“Would you mind if I had one of those cigarettes, Dr. Steinhauser?”
“Not at all, help yourself, should have offered. That silver eagle is a lighter, by the way. And please don’t call me by that pretentious name. Plain old ‘Gert’ will do. Your grandfather always called me that.”
Hawke smiled and said, “So. Here we are. Thank you for your most gracious hospitality. I’m not sure where to start and . . .”
“Start anywhere you please, Alex. I already know most of it, I’m sure.”
“Then you obviously already know who I work for.”
“I do. Sir David Trulove, chief of British intelligence. MI6, to be precise. You see, I’ve long had a keen interest in your exploits ever since we lost Sir Richard Hawke. Have an old leather scrapbook with your name on it, to be honest. Le Rosey, Dartmouth Naval College. Royal Navy combat pilot over Baghdad, Chairman of Hawke Industries, Ltd., London’s Most Eligible Bachelor, sort of thing. And you have a son. Alexei. Congratulations!”
“That’s quite miraculous, but thanks, that will save us a lot of time. So, flash forward. My superior at Six, Sir David, asked me to come here to Zurich to investigate some improprieties involving a recent spate of cyberattacks on Her Royal Majesty’s Swiss accounts. My colleague Ambrose Congreve, former chief inspector at Scotland Yard, came as well. Sir David mentioned your name as someone who could be helpful and—”
“And he thinks I’m a scoundrel, doesn’t he? A criminal mastermind.”
“He never said that. He said you were the éminence grise of Swiss banking, living in seclusion. Power behind the throne. He really didn’t offer much more than that. Clearly, his first priority is to protect the Queen and the Royal Family, no matter who or what is involved. Including you, sir.”
“Of course, Alex. My role is complex, but it has never been nefarious, I assure you. This infernal moniker that follows me around, Sorcerer, implies some kind of evil wizard. I assure you, I am neither wizard nor evil. Nor saint, for that matter.”
“Then may I ask what you are?”
“I’m the peacekeeper. Always have been. The sheriff of Switzerland. There is nothing quite so challenging as keeping a lid on the boiling pot that is Switzerland’s role in the world economy. We deal with everyone. Most are honest, but not a few would like to bring this whole elaborate system of doing business, built up over centuries, down. Lately, most of those come from the Arab states. Not all, but a few, would like to see our way of doing business, our way of living, cease to exist. Israel has enormous amounts of its treasury here. And so do the sheiks. Mutually assured financial destruction, so to speak.”
“You’re the guardian, then? The keeper of the flame.”
“You could say that. The Chinese and the Russians are even more difficult these last few years. Amazing cyberweapons, all aimed at a precious few free countries. Western Europe, Britain, the United States, and their allies.”
“Would you say that Russia and China are the source of the recent attacks on Her Majesty, not to mention Britain herself?”
“I certainly would. Containing those two vipers takes up the majority of my allotted time. These events you’re seeing involving assets of the Royal Family and Her Majesty’s government are the most troubling at this moment.”
“Any hope of putting a stop to them?”
“Indeed, a great deal of hope. I am in the process of hiring the very best and the brightest computer scientists from around the world and bringing them here to work for us. Students from China, Russia, and North Korea as well. All very hush-hush, as your grandfather used to say. But yes, these efforts are yielding successes. Because of my affection for the Queen, I have taken personal responsibility for leading a forensic cyberthreat team dedicated solely to Her Majesty’s financial protection.”
Hawke leaned forward, excited. “Is this something I can bring back to MI6? Your personal involvement with settling the Queen’s affairs? For Sir David’s ears only?”
Steinhauser thought about it for a long moment.
“Please have Sir David call me about that when you get back to London, Alex. Tell him that I’ll discuss that subject with him. Perhaps I’ll invite him here for a few days.”
“Thank you. He will be vastly relieved to hear it.”
“The Queen, however, is not to hear of this, no matter what. Tell him that. Too many people in Buckingham Palace I’d like not to hear about this.”
“Of course. There’s another matter I’d like to discuss—the bizarre murder of a Credit Suisse banker just returned from London. We found his corpse just below this location.”
“Leo Hermann. I’m glad he was found before he was buried beneath the ice. Leo’s death was no murder, Alex. It was suicide. Leo, although thirty years younger than I, was a close friend of mine. But he caused me worry. I had him followed in London. He met with some very unsavory characters at the Connaught Grill—suspects involved with criminal events we’ve been speaking of. Leo had been selling highly classified information regarding my work for Her Majesty. I’d suspected him for quite some time. The meeting in London was Leo’s undoing.”
“I’m so sorry about all this. Can you tell me about the circumstances surrounding his death? My friend Chief Inspector Congreve finds himself in a highly unusual situation.”
“Which is?”
