Following Orders

Chapter 2 Familiar Territory

A squad of four men inched their way through the snow covered trees to the small cabin nestled just below the timber line high in the Alps outside Innsbruck, Austria. It was a small rough hewn wooden structure with a stone fireplace and small windows on three sides. There was a sturdy wooden door in the front with one of the windows beside it. Blue smoke rose from the top of the chimney and was blown back into the woods by a slight wind easing down the valley. Except for the wind and the dull crunch of the snow under the men’s feet there wasn’t a sound.

Inspector Rolf Dresner and his men were being careful. They were closing in on a very dangerous man. Dresner had spent the last four weeks tracking down what the Americans called a serial killer who had made his way through Europe and had already killed two young people in the western Austria. The bodies of the two young victims had been found badly mauled with a knife and lying in a remote mountain stream. It was just luck someone had gone to check on a fence and saw them lying in shallow icy water.

For the past year the European press had been covering a string of similar murders ranging from the outskirts of Paris through Belgium and down through Germany. When the slain couple matched the description of the others, Dresner had pounced on the case. He was the lead inspector in the police department in Innsbruck. For the last sixteen years he had made it his mission to keep his community safe and peaceful. As a result, he was well known in law enforcement throughout western Austria and into southern Germany.

After the murdered couple was found, Dresner had begun collecting evidence, bit by bit, to make a case. There wasn’t much for them to go on. They had gotten a lead when caked dirt, blue cotton fibers and automotive grease was found in the mouth of one of the victims.

Without stirring suspicion, his men began checking around several of the garages in Innsbruck. There they heard about a young man who had recently arrived in Innsbruck and had gotten a job as a mechanic. This wasn’t new. With the Olympics coming in two years many young people were migrating there to get in on the boom and excitement. The owner of the shop was pleased with the young man’s work although he said the young man kept to himself. A further check through INTERPOL turned up nothing.

Dresner wasn’t convinced. Taking his own car into the shop for a routine service, Dresner noticed the blue cleaning rags used by the staff. When no one was looking, he grabbed one of the used rags lying on a bench and brought it back to the police station. Only yesterday did the professor at the university confirm the blue colored fibers from the rag matched the ones in the victim’s mouth. The automotive products matched as well. This particular shop was the only one in the area which used those type commercial rags.

This morning Dresner was called in when two young college students turned up missing from a study group. Going to the shop he was told the young man had taken a day off and had borrowed another mechanic’s cabin hideaway for a long weekend. Quickly assembling his men, Dresner led them to the cabin.

Using tactics he had learned as an army officer in the Second World War, Dresner spread the men out to approach the cabin from two different sides. By the time the men reached the two sides of the cabin their feet were nearly frozen from the snow. Using hand signals, Dresner motioned for the two men on the other side to try and see through the window. One of the men waved and began to move.

A muffled scream from inside the cabin startled all of them. Motioning for his men to move in, Dresner sprang towards the door. The officer with him was a large burley man with the agility of a fox. He plunged forward and hit the door with all his might, splintering it into a hundred pieces as he went through followed by Dresner and the others.

There were three people in the main room of the cabin. Two were tied to chairs and the third was between them. The middle man stood quickly and hurled something at the burley officer.

The officer let out a gasp and Dresner saw blood coming from a gash that appeared in the officer’s face as a straight razor sliced through his cheek. As Dresner turned back to the assailant, he saw the man had reached behind a couch and pulled out a shotgun. He was raising it to his shoulder.

Two shots rang out, shattering the quiet of the valley. The first shot of Dresner’s trusty Lugar went through the man’s mouth and out the back of his throat, taking with it one of his vertebrae and a portion of his spinal cord. The second went through his left eye and out the back of his head showering blood and brain matter all over the cabin wall. The young man’s lifeless body slumped to the floor like a sack of sand.

Suddenly everything was still. All that was heard were the sobs of a young girl tied to the right hand chair. The young man in the other chair didn’t move. Both were naked. The smoke from the two shots hung in the air creating a surreal scene.

Dresner turned to the injured officer who was holding a handkerchief to his bleeding face. “Are you alright?” he asked. The other man nodded. Dresner turned to the others. “Get back to the car and radio in for an ambulance and more help. Secure this place so we can gather what we need,” he said.

As one of the men went out the door Sergeant Betz began to tend the cheek of the wounded officer. Dresner stepped over the dead form and made his way to the young girl. He could tell by her eyes she was in shock. They seemed to dart in a panic between Dresner, the boy in the chair across from her, and the body on the floor. She cringed as he approached.

