The time being, in Gertrud's judgment, meant until the Old Man could arrange a marriage between his daughter and his a.s.sistant. He-everyone-knew that Otto Goerner was extraordinarily fond of Frau Erika and Little Karlchen, and that the Old Man thought Goerner would be both a good husband to Erika and a good father to his only grandson, whom he adored.

And once they were married, of course, it would be entirely appropriate for Otto Goerner, now a member of the family, to hold any position within the family firm.

The issue was resolved that year-but not in the way Gertrud hoped-when a tire blew on Wilhelm von und zu Gossinger's Mercedes as he and his father were on their way home from Ka.s.sel. The police estimated the car was traveling in excess of 220 kilometers per hour when it crashed through the guardrails of a bridge on the A7 Autobahn and fell ninety meters into the ravine below.

That meant that Frau Erika became just about the sole stockholder of Gossinger Beteiligungsgesellschaft, G.m.b.H. What shares she did not now own were in a trust fund the Old Man had set up for Karlchen, who was then twelve. As expected, Otto Goerner became the managing director of the firm. Frau Gertrud believed it was now simply a matter of waiting for an appropriate period of time of mourning-say, six months-to pa.s.s before Frau Erika married Otto.

That didn't happen, either. Frau Erika was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. She turned to the U.S. Army to find Little Karlchen's father. He was located in the National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, under a tombstone on which was carved a representation of the Medal of Honor.

His family was located, too, and to Frau Gertrud it seemed that the Gossinger empire was about to pa.s.s into the hands of a Texas family of Mexican extraction, and that Poor Little Karlchen was about to be moved from the family mansion-Haus im Wald-in Bad Hersfeld to an adobe shack on the Texas desert, where his newly found grandfather would doze in the sun with his sombrero over his eyes as flies buzzed around him.

That didn't happen, either. Less than twenty-four hours after she learned that her son had left a love child behind him in Germany, Dona Alicia Castillo was at the door of the House in Woods, where she told Frau Erika she had come to take care of her and the boy. She was shortly followed by Don Fernando Castillo, her husband, Little Karlchen's grandfather, and President and chief executive officer of Castillo Enterprises, Inc. When Gertrud turned to Standard & Poor's Standard & Poor's to see exactly what that was, she learned that Castillo Enterprises, Inc., was a privately held corporation with estimated a.s.sets worth approximately 2.3 times those of Gossinger Beteiligungsgesellschaft, G.m.b.H. to see exactly what that was, she learned that Castillo Enterprises, Inc., was a privately held corporation with estimated a.s.sets worth approximately 2.3 times those of Gossinger Beteiligungsgesellschaft, G.m.b.H.

Two weeks before Frau Erika died, Don Fernando Castillo took Little Karlchen, now renamed Carlos Guillermo Castillo, to Texas, and left "for the time being, until I can get a handle on what's what" Otto Goerner as managing director of Gossinger Beteiligungsgesellschaft, G.m.b.H.

"For the time being" lasted until C. G. Castillo came into his inheritance at twenty-one-shortly before he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. One of his first official acts in his role as sole stockholder of Gossinger Beteiligungsgesellschaft, G.m.b.H., was to negotiate a lifelong contract with Otto Goerner to serve as managing director. It provided for an annual salary and a percentage of the profits.

"Guten morgen, Gertrud," Otto Goerner said as he walked into his office. He was a tall, heavyset, ruddy-faced man who many people thought was a Bavarian. Gertrud," Otto Goerner said as he walked into his office. He was a tall, heavyset, ruddy-faced man who many people thought was a Bavarian.

"Karlchen just called," Frau Schroeder said.

"Why didn't you tell him to call me in the car?"

"He's coming here. Him and Fernando and two others."

"He say why?"

"He said he wants to show you-at the Haus im Wald Haus im Wald-a new satellite phone he says you'll probably want to buy for all our foreign correspondents."

"Gott!"

"We got a charge for him and three others for last night at the Crillon," Frau Schroeder announced.

It was Frau Schroeder's custom, as her first or second order of business, to daily check the charges Karl W. Gossinger had made against his Tages Zeitung Tages Zeitung American Express card. It let the both of them know where he was. American Express card. It let the both of them know where he was.

"The one in Paris?"

She nodded. "And he still has rooms-maybe just one-in the Four Seasons in Buenos Aires."

"I wonder what our Karlchen is up to?"

"You could ask him."

"We've been over this before, Gertrud. If I ask him something, I'm likely to get an answer that I really don't want to hear."

Gertrud didn't reply.

"A new satellite phone? What the h.e.l.l is that all about?" Goerner asked.

"Since you're not going to ask him, we'll probably never know," she said.

"Did he say when he's-when they they are coming?" are coming?"

"Today."

"He say what flight they'll be on? And can I make it to Rhine-Main in time to meet it?"

"He said they have Fernando's airplane, and are going to Leipzig-Halle."

"They flew across the Atlantic in that little jet?"

"Is that one of those questions you really don't want the answer to?"

"Another one is 'why Leipzig?' The last I heard, Frankfurt is much closer to Paris."

"We never know what our Karlchen is up to, do we?"

"Really up to," Goerner said. "As opposed to what he says he is. So when do they get to Leipzig?" up to," Goerner said. "As opposed to what he says he is. So when do they get to Leipzig?"

"He said it would probably take them an hour and a half to get out of Paris, and that it's a little more than an hour's flight to Leipzig-Halle. That was ten minutes ago, so they should arrive between ten-thirty and eleven."

"If I leave right now, and drive very dangerously, I might might be able to meet them." be able to meet them."

