“Okay… male or female?”
“Good question.” He’d always assumed that Odin was a man, but by the 1980s there were a significant number of female officers in the armed forces. “Don’t know. Give me both.”
“Okay. You want the whole DD-201 file?”
“I do.” He added, “Just e-mail them to me.”
“When do you need all this?”
“Yesterday.”
“Why did I ask?” She said, “Can you share with me why this is urgent?”
“Not at liberty to say. Can you access these files from home?”
“Possibly.”
Ms. Barese clearly needed more motivation, so he said, “This is related to an ongoing homicide investigation with potential national security implications.” He added, “I’m in Berlin.”
“Oh… okay. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks, Claudia.” He hoped she didn’t accesshisfile and see that he’d resigned his commission. “You’re the best.” He hung up and looked out the window as the cab exited the Tiergarten and approached the Brandenburg Gate, whose imperial colonnade had once stood behind a concrete wall lined with barbed wire and guard towers.
The U.S. Army presence in West Berlin had taken the form of the Berlin Brigade, which would have been a few thousand men broken up into about a dozen units, including a few infantry battalions, artillery batteries, MPs, engineers, aviation, probably some form of Special Ops. The Air Force would have had some sort of presence as well. He’d see what Claudia Barese came back to him with.
He wondered if Harry Vance had gone digging in the personnel files in his search for Odin. That would make sense, especially if Vance had more to go on to narrow the list down. But even if Vance—and Brodie—had a stack of personnel files of the officers in the Berlin Brigade from that time period, would there be anything in anyone’s file that smelled off? Not likely. Unlessyou knew you were looking for a rat. That’s when things like efficiency reports, duty stations, and other notations could be a clue.
Well, whatever Harry Vance had done, he’d gotten close enough to the truth to die for it. And now Scott Brodie was following the same solitary and self-appointed path. Hopefully with better results. And a happier ending.
CHAPTER 42
The taxi stopped in front of a nondescript, postwar five-story apartment building on Kinzigstraße, a quiet residential street.
Brodie paid the driver from his dwindling supply of euros, got out, and walked quickly to the entrance, where the call box was located to the right of the recessed door. An overhead security camera covered the entranceway, so whoever was in 5A had seen him arrive. He pushed the button and was immediately buzzed in, which confirmed that he was being watched. He pushed the button again and a man’s voice said impatiently, “Come in.”
Brodie replied, “I want to hear Taylor’s voice.”
There was a moment of silence; then Maggie Taylor’s voice came over the speaker. “It’s okay, Scott. Come on up.”
No indication of stress or duress. A few tradecraft precautions go a long way. So does a semi-automatic pistol.
He walked into a small, clean lobby with a polished floor, and a mirror that could be two-way. There was a single elevator and a staircase.
This building was well-suited for a safe house, which Apartment 5A probably was. But whose safe house? He was about to find out.
Brodie chose the staircase for his ascent, and as he climbed he drew his Makarov and took it off safety, then slid it into his coat pocket and kept his grip on it. Just as Harry Vance had done in Körnerpark.
Each floor had a landing with only two doors leading to apartments, so the units were big.
He reached the fifth floor and saw only one doorway—5A, so whoever owned or rented this place had the whole top floor. He thought he knew who that could be.
There was an eyeball camera on the ceiling, and a fish-eye peephole on the door, which he noted was steel, and unsuitable for kicking in. So he’d have to knock, which he did, then moved to the side.
The door opened and Maggie Taylor looked at him, nodded, and said, “All good. Come in.”
Brodie stepped into the apartment, and the spring-loaded door closed behind him.
Spread out before him was a very large, bright living room with an open kitchen and dining area, and street-facing windows. The apartment was modern and well-appointed, a contrast to this unobtrusive building on a nondescript street.
