Alpha Six The Nano-Net

Chapter 2

Chapter 10

"She wants another 50 million as collateral?"

"Yes, but we're working on a solution. I think it will work out."

"All right, arrange everything on your end and I'll arrange for the money to be made available."

...

The notary was a bit surprised. He had originally drafted the contract, but a few clauses had been added in the meantime that struck him as odd. He was supposed to park a security deposit of 50 million euros.

The KYC documents were flawless. Solid Swiss company with a clean record. They had explained that the CEO, Dr. Lisa Stockmeyr would be on an extended trip abroad and that the deal should therefore be structured this way. Dr. Stockmeyr had also confirmed this by e-mail.

Nevertheless, he called BaFin, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, and told them about the deal. The employee at the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority was not off his rocker and called the Ministry of Finance. His contact there informed the Foreign Office because it was a business transaction with Switzerland and they asked the BND because it was a business transaction with Switzerland. The BND was responsible for foreign countries.

Germüller snarled, "Alpha Six, is the Stockmeyr gone or not?"

"I don't understand the question, Grandmaster," replied the visibly annoyed Ritter. "We've been on the case for over two weeks and so far have no real leads."

"Well, it looks like she's on a foreign trip looking for investors. Which she has succeeded in doing. 10 million she has collected. From Switzerland."

Fifteen minutes later, Eric was on the A 9 heading for Munich. This time he took the Tesla S, Dual Motors. Next to his beloved 911, the Tesla was the best alternative. With full batteries, he made it to Munich in one sweep. He would stop at a Tesla SuperCharger station once on the way for 20 minutes, but generally he would have gotten through in one sweep. The great thing about the Model S was that it was always up to date on software, so it already had the latest version of Autopilot. Sit back and let it drive. It was also great at getting around traffic jams.

For the most part, German manufacturers had slept through the development of cars with electric drives. They were simply too arrogant to understand that it wasn't the drive alone that mattered, but the software. It was the software that mattered, and the data. Tesla had been storing data on their cars and the routes they drove for years. With so-called Big Data and Machine Learning, the Teslas drove the better routes and the autopilot already had enormous capabilities.

Ritter, however, had his hands on the steering wheel most of the time, despite the autopilot, or driving assistance, as it was officially called. The autopilot worked very well, but in Ritter's business, he preferred to be in control at all times. When he didn't have that, he felt very very uncomfortable. It was as if he was in the sights of a sniper.

"Thank you Mr. Notary Schliesser for seeing me so late."

High rooms directly on Maximilianstraße in Munich. The number one address in the state capital. Parquet and stucco of the very finest. The notaries lived like maggots in bacon in Bavaria. Unlike the simple notaries in other federal states. They were only allowed to certify that Mr. Müller was Mr. Müller. Any lawyer with the appropriate license could do that.

In Bavaria it was different. The admission requirements were much higher and the respective catchment area was assigned by the state. In the other states, there was cut-throat competition between the various lawyers. In Bavaria, the state government appointed a notary and granted territorial protection.

"Of course Mr. Ritter. If the Defense Procurement Office sends a man, then that is the least I can do. Even at 7:30 in the evening. Even if I had to push back two certifications."

As a notary in the state capital, you also worked in the evening. In return, you could retire as a notary at the age of 46 or so. Not because it was prescribed by law, but because you could afford it.

"I am sorry that I was not allowed to send you the documents. Privacy and professional ethics, you understand. But you can read them here in the notary's office."

"Thank you very much, Dr. Schliesser. But Defense Procurement Office was 50 years ago or so. Today I come from the Federal Office of Military Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw)."

He gave the notary his business card.

"Well then. Here are the printed records. All the correspondence up to today."

Ritter delved into the papers.

"If you don't need me, then maybe I can quickly notarize a property sale. The ladies and gentlemen are already sitting outside."

"Of course. Just come back then."

Ritter was alone now. But it didn't matter anyway, because the camera on his jacket sent the sheets to Berlin from the moment he saw them in front of him. He didn't care about privacy. It was a matter of national security, maybe even international. But in any case, it was about his girlfriend Lisa.