“Inspector Dresner, Innsbruck Police. Just relax, it is all over now,” he said quietly to her as he removed the blue gag from her mouth. Although she did relax slightly the harrowing experience remained. After finally removing the ropes around her arms, she began crying and reached around Dresner, hugging him closely. Dresner held her for a moment, whispering softly to her and patting her on the back.

The girl finally eased back in her seat. “Danny! He was hurting Danny,” she said looking toward the young man.

Danny was unconscious and tied tightly to his own chair. The chairs the two were tied to had been modified so that there was no bracing in the front. The man used that to have easy access to their bodies. As Dresner turned he noticed the blood dripping from the boy onto the floor. The young man’s genitals had been roughly shaved. But as the officers had entered, the garage mechanic had been slowly slicing into the young man’s scrotum to methodically castrate him. Grabbing a clean towel, Dresner stemmed the flow of blood. The others untied him and lay him on a sofa beside one wall. The young woman kneeled beside the young man trying to wake him until the officers found her clothes. They waited nearly half an hour before the ambulance and additional officers arrived. Betz continued to comfort the girl while gathering information.

“He was so nice,” she said. “He wanted us to see his valley yesterday afternoon. Then we stayed for dinner. I don’t remember much after that until I woke up in that chair,” she cried. The tears had almost stopped flowing by now.

“So he was going to take you back after dinner?” asked Betz as he wrote down every word.

The woman nodded. “Danny and I love hiking. He took us around this whole valley,” she said. “We had thought we would come back later on and hike some more. We had no idea…” she began to sob again.

Betz patted her arm. “There was no way for you to know. Most of our young men are very proud of their country and love to show it to others. Even I have taken visitors around to places I know. Now,” he said gently easing her back to talking, “what happened when you woke up?”

The young lady told him everything. She remembered waking to find her boyfriend tied naked to a chair in front of her. Their assailant had walked around in his underwear wielding the razor — not really making sense, but getting pleasure at seeing their suffering. When Danny resisted and told the man what he thought, he was struck with some sort of pummel and had remained unconscious ever since.

The ambulance came and took the young man and woman to the hospital. As it arrived, Danny woke to find himself in his girl’s arms, not really remembering what had happened. Dresner spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon making sure every scrap of evidence was collected, tagged and sorted. There would be a mountain of paperwork to do, and according to the dispatcher, word was already spreading how Innsbruck’s Inspector Dresner had done it again.

Dresner could have cared less. The adrenaline had sloughed off hours ago and he felt exhausted. As Betz finished things up turning in the evidence, Dresner returned to his office to have just a few minutes alone to catch his thoughts. He wasn’t there thirty seconds before an American major came thumping through his door. He stood straight as an arrow in front of Dresner’s desk.

“This is quite unacceptable. It has been three weeks and your people haven’t been able to turn up a shred of evidence on that truck or its contents. I want more done!” Major Tony Brewster demanded. He stood in the office, resplendent in his uniform, with the arrogance of a conqueror and glared at his victim with unhidden contempt. A US Army truck carrying specialized equipment had disappeared and the Army was searching all of southern Germany and Austria find it. Nothing had turned up so far and the major was determined to turn up the heat. “I suggest you get off your duff and get things going!” the Brewster demanded.

Rolf Dresner glared back at the Major. He didn’t need any of this. Dresner was dead tired, and his patience was becoming a little frayed. Just who did this major think he was? Dresner had an unsurpassed reputation for getting to the bottom of any case and didn’t need this guy poking his face into it. But what upset him more was that the American was right. No one could find a trace of the truck or its contents. Everyone was tired and frustrated. As a former German Army officer, Dresner could understand Brewster’s feelings and understood well the kinds of pressure an officer could get from the top, but no one spoke to him in that manner. He slowly rose from his desk.

“Herr Major, for the past three weeks I have had half my force out combing the trees to find your truck. They are still out there, searching on foot and in the air. I have expended a good deal of our budget in an effort to assist you in your efforts, but I must remind you that those are your efforts. The truck was lost under your supervision, your security, and I believe they say, on your watch. You haven’t even had the courtesy of letting us know what equipment we are looking for. So don’t come into this office making demands just so you are out of your troubles. I shall remind you that the occupation was over years ago. Austria is a sovereign nation. So when you ask, ask politely!” Dresner said slowly but very firmly.

