balding struck one of his comrades on the shoulder. "Here we go. You've heard the boss; tomorrow is another day! "
Emphasizes slowly, strolled the three to the exit, and on the threshold remained the man with the sparse blond hair again standing. With an exaggerated gesture, he raised his right hand, and stroked the quivering woman slightly above the cheek. "Hey, baby! Leo does not deserve you. So forget the loser and let us be really good friends."
Ms Oblonsky nodded silently, while a blood-red line blemished her white skin. Provocative clenched the bald one his fingers into a fist and breathed at the silver ring with the engraved skull.
"Stop it! It’s enough!„ Herolds voice deepened imperceptible, he has now exactly the authoritarian tone that the brute knew only too well. Uncomfortable, he shifted his weight on the right leg and grinned disarmingly. "But, hey boss, there's really no reason to be violent. Have fun with the lady!"
Instead of answering, Michael moved a paper towel from his pocket, and handed it to Mrs. Oblonsky. "In the name of god, clean your face, and then lock the door; otherwise we are all here still for Christmas."
"Thanks. It's ok for me." Gently dab the cut, Ms. Oblonsky turned to the door, and Michael gave the next to the Mercedes waiting battle group a pensive look. At the moment the men treated him still with a certain respect, but that could change very quickly. These guys were suspicious by nature and each idle minute would change their minds. He could not stay longer; impatient, Michael turned back to the woman. "If you are ready, you just follow me. I sit in the Datsun on the other side of the street."
"Just one more second, please! Have I told Leo for weeks, that he must lubricate the door lock!"
Michael Herold just shook his head and stepped onto the roadway. Behind him sounded frantic steps, then he felt a light touch on the shoulder, and a breathless voice whispered in his ear. "Not so fast, it’s not so easy, to follow you!"
"This is not a fashion show. Tear yourself together! "True to his role, Michael continued to forget his good manners, although he feels sincerely sorry for the beautiful woman. Her high-heeled pumps and tight skirt forced her literally to run beside him. Now she raised proudly her head, as Michael did not respond to her request, and stumbled forward without another word of self-defense. Each step had to cause her difficulties on the uneven pavement, but Ms Oblonsky smiled contemptuously. She had successfully defied the primitive guys in their store and now, she would survive the new humiliation.
"Get in the car; we have no time to spare!" Michael Herold tore the car door open and waved impatiently. "God, why wear women always so impractical dresses?"
Without a answer, Ms. Oblonsky swung gracefully her long legs into the car and Michael cursed silently. It was about time, that he finished his lousy role. Frustrated, he strapped himself at the seat, and assured not very credible: "Relax; from now on you can forget these fine gentlemen."
"Better, you promise nothing you cannot keep." Leo's wife watched skeptical the Mercedes. "They do not give up just because a police officer has disturbed them. Oh, sorry, I mean it not personally; you know how bad they can be."
"Then we should not give them another opportunity." Michael Herold turned the ignition key around, and curved out of the tight parking spot, while he watched at the same time the Mercedes in the rear view mirror. The light blue car shrinks first at toy size and then finally disappeared behind the next corner.
"So, that was it?" Ms Oblonsky doubtfully casts a look at the slow-moving traffic.
"If you behave yourself properly, you will never see again these rats. But we'll talk later, at that moment we have other sorrows."
Michael Herold inserted himself in the sluggish sheet-caravan and thought about his next problem. Slowly, but surely, it was time that he tells Ms Oblonsky his true identity and that must happened in the presence of a trusted people. Better yet, a mutual friend, and that was only one person: Lech Bronslav, the good shepherd of Spandau! Every member of the Spandau Poles had spooned dried fruit with snow- dumplings in his living room, and Mrs. Oblonsky formed surely no exception.
No, he knows Lech only too well! There was no doubt, that Ms Oblonsky had enchanted him with their charm upon his own couch. Inspired by the idea, he gave the woman beside him a quick look. Her flawless figure has he noticed earlier, but now, that she was sitting so close to him, he also felt her overwhelming sexual charisma.
Ms Oblonsky wore her auburn hair in a smooth style, that touched gently her chin. Her eyes concealed a black Ray-Ban, while the slipped up skirt of the subtle silver gray costume revealed her shapely legs. Confident, she adjusted the expensive sunglasses and Michael noticed confused a swollen eye. Its multicolored splendor could not possibly result from the blow at the video store.
"Oh, come on! Deep in your heart, you think that I accustomed to a rough handling. Serves me only right; that the guy attack me so hard. I am nothing more than a silly cow, the wife of a shabby scum."
Michael Herold wisely refrain any unnecessary comment. Silently he tapped a cigarette out of the pack and offered it to his involuntary passenger.
"Forget it, no need to be gallant!" Ms Oblonsky sounded unusually aggressive, when she turns over her pretty face at Herold. "I only smoke, when I feel very comfortable and that is at the moment probably not the question. And besides, why you turn towards Neuendorfer-Street? This is not the way to the police station!"
The startling conclusion of this finding let her wince. "You are not a policeman..."
Without a warning, she tramples on Michael's shoe, and the Datsun slowed down in split second. He slid to the right side, missed narrowly a parked car, and raced a terrible moment uncontrollably across the sidewalk. A lamppost came dangerously close and the car roared again back on the road.
A loud honking accompanied the suicidal maneuver, and for a moment Michael could not believe, that he was still alive. With both hands, he clutched firmly the steering wheel, and remained adamant on the empty lane next to the traffic flow.
"Good responds," he murmured excitedly. "Nothing has happened! Nothing..."
Ms Oblonsky clawed screaming her fingers in his right arm and tugged at the fabric. Michael pulled his arm away with a jerk, and gave her such a slap in the face, that the Ray-Ban slammed in a high arc against the glass. Outraged, screamed the woman and Michael yelled: "Damn, are you now completely nuts? You have catapulted us almost to eternity!”
Michael shook irritably his head and drove the Datsun in the parking bay of a bus stop. With slightly trembling hands, he turned off the engine and looked into the pale face from Leo's wife. "My God, do you really know, how close we are escaped a disaster? Be glad, that no other car used the bus lane!"
"Yes, yes, I am grateful that no people were on the sidewalk! But please, understand me! We drove past the police headquarters! I recognized the ugly statue at the entrance only too well!”
Two discreet sobs shook Ms Oblonskys narrow shoulders. "I know, I know, my behavior is simply unforgivable embarrassing! I behaved so idiotic, so damn idiotic!"
In a somewhat milder mood, Michael handed the woman a paper towel. "Here! Dry your eyes and then calm down. No one's been hurt. Agreed? "Ms Oblonsky blew her nose instead of an answer discreetly in the handkerchief and looked coquettishly on her knees. "And now, what do you want to do with me? Show me your plan!”
"I will drive pass the monument and I find it just as tasteless as you!" Michael smiled encouragingly and started the car. He carefully drove to the roundabout of the Falkenseer-Square and left him at the junction to the police headquarters.
Even from afar, the monument could be recognized, which resembled more a walrus, than a horse and Michael shook involuntarily his head. So suspicious as Ms Oblonsky observed her surroundings, it was not too unwise, first to visit the canteen of the police headquarters. The sober room surely calmed down her tarnished nerves, and until they reached him, it was the best; he employed her with a few long overdue routine questions.
"When was the last contact with your husband?"
"Do you mean, as I saw Leo for