What he read sounded like Lisa. Her always cheerful Lower Bavarian mood also came through in the e-mails. It read like a professional negotiation involving a notary.

He could not see anything suspicious. Maybe the magicians in Berlin could read out something that was not on the surface. He had doubts.

Ritter called the company. Dr. Stockmeyr Industries. A lofty name. He had already told Lisa that, but she thought that Industries was just right for a country girl and had laughed. As always.

Of course, no one picked up. Too late for today.

He had returned the documents to the notary, who was visibly relieved when he had all the sheets back in his hands.

They had agreed that the notary should just carry on as if everything was fine, even if it was a bit unconventional.

"Nikki, tell me you got something?" His money was on Nikki. If there was a coded message in the emails, she could find it.

"Sorry Eric. Since I don't know what to look for, I'm sure it will take all night. I'll have the machines search the entire text for all known cipher methods. And that's for all languages. Because if I were hiding something in these emails, I'd be writing in German, for example, but putting individual letters together for an English-encoded message."

She was about to lunge further, but Eric interrupted her just in time.

"Super Nikki. I'm in a bit of a hurry. Is Peter still in the office?"

"I don't know, I can't see that from here. I'll patch you to his phone."

She sounded a bit offended that he didn't want to follow her explanations any further. But the truth was, if she really got going, and she certainly would, he wouldn't be able to follow her at all. So why try and embarrass himself?

"Peter, find out everything you can about the investor. The partners, the management, everything about anybody who's involved, had anything to do with it and talked to them at some point. Send that to me tonight as well as you dig it up."

...

"All right," Lisa said. I go along with it. "As the contract stands now, I agree to everything. I'm relying somewhat on you to tell me the truth."

The two of them were almost friends by now. It had been almost two weeks since Fay had first appeared at Lisa's „house“. They had seen each other every day and at some point the Stockholm syndrome set in with Lisa. There was nothing you could do about it.

Interestingly, they had managed to organize all the equipment and all the materials requested by Lisa within a few days. They had to have a very large organization to get all that within that short period of time. But Lisa was not worried about that now, because now that she had all the chemicals she needed, she could implement her plan.

"Then I'll give our people the green light. I will write to the notary on your behalf that you agree and that he should carry out the notarization. As early as the beginning of next week, the representatives of the investment company will then travel to Munich to the notary and personally sign the contracts there and make sure that the money is credited to the notary's accounts."

"Do you want to wait for that or can you start your lab work now?"

"I'll get right on it," Lisa said. She stood up and marched with Fay over to the lab.

"I assume you will assist me," she said.

"I will do everything I can, but I am not a chemist like you. So please bear with me."

"No problem."

The two began their work, which essentially consisted of portioning various chemicals and mixing them according to a specific system. This required dividing the mixture into many small individual steps. In each of these steps, Lisa Fay pointed out where hazards might lie that could either compromise the end result or, some times worse, lead to chemical burns or even minor fires or an explosion.

On the evening of the first day in the lab, Lisa seemed very satisfied and Fay was also pleased with the results, as far as she could tell.

What she couldn't know, of course, was that in addition to making the nano-net mixtures, Lisa had also set up her own little experimental setup that had nothing to do with the nano-net. She was in the process of crafting a chemical substance for herself that would probably be very helpful as the project neared its end. But she kept that to herself, of course.

Ritter sat in his Munich apartment poring over the emails Lisa had exchanged with the notary. It was just too smooth, too perfect. It sounded too much like her and everything seemed to be in the very best order.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have noticed it at all. But Lisa had been missing for a little over two weeks, after all. Apparently she was still alive online, but the transmitter in her bracelet was no longer active. In addition, there was the assassination attempt by Steady Stan and the surveillance of Lisa by the Hungarians.

Somehow there were too many loose ends in the air, and Ritter hoped he could tie some of those ends together soon.

Ritter's iPhone rang. "Peter, what do you have?"

