Body Count Read Online Free PDF Page A

There was no need for him to ask if it was deliberate.
    “We're already on the scene at several. We should be able to bring some under control quite quickly. I have requested help from outlying forces, but they will take time to arrive. I've had to do that because we're so seriously under strength.”
    “The sabotage you reported this afternoon?” Gebert lifted a corner of the map to look for the file, but failed to find it.
    “Yes, a lot of our pumps are off the road due to that. Mostly it's contaminated fuel, but we've also had punctures, slashed hoses, you name it.”
    “What's this I've heard about hoax calls?” Gebert had listened to the recital with growing unease.
    As usual there was no change of expression from Friedmann's usual hawk like intensity, but a note almost of admiration crept into his voice. “Those are very clever, and we're getting a lot. It's making our work a lot more difficult.”
    “Have we caught any of those responsible for the sabotage, or the calls?” Colonel Klee had thought it time he had a say, as no one had spoken to him.
    “The police are holding suspects. They've got nothing useful out of them so far.” Gebert scrutinized the map once more. “And I don't expect they will. They appear to be low-grade sleepers, expendables who were given a task by a controller, who has since disappeared.”
    “Then what does it all mean?” Klee was confused by events. “I don't understand why you should need me here at this late hour. This is purely a matter for the civil authorities, surely. No military targets have been attacked, have they?”
    For a moment Klee gained a little confidence as he made that point. “Not that I know of, I’ll check the current situation.” Friedmann took his radio to the far end of the room.
    “Really, I do think that this is a matter for the police.” Klee shifted uneasily, yawned, looked at the time, and then yawned again.
    “They're stretched to the limit already.” Gebert made an effort, and managed to keep his language moderate. “In a few hours, the Oktoberfest commences. The city is bursting at the seams, and now they also have the traffic problems brought about by all the rubbernecks gawping at the fires.”
    Klee bridled up. “My men are trained soldiers, not traffic police. They have other duties to perform.”
    “Hell and shit,” Gebert exploded. “Those garrison troops of yours are the worst parasites in the city! If it wasn't that they were sometimes called on to perform a few gentle ceremonial duties, we'd never get them off their fat backsides and out of the beer halls.”
    During the display of rage by the mayor, the colonel appeared visibly to shrink. He made a last effort.
    “That is a slur on the men I command...” “No actual military targets,” Friedmann didn't apologize for interrupting, “but one blaze is threatening a clothing store holding army supplies, and another is half a block from a supply corps headquarters.”
    With a marker pen he indicated another four locations on the map. “Four more fires in the outer suburbs. Might have been more, but the police have stumbled across a couple of groups in the act of setting more incendiary devices.”
    Gebert snatched up the telephone. “Get the police commissioner up here the moment he arrives ... No, it's okay.”
    As the door opened to admit the man, Gebert had not recognized him for a moment. The police chief was not in uniform.
    “My men have taken a few students in the act of starting fires. They made a run for it. We shot three. Two are dead, one in a bad way.” Commissioner Stadler was listening to his personal radio even as he spoke. “He'll live most likely, and well be picking up the bill for months. The last one gave himself up, he almost shit himself. Singing like a bird he is, but he doesn't know anymore than the others we picked up for sabotage.”
    Stadler turned to the fire chief. “When will you have those fires out, how long?” Freidmann busied himself