Brewster appeared to deflate slightly. He seemed to realize he had overstepped his bounds, but he couldn’t back down now. “Herr Inspector, it appears you are being uncooperative. I will let my superiors know of your answer, and we shall see what shall be done.”

Dresner sat back down and laughed. The man actually sounded like the old Gestapo. “You do that, Herr Major. I bid you good day. If I find anything, I’ll let you know,” he said dismissing Brewster and returning to the pile of papers on his desk.

Brewster seemed about to explode. He turned abruptly and stormed out of the office heading for the office of the Chief of police. A few minutes later there was a tap at the door and the Chief stuck his head in.

“Did you really have to upset that man so?” he asked with a smile on his face. Dresner motioned to a chair and the Chief sat down and chuckled.

“Arrogant little scheiße. Thought he could come in my office and demand we put more people on the case. I simply informed him he should be polite,” said Dresner.

The Chief chuckled some more. “I bet you did. And I bet your old army training came back again,” he broke out into a laugh. “I told him you were on the case and would remain on it, but that we were going to be cutting back on the search. There’s really too much to do. When he got angry, I told him I would take it up with Colonel Moss. That shut him up.” Colonel Moss was the commander of the American military contingent in southern Germany.

“That was my next call,” said Dresner with a sly smile. “I actually wish I could help the man, but I’m stumped. The only thing I can think is that the truck was taken across a border and is long gone. There is absolutely no evidence it was ever in Austria,” he said with a sigh and sitting back in his chair.

“I agree. I talked with some of our colleagues and they are coming up with the same thing. Let’s let the Americans find this one on their own,” the Chief said as he got up from his chair and turned toward the door. “Nice job this morning. The newspapers are all over us for a story. As usual, I’ll handle it. They are already talking to the young couple. The girl is telling everyone you are a saint. Good thing she doesn’t really know you,” he chuckled.

Dresner chuckled himself. “She is a good girl. Too bad this happened to them. I’m glad we got there in time, or that boy would have been singing soprano,” Dresner said.

“That’s what I heard,” said the Chief. “By the way, Counselor Dietz is on the way here. He says he has a client who needs to talk to you.”

Dresner sighed and placed his face in his hands. “Mein Gott. Now I have attorneys taking up my time. I might as well live in this office,” he moaned.

The Chief laughed again. “I thought you already did,” he said as he left the office.

Dresner sat back and looked at the mounds of paper on his desk. Between the Army, their normal caseload, the Olympics and all it added to his work, he would be busy until 1980. Rubbing his eyes, he thought back to earlier days.

Born in Dresden, he had a pretty normal life when you consider what Germany was doing between the wars. His father had survived the first war and came home to the family business casting metal machine parts. Despite the inflation, the unemployment, and general suffering all around them, his family had survived. As a young boy he remembered his father taking him on camping trips in Bavaria along with some other fathers and their sons. He learned to love nature and respect what it offered. Before long he could climb a tree, ford a stream or climb a ledge faster than any of the boys he knew. He could also read signs on the trail which told him who or what had recently passed by. His attention to detail had astonished his peers on several occasions.

Rolf had taken education as the same kind of challenge, wanting to understand and master just about anything his teachers could present to him. The resulting marks placed him at the top of his class and got him a scholarship to the university. That was in 1934. By then the Nazis had begun dictating what could be taught in schools and how it should be taught. He remembered the day when someone came in wearing one of those brown uniforms and measured each student’s head, eyes, nose and just about everything else. The next week two of his classmates had to leave the university. They didn’t meet the Aryan standard.

By the time Dresner had gotten his degree in business it didn’t really mean much. Although he had planned to continue the family business, the Army had other plans. He was conscripted and made a Leutnant, or second lieutenant. At first he had a blast. Much of this was like the camping days he had enjoyed so much. He and the men under him were assigned tasks and he made sure they were completed in the same detail he drove himself to. This caught the attention of his superiors and soon he was singled out for more challenging tasks. In the Polish campaign he had led a squad of men to surround a strong point of resistance which threatened to hold up the entire advance. Using his prior knowledge of getting around in a forest, he not only accomplished the mission, but did it without the loss of a single man. Then at the end of the campaign when his group had been charged by a Polish cavalry unit, he and his men held their ground killing nearly 200 before reinforcements arrived. That was when he received the Iron Cross. Hitler himself had pinned it on his tunic, calling him a sterling example of the German race.