“Perplexed. For perhaps the first time ever.”
“I know your friend Congreve by reputation only. I’ll be happy to tell you if it will help you put his mind at ease, Alex. Here’s what happened. I called Leo at the Connaught in London that night and told him I needed to see him here in my office immediately. The next day. I’m sure he suspected the worst, but what choice did he have? He arrived late the next morning looking haggard and depressed. Desperate, I would say. He was in tears.”
“His life was over,” Hawke said.
“I suppose it was. He’d admitted everything to his wife. She was leaving him and taking the two children, moving back to Sweden to be near her family. There was really nothing more to say at that point. I picked up the phone to call my pilot, whose helicopter was in a holding pattern waiting to return for the pickup. Leo got up, said thanks for my kindness, and left. My secretary said he’d gone outside to wait for the helo on the ledge.”
“He didn’t wait.”
“When the pilot arrived, Leo wasn’t there.”
Dr. Steinhauser suggested taking Alex on a tour of the vast mountain complex. Honeycombed with brightly lit tunnels and passages leading who knew where, banks of gleaming stainless steel elevators providing service from the secret underwater entrance near the bottom of Lake Zurich. They toured the private residence, three floors with interiors that resembled the Duke of Devonshire’s historic country home at Chatsworth. A grand, sweeping staircase joined the floors, which boasted the same panoramic windows as Steinhauser’s magnificent office.
There were also separate guest quarters built inside the small peak of a lower mountain. Hawke and his host reached them by a lengthy underground tunnel with a small tram running in both directions on a single track.
“I call this house ‘Das Kleineberg,’ ” he said.
“ ‘Little Peak,’ ” Hawke said, smiling.
“Good for you, Alex. Some of the German I taught you stuck.”
As they strolled down Little Peak’s wide corridors and peeked into various guest rooms, sunrooms, and a paneled reading room, Hawke, who was rarely impressed, found himself full of wonder.
“Small and self-contained, more rustic and, to me, more appealing,” Steinhauser said. “Here we are, I wanted you to see this room. Leo Hermann’s room. I haven’t touched it since his death. I was deeply saddened by the pictures of his wife and children in happier times.”
“May I have a look inside?” Alex said.
There were two worn leather armchairs facing the windows, and the two men sat down. Hawke looked around at mementos from a life now lost.
“I can see why it makes you sad,” he said.
“When a trusted friend betrays you, it is always deeply disheartening. Especially when their betrayal is a result of matters far beyond their control. Leo was a student of mine when I taught economics at New College, Oxford. Brilliant boy, always was. Hired by both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in New York, shot to the top of both and moved back to Zurich, happy, for all anyone knew.
“I quickly hired him and put him to work. There were problems as time went by. Sketchy attendance, padded expense accounts, complaints from subordinates, you know how it is. There were rumors that his wife was driving him to make more and more money. The well-known never-enough type of spouse. Leo started drinking heavily, too. Then stealing to try to keep her happy. And, finally, selling information. That’s the ending of that sad story.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you,” Dr. Steinhauser said, rising from his chair. “Alex, it’s been marvelous connecting with you after all these years. I dearly hope you’ll allow me to continue our new friendship. It’s gone eight o’clock. Won’t you join my daughter and me for a light supper? I can arrange to have my pilot snatch you from the ledge at nine? Sound good to you?”
“Sounds wonderful, sir. I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me and my grandfather. And all you’re doing now, not only for me personally, but for my Queen and country as well. I’m sure Sir David will put the full resources of MI6 at your disposal going forward. And if there is ever anything that I personally might do to help your investigation, just let me know.”
They took a smooth and silent tram ride back to Dr. Steinhauser’s residence.
After a minute, Steinhauser broke the silence.
“There is one thing you might do for me,” Dr. Steinhauser said.
“Anything, sir.”
“I wasn’t going to mention this because I did not know how helpful it might be and . . .”
“Please tell me. I can use all the help I can get at the moment, sir.”
“Very well. Recently, since your arrival in Zurich, the hacking attacks on your personal accounts have increased dramatically. It’s the Russians on the receiving end, and they are the worst, as you well know. I cannot prove it yet, but someone living here in Zurich seems to be working with Moscow. Hacking into your less-protected assets.”
“That’s certainly a big step in the right direction. My friend Ambrose will be delighted to know that. Do you know who it is? Just give me a name and MI6 will personally remove this chap from our list of worries. Permanently. Who the hell is it, Dr. Steinhauser?”
“Does the name Baron Wolfgang von Stuka ring a bell, Alex?”
Hawke stiffened at the name, shocked. “You’ve got to be joking. He’s the one helping us solve the case! And by the way, what the hell does he have against me?” Hawke said angrily.
“Rumors are there’s a woman involved, Alex.”