"Now we know how the man died," Walt revealed. "What we don't know is where and when he died, who killed him, and why."
Walt remembered from his training that sometimes the most obvious details were those overlooked. The search for the complex was not always appropriate. But what about the weights? Not enough to make the man sink to the bottom, but enough to keep him below the surface. Maybe the killers wanted to make sure the guy got far enough away from the murder site, yet wanted him to be found eventually.
"I found something," said Jung's partner. He slid his hand from the inside pocket of the Rhine-soaked man, and retrieved a brown leather wallet. With rubber gloves, he quickly handed it to Inspector Kaiser.
Walt carefully opened the wallet. All the contents were streaked and stained from the brown leather die. A hundred and fifty Deutschemarks in bills, a muddled photograph of a woman and two young children in 1970s clothes, and a Visa and Mastercard. Finally, a name for this guy, Walt thought. And then, a retired U.S. military ID card.
"Charles M. Johnson," Walt said. "U.S. Air Force retired. How did you get yourself into this predicament, Mr. Johnson?"
Walt continued to search the contents of the wallet. From one of the side pouches, he pulled out a business card with Charlie Johnson's name on it. In bold green Roman letters it read: Teredata International Semiconductors.
Immediately Walt took a double take of the card. He remembered his conversation with Jake Adams less than a week ago. Jake was working for the president of TIS trying to find out who was buying up some of their computer technology. How Gunter Schecht and his men tried to blow him away. The man Jake was looking for.
Walt instructed the men to continue with the photographs, and to ship Johnson back to Koblenz for an autopsy. "Bag everything," he said.
He went back up to his car and sat in the front passenger's seat wondering what his friend Jake was up to. But Walt had no idea where his old friend was staying. Finding Jake would have to be his first chore in solving this murder.
CHAPTER 21
Jake got back to his house on the right bank of the Rhine after first eating breakfast at the old Bad Honnef castle. His head was still not clear after the night of beer and conversation with Herb. The sun had finally made a long awaited appearance. Jake checked over the house. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.
All of his communications equipment lay meticulously on a wooden desk in his bedroom as if it had been accumulating there for years. Time to call Milt, Jake thought.
Since it was the middle of the night in Portland, Jake realized he should call Milt at home.
The tired voice of a woman answered, "Hello."
"Sorry to disturb you, but may I speak with your husband?" Jake asked apologetically.
He could hear Milton Swenson asking his wife who it was on the phone. "I don't know!" was the terse reply.
Milt picked up the phone after apparently moving into another room and having his wife set her phone back down.
"Hello," Milt said groggily.
"It's Jake. Sorry to bother you so late."
"Shit!" Milt said. "Jake, where in the hell have you been?"
"Hey, Milt, I'm sorry I haven't kept you informed, but things have been really crazy around here."
"That's what I hear," Milt said. "I got a call from the Polizei in Koblenz just two hours ago. They found Charlie Johnson's body."
That's pretty surprising, Jake thought. The way Herb had talked, it should have taken much longer for the body to be found. "Where'd they find it?" Jake asked.
"About ten miles north of Koblenz. Jake? Do you know a guy named Walter Kaiser?" Milt asked.
"Yes. Why do you ask?"
"He's the guy who called me from Koblenz. I guess he's the investigator in charge of Charlie's murder."
Jake thought for a moment.
"He asked about you, Jake. Of course I didn't tell him shit, because I didn't know if he was who he said he was."
"He's a good friend of mine, Milt. I better give him a call."
"Wait!" Milt said. "There's more."
After a pause. "Go ahead."
"We have another problem with a technology leak," Milt said.
"Great. How serious is it?"
"Serious enough that the government already knows about it."
"Where's the leak?" Jake asked.
"In Italy…actually aboard the aircraft carrier Roosevelt," he said. "We have a contract for an avionics upgrade to the A-7 aircraft going on right now. The A-7 doesn't have much life left, but the Navy feels it makes a good test bed. If the new avionics system can work in that old bird, we should be able to fit it into new aircraft and sell it to the Air Force as well."
"So, how significant is this new technology?"
Milt hesitated for a moment. "Jake, some of the computer chips we use are the fastest in the world. We can't afford to allow this information to get out to anyone. In fact, our contract in Germany called for these chips to replace a slower version in a couple of months. That's why it was so urgent for you to solve that case."
"Another surprise, Milt!" Jake said callously.
"I'm sorry, Jake."
"Why did the Navy allow the aircraft to leave the states?"
"We had to test the system against NATO and French aircraft. We could only simulate so much."
"Okay, okay…so what do you want me to do about it? You said the government is already involved with the investigation."
"They haven't been keeping me informed. I don't know who's investigating what. All they said was that some of the chips and manuals were missing."
"What do you expect, Milt? There could be three or four agencies looking into it, and not one of them speaking to the other. Why in the hell do you think I left the Agency? Nobody communicated for shit."
"Could you look into it for a few days?"
Jake thought about it. Toni! She had to know about the Italian problem. Anything that happened in Italy, she knew about it.
"Milt? I'm very flexible. You've already paid me a substantial amount. I go where you want."
"Thanks, Jake," Milt said softly. "I knew I hired the right guy. So, what have you found out?"
"Well, I'm about ninety-nine percent sure that Bundenbach Electronics hired Gunter Schecht to recruit Johnson into taking your stuff. Bundenbach dropped most of its research and development staff recently, so they're looking for a cheaper way to get ahead. Maybe they've become a company of thieves. The question is why? They were slowly coming out with some decent developments of their own. Maybe the gains weren't coming fast enough. That's the only thing I need to know now, and I'm working on that. One more thing. Johnson may have gotten himself killed because he was selling out Gunter and Bundenbach."
"What do you mean?"
"Johnson may have been selling to another government and Gunter didn't like it."
"How do you know?"
"Recently, a couple of agents from Hungarian Intelligence have been hanging around Gunter. I'll let you know as soon as possible if this is true, because then we'll have to do some damage control and inform the U.S. government. That would pretty much blow my investigation all to hell."
"We haven't informed the government about our Germany leak, so you should be okay for a while."
"Hey, I better let you get back to sleep, Milt. Next time I'll try to catch you at a better time."
"No problem! Keep up the good work, and let me know how things go in Italy. I'm not sure where the Roosevelt is now, but it's big…so I'm sure you'll find it," Milt added with a slight chuckle.
"Thanks!" Jake said, and then he hung up.
Shit! What ever happened to getting in, finding the culprit taking the TIS technology, and heading back to Oregon. Maybe take a break skiing in the Cascades, or even go to Switzerland for a few days on his way back. Now he was back to jumping around to different countries…swapping currencies and cars as though he were changing underwear. Now he had no choice. He'd have to call Toni.