Chapter 39: Coming out of the closet
Wolfgang Schneider, Hauptmeister der polizei von Sölden, cursed his life. Because the view that met them when the bloody door finally opened was enough to take at least ten years of his life, if the man in the door opening didn't end it in the next two minutes. The man, obviously a professional, looked tense and ready to explode and kill them all. Instinctively, he raised his gun a little higher as did the 6 others he had standing around the door. But instead of tensing further, the man seemed to relax.
"Easy, Stephen." A quiet posh British voice seemingly came out of nowhere, reminding him that he had seen 2 people go into the closet on the security video the intern had come running in with. The thought that these two people had been in the room with him for more than two hours was mind-boggling. The door of the closet was waver thin and as soon as he had called out to them, they had easily heard them move around and talking softly. But before that not a beep, meaning they must've been standing there like statues.
The guard, because it was obvious that he was a guard, both from the video and the way he was currently completely blocking the other man from view, went back to being tense again which still struck Wolf as odd. He didn't lower his gun however, because the man was an unknown and definitely had something to do with this situation. The guard seemed to relax again, seemingly against his will which caused the man behind him to let out an annoyed huff.
"Oh for Christ sake, stand down." The man behind the guard barked authoritatively causing the guard to flinch and tense up again. Then, to his great surprise, the man continued in fluent German. "My guard is really on edge. Having to keep terrorists from kidnapping me will do that. I already disarmed him, to prevent any more unnecessary deaths. He is unarmed and has done nothing wrong. If you could lower your weapons we can resolve this peacefully and I can finally get out of this bloody closet." Though the man's words weren't commanding, his pissed off tone reminded Wolf of the captain he'd served under during his brief stint in the army and as if on instinct he lowered his weapon, the others following his lead.
"Danke." The voice said before switching to English again. "Now Stephen, are you comfortable enough to let me move one step to the left? I will remain behind you but at least the good people off the Sölden police force will get to see my face." The man's voice was suddenly gentle, which surprised Wolf, especially considering the men were professionals and he had the impression the hidden man could command armies to move with just his voice.
The guard nodded, tense, and out from behind him stepped a man that fit the commanding voice perfectly. He stood straight, tall and broad and exhumed power. One hand was behind his back while the other seemed to be on the agent's shoulder. Whether it was to keep the agent grounded or to read his reactions, Wolf knew it was smart to keep the contact.
Suddenly a phone rang in the room. Before he could look around to see who's phone it was, another one joined it. And another. And another. One by one all his officers in the room were pulling out their phones and looking at them in confusion. When Wolf's own phone started ringing he pulled it out and saw that there was no number showing. The screen was just blank. Suddenly all the ringing phones cut off as one and the room descended into silence before the low buzz of a vibrating phone resonated through the room. The guard startled again, but the other man just rolled his eyes and fished his phone out of his pocket and answered it immediately.
"You just had to make a scene did you?" The man sounded exasperated and just slightly fond as he answered. "I would've called when I could, you know… I'm fine... " The man rolled his eyes again in complete exasperation. "I'M FINE… Call them off will you? I'm sure the Bundesheer will not be happy with foreign operators on their soil… I'll be in the air in an hour… Bond had to create a diversion so if you could clear that up with the Budeskanzler… All right… all right… I'll see you soon." The man hung up. Wolf had felt his anger rise another inch. First the man had answered his phone like there was nothing going on and then he thought he would just be allowed to leave. Wolf bristled inside at being dismissed like that.
"You're not going anywhere." He growled, gripping his gun a little tighter. The guard immediately relaxed again. The other man sighed but instead of trying to calm his guard down again he fished something black out of his pocket.
"I'm afraid you can't stop me." The man said apologetically and he lightly dropped the black thing on the ground and gave it a shove with his foot. Wolf immediately brought his gun up, ready to shoot the both of them should anything happen. When nothing did, he looked at the object on the ground. It was a passport. A black passport.
"Scheisse." He cursed silently and tucked away his gun. Diplomatic passports never said anything good. It usually meant diplomatic immunity. If that was the case then the man was right, he would be in the air in an hour. Warily he picked up the passport. It looked legitimate but one could never be sure. He opened it, a picture identical to the man in front of him staring back at him. The other information made him frown
"Adjunct-Director? What kind of a title is that? And why is there no name in here?" He asked looking up. He saw the other guard, who had tensed up again as soon as he put away his gun, startle visibly.
"It is only a minor position in government I can assure you. Unfortunately, the title does come with a need for anonymity." The Adjunct-Director replied. Wolf almost snorted out loud but managed to contain himself. 'Minor position my ass,' he thought, 'Your guard wouldn't have reacted like that if it was. And the fact that your guard didn't know who he was guarding is telling in itself.' That in fact convinced him that this was indeed legit.
Finally he relaxed, motioning for the others around him to stand down completely. The guard seemed to relax again too, but this time it was different. More of an at ease position. He was still alert, so Wolf decided not to get any closer. He put the passport on the floor, put his foot against it and waited for a signal from the guard, who nodded before he shoved the passport back to its owner.
"Thank you." The Adjunct-Director said before bending down and picking it up. "Now then I'm afraid we must be off." And he moved, his hand remaining on his guard, who moved with him, passed Wolf who could do nothing to stop him. But Wolf wasn't going to let him get away that easily. He called after them.
"Would you mind if I walked with you? Escorted you to the airport maybe? I would like to ask some questions. You're free not to answer of course, but I would like the opportunity to ask them anyway." Wolf knew he was on thin ice here. The Vienna Convention was very strict in what was allowed and what wasn't and strictly speaking, this was in the wasn't category.
The two stopped when he addressed them and the Adjunct-Director seemed to consider his words before turning to his guard. Wolf expected some conversation to start but The Adjunct-Director just stared at the man before turning back towards him.
"An escort would be appreciated, Hauptmeister. However, I have a couple more guards to find before we go. They created a diversion, drawing a lot of my attackers away. I'm hoping they're outside but if they're not I think going on foot back to the airport might give them more of an opportunity to find us. This comes at more of a risk of course, but that cannot be avoided. An escort therefore would be appreciated. Feel free to ask any questions you would like as long as you're not offended if I don't answer them. I will waive the Vienna Convention that much." Wolf breathed out a sigh of relief.
"I will arrange it." He answered, grabbing his radio to start arranging the escort. "Feel free to wait here until I have done so... or not." He added as an afterthought. Not like he could tell the man what to do.
The Adjunct-Director nodded and then looked at his guard who was doing an about-face and started herding the man. The Adjunct-Director, getting what his guard was doing, threw him an annoyed look.
"Really? Back into the bloody closet?" He complained. But didn't resist being herded back into the closet. "Fine, but I get to use my laptop while we wait this time." He sounded a little bit like a whining brat, instead of the military officer he had moments before, and Wolf had to fight to keep the laugh off his face as he went, cursing himself for wishing for an interesting life.