Afterwards, the corporal stretched lazily in the bed, and watched the natural blonde German return from the small kitchen with two mugs of coffee on a hand-carved wooden tray. These were her two favorite coffee mugs, that she used only on special occasions, usually with her friends from the Red Army Faction. She placed the tray on the side-table and picked up one mug and handed it to him. Corporal Gary Ewing noticed the rather odd emblem on the mug. It was a five-pointed red star with the letters RAF and a strange looking sub-machine gun that he thought was a Heckler and Koch MP5. Hilde picked up her own mug that depicted the face of a solemn looking man and took a large sip of the warm liquid, pouting her lips as if kissing a lover. The man's face looked familiar to the American corporal, but he couldn't recall from where. He didn't recognize the most notorious German terrorist, Andreas Baader, who had died under controversial circumstances in Stammhein prison a couple of months earlier.
Hilde urged him to drink his coffee quickly, so that they could return to their lovemaking. The corporal needed no further encouragement and although he noticed that the coffee tasted rather like bitter almonds, he gulped it down. Within seconds his face turned blue as if he was strangled. Indeed, the coffee was spiked with poisonous cyanide — this simple molecule replaced oxygen in the red blood cells, starving the lungs, and more importantly the brain, from live giving oxygen.
Hilde coldly watched the corporal's foaming mouth and writhing body and the expression of agony on his distorted face. She held the large key she had removed from his pocket, and said aloud, although she knew he could no longer hear her, "Thanks for the gift. Well, at least I gave you a taste of paradise before sending you to hell, where you belong. Andreas, Jan-Carl and Gudrun will welcome you in hell." She was referring to her three colleagues from the Red Army Faction, Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ensslin who committed suicide (or were murdered) in Stammheim prison a couple of months earlier. She returned to the shower and thoroughly scrubbed her body, while singing softly to herself.
Disposal of Corporal Ewing's body was messy, but with the help of Gunther, one of her followers and admirers, the filthy job was meticulously carried out. Gunther sawed off the poor corporal's limbs, and Hilde placed them in large plastic bags. He then severed the head from the torso and each body part was placed in a plastic bag. The bags were carried to the trunk of Gunther's car, and were thrown into the river after some rocks were placed in each bag.
Corporal Gary Ewing's absence was noted on Monday morning, when he didn't report for duty. His roommate at the barracks, and closest friend, Steve Atkinson, had seen him leaving the bar with the gorgeous blonde on Friday night, and envied him for his luck. When Ewing didn't show up on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday he became even more envious, but when he was announced absent without leave on Monday morning he started to worry. The corporal had never gone AWOL before, had never been disciplined for unruly conduct, and in fact had never even been late showing up for duty.
The staff-sergeant listened to Steve and told him to wait patiently, especially after Steve described the blonde who left the bar with Gary. He laughed, "Gary has probably lost himself in the arms of this Fraulein. When he comes to his senses and returns to base he'll be disciplined, and I'll go to comfort this Fraulein."
Steve was quite sure that there was something amiss. "Sir, Gary has showed me the photo of his fiancée in Dallas. He may have gone for a fling — being thousands of miles from home — but wouldn't neglect his duty for any Fraulein."
The staff-sergeant waved him off, "OK, you can go to that bar after work and look for him. In fact, I'll join you. Perhaps I'll also get lucky."
They didn't know that Hilde and her team had penetrated the base on Sunday night and entered the bunker in which the nukes were stored. Furthermore, the staff-sergeant wasn't aware that these old nukes were still on site. Had he realized that the corporal and his key to this special bunker were missing he may have sounded the alarm and taken steps to secure the nukes and change the lock on the bunker.
After work, the two servicemen arrived at the bar wearing civilian clothes. Yet, the effeminate barman, like every German, immediately recognized them as American soldiers. When the staff-sergeant slipped a few bills across the counter to refresh the barman's memory, the man remembered the gorgeous blonde and the handsome American. He claimed that he had not seen her in the bar, before, or after, that Friday evening. He couldn't, or wouldn't, give a detailed description of the girl, although he provided a clear description of the corporal. The staff-sergeant realized that he wouldn't get any useful information from the barman and left the bar. He said to Steve, "Let's go to our military police and file a formal complaint and have them go through official channels and get the local police on this case."
Hilde and Gunther sat down to devise a plan to remove one of the nuclear artillery shells from the bunker and transport it out of the base. They knew that time was of the essence, as the disappearance of Corporal Ewing would eventually alert the base security personnel, especially if someone realized that the bunker contained nukes and that the unfortunate corporal had the key to that storage bunker. Hilde wondered if they could use Ewing's ID to get into the base, but Gunther pointed out that it would be much too risky to do so, particularly if he was announced AWOL. After considering the alternatives, they reckoned that the only way to do it would be in broad daylight. They would enter the base, open the bunker and remove the nuke from its wooden case. They would return the empty case to its position, cover the nuke with a tarpaulin and smuggle it out under a pile of garbage in one of the trucks operated by the local contractor who was responsible for removing the trash from the base.
Gunther said that he knew one of the drivers of the garbage trucks, and that he could persuade him to take a day off and allow Gunther to replace him. When Hilde asked him how he'd persuade him to take the day off, he said, "Hilde, if you offer to entertain him for the day…" He didn't dare to complete the sentence.
Hilde smiled, "Just try to find me a handsome one and I'll gladly do it for the cause."
Gunther laughed, "I'm afraid that this one is not young or handsome." When he saw her sigh, he added, "I am sure that you'll have no trouble handling him. Give him a couple of drinks and he'll pass out even before he can remove his shoes."
"OK. So, you'll drive the truck, but you'll need at least two other men and a winch to transport the nuke. Although the shell is quite small, only 135 cm long and 28 cm diameter, it is heavy and weighs over 300 kg. The main problem is getting it to the garbage truck, because once it's there it can easily be concealed under a pile of stinking trash. Make sure to return the empty wooden box to its original position so that the absence of the real nuke will not be obvious, in case someone comes around to give the storage bunker a cursory examination." She paused, and then added, "Even better, put something heavy inside the box to replace the nuke. I suggest that you take some scrap metal, or perhaps an old car engine. This will help in case someone tries to lift the box or taps on it to see if it's empty. Of course, once they open the box to inspect the nuke…" There was no need to complete the sentence.