France had been next. He and his men started on the Belgian border and hadn’t stopped until Dunkirk. He had actually stood on the beach and watched as the last of the British troops literally swam to boats trying to pick them up. Dresner’s superiors had promoted him to Captain by this time and often called upon him for some of the more difficult tasks. Yet, his unit rarely experienced casualties.

Being an army officer had fit him like a glove. Over the next three years he had been assigned to various units and had been selected to lead a company in the invasion of England. He had also returned home and married the girl he had fallen in love with in college. With his earnings he purchased a home in Dresden and she had become a part of his family. Their son had been born exactly nine months from their wedding day.

But then things changed. England was called off when the “glorious” Luftwaffe failed to win control of the air. Resistance movements began to take their toll on the troops and leadership. The “invincibility” of the German people was starting to crack. He had never been a member of the party, but had reveled in Germany’s success much as everyone else had. As time passed he began to sense the pressure just to keep the status quo. Germany wasn’t going to conquer the world and there were great forces being prepared to take what they had gained away from them. His mind had understood the math. Just a few million could not hope to hold off the hundreds of millions being pressed against them. Yet all they ever heard was how invincible the nation was.

By now the bombers were crossing German skies every day. When he went home on leave, he saw whole cities and towns which were now mere shells. From his rail car he saw the people milling around carrying what few possessions they had on their backs or pushing them in carts.

The Russian Front had been a disaster. From the beginning of the campaign he had seen a change in leadership. No longer content with winning battles he saw generals being ordered around my SS colonels. Troops were being tasked with killing entire populations of a small town, or hunting down Jews and other undesirables. True, some of this had happened before, but not using regular army troops. It was like the army had forgotten how to operate. Orders were issued, countermanded, and issued again. There were shortages he had not seen before. When the first big winter storm hit, he and his men were still in their summer uniforms.

Dresner shivered slightly at that thought. Until that date, he had only lost a hand full of men. Now he watched as they began to freeze to death. After a few days with no warm clothing, he had led his men around the back of a town and attacked from the rear. By doing so he prevented the people from burning everything before they could get in. His orders had been to search each building and find as many furs and animal pelts as possible. He knew the Russians were keeping warm and this was the logical approach. Luckily they found a tanner with a storeroom full of various pelts. He and his men spent the next two days sewing together rudimentary insulated underwear to be worn under their uniforms. From then on, his men stayed relatively warm. Just a week later he had been wounded when a Russian sniper got lucky. The round had torn through his upper leg, fracturing his femur and earning him a trip home.

It had been a glorious three months. In his hospital room he had been decorated again and promoted to major. When he finally got home his family was all there. His son was growing a like a weed and got to know the father who was never home. The business was booming and his father was doing his best to make sure the war was not an everyday part of their lives. He even got to go camping for a weekend.

His new orders were to take command of a brigade of infantry in France. He was happy he was not returning to Russia but was sorry he was no longer with his former troops. Although there was now no mail coming back from the front, you couldn’t stop people from talking. On June 6, 1944, he was stationed in Northern France. Even though he was ready to take his men to the front, they had been ordered to remain where they were. From that moment on, it had been a losing battle. Despite his skills and despite his leadership, his men had been whittled down, replaced and whittled down further. By February of 1945 he and his men were fighting in Germany itself. That was when he had received word about the Dresden bombing. His whole family, the business, everything was gone.

Tears crept into Dresner’s eyes as he thought about losing his family. The news had come in a telegram and was passed along from his commanding officer. From that point, he had been in shock. It had been his top sergeant, Betz, who had noticed the shock first. After seeing the telegram, Betz took him into the local farmhouse and sat him down. He brought food, built a fire and even produced a bottle of captured American whiskey. His men kept watch over him and took care of him until finally the grief swept through him and released itself. To Dresner’s surprise his men had become his surrogate family. From that point on, they had become much closer both as friends and as a unit.

At the end, he and his men had been assigned the task of going through southern Germany and Austria to find all the secret facilities which had been built up by the various political factions and shut them down. He was also tasked with destroying any equipment or documents which might fall into the hands of the Soviets. He chucked at the thought. They hadn’t cared if the Americans got them, just not the Soviets. They had closed over 50 when they received word that Hitler was dead and ten more by the time Germany surrendered.

