“Can you not sleep?” she asked.
Eric sighed. “Sometimes when I get really tired I can’t sleep that well. So, I read a while until I get sleepy again.”
Anna walked to the side of the bed and sat beside him. “Is there anything I can do?”
Eric almost blushed. “No, you are as tired as I am. Go ahead and get some rest. I’ll be okay.”
Anna gave him a bit of a look. She reached over and took his book, closed it, and placed it on his nightstand. She then stood and removed her robe, draping it on a chair. Eric hadn’t known that she didn’t wear a nightgown. She turned around only wearing a thin pair of shorts. Anna turned off the light and crawled into the bed. She snuggled up next to Eric and eased him back down from the sitting position. She pulled his head to her shoulder. “Now try and sleep,” she said.
In the dark Eric smiled, “I don’t know if I can now.”
Anna kissed him on the forehead and wrapped her arms around him. “Then let’s do something about that.”
Major Brewster stood in front of Dresner’s desk more subdued this time. Dresner wondered what had happened, but had a sneaking feeling it was not good.
“Herr Dresner I have come to ask your help again.”
Dresner got a skeptical look on his face. “What has happened Herr Major?” he asked.
“May I sit down?”
Dresner motioned for the chair and Brewster sat down tiredly. “Just late yesterday we discovered someone has stolen some of our fuel out of the local yards. We had received permission to store it there temporarily and when we went to remove it, we found over 80,000 gallons missing,” the major said.
Dresner got an alarmed look on his face. For a minute he sat and said nothing. His mind was running at top speed. It all fit. What was missing was the scale. The acid and all that fuel required very large and sophisticated storage. Nothing like that was around here that he knew of. The theft of the truck required a place to put the cargo. They had already searched all the local storage facilities and the truck itself wouldn’t fit into a garage. Someone had used an older German anti-tank round on the Andersons. Where would they store something like that? Someone had used plastic explosives on the Mantz murder. Someone very specialized. Mantz was probably an old Nazi. Something clicked again. It was too impossible to believe.
Dresner looked at Brewster. “Herr Major we need to work together on this. He quickly went over what he had been investigating over the past few months. Brewster seemed to come alive with each revelation. At the end he had a very determined look.
“Herr Dresner, what can we help you with?” Brewster asked.
“Before we act, I need to try and verify something. If I am wrong, then no harm is done. But if I am right I need your help in keeping this under the covers,” said Dresner.
“What do you mean?”
Dresner took a deep breath. “Major, Germany is still rebuilding from the ravages of a war we started. The German people don’t need anything else from that era stabbing them in the heart. What’s more, we don’t need the repercussions from around the world. My young friend Eric Anderson told me a while back people still think of Germans as the bad guys. We have to earn our way out of that. If this is an old Nazi plot, I want to shut it down without a lot of attention. That saves embarrassment for us and for you. After all, if this is a plot, they stole a top secret truck and fuel from right under your noses,” Dresner said dramatically.
The American saw the look on Dresner’s face. The man was genuinely concerned and for the right reasons. Dresner was right. Even he did not have a high regard for the German people. But he was also right that Germany was just now getting back on its feet. Most he had met were hard working and tired of conflict. They didn’t like what they had been through and wanted to make things better. He was also right that he personally was embarrassed that these things had been stolen while on his watch. It was reasonable and his respect for Dresner had just grown a bit. He looked Dresner in the eye.
“I agree. I’ll keep things under wraps on my end as best I can. Now what do you need?”
Dresner didn’t bat an eye. “It is only something the American Army can do. I need to speak to one man.”
Chapter 10
Answers
“This company doesn’t need to be extending itself beyond what we do,” said James Gleeson, the vice president of Anderson Construction. “This company has done very well with our local operations and I can’t agree to such broad ranging changes.” Gleeson had been in the company for five years and had been hired to help Eric’s father in the company’s operations. He had always been opinionated and very conservative in his actions. Sometimes that had caused Eric’s father some grief.
The boardroom was filled with all the company’s officers. Most sat quietly after Gleeson’s comments waiting to see Eric’s reaction. All of the men were in suits and had been with the company much longer. Cigarette smoke slowly drifted up from several ash trays around the table.
“Eric, you just don’t seem to understand how we should operate. We are a small time operation and our business doesn’t need to expand for us to all make a very good living. We shouldn’t be taking any risks,” said Frank Logan, the contracting officer. “If you let Mister Gleeson and the rest of us take care of things, I think you can expect things to go quite well.”
Eric sat in his new seat at the head of the table. He had spent an hour listening to a few people try to tell him to go home and stay away. These two were just the last. Luckily, his father had long ago warned him about the men around the table and had told him what he would do. Eric looked over at Matt Jackson, one of the old timers of the company. He and his father had worked together from the beginning and Al had told his son that he could trust the man all day long.
Mister Jackson caught Eric’s glance, gave a slight sigh and glanced toward the ceiling. Eric almost chuckled. He was glad Mister Jackson thought the same as he did. Now it was his turn to act. He held up his hand.
“Gentlemen, it appears you have misunderstood me. I wish to expand our operations in the areas I mentioned. The construction industry is changing even as we speak. Those who do not change to meet the needs will fall by the wayside. I need facts and figures to me by the next meeting so I can see how we will stand.”
“That’s not the direction we need to go,” said Gleeson again.
Eric tried to remain calm. He turned and looked directly at Gleeson. “I am not asking anyone’s opinion. This is where I want the company to go. The last time I looked, that is my name on our letterhead. As of now I own this company. If anyone doesn’t understand that they are free to work somewhere else. Granted, I am younger than anyone in here. But that doesn’t change the situation. Once I decide to go in a direction it is your job to make that happen. Since we all share in the profits the better you do your job, the more we can all earn. Anyone not interested in that can find a new job as well. Now I am going to be moving between here and Innsbruck for a while. I am taking one of the new fax machines with me. I also have a telephone. I want to know what is going on every day. Feel free to use the phone. I’ll get a second phone line operating to make it easier. Send me any documents I need to see. I can sign and fax it back. For now, I want to be cut in on the decisions until you can get used to the way I think and work. Once we start working together smoothly I will ease up a bit.