Friends Always Win in the End!
by Ruwen Rouhs
Chapter 15
The Man in the Black Car
In the early afternoon, Severin got a message from Tanner: "Hi Sev. At a last night stroll Roger detected the R4-Buggy in front of an abandoned house."
Severin: "Did he also see the driver? Was it Goldtooth or his buddy?"
Tanner: "Sure, he did. He had to wait till midnight. He took photos. The police verified it was Goldtooth's buddy."
Severin: Did the police get him."
Tanner. "Naturally not! But, they searched the house. It was empty.
Severin: "Shit! The danger for Arash is not over yet. W hat's to do now?"
Tanner: "Maybe there is a way to get more information. The interesting fact there is a path leads from the house to a mosque in the Old Canal Street! Roger."
Severin: "Did the guy visit the Mosque?"
Tanner: That's Roger's guess also. He suspects Goldtooth's buddy wasn't in the run-down house for two hours. For sure he went from there to the mosque."
Now Severin had enough information for the moment. As soon as he had a moment alone with Arash, he told him what Roger had suspected. "We need to find out something about the mosque. Maybe it's the key to everything. Maybe we can detect something of interest there."
"Shouldn't we better wait? Spying on secret service people may be dangerous."
"Now you are the scary-cat. We just look around the area. We don't go into the mosque."
After lunch Severin convinced his parents with a windy excuse, "Arash needs food for his fishes. We'll bike to the garden center in the Old Canal Street. Fish-food is cheapest there! We will be back in about an hour!"
It was just an half hour ride with their bikes to the derelict shed used as mosque. It was situated in the Old Canal Street a side road of the Teltow canal between a garden center and a scrapyard. Besides the show room the garden center had several large green houses facing the street. To the left and right of these, as well as behind the green houses, was a large garden for outdoor plants. The garden bordered directly on the neglected garden of the dilapidated shed, which a crescent moon on the roof identified as the mosque.
First, they roamed the garden and observed the plot with the mosque. Nothing happened for the first ten minutes. Then a side door of the mosque opened and a gaunt man wearing a quamis, a light brown dress with side slits, and a take, a prayer cap, stepped out. He carried a wastepaper basket and poured its content into the litter garbage can behind the house. "I'd like to know what he's thrown away. Do you think we can search the garbage can later?" asked Arash. Severin shook his head, "As long as the preacher is in the mosque, no way. We just can hope he leaves before dark."
The clerk of the sales room of the garden center was a fat young man with a wavy chin beard. When Severin read the name tag, he rightly suspected that the guy had Turkish ancestors and was almost certainly Muslim. "This is a mosque over there, the shed with the crescent moon on the roof, I'm right?" when the clerk nodded, Severin asked directly, "Do you pray there?" Now the young man almost burst out laughing.
"They're weirdos. I go to the Sehilik Mosque in town." Because he noticed Arash's appearance, he asked "Are you Muslim too? You are invited to visit the Sehilik. It's the best mosque around here." Turning to Severin, "Once a year there is a day everybody is invited, Christians also." Ponting over his shoulder to the shed, "I never have seen these people in the Sehilik mosque, they are very secretive."
"Why?"
"Like I said, they're weirdos!"
As the clerk handed back the change for the fish-food, a large BMW with dark windows drove up to the mosque. Pointing to the car, he explained, "They always get visitors. Always big cars from all over Germany, Mercedes, BMW and like that. Very, very mysterious."
The rear door of the BMW opened and a man in a grey suit and a white shirt with stand-up collar got out, while the driver stayed inside. Without looking around, he walked straight to the entrance of the mosque where he was already expected. The man in the take, whom they had seen earlier, bowed deeply to the visitor. The visitor waved him aside like a dog and entered the shabby building. "Does he come here often, this man?"
"I don't know, they all look alike." The clerk shrugged his shoulders, "I told you, there a many visitors. I never see them leave because I'm off duty at 7 a.m."
"And in the morning?"
"That's when the cars are gone."
The driver of the car seemed not look at Severin and Arash as they got on their bikes and drove off. Arash memorized the license number. He stopped at the next street corner and wrote it down on the back of his hand. "We better call up Henner. He can check the identity of the visitor. The car is registered to Hamburg."
The owner of the car was quickly identified. However, the fact that the car was a rental car said nothing about the identity of the visitor. An investigation into the renter of the car also revealed nothing about the identity of the visitor, as the renter of the car had presented a forged driver's license. When the police drove past the mosque an hour later, the car was no longer there.