It was right here in Innsbruck that he surrendered his men to an American Major. Nice guy. It turned out the American was doing some of the same things he was. When it was all over, there was nothing left for him in Germany. With his hometown a mass of burned bricks and his family dead, he decided to stay in Innsbruck and make a new home. It had been the best decision he had ever made.

Dresner looked back at his desk. Since the pile hadn’t gone away as he wished, he picked up his pen and started back to work. Five minutes later there was a knock at the door. Dresner looked up from his work with a frown. He saw the counselor and looked back down at the mound of paperwork on his desk. “Herr Dietz, I have not the time to take on a new case. Please come back some other time.”

“Not this time,” Dietz said sternly.

That got Dresner’s attention. After Major Brewster, he was in no mood. He lifted his face in a mask of indignation just to have it vanish when he saw the man standing next to Dietz. He gasped slightly. “Mein Gott!” he said in a low tone as he came to his feet.

“How’s it going Herr Major?” Al Anderson said as he reached out his hand. Anderson was the American officer Dresner had surrendered to at the end of the war.

Dresner ignored the outstretch hand as he came around the desk and embraced his former captor, slapping him on the back. “It has been too long Herr Major,” he said warmly. He then invited the men to some seats and sat down next to Anderson. “What brings you to Innsbruck?”

“I’m kind of working here now. My company is building some of the Olympic venues and dormitories. I brought the family over for a little vacation at the same time,” said Anderson.

“You have heard of Anderson Construction, have you not?” asked Dietz.

Dresner’s eyes flew wide. “That is you?” he exclaimed.

Anderson nodded. “I’ve been busy. And I see you didn’t leave here after the war.”

Dresner laughed. “No, there was nothing in Germany for some of us and we decided to stay together down here. Thanks to you and what we did together some of the local townspeople offered me a job on the police force. It worked out very well,” he said before reaching over and pressing a button on his desk. A few minutes later a police sergeant stepped through the door. “You need me Herr Major?” the man said.

“You see, even after all this time, this one still calls me Major. You know how it is with German soldiers, you can’t re-train them.”

Al turned around in his seat to see another of Dresner’s group staring back at him in amazement. “How are you Feldwebel Betz?”

Betz looked at Anderson in amazement. “Major Anderson! It is good to see you again,” he said as he stiffened and clicked his heels. Anderson swore he almost saw the man’s arm go up for a salute, but he stopped it and simply held it out to him.

Anderson shook it warmly. “Sergeant, you don’t look like you have aged a day. This job must be good for you.”

Betz smiled. “Possible, but is a bit harder to move now. Besides, I have a family to look after. I must keep this job just to keep the children fed!”

“The bugger has seven kids now. I personally think we should cut them both off,” Dresner said using his fingers to indicate the use of scissors.

Betz held up a hand. “Now, now. An officer must look after the wellbeing of his men,” he cautioned.

“That’s what I mean,” said Dresner with a sly smile. The two men had remained together since the war and enjoyed the working relationship. Dresner had been like a grandfather to Betz’s children.

The men laughed and sat back to talk for a while. Dietz was amazed at the camaraderie the men shared even though they had been apart for sixteen years. Though they had been enemies, they kidded each other and laughed like old friends.

Dresner saw the puzzled expression on Dietz’s face. “Maybe I should explain, Herr Dietz. When the war ended, my company had been assigned the task of traveling throughout Bavaria and southern Germany to shut down some of the smaller operations and send the personnel to units in central Germany. I was also to make sure certain technical information was not discovered if the Soviets arrived in the area. By the time the word came down of our surrender, we had expanded our search into Austria.”

“Search?” Dietz asked.

Dresner nodded. “We were so fragmented by then; one group was not sure of what other groups might be doing. Parts of the Wehrmacht didn’t really talk to each other and the SS didn’t talk to anyone. Many of Germany’s leaders had special projects of their own going on. It was a mess. I got orders directly from Reichsminister Speer to shut everything down and destroy what was left. We bivouacked in Innsbruck the last few days when suddenly this group of Americans came into town. The group was led by this snot nosed major who acted like he hadn’t a care in the world. At first I wasn’t sure if I should surrender to him or shoot him,” he said. The men laughed.

