted competitors at the same time. Odds are the representative from the Ministry of Culture and the attorney have hired professional help.”
“We treat this as a special operation,” Chester stated, and go in as a team. What do you know about Daria’s apartment; the location, layout, over watch points, blind spots, the locals, and so on…you know the drill Monday! Just like the old days.”
Monday walked over to the balcony and pointed in the direction of Daria’s apartment. “I’ve only been there one time to drop her off after dinner. I didn’t even go inside so I don’t know the layout of the place. The mountains gradually rise up behind her road about three hundred meters distance and a small road winds it’s way along the side of the mountains. Her apartment is almost dead center along a row of similar apartments or homes facing the mountains.”
Chester made a quick decision. “I’ll take Geek and follow behind you as you drive to the apartment. Henri you take Scout and come in from the other direction. Bones make your way behind the apartment so you have a good field of fire if anyone runs towards the mountains. We’ll find an over watch position for Weps on the way in.”
“Let’s do it!” Monday demanded.
The team had been unsuccessful in obtaining Special Forces communications gear so they had opted to use the commercial GMRS Communication system with a 34 mile radius. The Think Speaks were hands free even without the headset because they included both the mike and speaker in the handset. A good substitute for the expensive and hard to obtain military gear.
After giving Henri and Scout time to circle around to the far side of Daria’s apartment and for Bones to get into position, Monday spotted a tall commercial building that would provide 360 degrees of area surveillance. He told Weps to make his way to the top of the building as an over watch position and advised the rest of the team to give him time to get to the top. A few minutes later Weps called in that he was in position.
“Cock and roll,” Monday commanded. He slowly pulled onto the road leading to Daria’s apartment. He spotted Chester’s dark SUV in his rear view mirror and as he approached the apartment he saw Henri’s old Mercedes coming slowly towards him. From fifty meters away, he could see Daria sitting in her kitchen window. She was looking towards the inside so he could not make out her facial expressions.
“Clear out back.” Bones voice came through loud on the mike. “Clear to the mountains,” Weps followed.
“Pull up and park in front of her apartment.” Chester’s voice hummed in his ear. “Don’t get out of the car but sit there for a minute or two. We’ll pull over just down the road from you in whatever empty parking spot we find.”
Monday obeyed but the short wait was agonizing. He wanted to throw open the car door and run yelling into the apartment. Daria had not moved since the time he first spotted her sitting in the window.
“Situation report?” Chester ordered over the comm. An all clear report came back from the team members. “There’s a vehicle sitting on the road approximately two hundred meters away,” Weps called back. “Wasn’t there before.”
“Zone search.” Chester came back, ordering Weps to check the terrain. Weps started searching back and forth with his scope in a layered search. He would go from left to right then drop twenty meters and swing back right to left in a continuous searching pattern. All snipers knew this was the best way to search. A novice hunter would have simply scanned from left to right or right to left hoping their eyes would accidentally spot something moving, or something out of the ordinary.
Unable to take the tremendous pressure any more, Monday threw his car door open. “I’m going in!”
“I’m closing in for backup!” Chester exited his car and quickly moved down the row of apartments.
Monday strode towards the apartment, his eyes glued to Daria sitting in the dining room window. She still had not moved.
“Hit the deck!” Weps screamed over the radio.
As Monday dove towards the ground a piece of stone to his right flew apart in a shower of dust and flying fragments. At the same time he heard what sounded like two shots, one close, one much further away.
“Sniper!” Weps yelled again. “My shot threw his aim off but he was too well covered for a solid hit. He’s getting into the car parked along the road about 200 meters away.”
“Thanks Weps,” Monday replied. “I owe you another one. Sit Rep?”
“He’s going around the bend out of sight now,” Weps replied. “I think I got his license plate number though.”
“Clear back here,” Bones chimed in.
“Everyone move,” Chester ordered. “Check the door for wires Monday.’ He realized that Monday was a little rusty after so many years out of the service.
Within seconds, they had the apartment checked and secured. Monday rushed over to Daria and quickly untied her. She had tears in her eyes but appeared to be unharmed. She hugged him and did not want to let go. He finally released her and looked into her red rimmed eyes.
“He came for our copies of the documents,’ she finally managed. “He found the other note in my purse and took it with him. He was so strange. I could tell from the look in his eyes that he wanted to kill me, but when he read the note and discovered that I was Hitler’s granddaughter, it was as if a light went off in his eyes. He actually wanted to protect me.”
“It’s going to be OK,” Monday whispered. “He’s gone and now that he knows the Team is behind us, he’ll leave us alone.”
“I copied the papers,” Daria said. “I scanned the second set of documents into my lap top computer which I left in your hotel room. We still have it.”
“Well, it’s pretty obvious that our deputy Minister and attorney want the gold for themselves.” Henri scanned the mess around him.
“And it’s also obvious they are willing to eliminate the competition.” Chester looked at Daria. “How much information did he get?”
Daria looked down at the floor. “I told him everything. I was too scared!”
“We’ll just have to be more alert,” Chester replied. “It’s a whole new ballgame.”