Chapter XIV

MADDUX FINISHED HIS DUTIES at Opel before heading home just as dusk fell over the city. The street lamps flickered on as he strode down the sidewalk, joined by a throng of other workers who had just clocked out. The sounds were reduced to a collective thunder of footsteps and the occasional horn that blared at an inattentive driver or the screeching of brakes to avoid a collision. The conversations occurring between pedestrians were muted and sparse. This was the German way. Quiet and subdued—until it was time to gather at the nearest biergarten.

Maddux enjoyed the relative silence, which gave him time to ponder the events of the previous day or plan ahead for the next one. He had received the green light to travel to Yugoslavia from his boss at Opel with a bogus assignment of scouting a location for a potential future plant there. Such a directive gave him the leeway to roam about the country without fear of getting immediately arrested and imprisoned. At least if he got caught snooping about in areas where he shouldn’t have been, there would be the hope of some type of due process. Maddux knew the whole situation was risky, but he had to go after Pritchett. The station chief had put his life on the line in an effort to catch Medved and, in doing so, became a bigger target.

“Beautiful night for a walk home,” said a man in German as he sped past Maddux.

Maddux forced a smile and nodded, a momentary interruption to what occupied his thoughts. His transition from life in the U.S. to Germany hadn’t been the smoothest, but he was reinvigorated by a new challenge within Opel and thrilled to get the opportunity to serve his country. However, he felt fortunate to have the opportunity to search for his father, even if the chance was afforded to him by the same organization that was keeping the full truth about his father’s disappearance a secret.

As Maddux continued along his route, the number of fellow pedestrians dwindled to only a scant few. People peeled off into their apartment buildings and homes at a regular clip until Maddux was nearly alone. He had noticed one man on the opposite side of the street, who’d seemed to be taking the same path. The man wore glasses and a hat pulled down taut over his brow, keeping his identity shrouded beneath the pale lighting.

Maddux sensed that he was being followed and decided to implement his CIA training in the event that he needed to shake a tail. When Maddux reached the corner, he sat down on the bench for the bus and reached inside his jacket pocket. The pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes hadn’t been opened since he bought them, occupying space as a prop for nearly a month along with his Zippo lighter. And now was the time to put them to good use. He put his head down to look at his smokes but glanced across the street to see what the man would do.

Flicking the lighter, Maddux ignited a cigarette and took a long drag from it. He glanced to his left and saw the man approaching down the street. Across from him, the man had stopped at the corner, acting as if he was searching for something in his briefcase.

That was all Maddux needed to see in order to verify his hunch. He stood, taking another drag while nonchalantly looking around for the nearest exit. He noticed an alleyway around the corner. All he had to do was wait for the bus to grind to a halt.

The brakes squeaked as the bus came to a stop at the corner, blocking him from the tail’s view. Maddux hustled down the street, trusting that the bus would hold that position long enough for him to slip away.

Maddux eased into the alleyway and walked briskly along before approaching the sidewalk, a half a block away from where he’d just passed. He peered around the corner to make sure the street was devoid of the mystery man. Confident that it was clear, Maddux walked south along the street, in the opposite direction from his usual path. He decided to make a large loop before returning home.

As he began his updated route home, he passed several elderly ladies out walking their dogs and crossed the street where a handful of kids were engaged in a competitive soccer match. But everything felt normal again—as in no one was stalking him.

Maddux’s mind drifted back to the assignment ahead of him in the morning and how he would rescue Pritchett. The help Bearden would provide would be important if not vital to the mission’s success. In the brief time Maddux had spent with the CIA, he quickly realized that the missions were far more complicated than the ones he was assigned in the Army during the war. Collaboration was the key to success.

As Maddux turned these thoughts over in his head, he didn’t see the large man leaning against the corner of an apartment next to an opening into an alley. The man grabbed Maddux by the coat and flung him up against the wall. Maddux winced as his back slammed into the bricks.

“We need to talk,” the man said in a gruff voice.

Maddux’s first inclination was to fight back, but he stopped as he eyed the man closely. He wasn’t the same person who had been tailing Maddux earlier.

“What do you want?” Maddux asked, clenching both fists and bracing for a fight.

“You need to stop this nonsense of looking for your father,” the man said. “It’s going to get you and the people you love killed.”

Maddux narrowed his eyes and considered a different tact. “If you know so much about my father, why don’t you give me some answers? Maybe I’ll comply with your request.”

“All you need to know is that he doesn’t want to be found. I think he’s made that abundantly clear.”

“Not to me.”

“Can you take a moment to consider that maybe what he’s doing right now needs to be devoid of outside interference, if you catch my drift?”

“The thought has occurred to me, but I’m not so sure he doesn’t want me to find him. There are other possibilities I’ve also considered.”

The man grabbed Maddux by his shirt and pressed him against the wall. “Well, here’s one for you to sleep on. You’re getting dangerously close to something you don’t want any part of. And if you don’t leave it alone, you’re going to regret it. That much I can promise you.”

The man released Maddux then punched him the gut and kicked him in the thigh, sending him sprawling to the ground.

“You might be able to lose that lousy tail you noticed, but you’ll never see me coming,” the man said before hustling into the alley.

Maddux groaned as he staggered to his feet. The little stunt designed to scare him away only made him more determined to find out what was really going on with his father.