Chapter 7

The Steiner household had fallen into a comfortable routine after Karl’s bride was replaced by her sister with “carte Blanc” to take care of her husband in every way possible including nocturnal duties. The aging warrior with eyes that had that thousand meter stare every now and then when there were no distractions used his sister-in-law shamelessly because she had been open in her surrender and he did not want to hurt her feelings for some ill-defined moral standard. Besides, she was a doppelganger for her older sister in every respect except facial features and with the lights turned off, he felt exactly like a happily married husband performing his spousal duties with not the slightest hint of guilt.

Steiner was not the sort of person to ever feel twinges of “guilt” about anything unless it was a promise unfulfilled or a bad shot due to lack of concentration.

He decided that it was time to “spin off” a security subsidiary to handle international clients that wanted discretion above all else. His contacts with the remnants of the old units scoured the likely places that the trained snipers would visit with cautious scouting expeditions just to check on the status of current affairs. Most of them were wary of the Soviet hunters determined to eliminate them forever from the chessboard of conflict. The whole East Germany-West Germany deal was rift with contradictions that superseded the Allied vs Nazi thing that Nuremberg had generated. True believers of the “Reich” were about as hopeful as “Johnny Rebs” right after the Civil War. The generally accepted attitude was to profess complete ignorance of anything related to the concept of Nazi beliefs and act surprised that there was such a thing as a “Final Solution”.

Steiner focused his attention on the coming conflict between the West and the standard bearers of the Soviet cause of Communism. His instincts told him that the secretive agencies in the West were ill prepared for the onslaught of underhanded “dirty” business heading their way from the East. Just as a sniper is trained to focus on the actual problem and eliminate it, the covert operatives were too dependent on the art of subterfuge and making deals that lacked finesse when playing with the best chess-masters in the world.

Snipers had their own brand of “Final Solution” where a bullet was forever.

Steiner and his new partner of a sister-in-law relocated twice in the same year before he decided that San Diego was the ideal location for his center of operations. He liked the fact that San Diego was only a short distance from the southern border with Mexico and that in an emergency situation; he would be able to exfiltrate from the U.S.A. with little fanfare and relative low risk. The air travel thing was getting risky for many reasons and even the hint of bogus documentation meant quick incarceration and a lengthy investigation that he wanted to avoid at all costs. He knew that there were departments in Moscow and even in Berlin that wanted desperately to run down his location so they could turn him or terminate him with equal degrees of desperation.

His operational structure was strangely similar to the Communist infiltration technique of “Cell-based” hierarchy. There were never more than five operatives aware of the other four at any given time. The linkage between the cells was loosely based in cut-out routes of communication and logistical supply. The couriers that moved between them had little or no knowledge of either end of their designated route and if they reflected any indication of wanting to learn more facts, they were immediately shifted to another sector to work a less exposed function. All of his employees were code-named including his headquarters staff and he was the only one that knew the composition of the entire diagram. Even his kinky new sister-in-law was in the structure and she was named “Sparrow 69”.

He had explained to her that she might be called to provide some “perks” to a target from within or outside the organization with the sole purpose of securing some intelligence needed for his decision-making skills. She seemed to enjoy the prospect of a clandestine mission but reminded him she was not a “whore” and that her reproductive system was “off-limits” to any assignment. Steiner thought that was amusing because he knew her slutty sister and his real wife would go to any lengths to gain intelligence, no matter how kinky or degrading to her personal dignity.

His sister-in-law Samantha was eager to follow him to the small-arms range located on a paved highway not far from the company headquarters. He had considered building one in the back of the company building but the proximity of the neighbors made such a thought far too risky. Besides, this range was more than accommodating because the owner was affiliated with a certain group of neo-Nazi bike club members that had ties to both incarcerated members and some deep-cover members in the active military. The owner had a Jewish wife so he was necessarily closed-mouth around his family about the motives of his business. Karl had been to his home more than once and he had been introduced as Mister Stern leaving the wife to assume that he was probably Jewish and she asked no questions knowing her husband preferred the “need to know” attitude in any social arrangement. Their two children were far too young to notice any problems with the running a shooting range for a business that did a lot of work for rehabilitated prisoners and “gung-ho” military types.

Sam was a natural with the automatics of small caliber but had some problems with the heavier revolvers that carried a kick that ruined her accuracy. They decided she would carry a .22 LR automatic with 12 rounds. It was also adaptable for a silencer but he hesitated to even mention that in front of her because she would become suspicious of his motivations. She already had some idea of his sniper background because her sister had filled her in on the past history of her easily adaptable husband. The only problem with that was that Roxanne really did not comprehend the extent of Karl’s sniper duties and how important his work had been in destroying the Soviet and other Allied forces long-range plans for invading the fatherland. There were some elements of the Israeli intelligence services and a small unit under MI-6 control that knew his legend, but they had no skin in the game and kept their secrets for future use only.

Samantha took to the whole idea of being a member of the investigative arm of Steiner’s organization like a duck to water. He was surprised at her enthusiasm because it was his experience that the immature females of the current day were less than interested in world affairs and certainly had no love for confrontation or violence.

He was reminded of the eager young women’s corps that followed the sniper brigades like they were some sort of film stars or sports champions deserving of feminine favors. He had dipped his wick in many a dedicated girl’s willing organs without any remorse because he knew they were vibrating with the convictions of “true believers”. It was sort of hypocritical of him and he knew it but being a male animal he was inclined to take advantage of the notoriety and reap the rewards while he was still breathing and not buried under the mud and slime of mother Russia.