"Maybe it means nothing, maybe it means everything. There is a Count von Hohenstein who has caught my eye. This guy is, on the one hand, on the board of directors of the bank Burghans & Meier. And on the other hand, he is also on the board of directors of the investor who is about to invest 10 million in Lisa's company. Moreover, the investor's bank is listed as Bank Burghans & Meier."

"That is indeed a very interesting context. What did you dig up on this count."

"Well, he is a descendant of an Austro-Hungarian line, i.e., part of his kinship comes from Austria, another from Hungary. It is precisely the connection to Hungary that seems interesting to me in this case. I have set up a team to analyze the Count's communications. Let's see if there are any direct contacts with Andrasch or the emperor."

"Well, keep me posted and send me this guy's dossier on my iPad."

Thirty seconds later, the Count's dossier was in Munich. Eric Ritter, Agent Alpha Six of the Federal Intelligence Service, had it easier today than his predecessors in his position. Modern communications like the Internet made it easier to exchange information or send dossiers. Everything was faster and easier. With modern encryption, even the secrecy of the documents could be better granted.

In the days of his predecessors, things were quite different. They still had to work with personal delivery, hidden encounters, dead drops and microfilms that they stuck somewhere. He had heard from veteran colleagues that some agents had even taken out their own eyeballs to hide a microdot behind their eyeball. Better to stick the microdot somewhere, then.

He was glad that he had nothing more to do with all these old methods, but could now receive and distribute information at the speed of light.

At some point, Eric had finally gone to bed. Alone and somewhat frustrated. An agent was only human and needed sleep. He got up around 6 a.m. and took a long shower. The best ideas also came to him in the shower, as they do to many people. That's why he showered longer, because he needed good ideas. At least one. The whole case was somehow stuck in the famous dead end. He needed new ideas.

There it was. The idea. Buck n***d and still wet, he went to the desk and took the business card the lord had given him. At which bank should he deposit the killer's fee? Well, well: Burghans & Meier in Zurich. If that's not a coincidence, he thought, and quickly rubbed himself dry.

"Peter, Burghans & Meier is also the bank where I'm supposed to deposit the money for the hit job in Texas."

"Wow, I didn't even notice that. Sorry."

Peter was a perfectionist and was certainly annoyed now. He should be too.

"Maybe I should take more frequent and longer showers," Ritter thought. "Tell the old man I'm on my way to Zurich."

On the Lake Constance highway from Munich to Bregenz, then on to Zurich, he called the bank.

"Bankhaus Burghans & Meier," a female voice announced. "What can I do for you?"

"Danny Wilde. I believe Mr. Burghans is expecting my call."

"One moment, please."

Music on hold. Elevator music. Typical and boring.

"Burghans, glad to hear from you. Lord Sinclair has already announced you."

"Yes, that's nice of him. I have now rearranged my travel so that I can visit beautiful Switzerland as early as today. I had hoped a little that you might be able to receive me already this afternoon."

"Dear Mr. Wilde. That's not a problem. Is 3:00 p.m. okay for you?"

"Very good, I look forward meeting you"

And how he was looking forward, because finally Ritter could follow a real trail. It went a little further. And then it went blow by blow. Shortly after crossing the old Rhine and without being stopped at the Swiss border, Nikki was on the phone.

"Bull's-eye!"

She sounded more excited than usual. She had probably been trying to c***k the code all night and was now overtired and overjoyed.

"Delta, MG Hunter"

"Could be Delta Force, Major General Hunter," Ritter speculated.

"That's the one. It was coded in almost all the emails Lisa had sent."

"Where, in the footer or in the binder?"

"Then it wouldn't be code in that sense. No, it was in the body text in each case. Very elegant."

"What do you have to Hunter?"

"That's what our boss was trying to tell you. I'll put you through."

"Ritter, I've been talking to Hunter. He's the vice at Delta Force, but he's also a member of JSOC. He's expecting them tomorrow morning. Get excited, because you get to go to North Carolina."

He had hung up right away. Interesting, thought Ritter. Now it's really getting started.