Bitesize 2.2

Bitesize 2.2

Ed stayed the night at his Dad's place, putting all thoughts of the Bureau from his mind until the following morning. When he finally did check his email from his Dad's computer he found a surprising message. It was from the Bureau, that was certain. All it said was 'come in'. That usually meant something serious, though clearly not urgent. Ed hadn't been called in for nearly four years, field agents like him rarely were. His talents were out there, dealing with the day to day rather than sitting at a computer terminal or fiddling with test tubes. Even his psychological studies left him sub-par compared to the Bureau's experts. But for whatever reason, they wanted him now.

After breakfast Ed left his Dad and drove out to the Pennines, heading for Cross Fell. It was the highest peak of what passed for a mountain range in England, really more a series of large hills, and it housed a magnificent secret. It took around an hour and a half to get to the village of Knock and from here there was a private road that led up to Great Dun Fell, another summit. There was a radar station up there used by air traffic control and Ed parked nearby. This wasn't the only route up to the Fell but was Ed's preferred choice. From the radar station is was only a brief jog along the ridge to Cross Fell. Atop Cross Fell was a mountain rescue station, little more than a small shack and this was Ed's destination. He knocked at the door to the shack and an athletic looking man opened it.
"What's the problem there fella?"
"Ed Baxter. 6694."
The man nodded knowingly and let Ed into the shack. Inside was various mountaineering equipment, a large desk, computer terminal and a filing cabinet. A second man lounged in a chair, awaiting an actual mountain rescue mission. There was another door at the rear of the cabin. The man slid himself into the chair by the terminal and tapped in Ed's name and number.
"Ok, you can go through Mr Baxter."
Ed walked past him and opened the door leading into the rear. Beyond was a small room, barely large enough to hold the guard stood by the door to an elevator. The guard was armed with an assault rifle. There were two lights by his head, one red and one green. The green one was lit, informing him that Ed was entering with permission. He pushed the button on the elevator without a word and its doors slid open. Ed gave him a nod and went in. He remembered his first visit here as the elevator began to descend into the mountain, how shocked he'd been to find that there was an entire underground complex beneath the surface. This entrance was only for occasional visits but was the only entrance Ed knew. There was supposedly another bigger entrance at ground level for deliveries and employees although most of them lived onsite.
There was a ding and the elevator came to a stop, the doors opening to reveal another room. Six armed guards lined the walls, watching Ed's every move. He passed them all to the electronic door at the far end and pressed his thumb against a flat panel beside it. The mechanism registered his thumbprint and the doors slid open noiselessly. Beyond was a long corridor and a second door with a retina scan. Ed passed this too and moved beyond into the heart of the complex. It was a large circular chamber with four halls branching off, one that Ed had come through, one opposite and one to each side. Around the walls were large windows and beyond, teams of people sitting at computer terminals with headsets on, monitoring radio traffic, emergency services, military and domestic, the internet, satellite data. In the centre was a large circular reception desk with two women sat behind, a bank of computer terminals each. Ed strolled up to the desk.
"Ed Baxter, 6694. I got called in?"
The assistant tapped away at her keyboard.
"Baxter, yes. Alf's expecting you. I'll page him immediately. Make your way to briefing room four in alpha sector."
"Thanks."
Ed headed towards the left corridor that lead to the alpha sector. The complex was split into five sectors in total. Alpha sector was the more mundane area. A serious of briefing rooms and a few larger ones for group meetings. It also housed a cafeteria and a library of paranormal literature and filing rooms and offices and a heap of other stuff Ed had no clue about. Beta sector was research and development, housing various laboratories and scientific literature. Gamma sector was equipment and also housed the access tunnels to the monitoring terminals. Below this was another level that housed the final two sectors. Delta sector was the living quarters of the on site personnel and finally Epsilon sector which contained the holding cells that imprisoned people such as Raddick.

He found briefing room four and sat and waited for Alf. He didn't have long to wait before the door opened and Alf strode in, a black folder under one arm. He'd aged since Ed had last seen him. The hair was fully grey now, not just the temples, but he still wore the same black rimmed glasses. He tossed the folder onto the table and took a seat opposite Ed.
"Well well Ed. Still alive after your T-alpha encounter?"
"Just about." said Ed, "What's going on?"
"We're sending you on a little field trip Ed."
Ed's eyebrow raised.
"Where exactly?"
"Germany Ed. Ever been to Germany?"
"No."
"Lovely place really, but that's neither here nor there." He opened the folder and pulled out two pictures and pushed them towards Ed. Ed looked at the pictures. One was colour, one black and white. As far as he could tell they both showed the same man.
"What's this?"
"The black and white photo is a picture of Odolf Scherer, circa 1938. Twenty six years old. The colour photo supposedly shows Ottokar Rothstein, taken just last week in Wiesbaden in Hesse. He would appear around twenty six years old too."
"Direct relation?"
"Not quite. We have reason to believe that these men are one and the same."
"What reason?"
"Ottokar has a considerable sum of wealth for someone his age. He's also had three visits in the past month from a high ranking German military officer. The German forces are taking quite an interest in him it seems. A little bit more research shows that he inherited his wealth directly from Odolf Scherer. Odolf was in the military too, back in World War II. There's a record of his death in 1960, claiming cardiac failure. His assets were held in a private Swiss account with instructions to release them to Ottokar in 1990."
"So he died and left his money to someone who wasn't even born?"
"So it would seem. We think Ottokar is Odolf. That he faked his own death and went into hiding for thirty years only to re-emerge and take control of his fortune once again. From the intelligence we've intercepted it seems the German military have their suspicions about this too. They think Odolf is still alive somewhere and that Ottokar knows where. They want to find Odolf and bring him in, prosecute for his part in... well... we don't know for sure. Some unspecified war crime."
"And where do I fit into this?"
"We want you to go out and see Ottokar. Find out what you can from him before he decides to disappear again. He transferred half his money out of his account two days ago and we don't know where it went. He's planning to run away again. We want to know why."
Ed mulled all this over.
"What if he doesn't tell me anything?"
Alf shrugged.
"We know he won't speak to the Germans. But a secret like this, it eats away at you Ed. Get under his skin straight away. Tell him you know he's Odolf. Find out whatever you can. Whichever way you think is best."
"You think he wants to talk, just not to the Germans?"
Alf nodded.
"I'd bet on it. Offer him sanctuary if you want. Tell him we'll house him safely here, away from everyone in exchange for information regarding his condition."
"We'll hide him if we can experiment on him?"
"That's a crass way to state it Ed, but yes. If he is Odolf then he hasn't aged a day in over fifty years. For him it's a chance to stop running, for us a chance to find out his secret of preservation."
"If he's already moving his money he's planning on disappearing soon. When do I leave?"
"I can have a plane ready in an hour."
Ed nodded.
"Ok, let's see what's going on."