Chapter Three

Iron Klaus

"NATO?" Jason said in bewilderment, interrupting the Brigadier's explanation. He looked at the Doctor and then back to the officer. "North Atlantic Treaty Organization, right?"

"Top marks, Jason," the Doctor replied, clearly impressed. "You have been doing your homework."

"For several years," the Alterran countered. "I'm a bit unclear on UNIT, though."

"United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Specialized in alien incursions and the like."

"Ah." Jason looked over at the Brigadier. "Then, I'm sorry, I'm still in the dark here, Alistair. Why is this a problem?"

The Brigadier's mustache twitched again. He was slightly irritated that this boy should take it upon himself to call him by his given name. He would later learn that the "boy" was actually twice his age. "This is usually the kind of thing UNIT handles, but NATO isn't willing to pass it off to us, as it were."

"They don't want to relinquish control incase it turns out to be a carrier maker," the Alterran observed astutely, shaking his head. "I guess some things are the same no matter where you go."

"Just what is it you'd like us to investigate?" the Doctor asked.

"Not so much investigate as identify." The Brigadier shuffled through some papers on his desk and pulled out the file he wanted, handing it to the Doctor. "That has all the details. The long and the short of it is, NATO intelligence came across some pottery that turned out to be radioactive."

The Doctor looked up from his reading. "That isn't that unusual," he remarked. "They used to use uranium in—"

"The radiation signature doesn't match anything we have on this planet, Doctor."

Jason had to fight the urge to laugh at the Doctor's expression. It was a combination of surprise and intense interest. Here we go again.

"Once we get this young man's UNIT paperwork in order, we'll be able to send you to Bonn to meet with NATO's lead agent."

"Bonn," Jason repeated. "In Germany, right?"

"West Germany, yes," the Brigadier replied.

"West Germany?" The Alterran scowled a moment. "Oh yes," he said thoughtfully. "I forgot what decade this was. The Cold War is still going strong, isn't it?"

Before the Brigadier could inquire further into this, the Doctor quickly asked, "And who is our contact in Bonn? It isn't in the file."

The Brigadier pulled out another paper. "Let's see. One, Major Klaus—"

"—Heinz von dem Eberbach," a voice from the door completed.

The men in the Brigadier's office turned to see the Major standing practically at attention in the doorway. "Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart?" he asked crisply.

"The very same," the Brigadier replied as he got to his feet. He held out a hand but it was ignored. He cleared his throat and threw a sideways glance in the Doctor's direction, being slightly annoyed when he saw he was smiling broadly. He collected himself and introduced the Doctor as UNIT's scientific advisor and Jason as his assistant.

"I didn't realize UNIT was so short staffed that it required the hiring of children, Herr Doctor," the Major observed rudely.

Jason's eyebrows went up. Nice. Why, yes, I'm pleased to meet you, too. "And NATO appears to be short on etiquette—Klaus." He had guessed that this odious individual was the type who hand picked those he allowed to call him by name. He also guessed there was no one on the list.

"I should have expected as much from an American," the Major shot back, speaking the last word as if it were poison. "You will address me as Major, boy."

Will I? Jason bristled further. He was an aristocrat by birth who rarely used his title. This time, however, he felt the occasion veritably screamed an exception to this. "Then you will address me—"

The Doctor cleared his throat loudly and put a hand on Jason's arm. The last thing he needed was for his companion to lose his temper.

The Brigadier was taking this all in in a stunned silence and was wondering how the situation had spiraled out of control in less than thirty seconds. "You'll forgive me, but I was under the impression our people were to meet with you in Bonn."

"There has been a change of plan," the Major replied. "All of the articles in question were stole in the last forty-eight hours."

"Someone's very industrious," Jason remarked. He received an angry glare from the Major that made his hair stand on end. From what he had read about NATO, and the current decade, the man standing in the doorway was not what he expected at all from a government agent. He was tall, thin and dark, with dark shoulder length hair. It was this last detail that the Alterran found odd. He had expected the man to have a traditional short, military style haircut, just like ever soldier in UNIT he had seen thus far. He would learn later that the Major was often involved in undercover operations, necessitating his very non-military length hair.

"I can only assume you know who's taken them," the Doctor was saying, "or you wouldn't've made the journey to London."

"Yes," the Major replied. "Eroica."

The Brigadier groaned and Jason threw a puzzled look in the Doctor's direction. "Sorry. Don't know that one," he said quietly.

"He's an international art thief," the Doctor informed. "A very prolific one, if memory serves."

"And he's here in this country," the Major announced. "I'm here to demand he give the articles back."

"Are you, indeed?" the Doctor was intrigued. "You know who he is, then?"

The Major gave the Time Lord a look as if to say he were a simpleton. "He is Dorian Red Gloria, Earl of Gloria, of course."

The Brigadier made a small strangled noise upon hearing this and was picturing the ensuing international incident after this NATO man went pounding on the door of a peer of England. To his added horror, the Doctor asked, "May we come along?"

The Major gave them a dubious look. "No."

"We are supposed to be your contacts here, Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach," Jason reminded, his pronunciation of the German's full name rolling impeccably off his tongue, much to the Major's amazement. As far as he was concerned, Jason was some American student that had been dumped on UNIT by an influential relative and therefore not worthy of his notice.

Not to be put off, the Doctor smiled broadly. "Then we'll follow you, since you obviously know where we're going."

The several insults that were about to spring from the Major's mouth were curtailed when Corporal Bell appeared at the door to inform him that he had a call from his office in Bonn. He turned on his heel and followed the Corporal, muttering several uncomplimentary remarks under his breath.

Jason watched him go, shaking his head. "Working with him is going to be a barrel of laughs," he observed.

"Well, that explains the remark I got from the Chief of NATO's London office," the Brigadier said to no one in particular. "When I told him who the contact in Bonn was, he referred to him as Iron Klaus."

"That fits," Jason snorted. "He's going to go over well at Castle Gloria."

The smile on the Doctor's face broadened. He already knew what to expect at Castle Gloria but was not about to reveal it to his companion. He turned to the Brigadier, who was still marveling at the Major's insubordinate attitude. "Brigadier, I need you to get Bessie out of mothballs for me," he said happily.