CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE

Victoria Harbor Port Facilities, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong British Crown Colony, November 2, 1963

When the Port of Embden 220 pulled into the busy and sheltering waters of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor, the entire ship’s company took a very unusual break and stood on deck to see the beauty of the natural landform harbor as they sailed between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. They glided carefully past the entrance of the Zhu Jiang [Pearl River] and cautiously approached the Kwai Chung Container Terminals in the western part of the harbor, threading the ship through the traffic of one of the world’s busiest harbors—hosting more than 200,000 ships a year. The waters of the harbor were overloaded by oceangoing and river vessels and local junks, all carrying passengers or a wide variety of goods because of its deep ocean advantages, the shelter afforded it by the surrounding hills, and its strategic location. The captain of the pilot boat had his work cut out for him as he led the huge fishing trawler into its berth in the container terminal.

Hugues looked furtively over his shoulder and spoke quietly to Antoine and Serge. “Think security knows the miserable little nip is dead and is just waiting to spring it on us? Do you think they know it was us?”

“I don’t know the answer to either question for sure, but I do know this: once we walk off this rust bucket and into the great masses of anonymous humanity in the terminal area, no one could possibly locate us even if they had us cold. Our plan is to keep our heads down and eyes straight forward. No issues with anyone over anything until we are out of Hong Kong altogether, Est-ce que tu comprends [do you understand]?”

The three men were grim-faced but kept their wits about them. They took their turns in the customs and paymaster lines without entering into the usual complaints and arguments among the men trying to get off the ship more quickly than their shipmates. They were patient while the paymaster crew totaled the base pay and share income for each man, checking and rechecking. Every man was paid in cash, in the currency of his choice. The Gebirgsjägers took just enough pay in Hong Kong dollars and British pounds sterling to tide them over until they could get established in a more anonymous and secure location.

As soon as they cleared all procedures, they headed straight for the centrally located Shun Tak Centre in Sheung Wan, immediately west of the main business district. They bought business suits and tropical linens, white shirts, and appropriate shoes in the night market for the next stop on their odyssey to secure freedom. They had a choice of taking the cheaper Tak Sing, Dai Loy, or Fat Shan ferries, but they were feeling flush; so, they opted for the more luxurious and more expensive Macao. The trip took four hours, during which the three lowered their anxiety levels with good eighteen-year-old British Glenturret Scotch which was a far cry from the swill they had to drink aboard the Port of Emden 220 for the past nearly eight months. They slept most of the way, feeling the waves of anxiety melting away because they were now free of potential accusations from law enforcement for the murder of Junji Hirokatsu Shimazaki. Antoine was not quite so sure they had heard or seen the last of INTERPOL, the FBI, the Sûreté, or the Mossad, however.

§§§§§§

Le Bureau Central National (BCN) d’INTERPOL pour la France [The International Criminal Police Organization, or INTERPOL], Office of Senior Detective Chief Superintendent Eugène Léon Dentremont, 200 Quai Charles de Gaulle, 69006 Lyon, France, November 28, 1963

The law enforcement officers gathered in the office of Senior Detective Chief Superintendent Dentremont’s office were glum. They all realized the inevitability of what Eugène’s decision was going to be.

He skipped preliminary chit-chat, the usual small French treats, and the introductions as he began to speak to the senior officers of his own INTERPOL service, the FBI, French national police, and a representative from the Mishteret Yisra’el [National Police of Israel]. No one raised an eyebrow at the absence of Levi Appleman ben Cohen [“C”] or anyone else from the Institute in Tel Aviv.

“Our Detective Vinciguerra will sum up what we know about the manhunt for the fugitives—the alleged killers of the senior military officers.”

He turned to Vinciguerra.

