Security threats, p.1
Security Threats, page 1
Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Operation Schale
Chapter 2: A Date
Chapter 3: A Cold Day in Grantville
Chapter 4: The Battle of Troll Bridge
Chapter 5: Never Take a Domestic Case
Chapter 6: The Riot Investigation
Chapter 7: The Saxon Ghost
Chapter 8: The Aftermath
Cast List
Security Threats
Bjorn Hasseler
Baen
Security Threats
Bjorn Hasseler
Neustatter's European Security Services encounters a campaign of industrial sabotage, a pastor who attempts to limit their client base, an espionage ring, and the aftermath of the Dreeson assassination. Old nemeses and new allies complicate matters.
Somewhere in Grantville is a missing heiress. There's also a Resistance, and it has cookies. Even repeat business with established clients is complicated, not to mention dangerous. Real life proves more complicated than Neustatter's movies or Astrid's books as NESS looks for common threads. Which incidents are related and which are not?
For Astrid Schäubin, solving cases, directing operations, and even portraying a saint are one thing, but figuring out dating in the midst of everything that's happening is quite another.
Security Threats is the third book in the NESS series, after A Matter of Security and Missions of Security.
Security Threats
Bjorn Hasseler
Security Threats
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Bjorn Hasseler
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com
eISBN:978-1-62579-959-3
Cover art by Vladimir Shvachko
Cover concept by David Monath and Jeff Carrico
Original publication November 2021, 1632, Inc.
Dedication
To my parents Robert and Marsha Hasseler. Thank you especially for encouraging me to read. The weekly trips to the library for Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books and the military history influenced the NESS books, as did the history, Latin, and Norway books at home.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to Eric Flint for creating the 1632 universe and making it a shared universe.
Thank you to Jim Baen and Toni Weisskopf, who have supported the 1632 community from the beginning and gave us a place on Baen’s Bar.
Thank you to Joy Freeman and Gracie York for editing, proofreading, and formatting this Baen edition.
Thank you to Vladimir Shvachko for the cover art, and David Monath for the overall concept.
Thank you to the Ring of Fire Press team for the previous edition: Walt Boyes, Joy Ward, Sandra, and Jeff Carrico.
Thank you to the subject matter experts who have answered my questions: Helen Monath, Laura Tant, and Sigrid Berge. What I did with their information is entirely my responsibility.
Thank you to the other 1632 authors and readers who have offered advice, suggestions, and corrections.
Chapter 1: Operation Schale
Monday, October 9, 1634
When Casimir Wesner requested ten agents from Neustatter’s European Security Services for the mission to Kleinjena, Edgar Neustatter had to make tough choices. He had a total of thirteen agents.
“I think Stefan needs to get out,” Neustatter had told Astrid a few days ago.
Stefan Kirchenbauer’s twins were a month and a half old, and Neustatter hadn’t taken him on the big mission to Frankfurt last month that resulted in the Battle of Flieden. Astrid agreed. If Neustatter left him home again, Stefan and Ursula would start to annoy each other.
“I will leave Wolfram with you,” the tall, wide-shouldered man had continued.
That made sense, too. Wolfram’s wife Anna had just had a baby, too, less than three weeks ago. Astrid did not think either one was ready for Wolfram to be away on a mission that would take several days.
“And Otto, I think. Your brother can have Karl back on his team.”
“Why Otto?”
“I am not sure, Miss Schäubin. I am not sure.” Neustatter paused. “Tell him to stay out of uniform.”
“Okay.”
As Astrid saw the teams off on a chilly Monday in October, she still was not sure if Neustatter worried over nothing or if he had some sort of intuition.
The mission was scheduled for nine days, but Neustatter had warned her it might take longer, depending on how difficult driving the cattle proved to be. Officially, the job was escorting a Jewish extended family to Kleinjena, where Issachar Frankel would become the village’s new butcher. Really, it was a cattle drive. After the men had been captured by the New United States Army at the Battle of Alte Veste two years ago, Neustatter had learned about the up-timers by watching their movies and reading their books. It was where the idea for Neustatter’s European Security Services had come from. He realized the up-timers did not like mercenaries, so his agency’s image was a mix of wagon guards and hard-boiled detectives. In reality, NESS was much closer to the wagon guards.
They were up well before dawn so the men could get the cattle moving before the rest of Grantville woke and went to work or school. After a while, Astrid saw Neustatter and Karl ride down Route 250, followed by a herd of cattle. Most of the other NESS agents followed the cattle. Issachar Frankel drove the first of two wagons. Hjalmar and Jakob rode rear guard.
Astrid waved and watched until they were out of sight, then went inside and got to work.
Otto came in a couple minutes later.
“Astrid, when Neustatter told me he was leaving me here this mission, he told me to stay out of uniform. He said he had a feeling.”
“Ja, he told me the same thing. About you not being in uniform, not me.”
Otto laughed. “Astrid, it would not matter if you were in uniform or not. People notice you. They do not see me.”
