Miriam turned to Levi, “sound like a real sick bastard.”
Levi continued, “I want you to go down to the Data Center in the basement and see if Malcolm can give you any more background on this case. But be careful, I woke him even before I woke you this morning and he has been working on this case already. He’s pretty grumpy about my calling him in this early. David, standing, shook his head, “well, I can understand that,” he said and headed for the door.
“Wait,” Levi said. “Remember the Data Center has a man trap to enter. You’ll need both your magnetic pass key to this building as well as your right index finger-print to get into that room. Come back to see me later when you and Malcolm have combed the archives for information about your target and then we’ll develop a plan of action.
Miriam got up and looked at the beard on the other side of the desk encased in pipe smoke, as David left.
“Who’s in charge on this little assignment, Levi?”
“I guess you’ll have to figure that out as you go along.” Levi said with a laugh.
“Where’s the data center?” Miriam almost shouted at the back of David as he hurried down the corridor.
“In the basement,” he said, not even looking over his shoulder passing the elevator.
“Where are you going?”
“To the stairs. I don’t like elevators.”
Miriam stopped, bushed the down button and waited as David disappeared through a door at the end of the hallway. That man’s impossible, and I now have to work with him! Well, we’ll see about that!
The elevator door opened. She got in and turned to face to door, hands opening and closing in exasperation.
When the elevator stopped she shook her head to shake off her emotions. I can’t let that man’s over-active testosterone frustrate this assignment.
David was not to be seen. She slid her magnetic pass card through the slot beside the door Research Department, in Hebrew and entered a compartment about the size of the closet of her bedroom. There was David standing in front of another heavy windowless door.
“About time,” he muttered and pressed his thumb against a small glass panel beside the door. As the door opened he said, “Wait, you’ll have to do it too, they only allow one at a time.”
The door closed and angrily Miriam jammed her thumb against the glass and waited as the door opened for her. Walking into a large sound-proof room filled with computers humming, reels spinning and David already talking to a tall, thin, bearded man looking like some anarchist from an urban kibbutz.
David waved Miriam over. “Malcolm, this is Miriam Wagner, she’ll be working with me, according to Levi.”
She shifted uneasily, not sure whether to respond or not, but felt everything go silent inside her.
“Well, welcome to our Data Center, Miriam, better know as The Mine.
Miriam spoke up, “I heard about your Mine during training, but never had a chance to visit. “Tell me about this room.”
Malcolm saw she was impeccable, impressive and likable and decided to foster the uneasiness that seemed to exist between the two agents.
“Miriam, our main source of wisdom down here is our AN/FSQ-7 main-frame computer we lovingly call Solomon, after the King in the Midrash who…”
David interrupted, “Yes, yes, the king who decided which mother a child belonged to. Let’s get to what you’ve found about this possible killer.”
Malcolm turned back to Miriam starting to speak again, as David moved over and sat disgustedly on the corner of a desk.
“All of these two rows of racks are, in essence, the servers for Solomon. I won’t go into detail about them right now and bother your friend any more than necessary. Needless to say we keep the physical environment of this room rigorously controlled at about 20 °C and the humidity range between 40–55 % with a maximum dew point of 15 °C.”
Miriam smiled at the bearded cyber tech and looked at David who was drumming his fingers on the desk surface.
“Guess we’d better get to what you have for us before my partner has a kitten.”
Malcolm asked them to join him in the corner office.
Before David came into the office Malcolm said quietly to Miriam, “From the rumors I’ve heard you’ll be more than a match for your friend there.”
“So what have you got,” David said, letting out an exasperated sigh.
“I’m not entirely sure, but if he is the one Interpol has helped us identify, you are in for quite a search. Mind you we have no photographic proof, no fingerprints, no eye witnesses, not even any really hard evidence — just a possibility that we are still working on. We are in the process of drawing together what we can from our own files, as well as what Interpol dig up for us. It is really just conjecture at this point.
“You need to understand more than just this current Hans, if he’s the one you’re going after. We need to go back into his past somewhat to see where his motivation comes from. If we’ve got the right person his family name is Huber. This is what we have been able to piece together, mostly from Interpol sources and our own record of the Eichmann capture in Argentina.
“His father was killed in 1960 when we captured Eichmann in Buenos Aries. Evidently Hans was fourteen at that time. That would make him forty-eight today. It’s possible the current killer is this same Hans or a copycat using Hans’s father’s style. If the former is true we figure the son may be killing to avenge the death of the father. That may be a stretch, but we know he was outraged when his father was killed and vowed to get even. Why he’s waited so long is anyone’s guess. If this killer that has been killing Jews, mainly in Europe, is the deceased old man Huber’s son Hans, we need a clearer understanding of how and why he operates so we can bring him in. That’s what you need to do. Find out everything you can about this killer’s technique and style. We’re still trying to mine The Mine, as we say, to fill in any more details we can for you.
“From what we already know I suspect the connecting point for all this conjecture is within the Huber family itself. Interpol told us that during the Second World War, senior Huber always killed with his SS dagger and then cut slash marks on his victim’s arms or legs. The report said those slash marks symbolized the lightning-like runes worn on SS Nazi uniforms, thought by some to be phallic symbols. Huber senior was a member of the Waffen SS during the Second World War. Interpol’s records show he had quite a sadistic reputation in Nazi Germany. The recent Swiss victims, and others, had somewhat similar cuts on their bodies, that’s why this may be either senior Huber’s son or a copycat, maybe from one of those pro-Nazi groups in Germany. If it’s the son, maybe you can find him fairly quickly, but if the killer is part of one of those radical groups, it may be more difficult. However, and this is very important, you must keep Levi informed before you take any action. An official sanction has not been given, for whoever the killer is, as yet by the Prime Minister, so work closely with local authorities when in their jurisdiction, and then get back to Levi for confirmation. I, like Levi think you should start your search in Switzerland, where the most recent killings occurred. Levi is a good friend with an Inspector Servette in Geneva, who has taken a personal interest in this case, and has asked Levi for assistance.”
The phone rang and Malcolm picked it up. “Yes sir, I’ve given them all the information we have at the moment, Okay, I’ll send them back up.”
Miriam shook Malcolm’s hand. “Thank you for your help. Let us know if you get anything else that might be useful to us. We’ll both be using encrypted cell phones. I’ll give you our numbers before we leave.”
“Nice to meet you Miriam,” Malcolm said as he held her hand a bit longer than necessary.