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“Somewhere in Hungary,” Sam said. “Captain, I would appreciate it if the description of the find and the location could be kept out of any public report. Professor Fischer has been keeping these things secret. If the word got out, the excavation of the site would be threatened. I personally assure you that the finds will all be reported to the government there and all permits obtained.”
“Thank you both for your candor. I’ll do my best to keep this information confidential.” There was another blast of static, and he listened to his radio. “Danke.” To Remi and Sam he said, “They’re ready for us upstairs.”
Sam, Remi, and Hauptmann Klein took the narrow elevator to the fourth floor and walked to an open doorway, where a police officer waited. He stepped aside, and they entered. The six Americans Sam and Remi had first seen in the boat off Louisiana were seated in the room, three on the couch and three at the small table by the window. Now that they were close and in a well-lighted room, Sam could see they showed red spots from mosquito bites, severe sunburns, and a number of scratches from struggling through thick foliage.
“Do you recognize these people?” asked Klein.
“I do,” said Remi.
“So do I,” Sam said.
“Yes,” said Captain Klein. “As you predicted, they’re carrying identification from Consolidated Enterprises in New York, and I’m sorry to say all six are here. I had hoped one or two of them would be with your missing friend.”
The young blond woman at the table stood up, angry. “What are these people doing here?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Fargo reported a professor missing. Do you know them?”
“Yes,” she said. “They stole our boat and stranded us in a Louisiana swamp. We could easily have died out there.”
“And now they’ve gotten you detained in a foreign country for a very serious crime. If I were you, I would stay far away from them.”
“Falsely detained!” said the tall man with the shaved head. “I demand to have our lawyer present.”
“Falsely or truly detained, still detained,” said Klein. “We are simply attempting to eliminate one possible set of suspects. Trust me, if you are eliminated now, you will have good cause to thank us. Kidnapping a world-renowned German scholar is not something you want to be tried for in Berlin.”
Klein stepped away from them and beckoned to the Fargos. They went out into the hallway and closed the door. He said, “My men thoroughly searched their rooms. They found no bones, no rusty objects, and no notes or maps.”
Sam said, “I don’t think these people abducted Albrecht Fischer. We saw two of them following us on Unter den Linden to our hotel. Then we saw the other four walk to our hotel and split up. They didn’t seem to be moving against Albrecht, but they could have taken him soon after we left the laboratory.”
“They could easily be a surveillance team for a much larger conspiracy,” said Klein. “They’ve still offered no good explanation as to why they’re following you and spying on you. They’re clearly rivals looking for a discovery to steal, and Albrecht Fischer had a discovery. I’m going to take them to the station and spend some time finding out what they’re up to.”
“We certainly have no objection,” said Remi.
“We’ll also have officials watching the borders for the professor. If his kidnappers have had him for a couple of hours, though, he could be gone already.” Klein looked at them shrewdly. “But you’ve figured that out. You’re leaving Berlin too, aren’t you?”
Sam said, “Someone kidnapped Albrecht Fischer and stole his notes, specimens, and photographs. I don’t know if it was friends of these people or someone else entirely. But I do know where they’re taking him.”
“Then I wish you the best of luck. If it were my friend, that’s where I would go. Good night.”
SZEGED, HUNGARY
SAM AND REMI CHECKED OUT OF THE ADLON KEMPINSKI Hotel late that night and took a cab to the Hauptbahnhof, where Sam had lost his follower that afternoon. They got on the southbound Stadtbahn, but rode it only to Schönefeld Airport, where they caught a plane to Budapest. It was just an hour and a half to Ferihegy. They took a train from the airport to Nyugati Station in Budapest and then got on the next train that would take them the one hundred seventy kilometers to the city of Szeged near the southern border.
They walked out of the station in the morning to see lined-up cabs waiting for travelers. Sam left the suitcases with Remi and walked up the line saying to each driver, “Do you speak English?” When he saw a driver shake his head or look puzzled, he went to the next one. At the fourth cab, there was a dark, thin middle-aged man with sad-looking brown eyes and a mustache that looked like a brush. He was leaning against his cab, and there were three other drivers with him, listening to a story he was telling and laughing. When he heard Sam’s question, he raised his hand. “Are you just curious or do you speak English?”
“I speak English,” Sam said.
“Good. Then you can correct me if I make a mistake.”
The man’s English was perfect. His slight accent showed he had learned the language from a British teacher. “So far, you could correct me,” Sam said.
“Where can I take you?”
“First, to our hotel. After that, we would like to take a look at the city.”
“Good. City Hotel Szeged, then.”
“How did you know?”
