He noticed his computer on the table had received a call. Sleep would be more difficult now, thinking of Toni. He'd have to read the information Milt had sent.
He logged into the new file. The first page was a basic prospectus of Bundenbach Electronics. What they produced. Profit and loss statements. There were no losses. In fact, if Jake was a betting man, which he was on occasion, he could invest in this company on the strength of this information and that from the German commerce department that had been translated so far. The company seemed too good to be true. Too squeaky clean to hire a guy like Gunter Schecht. Another page caught Jake's eye-a list of subsidiaries, production facilities, and clients.
Bundenbach had a number of German government contracts; mostly for the Tiger II Panzer, the main German battle tank, and helicopters. No fixed-wing aircraft contracts. The majority of its business was commercial, though.
Jake had a number of subsidiaries to check into. He had a feeling that most of Sunday would be spent in front of a computer screen. Maybe it would rain.
The room was completely dark until Jake pulled the thick nylon cord to the right of the window allowing the early morning sun to seep through the rolladens and then totally engulf the tiny room. He felt the radiator below the window for a sign of warmth, but found none. He had forgotten to open the valve before he went to sleep. He needed food, but that could wait. Bells from a nearby Catholic church rang, and he counted them out to himself nine times.
His computer had become nearly as important as a seeing-eye dog to a blind man. He had found that with properly configured and operated equipment, his one-man investigation could accomplish as much as an entire group of agents in the past. But the camaraderie was sorely missed. Jake logged on to the small laptop computer and began accessing the information he had received the night before from the German Commerce Department. He tried to read about the subsidiaries of Bundenbach Electronics, the seemingly endless figures, but his mind kept drifting off to Toni Contardo and Italy. Things with pleasure.
The cursor on the computer screen blinked quickly on and off prompting Jake for more data. Back to Bundenbach.
Jake sifted through all the information on Bundenbach Electronics. He was looking for a common link or reason why this German company needed this particular information and technology. There had to be a reason. Sure the technology was important in itself, but was it so important to fill Jake's rental car full of holes? And why hire a guy like Gunter Schecht? The whole case was becoming an enigma. The CIA had trained him to piece together bits of information and draw conclusions to come up with a reasonable analysis of a situation. His specialty was human intelligence. One on one, he was among the best. But this case was puzzling. There could be a number of reasons why Bundenbach wanted the Teredata technology, but Jake was beginning to feel that economics was the most important factor. A national security issue would be attracting his old employer and German Intelligence.
Throughout the documents a few facts were disturbing. Bundenbach's research and development costs had decreased steadily over the past two years, and projections indicated that they would diminish even further. This could only mean one of two things. Either Bundenbach was getting ready to go through a stabilization phase to rest on its laurels, or they had fired a number of good researchers in favor of industrial espionage agents like Gunter Schecht. Had it become more cost effective to steal than develop?
That might be a good move for the short term, but a corporate death sentence for the long term. Without its own independent researchers, Bundenbach would simply become a clone company. Maybe that's all they wanted to be? No! Jake didn't believe that for a moment. Bundenbach had been far too shrewd in the past to allow that. Stealing technology was more of a Russian or Western technique. Could Bundenbach be transferring the technology on to the Russians? That made no sense.
The church bells rang twelve times. Jake went to the window and looked to the street below. Well-dressed Germans walked arm in arm toward the large Gothic Cathedral on the corner across the Goethestrasse at the base of his Gasthaus. The Germans didn't seem to care that they were late, he thought. The Priest could become impatient, but God would surely wait.
Now he had to move on to a new location. But where should he go? There were still too many questions unanswered. The more he dug into Bundenbach Electronics, the more its image had tarnished. At first glance, the company appeared flawless. But then you add a corrosive agent like Gunter Schecht, and the shine quickly faded. Bundenbach's shifting of funds away from research and development was at least a curious aberration.
Then he thought about the German Customs Agent, Herbert Kline, watching Bundenbach Electronics. He could be some help.
CHAPTER 13
The banks of the Rhine were still swollen from days of near-freezing rain. The sun was little comfort-warming the inside of Jake's rental Passat, but helping little to warm the Sunday afternoon strollers along the west bank of the great European river.
Jake had checked out of the Gasthaus in Bad Honnef and driven to a popular park near the German government buildings in Bonn. He knew that Herbert Kline always came to this park on Sundays to feed the ducks and swans.
As if a meeting had been prearranged, Herb was sitting on a wooden bench with concrete end supports feeding those birds brave enough to waddle close to him. Jake quietly walked up behind Herb and stood within five feet of him. It sounded as though Herb was talking to himself, but Jake couldn't make out what he was saying.
"Guten Tag," Jake said.
Herb startled by hunching his shoulders quickly, and then turned his head to see who had disturbed his peace.
"Jake?"
Jake moved around to the front of the bench.
"I thought you went back to America?"
"I did, but airplanes travel in both directions," Jake said with a smile.
"What are you doing here?"
"Same as you. Trying to figure out what's going on with Bundenbach Electronics." Might as well get to the point, Jake thought.
Herb's eyebrows rose sharply with that revelation.
"Before you ask…I'm working for myself now," Jake said. "The money's better, and I choose the jobs and the hours I work."
Herb looked as though he was trying to digest the startling reality of Jake's sudden appearance, and what Jake had just said.
"What do you know, Jake?" Herb asked.
"I know that Gunter Schecht is still a slime, and his new employer is Bundenbach."
Herb smiled finally. "Okay. We agree on that." He paused. "I know he's been buying up some American technology for his new boss, but I don't know why, honestly."
Jake hesitated for a moment. "Do you know why this is so important to Bundenbach?"
"No!" Herb said. "Jake, I know people don't think I'm good at what I do, but I have been good. Far before you or your associates worked Germany. I was damn good-maybe too good. You've probably laughed behind my back like the rest of them."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I'm sick of people not taking me seriously. I'm sick of people thinking I'm some drunken old fool. Well I'm old and I may get drunk a lot, but I'm no fool."
Jake sat down on the other side of the bench. He ran his hands through his thick hair. "I've never laughed at you, Herb, and I've never taken you for a fool. It takes a lot more courage and inner strength to stick it out with an inflexible bureaucracy."
"You think so? I think it takes great strength to stand up to the bureaucracy and say it's wrong. I haven't done that for a long time," Herb said.