When he arrived at Tanner's Roger was carrying his well-used knapsack on his back. The knapsack contained burglar's tools Roger guessed they would need to enter the mosque, like a crowbar, several screwdrivers, a cordless drill and lockpicks on a key ring. The electric scooters he had organized were ready to start and Roger urged Tanner, "Are you finally ready?"
"One more minute. You know when it gets exciting, I always have to pee first."
Pulling up the zipper of his jeans Tanner asked, "Haven't you forgotten the rubber gloves? I mustn't leave any fingerprints. I want to attend the police academy!"
"Sure, I have got them. I got them today from the drugstore." Mocking Tanner, "Don't you want to get caught because of the police academy or not because of Henner. You two are sticking together almost day and night now,"
Tanner grinned back "Only during the day for now. In night? Not y et!! Are you jealous?"
Just as they started off, a beat-up VW Beetle pulled up next to them. The window was rolled down and a familiar voice asked, "What are you up to? I was wondering if you like to come along, Tanner."
Recognizing Roger, he said, "You are invited, too. I'm going to Old Canal Street! On Patrol!"
"We had planned to look for the same address, unless I am mistaken. The shabby mosque, I guess." Tanner told him.
A nd Roger inquired. "But what's wrong with your own car? Has your Yetti broken down?" "Nah, I told you I am on patrol, and this car has features, my own doesn't have."
Old Canal Street was dark. Only every third or fourth streetlight worked. The illuminated crescent on top of the sha ck was the only light revealing that there was a mosque. They parked the car in front of the scarp-yard and Henner put on the earphones of an eavesdropping system. "If we are lucky, we will be able to pick up noises or even voices coming from inside the mosque. If not, I will switch to another device giving information if someone is using his phone around here." Henner was listening for just a moment, as he ripped the headphones from his ears. It wasn't the sounds from the mosque that almost destroyed his eardrums, it was the loud barking of the junkyard's guard dogs. Henner drove on immediately and stopped his car in front of the garden center. When the dogs were still barking after 10 minutes, Roger said dryly, "The best alarm system for the mosque. And free of charge."
After the dogs had calmed down, Henner activated the spy-system again. However, he could neither catch a signal nor a noise. Suddenly, with no obvious reason, the dogs gave alarm again. The alarm was very short and seemed to be more a greeting than an alarm. With the help of night vision binoculars handed him over by Henner, Tanner caught sight of a man with a take leaving the mosque in direction of the vacant house. "It's the imam of the mosque, I guess or one of his helper." In the same moment a big BMW approached the mosque nearly noiseless and came to a stop. The car had to wait for just a moment, then the front door of the mosque swung open and the man in grey left the building. By appearance he seemed to be the one described by Severin and Arash. Also, the license number of the car was identical.
"That's the right time!" Roger urged, trying to leave the car, "There's no one left in the building. Let's go in and search the mosque. I'm sure there are plenty of secrets there. I'm sure to find something about Arash or his father!"
"And how are you going to get in? The doors must be locked and the windows are barred."
"Look what I've brought, Henner!" Roger opened the knapsack showed Henner the burglary tools.
"Are you crazy, man? You can't break in at all. I'd had to arrest you immediately and you' Tanner would be in trouble also!"
"But you gladly accepted my help. After all, I discovered the R4-buggy and the secret of the empty house."
"OK, OK, but that doesn't give us the right to do anything illegal!"
"Say something Tanner, you were also in favor of us investigating further! We have to help Arash!"
"In the evening, when we were planning to visit the mosque, I didn't think we were breaking the law. But now!" then he turned to Henner, "Let's leave!"
Not wanting to stay longer, Henner drove back to Mamuth's Kebab. When the disappointed Roger scrambled out of the car he just said, "Good night you two!" turning to Tanner, "Be an attentive student, Tanner, Henner sure can show you things you don't know yet."
"What does Roger mean by that?"
Henner got curious, "It's far too late now to give you lessons. Besides, you seem tired. You've already yawned."
"Sure, I am tired, it was a long day." Then Tanner chuckled, "I can guess what he means. We were tighter once, you know, friends with benefits." Grinning, "Now Roger has a girlfriend."
"And you?" Henner got curious.
Tanner shook his head, "No!" After a long pause, he left the car. Turning around after some steps, he stuck his head through the open passenger window. "I like you better!" Then he ran off without waiting for Henner's reaction.
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