“But he walked up to me and saluted. Then he told me since Germany had surrendered, he wanted to know if my men needed anything,” Dresner chuckled. “He wasn’t what I had expected. I had thought we would be interred somewhere. So from then on, we worked together. He asked what we were doing and then helped me to find a few more of the secret places in the area. The local people saw us working well together and he treated everyone with respect and dignity. From then on, we weren’t German soldiers. We were just people trying to get a job done. Anderson even saw to it we were paid for our efforts. For some of my people it gave them the means to return home. For the rest, we stayed here with people we had grown to respect and started fresh. I think we worked together over 6 months before Herr Anderson was transferred back home.” Dresner leaned forward and winked. “I still have my pistol. He didn’t even take our sidearms. That is the kind of man he is.”

Dietz nodded and looked at Anderson with a deeper respect.

Anderson laughed it off. “Hell, I was just a member of the Corps of Engineers. I had been sent in to find the same places this guy was trying to destroy. He made my job easier. Besides, there were only six of us in my unit. He had over twenty. It would have been a bad day.”

Again the men laughed as they remembered the past. After almost an hour, they had to get back to work. “Al, some of the men and I are going to get together in two nights at the beer hall. Why don’t you join us there?” Dresner suggested.

“Rolf, that would be fun. My son Eric has always had questions about what happened after the war. He’d like to meet the guys.”

“That little baby you had photos of is here too? I would like to meet him,” Dresner said.

“Eric’s all grown up now, Rolf, getting his engineering degree this spring. He’s actually taking us flying tomorrow morning. He wanted to see the Alps from a different angle. He’s a good kid,” said Anderson with pride.

“Then bring him along. We should all be there by 8 pm. We will save you a place,” Dresner said.

The men all shook hands warmly. The evening promised to be one of the happiest many would remember.

The small Beechcraft Bonanza glided slowly through clear blue skies above the Austrian Alps. Anna Dietz sat enraptured in the right seat, not so much from the thrilling view of the snow covered peaks around her, but because she had been invited by Eric Anderson, the 22 year old sitting in the pilot’s seat. Eric had come to Innsbruck to be with his family during the spring break of his senior year. His father, Al Anderson, did business with Anna’s father. Anderson Construction had building projects throughout Europe and especially here in Innsbruck preparing for the 1964 Winter Olympics. Al and his wife, Mary, were seated in the two rear seats in the aircraft gleefully looking out the window and taking photographs. Eric had earned his pilot’s license when he was sixteen and had wanted to take them all on a flying excursion. He had earned his wings in a “V” tailed Beech and this one was one of the company aircraft in Europe.

“Are you having a good time?” Eric asked over the drone of the single engine.

“It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed. “I’ve never flown in a plane before. I had no idea it could be this wonderful,” she said in his ear.

Eric beamed. Flying was a passion for him and he was glad she was enjoying it. He sat back and thought about when they had met. Anna’s father, Fritz Dietz had befriended his father a good five years earlier. On business trips to Europe, the two usually worked together. This was the first time Al had brought the family with him and Mr. Dietz had asked his daughter to show the family some of the highlights of Innsbruck and the surrounding countryside.

Eric and Anna had hit it off right away. She was very good looking, with shoulder length blond hair and blue eyes, and a smile which seemed to gleam in the sunlight. But most of all, she was smart. As a child she had become enthralled at the prospect of space exploration, especially the work of people like Von Braun. Now she was a senior at the Universität Innsbruck studying astrophysics and was determined to help explore the new frontier. She also spoke English as if she had been born in America.

Eric was finishing his civil engineering degree. On the first day, Eric and Anna became immersed in talking about things they had done and wanted to do. It had ended only when they were forced to go home for the evening. The second day she took Eric and his sister skiing. The combination of looks, smarts and a love for athletics had nearly bowled him over. When Eric’s sister had decided to go shopping, there had been no doubt who would be invited to fill the fourth seat in the plane.

Al and Mary Anderson had taken notice. Although he dated in high school, Anna was the first girl Eric had really taken an interest in. They saw the gleam appearing in his eye when the two were together and they grinned at each other when Anna reached over and took Eric’s hand for a brief time. After a quick, knowing glance, they returned to their sightseeing.

Eric had been flying in and out of a number of mountain passes. In mid-March the temperatures had begun to rise, but there was still snow on the trees and along the valley floors. The huge rocky peaks would still have snow for another month. All along the valleys were evidence of roads, homes, farms and small towns. The houses were painted in bright colors that stood out in the white landscape.