Astrid started to disagree, but it was true. Otto was dependable, a crack shot with a pistol, and . . . forgettable. In their village, everyone had known everyone, but there were fewer than two hundred residents. In cities like Grantville, Magdeburg, and even Erfurt, people tended not to notice Otto.
“You stay in uniform as normal. I . . . investigate, I think.”
“I understand.”
Tuesday, October 10, 1634
Over the next couple days, Otto scouted Grantville. On Tuesday, Astrid dropped by the polizei station.
“Miss Schäubin! Long time, no see,” Chief Press Richards declared forty-five minutes later, when he had worked through enough minor crises to give her a few minutes. “Come in, come in. How are you and NESS doing?”
He showed her to the seat next to his desk Neustatter usually took. That felt . . . odd. Once she was seated, he leaned back in his chair.
“We are fine,” Astrid answered. “Most of the men got back from Frankfurt last week.”
“I heard about the battle out past Fulda,” Chief Richards said. “Are all your people okay?”
“Ja. Jakob is doing much better and is able to ride again. Neustatter took ten men north on Monday. They are driving Issachar Frankel’s cattle to Kleinjena.”
Press Richards laughed. “I gotta tell Dan Frost about this next time I see him.”
When he stopped laughing, though, he looked at Astrid. “What brings you in, Miss Schäubin?”
“Neustatter left two men with me. Wolfram Kuntz, whose wife Anna just had a baby, and Otto Brenner. He told Otto and me that Otto should stay out of uniform and investigate. Neustatter had a feeling.”
Chief Richards came upright in his chair. “Has Neustatter had a feeling like this before?”
“Nein.”
“Any recent run-ins with Schlinck’s Company?”
“Nein. We have seen little of them.”
Press Richards considered that. “When a cop comes to me with a hunch, I hear him out. He might be right, he might be wrong, but I listen. Sometimes a hunch or intuition or a gut feeling is just our brain trying to make sense of things we don’t know we’ve seen.”
Astrid frowned. “That makes no sense.”
“Nevertheless, it’s true. Neustatter may have seen someone he recognized where that person should not be. He may simply have seen the same person in more than one place. His subconscious is trying to make it fit. That it picked a threat scenario concerns me.”
“That is . . . psychology, ja?” Astrid asked. “I have not studied it yet.”
“You lived in a small village all your life, right?” Chief Richards asked. “Grantville wasn’t much different before the Ring of Fire. I knew who was doing what, and where I ought to see them. One day, I saw a couple guys from out of town at one of the bars, and it bothered me. I kept coming back to it over the next few days until I realized I’d seen them at Jay Barlow’s car dealership a couple days before. That could have meant a lot of things. When Dan Frost heard about them being where high schoolers hang out, he realized car dealership plus high school hangouts equaled Bud Carpenter. We kept an eye on him, and sure enough, those two guys kept popping up in company with him.”
“What happened?”
Press Richards smiled. “Bud was a troublemaker, but he wasn’t very smart about it. I don’t mean just getting drunk or into fights. I mean armed-and-dangerous career criminal. We were able to pick him up on a couple charges, and he was over in the county jail when the Ring of Fire hit. Maybe he got his act together but I’m just as happy he didn’t come with us.”
“I think I understand.”
“Having Otto take a look around is a good idea. Don’t look for trouble yourself.”
Astrid nodded. She did not intend to.
She did, however, have a contact.
* * *
That evening, Astrid found Gottlieb Seidelman reading at a desk in one of the tech center’s classrooms.
“Gottlieb.”
He looked up from his book, obviously startled. “NESS, right?”
“Astrid Schäubin.”
Gottlieb waited for her to speak.
“How are your classes?”
He patted the open book twice with one hand. “A lot of information. Different approach to law. So many rules.”
Astrid smiled in agreement. “How is the job?”
“Most shifts are the same. Routine.”
“Do you ever get one of the other missions or always the tannery?”
“I am tannery only. The other missions are mostly wagon guards.” Seidelman’s replies sounded guarded.
“I was not sure. Many of ours are wagon guard, too. We have not seen Schlinck’s Company in a while.”
Gottlieb nodded, but Astrid knew she had gone from borderline bothersome to “why is she questioning me?”
“Are any of your men uneasy, on edge?”
Gottlieb considered. “Sometimes. Those who have been around Captain Schlinck the longest dismiss that sort of thing.”
“New men with the jitters,” Astrid summarized. “But can you tell jitters from something that might really be there?”
He thought it over, and his eyes narrowed. “Ja. You are asking me this because some of your men feel it.”
She nodded, waiting to see if Gottlieb decided the NESS agents were not professional.
“I will talk to the men who work outside the tannery,” he stated.
“Danke.”
That had been a bust, but then Astrid considered that Schlinck’s Company was not the only one in town. She could talk to Bretagne’s Company.
