He took one last look at his handiwork, smiled to himself smugly, and drove the bulldozer back to the construction site and got into his pick-up truck. On the way home, he realized that he had no clue how to find a buyer for the nuclear artillery shell but figured there was no hurry. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice that the traffic light was red and drove right through the intersection. The driver of the large truck saw that the green light was about to change and stepped on the gas pedal. The last thing Hans Auerbach saw were the headlights of the rapidly approaching truck and the last sound he heard was the truck's horn followed by the crushing sound of metal on metal.
After his body was identified by the local police, his next of kin, his brother who lived in Berlin was notified of the accident. The brother called his grown-up son, Ludwig, who was stationed near the village where the accident occurred and asked him to take care of the formalities. Ludwig told his father that he had seen Uncle Hans just a few hours before and couldn't believe that he had died.
Ludwig contacted the local police and was requested to come and identify the body. After seeing the crushed body of his uncle, and what remained of the pick-up truck, he made the arrangements for the funeral that was attended only by himself and his fiancée. As he was the next of kin, he received all of Hans's earthly belongings, including the note on which something strange had been scribbled. His father and mother were not well enough to travel to the remote village, and Hans himself had no family and no friends who would miss him.
Ludwig married his fiancée a couple of months later, and after a year their only son, Rudolf, was born. Ludwig remained in the army and eventually made the rank of colonel in the German unified army and remained in service until he contracted colon cancer. The incident with his uncle and the nuke was almost forgotten.
His malignant tumor had spread to his liver and pancreas and there was nothing that modern medicine could do to heal him. On his death-bed he called for his son and in broken words told him about the incident that had taken place over two decades earlier. By then, Rudolf was in his mid-twenties and his main interests in life were women, sun, alcohol and recreational drugs, not necessarily in that order. He listened to his dying father's description of the nuke and the place where he had last met with Uncle Hans to inspect it. His mind was set to go to sunny Italy and spend time there and he didn't pay close attention to the details. However, he did realize that whatever this alleged nuke was, it may be worth some money.
After the funeral of his father, Rudolf Auerbach bid farewell to his mother and took the meagre savings he had and travelled to Bologna. He was officially registered as an art student in Europe's oldest university, but spent most of his time, and all his money, on his favorite interests. The sun was free as were some of the women, but alcohol and drugs soon depleted his funds. Gradually, he became an anarchist, adopted a stray dog which he named Adolph. Whenever he got stoned, quite a regular occurrence, and couldn't find the way back to his rented room, he just spent the night on a worn blanket, protected from the elements by the arcades on Zamboni Street, with Adolph by his side.
This is where Lara and Fatima found him — lying on his blanket under one of the arcades — and, just based on an instinct, took interest in the young man. Rudolf was quite glad that he could converse in English with the two women, and not stammer and stutter in broken Italian. Fatima, who had always held a fancy for men younger than herself, saw that underneath the worn clothes and decrepit appearance there was an intelligent and handsome man, and soon befriended him.
Fatima sat beside the young man and introduced herself, "I am Fiona, originally from Dublin, but now from London", and came forth with a proposal, "Would you like to join me for a beer."
This was an offer he couldn't refuse, "I am Rudolf, but my friends call me Rudi. I would love to have a beer and something to eat with you — if you are paying." He saw Fatima's smile and she rose from the blanket and held her hand out to help him get up.
Lara noticed her friend's interest in the young man. "Fiona, I am going to do a little sightseeing. I guess, I'll be away for two or three hours. Why don't you take Rudolf to eat and then to wash up in the apartment? Rudolf, I am leaving you in the good hands of Fiona. Make sure to treat her well."
Lara headed toward the main plaza of Bologna, Piazza San Petronio, while Fatima and Rudolf entered the nearby restaurant and ordered food and beer.
Rudolf consumed two cheeseburgers and three pints of beer, while Fatima just had a cone of ice-cream and watched him gorge himself. At first, he was too hungry to pay attention to his companion, but after his hunger was satiated, and the three beers began to affect him, he became talkative. Without her having to prompt him, he started talking about himself and his newly acquired anarchist opinion of life. Fatima began to see the potential use of this young man for the cause, not only for her own urge for male company. She took his hand, "Rudolf, come with me to the apartment. While you take a long shower, I can put your clothes in the washing machine so that you'll have something clean to put on." Rudolf just smiled at her and started to fantasize about clean clothes, and after studying Fatima and her attitude thought that perhaps he would get a chance to pursue one of his other favorite interests.
Fatima led the way to the apartment she shared with Lara, and after verifying that Lara was out, led Rudolf to the bathroom and told him to undress and give her his filthy clothes. While he removed his clothes, Fatima took a long appraisal of his lean body, and saw the obvious sign that he was getting quite excited by the situation. He looked down at his naked body and smiled shyly, and then stepped inside the shower. Fatima loaded his clothes in the washing machine, and as an afterthought added her own clothes. She turned on the machine and quietly snuck into the bathroom. Rudolf had already shampooed his hair, and his eyes were closed to avoid the soap and didn't immediately feel her presence.
Fatima wrapped her hands around his torso and clung to him from behind. Rudolf felt her erect nipples burning holes in his back and groaned out loud when her right hand wondered down his mid-section and felt his response to her body. Without being able to see her face he had no trouble imagining her large smile. He wanted to turn to face her, but she held him firmly from behind and continued to stroke him until she was sure that his erection was at its maximum. She then took the handheld showerhead and directed its warm stream to massage his shoulders, telling him to relax. Once again, he tried to turn and face her, but she firmly instructed him to remain facing the wall. Then she rinsed the soap from his body, turned off the water and led him out of the shower cubicle. She pulled a large white towel from the towel-rack and after rubbing him dry, wrapped it around his mid-section. It was not easy, because of the large bulge between his legs. Both looked down at the obstruction and started laughing together. She teasingly said, "We have 25 minutes before the end of the cycle of the washing machine. What would you like to do?"
Rudolf had a sense of humor, "Let's discuss the different theories of the 20th Century leading philosophers."
They both broke out laughing and Fatima led him to her bedroom. Rudolf performed meticulously — after all, he had practiced quite a lot since arriving in Bologna — and Fatima was glad to have a virile young man in her bed. It had been quite a while since she had coached Ahmed, the young and inexperienced dark-skinned teenager with whom she spent time in Coimbra, before and after planting the bombs in the historic library and chapel. The washing machine's bell signaled that the washing cycle had been completed. Fatima groaned, got out of bed and took the clothes out of the washing machine and placed them in the dryer. She returned to the bedroom, "Now, we have another 40 minutes until the clothes are dry…"