Free White Death: An Alex Hawke Novella by Ted Bell

Yours was very funny, Blinky.”
    The waiter arrived with their three Bloody Marys, and Hawke said, “You said you had a bit of news for us when you rang last night, Blinky. Don’t be shy about sharing it.”
    “Hmm. There are developments. Firstly, Wolfie finds himself snowed under at St. Moritz. His Tenth Mountain is immobilized, and he himself has moved down to Badrutt’s Palace in town. He’d like us to drive over, and he’s booked three rooms for us at the Palace.”
    “When?” Hawke said.
    “Tomorrow being Saturday, he thought you could make it, Sigrid. We’ll meet him at noon if that works for you both?”
    “Absolutely,” Sigrid said.
    “Good, that’s done. Let me tell you more about our frozen corpse, if I may, and where he might actually have come from.”
    “Please do.”
    “I had a little chat with Wolfie’s young grenadier yesterday,” Blinky said, “the one who discovered the body. The soldier’s name is Lieutenant Christian Hartz, from Bern. He was excused from duty in St. Moritz yesterday in order to show me the exact spot where he’d found the body. Veddy interesting, veddy, veddy interesting.”
    “Just tell us, Blinky. Don’t be a dramatic Nazi about it. You’re not on stage anymore.”
    Blinky laughed at himself. “It’s dramatic enough, I assure you,” he said. “Do you remember that when you and Ambrose first arrived in Switzerland, I mentioned something about the Bat Cave and the Sorcerer?”
    “Of course. Batman. We’ve been curious about that ever since,” Sigrid said. “What is the connection, Blinky?”
    “As you, darling Sigrid, are well aware, the Sorcerer disappeared from sight about ten years ago. The most powerful man in Switzerland simply vanished into thin air. In the papers for months. There was the inevitable nationwide search, Interpol was involved, but in the end they came up empty. Even in his seventies, the Sorcerer was a strong mountaineer. Climbing was his passion. It was finally decided that he had been solo up on a mountain and fallen to his death. The body was never recovered, adding to the shroud of mystery.”
    “The BBC did a documentary on his disappearance many years ago. Remember, Blinky?” Sigrid said. “Perhaps we could get a copy for Alex?”
    “Great minds think alike, and so do ours,” he said, pulling a DVD out of his jacket pocket and handing it to Alex.
    “Fascinating. I’ll watch it tonight.”
    “Tell us about the Batman connection,” Sigrid said. “We’re all mystified.”
    He blinked rapidly and said, “Ah, yes, the mythical Bat Cave. Well, our notion is entirely theoretical. But one of the more interesting theories is this. It was advanced early in the police investigation of the death. That is, that the Sorcerer may be hiding in one of the thousands of abandoned air force bases that still exist all over Switzerland. Like that of the Seventh Fighter Squadron of the Schweizer Luftwaffe. With its advanced F/A-18s and—”
    “Hold on a tick, Blinky,” Hawke said. “Abandoned air force bases? How the hell does anyone hide at an abandoned air base?”
    “I assumed you’d ask that question, Alex. I’m now about to reveal a state secret, so treat it as such. We never talk about these things. Ever since our Luftwaffe was founded in 1914. Since our country is so small, its size creates a military problem. Our military has much to hide. That’s why you see tiny hidden airstrips, like Band-Aids, all over the countryside.
    “What you do not see are the hangars themselves or the explosives rigged beneath all the bridges on our borders. Or the massive heavy artillery hidden in place to prevent an invading enemy from clearing or repairing the damage from a blown bridge. The Porcupine Principle applies not only to all of our bridges but also to all highways and railroads.
    “Concealed explosives, heavy guns, and artillery all around you number in the tens of thousands. And even that number is deliberately understated. You