Wednesday, October 11, 1634
Bretagne’s Company had an office in downtown Grantville. Astrid made her way there and pushed the door open. She could see at a glance the office was small, just a reception area and a private office in the back. It made sense. Their main office was over by Saalfeld.
Two of Bretagne’s men were in the reception area. They had been relaxed but sat up straight as soon as Astrid opened the door. A third man was in the back office.
“Gun.” The man on the right side of the room let his partner know she was wearing without making a big deal about it.
“Can we help you, fräulein?”
She replied in Amideutsch. “I heiss Astrid Schäubin, from NESS. Is Sergeant Wolfe in?”
Both men blinked. The one on the right stammered, “N . . . nein. He is on assignment.”
The third man came out of the back office. She noted his salt-and-pepper hair and an aura of confidence.
“I heiss Astrid Schäubin, from NESS.” She extended her hand.
He shook it. “I heiss Heinrich Rampelberg, sergeant in Captain Bretagne’s Company. What can I help you with, ma’am?”
“Have you sensed anything out of the ordinary? Unease, people where they would not normally be, the same people in different places . . . ”
“Being watched, you mean.” Clearly Sergeant Rampelberg was not one to beat around the bush.
Astrid nodded.
“I have not.” He looked to his two men. The one on Astrid’s left shook his head no. The one on the right started to, but stopped.
“Sergeant, I had not thought about it that way, but do you remember Maria Hempel saying last week supplies had gone missing?”
“Ja, I do,” Rampelberg said. “Captain Bretagne assigned a couple men to keep an eye on the neighborhood.”
This sounds like what I am looking for. “Sergeant, next time you see those men, would you ask if they felt like they were being watched, bitte?”
“Ja.” Rampelberg studied her. “What is it that you do at NESS?”
“I am the secretary and sometimes a field agent.”
“Huh.” The sergeant jerked a thumb at the man to her right. “I will send Leopold Gleitz with a message if we notice anything else.”
“Danke.”
As Astrid left, she heard Gleitz ask, “Sergeant, why don’t we have secretaries?”
“Gleitz, you know a few Hibernians, do you not? Find out if they have noticed anything unusual.”
Astrid smiled to herself. It sounded like Sergeant Rampelberg was taking them seriously.
Thursday, October 12, 1634
Late the same day, the NESS agents still in town heard about tools disappearing from the new row of townhouses under construction on Kimberly Heights. Since one of those townhouses was going to be NESS’, Wolfram went to talk to the foreman while Astrid opened the office.
She had been at her desk for only a few minutes when the door opened.
“Frau Haun.”
“Just Leigh Ann today, although I did come to thank all of you for working on the bridge. A couple more days, and it will be open. Is Neustatter around?”
“He and most of the men are on a cattle drive.”
Leigh Ann smiled, but it seemed forced.
“What is wrong, Leigh Ann? Let’s sit by the stove.”
Leigh Ann sank into a chair. “James had to go back to Magdeburg. I am just a little down.”
“Oh! I am sorry.”
Leigh Ann sighed. Then she straightened. “Y’all haven’t been training at night on our side of Buffalo Creek, have you?”
“Nein.” Astrid was a bit surprised at the question.
“Sorry. I didn’t think it was you, but . . . ”
“What is it, Frau Haun?”
Leigh Ann frowned. “That sounded official. Something spooked the horses two nights ago and again last night. And once last week, come to think of it. Dad was out there way too late at night calming them down.”
“Is anything missing?” Astrid asked. “Tools? Supplies?”
“I don’t think so, but I’ll check.”
“Have you seen anyone who does not belong there?”
“Noooo . . . You have an idea of what’s going on, don’t you, Astrid?”
“Neustatter had a hunch. I went to see Chief Richards, and he says hunches are your brain trying to put images and bits of information together, things you are not thinking about on purpose. I talked to Bretagne’s Company, and someone took supplies out by Saalfeld. Yesterday, tools were missing from the new townhouses being built on Kimberly Heights.”
“Petty crime,” Leigh Ann stated.
“Petty crime around security companies. One of Bretagne’s men is checking with another of the companies.”
“I don’t like the sound of this,” Leigh Ann said. “I hoped once the bridge opened, Julia and James and your NESS kids could play together.”
Astrid smiled. “I think they would like that.”
“Is it safe?”
“At least one adult should be with them when they cross the bridge, anyway,” Astrid pointed out.
“I guess I’d better start carrying again.” Leigh Ann sighed. “I hoped we were past that.”
Astrid chose her words with care. “I do not think this is armies. This is . . . something else. I need to talk to Sommersburg and Carstairs Construction and to Braun and Scharff. It would not hurt to put a patrol on Riverfront Park Road at night . . . unless that is what they want us to do.”
Leigh Ann looked puzzled.
“Those companies are across Buffalo Creek from your farm. I want to know if anything has happened on their property.”
“Take someone with you.”
“I apologize, Leigh Ann. I did not mean to worry you even more.”