Watching his altitude, Eric skirted over several of the peaks to discover a different painted tapestry in each new valley. They were flying up one seemingly deserted valley when they caught sight of a magnificent waterfall cascading down from the middle of one mountain. Beside the falls was a garden-like flat area with a few picnic tables and trees. From there the water plunged several hundred feet into a crevasse before rushing out as a fast moving stream along the valley floor. All along the way, the mist had frozen into an array of what looked like sparkling prisms down the rocks and across the valley near the bottom of the falls. The sunlight caused the entire mountainside to shimmer in light.

“Wow, look at that!” exclaimed Al from the back seat. Mary leaned over him for a look and gasped at the sight. A second later she was snapping away with her camera. As she did so, Eric banked the plane for a better view, then circled back and flew lower to come up the valley again at a different altitude. It was just as awe inspiring as the first time.

Eric began a circling climb to work his way up and out of the valley. On one pass his Mom called out to him. “There’s another one!” she exclaimed.

The new waterfall was gushing out of the mountain above the first into a smaller valley not more than one-half mile long. But it wasn’t a valley. It was more like a hollowed-out section of rock between the peaks. It looked as if someone had used an ice cream scoop to remove a deep section of the mountain. The falls were emptying into a small lake which could barely be seen through a mist.

What was more impressive was the castle-like house sitting on a rocky ledge beside the small lake. It was in the shape of an inverted and squared “A” with pointed towers on three sides. There were what looked like woods surrounding the house and lake except for what appeared to be a large concrete patio along a portion of the lake next to the house. With the ice crystals on everything, the whole thing looked like something out of a fairytale picture book.

“Fly around the place again,” said Al to his son. “I want some pictures.”

“Oh, if we could have a home like that,” Mary said to her husband.

Even Anna was impressed. “I have never seen a place quite so pretty,” she said snuggling up to Eric.

Eric flew around again for a closer look. This time the house was a little easier to see despite the mist. It looked run down, with ivy growing up the walls and grasses showing up in a small courtyard. There were no tracks in the snow and it didn’t look like anyone had lived there for years. This mist from the falls gave the whole place a dream like quality and prevented anyone from seeing things clearly.

After a couple of circles around the little lake Eric’s father leaned forward. “Is there any way we can get an exact location for this place?” he asked. Eric nodded and pulled the plane’s nose higher to climb over the peaks and hopefully be in radar range of the Innsbruck airport. After getting a bearing and range, Eric wrote down the position and banked the plane toward home. It was a good time for them to go back. Nothing could compare to that little valley.

All the way back, Al sat silently staring out the window. He had a peculiar look on his face that he had only when he was concentrating on big plans. Mary continued to look out her side and comment on the wonders floating by. In the front two seats, Eric and Anna were sitting quietly. Although Eric was concentrating on flying the plane, he and Anna would occasionally glance at each other and smile. This time he reached over and took her hand, not in a fleeting squeeze, but intertwining his fingers in hers and holding gently. Anna squeezed back and didn’t let go. They held hands until Eric landed the plane 30 minutes later.

After refueling and securing the Bonanza, everyone went back to their rented Mercedes and made their way back to Innsbruck. This time Mr. Anderson drove, but he continued his quiet concentration while Mrs. Anderson had turned and was carrying on a conversation with Eric and Anna. Mary always had a bubbly personality and truly enjoyed conversations with her family and friends. Her problem was she always made friends everywhere she went, so she seemed to always be talking and laughing. Anna was holding her own and Eric simply wanted to listen to Anna’s voice. He also noticed the look on his father’s face. He was making plans — big plans. Usually that look was reserved for something that would make big money for the business. Until he had thought it through, Al Anderson would be in a world of his own. Eric wondered what that plan might be.

The big Mercedes pulled into the front of the hotel and stopped. As the others got out Al remained in the front seat. “I’m going to go talk to Anna’s father for a minute. You guys go on in. I’ll be back in about an hour,” he said. As the others closed their doors, he pulled away and turned back into the traffic.

Mary watched him leave and turned to the other two. “There he goes,” she said, “Money-bags has some new idea. Best we let him have his fun.”

Anna laughed. “I need to get to my dental appointment anyway,” she said while glancing at her watch.

“Are you doing anything tonight?” Eric asked. “I was hoping to have a little time for just the two of us before I have to go home. Would dinner be okay?”

Anna smiled broadly. “I would like that. What time should I be here?”

“I’ll come get you. How about seven this evening?”

Anna nodded. “How should I dress?”

“I plan on a coat and tie. I heard about this nice restaurant and afterward we can do whatever you like,” Eric said.