"Can you get them all in your car?" she asked.

"Probably not," he said. "If they have much luggage, no. We'll just have to rent a car at the airport."

"Or I could drive over there in my car."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"The last time he was in here, I had maybe two whole minutes alone with him."

"Don't let me forget to call my wife and tell her they're coming," Goerner said.

[THREE].

Flughafen Leipzig-Halle 1040 27 July 2005 "My G.o.d!" Castillo greeted Goerner and Schroeder. "Who's minding the store?"

He kissed Frau Schroeder wetly on the forehead.

"Ach, Karlchen!" she said.

"Where's your friends?" Goerner asked.

"Going through immigration. We Germans can't be too careful about what Americans we let into the country, you know."

"I don't think that's very funny, Karl," Goerner said.

"Neither do I," Castillo said. "But the facts are that as a good German, I got waved through, and my friends are being very carefully examined by the authorities."

"Just who are your friends?"

"One is an Air Force colonel and the other is a Special Forces sergeant."

"I won't ask you what they're doing here because I don't think you would tell me the truth, and even if you did, I don't think I would want to know."

"I'll tell you. We are looking into the oil-for-food scandal."

"We already have people on that story."

"And I want to talk to them, especially the guy who covered the murder of M'sieu Douchon in Vienna. And I want to hear more about what the Alte Marburgers Alte Marburgers were saying about sanctuary-" were saying about sanctuary-"

"I don't think we should have this conversation here, Karl, do you?" Goerner interrupted.

"Probably not. We can have it in the car on the way to Bad Hersfeld," Castillo said. He turned to Frau Schroeder. "I don't think you want to be involved in this, Tante Tante Gertrud." Gertrud."

She put both hands on his cheeks and looked into his eyes.

"I wish to G.o.d you weren't involved in this, Karlchen," she said. "But since you are, don't you dare try to exclude me."

Fernando Lopez walked up. He wrapped an arm around Frau Schroeder's shoulders, kissed her on the cheek, and said, "Still taking care of ol' Whatsisname, are you, Frau Gertrud?"

"Somebody has to," she said. "Your grandmother is well, I hope?"

"Very well, thank you. If she knew I was going to make this grand tour of Europe, I'm sure she would have sent her love."

"How are you, Fernando?" Otto asked.

"I don't know, Otto," Fernando said. "I have the uncomfortable feeling that I have just become a file in some vast, Teutonically thorough database of suspicious people."

Neither Otto nor Gertrud responded.

Colonel Torine and Sergeant Kranz-who was towing an enormous hard-sided suitcase behind him-walked up to them a moment later.

"Everything okay, Seymour?" Castillo asked.

"Yes, sir. The authorities, who tried hard, failed to find any explosives or controlled substances in my luggage."

"Seymour, this is Mr. Goerner, who has been trying to straighten me out since I was in diapers, and this is Frau Schroeder, who keeps him on the straight and narrow."

"How do you do?" Kranz said.

"Herr Gossinger tells me you're in the Army, Herr Kranz?" Frau Schroeder asked, dubiously.

Kranz looked at Castillo, who nodded, before replying.

"Not exactly, ma'am," Kranz said in German. "I'm Special Forces."

"You mean," she asked, "with the beret, the green beret?"

"Yes, ma'am," Kranz said, "with the beret."

"How very interesting," she said. "And you speak German."

"Yes, ma'am. Most of us speak a couple of languages."

"And this is Colonel Jake Torine, of the Air Force," Castillo said.

"If you're responsible for keeping Karl-Charley-on the straight and narrow, Colonel, you have my profound sympathy," Goerner said.

"I think of him as the cross I have to bear as a righteous man," Torine said.

"Me, too," Goerner said.

[FOUR].

Haus im Wald Near Bad Hersfeld Kreis Hersfeld-Rotenburg Hesse, Germany 1310 27 July 2005 Frau Helena Goerner, a svelte blonde who was a Bavarian but who didn't look as if she would be comfortable in an embroidered dirndl and with her hair braided into pigtails, had lunch waiting for them when they arrived at Haus im Wald Haus im Wald.

"Welcome home, Karl," she said in English, offering him her cheek to kiss as if he were a very distant relative ent.i.tled to the privilege. Then she did the same to Fernando.

"Dona Alicia, Maria, and your adorable children are doing well, I trust, Fernando?"

"Very well, thank you, Helena," Fernando replied. "And your your rug rats? How and where are they?" rug rats? How and where are they?"

Castillo and Otto chuckled.

"Our children are here, but I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate for them to have luncheon with us."

"Helena, you have to remember that your rug rats are my G.o.dchildren," Castillo said. "Bring 'em on!"

"Absolutely," Fernando chimed in. "The more rug rats, the better."

Frau Goerner, forcing a smile, turned to a maid wearing a crisp white cap and ap.r.o.n.

"Ilse, will you bring the children to the dining room, please?" she said, adding to everyone else, "I'll join you there."

She walked out of the foyer.

"Do you two have to do your best to destroy my happy marriage?" Otto asked. He didn't seem to be really annoyed with them.

"The both of you should be ashamed of yourselves," Frau Gertrud said, but she didn't seem very annoyed, either.

"I somehow got the feeling our hostess does not like my G.o.dchildren referred to as her rug rats," Castillo said to Torine and Kranz. "I will introduce . . ."

"You sensed that, did you?" Goerner asked, sarcastically.

". . . you two to her when she gets her Bavarian temperunder control." He pointed to a door. "That's the elevator. The athletically inclined can use the stairs."