“Thank you, Chief Superintendent. There is not a great deal to tell; so, I will keep it simple. For the past several weeks, it has been my task—along with Forensic Specialist Marianne de la Reynie—to monitor every detail from every agency and department around the world involved in the manhunt for the SS fugitives. This has included American CIA, FBI, Alaska and Texas state police, and US Army military police; Israeli National Police and the Mossad; French Paris police and the Sûreté; British New Scotland Yard; Argentine provincial police of Córdoba, Buenos Aires, and Ushuaia, the national police, and more than a few Argentine government officials known to be flagrant Nazi sympathizers; Chilean police in Santiago, Valparaiso, and Puerto Montt and their national police, the coast guards of Argentina, Chile, and Peru, and civilian Nazi sympathizers like the Club Aleman; Soviet KGB’s Fifth Directorate and Moscow militisya detectives; German state Kriminalpolitzei detectives, forensic sciences officers, and detectives in several west and east German cities.

There is not an airport, railway station, or seaport that we have not investigated and monitored. We have been a thorn in the side of organized crime throughout the world—the Sicilian mafia, the russkaya mafiya, the Unione Corse, the yakusa, Chinese triads, and all of their known associates. We have pressured everyone we know of in the ODESSA and Spider organizations and their Swiss and Vatican sympathizers. So far as we can determine—and to the limit of our resources—we have turned over every possible stone.”

“And found nothing,” DCS Dentremont said morosely.

“That’s about it, sir. We have followed leads that suggested that they escaped by securing a private airplane to take them to Peru, or that they boarded some sort of fishing boat or other cargo ship out of a Chilean port, or that they joined one of the legions of tourist trekkers headed north overland through Chile or Argentina. None of the leads panned out. All I can say for certain is that the last time any of the fugitives was seen for certain was on September the twenty-eighth of this year in the vicinity of the Bariloche, Argentina, train and bus terminals. Even that information came from a classified source. There are no official law enforcement records even of that small piece of information.”

“So, where are we now, Chief Superintendent?” asked FBI Special Agent Xavier Gonzales-Soto.

“At an impasse. We will—of necessity—scale back our hunt until we have credible evidence of a location for these criminals. We know they are part of the worldwide criminal organizations and that they have huge resources at their disposal. We will have to be patient—we have no other choice. We will get them—mark my words—but it will take time. And, at the risk of repeating myself, we will have to be patient.”

Recipe for Marinated Macaw

Tropical Marinated Macaw

Ingredients

-2 young adult macaws (fresh), pineapple, lemon, pomegranate, and chicozapote juice from fully ripened fruit, 1 cp each of Bacardi rum, Mezcal liquor, acachú liquor, aguardiente brandy, caxtila Veracruz rum, taberna palm liquor—about 1 pt. each.

-2 thin cedar planks, lengths of stout twine.

Preparation

Note: Because macaw is very tough, it is essential to follow the preparation instructions to the letter.

-Very carefully pluck the bird, leaving no roots of feathers in the skin.

-Cut bird open and attach to plank with twine, breast up (in crucifix posture). Immerse in ice-cold mix of all juices and refrigerate for 1 day. Remove, then heat bird in its marinade to low boil and leave at boil for 1 hr. Bring heat down to simmer and maintain at that temperature for 6 hrs.

-Remove bird from hot juice, discard juice, allow to cool in refrigerator for 6 hrs. Be sure bird is completely cold.

-Place bird on its plank into a mix of the rums and palm liquor, heat to low boil, then turn down to simmer for 4–6 hrs. Test tenderness with a fork.

-When fairly tender, remove from hot liquid and discard liquid.

-Refrigerate until cool~2–3 hrs, then place bird on its plank into a mixture of the Mezcal, brandy, and acachú so that it is completely immersed and repeat cooling process for another~2–3 hrs.

-Then place bird on its plank and cold liquid into a 360^° F oven for 4 hrs. Lower heat to 225^° for ~2 hrs. so that it is nice and warm for serving.

-Note that the dish is considered to taste somewhere between spotted owl and bald eagle.

To Serve

-Discard liquid.

-Discard bird.

-Eat the board.