The idea of going to a fine restaurant pleased Anna enormously. She reached out and took his hand briefly. “I’ll be ready,” she said as she pulled away and headed for her parked Volkswagen.

Mary Anderson stared at her son. “Moving a little fast aren’t we?” she asked. The laugh lines on the sides of her eyes were tilting upwards with her growing smile.

“Have to,” Eric said with a wink. “I want this to last until I get back over here again.” They started walking into the hotel.

“She’s that special huh?”

Eric stopped before going through the door. He turned and looked his mother straight in the eye. “Mom, she’s that special.”

Mary Anderson was almost taken aback. She always knew Eric as intelligent. He was also very decisive, much like his father. Now it looked like he was making a decision that would influence the rest of his life. It appeared not to faze him in the least. She smiled at herself and followed him through the door.

Across town, Al Anderson entered the offices of Fritz Dietz. His was not one of those stodgy “old country” offices, heavy on the oak paneling and thick, heavily padded leather furniture. On the contrary, the office was decorated much like a Scandinavian designer, with modernistic furniture and a minimalist style. On the wall was a Picasso painted in the same colors as his furniture upholstery. The floors were bare wood with small shag rugs highlighted with boldly colored stripes. The receptionist sat behind a small desk made of a light wood with glass accents. She was dressed modestly in a two piece cotton outfit with a light blue scarf around her neck.

“Herr Anderson! I had no idea you were coming by. It is very nice to see you again,” she said as he entered.

“I wanted to stop by and see of Herr Dietz was available. I know I don’t have an appointment…”

“Nonsense! You are welcome here anytime. Let me tell him you are here.”

After a quick call, Fritz Dietz opened his office door and came out to greet his friend. “Al, come in!” he said as he led Al into his office. The two sat in some comfortable chairs beside a large picture window overlooking the city center. After some friendly conversation, the topic got a little more serious.

“Fritz, you know how I wanted to look at a couple of houses we could possibly buy here?

Dietz got a more serious look on his face. “I know you said you wanted to live here part of the year. Don’t tell me you have found a place already,” he said.

Anderson nodded. “When we were flying around this morning we flew over a place which, quite frankly, took my breath away. Now I can’t tell you how to drive there, but I do know it bears 152 degrees and 21.16 miles from the radar at the airport. It is a castle like home beside a lake inside what almost looks like a crater in the mountains. There’s even the most beautiful waterfall feeding the lake. I was wondering if your firm could investigate the place for me and see what the asking price might be.”

Dietz was taking notes. He nodded. “I would be happy to look into it for you, but I don’t know of any castle or chalet that is available. Let’s see if it’s on the map,” he said as he stood and the two men walked to a large working table at the other end of the room. Dietz looked in one side of the desk which seemed to be filled with rolled up papers. After a few seconds of looking, he pulled out a roll and unwound it across the desk. It was a detailed topographic map of the area listing property boundaries. Much of the land southeast of town was owned by the government. Pulling out some dividers and retractors, Dietz quickly found the area.

“That’s strange,” said Dietz. “The place you describe is one big lake on this map. I don’t see any buildings or land inside this area. I also don’t see any roads except to the other side of this mountain,” he said pointing the places out on the map.

“Well, I flew right over it,” said Anderson, himself a little puzzled.

Dietz waived it off. “Never worry. This may have been recent construction.”

“No, the place looked like it had been there for years. It’s a little run down and overgrown, but I swear there is a house right there,” he said pointing to the lake on the map.

“I don’t doubt you. I’ll get hold of a friend of mine to check the place our in his helicopter. He can get me some more exact points and I’ll see if the whole little valley is available. Keep in mind, the owner may not wish to sell.”

Anderson smiled broadly. “I understand. I wouldn’t want to sell it either. But if the owner is interested, I can make him a nice offer.”

“I will get working on it then. You aren’t leaving till next week?”

“That’s right. Eric is leaving day after tomorrow though. He has to get back and finish his school.” Anderson’s eyes began to twinkle. “Of course you know he and Anna have taken an interest in each other.”

Dietz winced. “We hear nothing about anything but young Eric from our daughter since he arrived. I hope they do not get hurt too badly. There will be an ocean between them,” he said with a grin.

Anderson tilted his head slightly. “Well, be advised, my son can be a very determined young man.”

Dietz placed his hand on Anderson’s arm. “And so can my Anna.” Both men laughed at the prospect.